Information processing apparatus and pointing control method

• US 8,937,590 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Issued: 01/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Client Solutions CO., Ltd. (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Hachiya, Koji, Terada, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sharifi-Tafreshi, Koosha
• Application Number:
  US12/976,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20110157014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,490 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/157, 345173-175, 345/1.1, 178/18.01, 178/18.03, 715/856, 715/740, 709/217, 709/203, 709/224, 709/230
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus comprises a touch screen display, a display controller, a copy screen image display module and a pointing module. The display controller is configured to control the touch screen display and an external display. The copy screen image display module is configured to display on a screen of the touch screen display a copy screen image which is obtained by copying a screen image which is displayed on a screen of the external display. The pointing module is configured to designate a position on the screen image of the external display, the position corresponding to a touch position on the copy screen image, based on a relative position of the touch position in relation to the copy screen image.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a touch screen display having a first resolution;

a connector to which an external display is connected;

a display controller configured to display on the touch screen display a first screen image corresponding to a first region of a virtual screen, and to display on the external display a second screen image corresponding to a second region of the virtual screen different from the first region, wherein the external display has a second resolution greater than the first resolution, a size of the first region is set to be equal to the first resolution, a size of the second region is set to be equal to the second resolution, and the second screen image is different from the first screen image;

a copy screen image display controller configured to copy display data which is stored in a first frame buffer for the external display and corresponds to the second screen image, to generate a copy screen image by reducing the copied display data, and to display the copy screen image on a window of a first application program which is opened on the first screen image by storing display data corresponding to the copy screen image in a second frame buffer for the touch screen display; and

a pointing controller configured to perform a process of pointing a first position on the second screen image of the external display in accordance with a touch position on the copy screen image displayed on the window, wherein the first position on the second screen image is determined based on a relative position of the touch position in relation to the copy screen image displayed on the window,

wherein the copy screen image display controller is configured to execute repeatedly the generation of the copy screen image and the display of the copy screen image.

2. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the copy screen image display controller is configured to display a screen image corresponding to a part of the second screen image of the external display on the window of the first application program which is opened on the first screen image of the touch screen display, if the part of the second screen image of the external display is designated by a user as a copy region.

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

a virtual keyboard display module configured to display a virtual keyboard on the screen of the touch screen display, the virtual keyboard comprising a plurality of virtual keys for inputting key codes; and

a code data generating module configured to select a virtual key from the plurality of virtual keys, which corresponds to a touch position on the screen of the touch screen display, and to generate code data corresponding to the selected virtual key.

6. The information processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pointing controller is configured to convert a coordinate of the touch position to a coordinate of the first position, based on the relative position of the touch position in relation to the copy screen image.

4. A pointing method for designating a position on a screen image which is displayed on a screen of an external display connected to a connector of an information processing apparatus, in accordance with a touch position on a touch screen display of the information processing apparatus, the touch screen display having a first resolution, the method comprising:

displaying on the touch screen display a first screen image corresponding to a first region of a virtual screen and displaying on the external display a second screen image corresponding to a second region of the virtual screen different from the first region, wherein the external display has a second resolution greater than the first resolution, a size of the first region is set to be equal to the first resolution, a size of the second region is set to be equal to the second resolution, and the second screen image is different from the first screen image;

copying display data which is stored in a first frame buffer for the external display and corresponds to the second screen image;

generating a copy screen image obtained by reducing the copied display data;

displaying the copy screen image on a window of a first application program which is opened on the first screen image of the touch screen display by storing display data corresponding to the copy screen image in a second frame buffer for the touch screen display; and

performing a process of pointing a first position on the second screen image of the external display in accordance with a touch position on the copy screen image displayed on the window, wherein the first position on the second screen image is determined based on a relative position of the touch position in relation to the copy screen image displayed on the window,

wherein the generating of the copy screen image and the displaying the copy screen image are repeatedly executed.

5. The pointing method of claim 4, wherein said displaying the copy screen image comprises displaying a screen image corresponding to a part of the second screen image of the external display on the window of the first application program which is opened on the first screen image of the touch screen display, if the part of the second screen image of the external display is designated by a user as a copy region.

7. The pointing method of claim 4, wherein the performing comprises converting a coordinate of the touch position to a coordinate of the first position, based on the relative position of the touch position in relation to the copy screen image.