ELECTRONIC APPARATUS, DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20100245274A1
• Filed: 03/16/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Fukuda, Kenichiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,902,194 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An electronic apparatus includes: an input/output unit that displays operation markers, used for performing an operation input, on a display surface and detects an object in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface; a selection mode determining unit that determines, based on a detection state of the object on the display surface, either a multiple selection mode in which selection targets are set to be plural operation markers or a single selection mode in which the selection target is set to be one operation marker, as a selection mode; a selection unit that selects one or pluraloperation markers among the operation markers based on the selection mode and the detection state; and a display control unit that changes display forms of the operation markers selected among the operation markers into a display form indicating a selected state and displays the selected operation markers on the display surface.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus comprising:

an input/output unit that displays a plurality of operation markers, which are used for performing an operation input, on a display surface and detects an object that is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface;

a selection mode determining unit that determines, based on a detection state of the object on the display surface, either a multiple selection mode in which selection targets selected through detection of the object are set to be a plurality of the operation markers or a single selection mode in which the selection target selected through detection of the object is set to be one operation marker, as a selection mode;

a selection unit that selects one or a plurality of operation markers from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface based on the determined selection mode and the detection state; and

a display control unit that changes display forms of the operation markers that are selected from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface into a display form indicating a selected state and displays the selected operation markers on the display surface.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the input-output unit detects a size of the object, which is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface, on the display surface, and

wherein the selection mode determining unit compares the detected size of the object on the display surface with a reference value and determines the selection mode based on the result of the comparison.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the selection mode determining unit compares an added value of the detected sizes of objects on the display surface with a reference value and determines the selection mode based on the result of the comparison in a case where a plurality of the objects that is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface is detected.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the selection mode determining unit determines the multiple selection mode in a case where the size of the detected object on the display surface exceeds the reference value, and

wherein the selection mode determining unit determines the single selection mode in a case where the size of the detected object on the display surface does not exceed the reference value.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the input/output unit detects the number of the objects that are in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface, and

wherein the selection mode determining unit compares the detected number of the objects with a reference value and determines the selection mode based on the result of the comparison.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the object detecting unit detects a position and a size of the object, which is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface, on the display surface,

wherein the selection unit selects the operation markers based on a selection area that is specified by the position and the size of the object on the display surface, which have been detected, from among the plurality of the operation markers displayed on the display surface in a case where the multiple selection mode is determined, and

wherein the selection unit selects the operation marker that is specified by the position of the detected object on the display surface from among the plurality of the operation markers displayed on the display surface in a case where the single selection mode is determined.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the selection unit selects the operation markers based on a selection area that is specified by the position and the size of the detected objects on the display surface in a case where a plurality of the objects, which are in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface, are detected, and the multiple selection mode is determined.

8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the selection unit performs the selection of the operation marker each time when an object that is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface is detected, and

wherein the display control unit changes all the display forms of the operation markers that are newly selected and the operation markers that have been already selected from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface into the display form indicating the selected state and displays the operation markers that are in the selected state on the display surface.

9. The electronic apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising an operation reception unit that receives a movement operation for moving the plurality of the operation markers displayed on the display surface,

wherein the display control unit changes all the display forms of the newly selected operation markers and the operation markers that have been already selected from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface after movement according to the received movement operation into the display form indicating the selected state and displays the operation markers on the display surface.

10. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit moves the plurality of the operation markers displayed on the display surface in accordance with the movement of the detected object, changes all the display forms of the operation markers newly selected based on the detection state of the object after the movement and the operation markers that have been already selected from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface after the movement into the display form indicating the selected state, and displays the operation markers on the display surface.

11. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the selection unit releases the selection of the operation markers in a case where the object that is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface is detected and the operation markers to be selected have been already in the selected state, and

wherein the display control unit changes the display forms, which indicate the selected state, of the operation markers, of which the selection is released, from among the plurality of the operation markers displayed on the display surface into a display form before selection and displays the operation markers of which the display forms are changed on the display surface.

12. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an output control unit that outputs a content

wherein the display control unit displays the operation marker as the operation marker that represents the content, and

wherein the output control unit outputs the content corresponding to the selected operation marker.

13. The electronic apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein the content is an image content, and

wherein the display control unit displays a representative image of the content as the operation marker representing the content.

14. An electronic apparatus comprising:

an input/output unit that displays a plurality of operation markers, which are used for performing an operation input, on a display surface and detects an object that is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface for selecting one or more operation markers from among the plurality of operation markers; and

a selection mode determining unit that determines, based on a detection state of the object on the display surface, either a multiple selection mode in which selection targets selected through detection of the object are set to be a plurality of the operation markers or a single selection mode in which the selection target selected through detection of the object is set to be one operation marker, as a selection mode.

15. An electronic apparatus comprising:

an input/output unit that displays a plurality of operation markers, which are used for performing an operation input, on a display surface and detects an object that is in proximity to or brought into contact with the display surface;

a selection unit that sets selection targets selected through detection of the object to a plurality of operation markers in a case where the detection state of the object on the display surface exceeds a predetermined reference, sets a selection target selected through detection of the object to one operation marker in a case where the detection state does not exceed the predetermined reference, and selects one or more operation markers from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface based on the detection state; and

a display control unit that changes the display forms of the operation markers selected from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface into a display form indicating a selected state and displays the selected operation markers on the display surface.

16. A display control method comprising the steps of:

detecting an object that is in proximity to or brought into contact with a display surface on which a plurality of operation markers, which are used for performing an operation input, is displayed;

determining, based on a detection state of the object on the display surface, either a multiple selection mode in which selection targets selected through detection of the object are set to be a plurality of the operation markers or a single selection mode in which the selection target selected through detection of the object is set to be one operation marker, as a selection mode;

selecting one or a plurality of operation markers from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface based on the determined selection mode and the detection state; and

changing display forms of the operation markers that are selected from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface into a display form indicating a selected state and displaying the selected operation markers on the display surface.

17. A computer program that allows a computer to perform the steps of:

detecting an object that is in proximity to or brought into contact with a display surface on which a plurality of operation markers, which are used for performing an operation input, is displayed;

determining, based on a detection state of the object on the display surface, either a multiple selection mode in which selection targets selected through detection of the object are set to be a plurality of the operation markers or a single selection mode in which the selection target selected through detection of the object is set to be one operation marker, as a selection mode;

selecting one or a plurality of operation markers from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface based on the determined selection mode and the detection state; and

changing display forms of the operation markers that are selected from among the plurality of operation markers displayed on the display surface into a display form indicating a selected state and displaying the selected operation markers on the display surface.