Image display apparatus, method and program

• US 7,423,660 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2004
• Issued: 09/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kadota, Shigehiro, Ouchi, Akihiro, Matsushita, Akihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang; Ryan R
• Application Number:
  US10/939,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20050068342A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,457 Days
• Field of Search: 345/684, 345/688, 345/660, 345/661, 345/634, 715/786, 715/787
• US Class Current: 345/684
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars

Abstract

An image display apparatus connected in a communication-enable manner to an information processing unit for processing image data and outputting an image signal, wherein the image display apparatus receives the image signal and displays an image. The image display apparatus comprises an on-screen display generating unit for generating the image, a coordinate input unit for providing position information based on pointing on a display screen, and a control unit for controlling the on-screen display generating unit to generate and display a scroll bar, and controlling the image signal output from the information processing unit in accordance with an input for an area of the scroll bar from the coordinate input unit.

Claims

1. An image display apparatus comprising:

an external communication port configured to be coupled to a device interface for inputting an image signal from an information processing apparatus that processes image data and outputs the image signal, the image display apparatus receiving the image signal from the information processing apparatus via the device interface and displaying an image based on the image signal;

an on-screen display generating unit configured to generate a scroll bar image;

a coordinate input unit configured to input position information based on a position directly pointed on a display screen without using the device interface;

a determining unit configured to determine whether the position information from the coordinate input unit points to the scroll bar image;

an acquiring unit configured to acquire a partial image signal of a partial image corresponding to the position information from the image signal output from the information processing apparatus, without transmitting the position information to the information processing apparatus, when the position information from the coordinate input unit is determined to point to the scroll bar image;

a synthesizing unit configured to synthesize the scroll bar image with the partial image based on the partial image signal acquired by the acquiring unit; and

an information transmission unit configured to transmit the position information to the information processing apparatus so that the image signal which is output from the information processing apparatus is changed based on the position information, when the position information from the coordinate input unit is determined to point to outside of the scroll bar image,

wherein the acquiring unit acquires a changed partial image signal of a changed partial image from the changed image signal.

2. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a scale-up display processing unit configured to display a scaled-up image,

wherein the synthesizing unit displays the scroll bar image in superimposed relation to the scaled-up image displayed by the scale-up display processing unit, and

the acquiring unit acquires the scroll bar image and a scale-up display image signal in accordance with an input provided by the coordinate input unit.

3. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the on-screen display generating unit is further configured to display a slicer in the scroll bar image such that a size of the slicer relative to a size of the scroll bar image represents a scale-up rate and a position of the slicer relative to the scroll bar image represents a position of a scaled-up image relative to an original image.

4. An image display system comprising:

an information processing apparatus for processing image data and outputting an image signal via a device interface, and

an image display apparatus external to the information processing apparatus for receiving the image signal and displaying an image on a display screen, the image display apparatus comprising;

an on-screen display generating unit configured to generate a scroll bar image;

a coordinate input unit configured to input position information based on a position directly pointed on the display screen without using the device interface;

a determining unit configured to determine whether the position information from the coordinate input unit points to the scroll bar image;

an acquiring unit configured to acquire a partial image signal of a partial image corresponding to the position information from the image signal output from the information processing apparatus, without transmitting the position information to the information processing apparatus, when the position information from the coordinate input unit is determined to point to the scroll bar image;

a synthesizing unit configured to synthesize the scroll bar image with the partial image based on the partial image signal acquired by the acquiring unit; and

an information transmission unit configured to transmit the position information to the information processing apparatus so that the image signal which is output from the information processing apparatus is changed based on the position information, when the position information from the coordinate input unit is determined to point to outside of the scroll bar image,

wherein the acquiring unit acquires a changed partial image signal of a changed partial image from the changed image signal.

5. The image display system according to claim 4, further comprising a scale-up display processing unit for displaying a scaled-up image,

wherein the synthesizing unit displays the scroll bar image in superimposed relation to the scaled-up image displayed by the scale-up display processing ;

and

the acquiring unit acquires the scroll bar image and a scale-up display image signal in accordance with the position information provided by the coordinate input unit.

6. The image display system according to claim 4, wherein the on-screen display generating unit further generates and displays a slicer in the scroll bar image such that a size of the slicer relative to a size of the scroll bar image represents a scale-up rate and a position of the slicer relative to the scroll bar image represents a position of the scaled-up image relative to an original image.

7. An image display method comprising:

establishing a connection between an image display apparatus and an information processing apparatus that processes image data and outputs an image signal, the image display apparatus and the information processing apparatus connected via a device interface;

receiving at the image display apparatus the image signal from the information processing apparatus via the device interface;

generating at the image display apparatus a scroll bar image;

obtaining at the image display apparatus position information based on an instructed position based on a directly pointed display screen without using the device interface;

determining at the image display apparatus whether the position information points to the scroll bar image;

acquiring at the image display apparatus a partial image signal of a partial image corresponding to the position information from the image signal received via the device interface, without transmitting the position information to the information processing apparatus, when the position information is determined to point to the scroll bar image;

synthesizing at the image display apparatus the scroll bar image with the partial image based on the partial image signal acquired by the acquiring step; and

transmitting at the image display apparatus position information to the information processing apparatus so that the image signal which is output from the information processing apparatus is changed based on the position information, when the position information is determined to point to outside of the scroll bar image,

wherein the acquiring acquires a changed partial image signal of a changed partial image from the changed image signal.

8. The image display method according to claim 7, further comprising displaying a scaled-up image,

wherein, the scroll bar image is displayed in superimposed relation to the scaled-up image, and the scroll bar image and a scale-up display image signal are controlled in accordance with the position information.

9. The image display method according to claim 7, further comprising displaying a slicer in the scroll bar image such that a size of the slicer relative to a size of the scroll bar image represents a scale-up rate and a position of the slicer relative to the scroll bar image represents a position of a scaled-up image relative to an original image.

10. A computer readable recording medium storing a control program for causing a computer to implement the image display method of claim 7.