METHOD FOR MOVING CONTENTS AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE THEREOF

• US 20140043298A1
• Filed: 07/17/2013
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: PARK, Chan-Woo, KIM, Nam-Hoi
• Granted Patent: US 9,477,343 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• 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 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A method for moving content and an electronic device thereof is provided. The method includes detecting at least two touches, selecting content corresponding to locations at which the at least two touches are detected, detecting a combined shape of touch entities corresponding to the at least two touches if the detected at least two touches are released, and moving the selected content to a location at which the combined shape of the detected at least two touch entities is changed, wherein the touch entities include at least one of a user'"'"'s finger, a stylus pen, and an extra touch tool.

Claims

1. A method of an electronic device, the method comprising:

detecting at least two touches;

selecting content corresponding to locations at which the at least two touches are detected;

detecting a combined shape of touch entities corresponding to the at least two touches if the detected at least two touches are released; and

moving the selected content to a location at which the combined shape of the detected touch entities is changed,

wherein the touch entities include at least one of a user'"'"'s finger, a stylus pen, and an extra touch tool.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the detected at least two touches are released, detecting an additional touch; and

changing a currently displayed page to another page according to the additional touch.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the content corresponding to the locations at which the at least two touches are detected comprises:

determining a touch area having a shape corresponding to a polygonal or a looped curve including coordinates of two touches among coordinates of the detected at least two touches; and

selecting content displayed in the determined touch area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the content corresponding to the locations at which the at least two touches are detected comprises:

determining a touch area having a shape corresponding to a polygonal or a looped curve including coordinates of two touches among coordinates of the detected at least two touches;

detecting a release of the detected at least two touches; and

selecting content displayed in the determined touch area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining of the touch area having the shape corresponding to the polygonal or the looped curve including the coordinate of two touches among the coordinates of the detected at least two touches comprises:

determining the touch area as corresponding to a rectangle, two vertices of which correspond to coordinates of the detected at least two touches if the detected touch has two coordinates.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the combined shape of the detected touch entities comprises detecting the combined shape of the touch entities by using a camera.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the moving of the selected content to the location at which the combined shape of the detected touch entities is changed comprises:

determining whether a combined shape of the detected touch entities is changed from a pre-set grabbing shape to an open-hand shape;

detecting a center point of the grabbing shape detected immediately before the combined shape is changed to the open-hand shape; and

moving the selected content to coordinates of the touch screen corresponding to the detected center point by using a mapping relation between the coordinates of the touch screen and each pixel of an image including the combined shape of the detected touch entities,

wherein the image including the combined shape of the detected touch entities is an image acquired by using the camera.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

comparing the combined shape of the detected touch entities with at least one of a pre-set combined shape, coordinates at which the at least two touches are detected, and coordinates of a location at which the detected at least two touches are released; and

determining whether the combined shape of the detected touch entities is the grabbing shape on the basis of the combination result.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the moving of the selected content to the location at which the combined shape of the detected touch entities is changed further comprises:

determining whether the combined shape of the detected touch entities is no longer detected; and

transmitting the selected content to another electronic device if the combined shape is no longer detected.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting of the selected content to another electronic device if the combined shape is no longer detected comprises:

determining whether the combined shape is out of a pre-set neighboring area of the electronic device by using a motion sensor; and

transmitting the selected content to another electronic device if the combined shape is out of the pre-set neighboring area of the electronic device.

11. An apparatus for moving content in an electronic device, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a camera;

a memory; and

at least one program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the at least one processor,

wherein the at least one program comprises an instruction for detecting at least two touches, for selecting content corresponding to locations at which the at least two touches are detected, and thereafter if the detected at least two touches are released, for detecting a combined shape of touch entities corresponding to the at least two touch entities by using the camera to move the selected content to a location at which the combined shape of the detected at least two touch entities is changed.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein if the detected at least two touches are released, the at least one program further comprises an instruction for detecting an additional touch, and for changing a currently displayed page to another page according to the additional touch.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one program comprises an instruction for determining a touch area having a shape corresponding to a polygonal or a looped curve including coordinates of two touches among coordinates of the detected at least two touches, and for selecting content displayed in the determined touch area.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one program comprises an instruction for determining a touch area having a shape corresponding to a polygonal or a looped curve including coordinates of two touches among coordinates of the detected at least two touches, for detecting a release of the detected at least two touches, and for selecting content displayed in the determined touch area.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one program comprises an instruction for determining the touch area as corresponding to a rectangle, two vertices of which correspond to coordinates of the detected two touches if the detected touch has two coordinates.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the touch entities comprise at least one of a user'"'"'s finger, a stylus pen, and an extra touch tool.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one program comprises an instruction for determining whether a combined shape of the detected touch entities is changed from a pre-set grabbing shape to an open-hand shape, for detecting a center point of the grabbing shape detected immediately before the combined shape is changed to the open-hand shape, and for moving the selected content to coordinates of the touch screen corresponding to the detected center point by using a mapping relation between the coordinates of the touch screen and each pixel of an image including the combined shape of the detected touch entities, wherein the image including the combined shape of the detected touch entities is an image acquired by using the camera.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one program comprises an instruction for comparing the combined shape of the detected touch entities with at least one of a pre-set combined shape, coordinates at which the at least two touches are detected, and coordinates of a location at which the detected at least two touches are released and thereafter for determining whether the combined shape of the detected touch entities is the grabbing shape on the basis of the combination result.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one program comprises an instruction for determining whether the combined shape of the detected touch entities is no longer detected, for transmitting the selected content to another electronic device if the combined shape is no longer detected, and for moving the selected content to a location at which the combined shape of the detected touch entities is changed.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

a motion sensor,

wherein the program comprises an instruction for determining whether the combined shape is out of a pre-set neighboring area of the electronic device by using a motion sensor, and for transmitting the selected content to another electronic device if the combined shape is out of the pre-set neighboring area of the electronic device.