INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD TO REALIZE INPUT MEANS HAVING HIGH OPERABILITY

• US 20130132873A1
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Published: 05/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2011
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Takayasu, Masaaki, Taniguchi, Shinya, Goto, Hiroyuki
• Application Number:
  US13/611,242
• Publication Number:
  US 20130132873A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/67 adaptively or by learning from player actions, e.g. skill level adjustment or by storing successful combat sequences for re-use
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

In an image displayed on a display under a normal condition, the locations where items to choose from are located are indicated by icons. When a user touches a contact point, icons located within a predetermined range from the contact point are detected from among the icons. Then the locations of the detected icons are varied such that they are located on a circle, with the circle'"'"'s center at the contact point, at equal spaces between the detected icons. A pointer graphic that indicates the original position of each icon in the original image is added to each icon.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

an operating information acquiring unit configured to acquire information regarding a specific position, inputted by a user, in a display image and configured to detect in the display image a graphical user interface (GUI) located within a predetermined range from the specific position;

a GUI location control unit configured to vary the locations of a plurality of GUIs on the display image, when the plurality of GUIs are detected by the operating information acquiring unit; and

an information processing unit configured to perform information processing corresponding to a GUI, according to a user'"'"'s operation on said GUI whose location has been varied.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operating information acquiring unit detects a GUI whose distance from the specific position is less than a threshold value, and

wherein the GUI location control unit widens a space between the GUIs in a manner such that the plurality of GUIs detected by the operating information acquiring unit are equally spaced on a circle, with the circle'"'"'s center being at the specific position.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operating information acquiring unit detects the GUI located within the predetermined range from the specific position in a manner such that the distance between each GUI and the specific position is compared with a threshold value set for each of a plurality of GUIs.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operating information acquiring unit detects a GUI located in a region specified as the specific position, and

wherein the GUI location control unit splits the plurality of detected GUIs according to types of GUIs and puts the same type of GUIs in one place, whereby an operation in a unit of type of GUI is accepted.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when a user'"'"'s input indicates a position, within a predetermined region in an image after varying the locations of the GUIs, which does not include the GUIs of which locations have been varied, the GUI location control unit respectively restores the location of each GUI to an initial position.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the GUI location control unit attaches a graphic to each GUI, the graphic indicating an initial position of the each GUI whose location has been varied.

7. A method for processing information, the method comprising:

acquiring information regarding a specific position, inputted by a user, in a display image and detecting in the display image a graphical user interface (GUI) located within a predetermined range from the specific position; and

varying the locations of a plurality of GUIs on the display image when the plurality of GUIs are detected, and displaying the GUIs at the varied locations on a display.

8. A computer program embedded in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program comprising:

an operating information acquiring module operative to acquire information regarding a specific position, inputted by a user, in a display image and operative to detect in the display image a graphical user interface (GUI) located within a predetermined range from the specific position; and

a GUI location control module operative to vary the locations of a plurality of GUIs on the display image when the plurality of GUIs are detected by the operating information acquiring module, and operative to display the GUIs at the varied locations on a display.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program executable by a computer, the computer program comprising:

an operating information acquiring module operative to acquire information regarding a specific position, inputted by a user, in a display image and detecting in a display image a graphical user interface (GUI) located within a predetermined range from the specific position; and

a GUI location control module operative to vary the locations of a plurality of GUIs on the display image when the plurality of GUIs are detected by the operating information acquiring module, and operative to display the GUIs at the varied locations on a display.