Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-24
2001-12-11
Nguyen, Cao H. (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S111000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330009
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scroll controller capable of converting data into an image which can be visually displayed and visually displaying the image, which scroll controller may be suitably embodied in personal computers and small electronic apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, as a so-called scroll control in a small electronic apparatus, there has been a technology of conducting a scroll operation by setting a moving direction and a moving quantity by points as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 9-69037 (1997) for example.
FIGS. 13A and 13B
are a diagrammatic view and a graph for explaining the related art scroll operation. An outer frame
83
in
FIG. 13A
denotes an edge of a scroll area of a display screen of a display device, i.e., a visual display area where an image scroll operation is carried out.
A reference point
85
is set at the center of the scroll area. A specified point
130
is a point within the scroll area corresponding to a point which has been inputted and specified by an user of the electronic apparatus through a coordinate input device.
When the specified point
130
is specified, a central processing unit scrolls a part of data image displayed on the display screen of the display device so that an image displayed at the position of the specified point
130
is displayed at the position of the reference point
85
via six relay points
131
.
That is, the image which has been displayed right under the point where the user has pressed the coordinate input device
13
is scrolled so as to be positioned at the center of the display device
12
step by step. The scroll is performed so as to switch images for example in this prior art example.
A moving quantity of one step in scrolling the image is specified to be equal to a distance obtained by dividing the distance between the reference point
85
and the specified point
130
into seven equal parts for example. The image is switched and scrolled by {fraction (1/7)} of the distance between the reference point
85
and the specified point
130
in the first step and then it is scrolled to the position of {fraction (2/7)} of the distance between the reference point
85
and the specified point
130
in the second step. The image which has been displayed at the position of the specified point
130
is displayed at the position of the reference point
85
by repeating the above-mentioned procedure by seven times. Accordingly, the greater the distance between the reference point
85
and the specified point
130
, the greater the distance of one step where the image is scrolled becomes.
The image is scrolled in the direction from the specified point
130
to the reference point
85
in the scroll operation of this prior art example. That is, when the point
130
is specified, the image is scrolled in the direction indicated by a vector
132
, i.e., in the upper left direction, in this prior art example.
FIG. 13B
is a graph showing the relationship between a time and a speed in scrolling the image of this case. Assuming a time required for scrolling from the specified point
130
to the relay point
131
a
is t
10
and the speed from the specified point
130
to the relay point
131
a
is s
10
, the moving distance of one step may be represented as “t10×s10”.
The moving distance between the respective remaining points may be represented as “t10×s10” in the same manner and the moving speed in each unit time from the specified point
130
to the reference point
85
is constant. Thus, the electronic apparatus
11
of this prior art example can scroll the image stepwise in any direction.
However, the above-mentioned prior art technology has had a problem that because the scroll speed is all the same, it confuses the user because the image moves quickly to the specified position and the moving directionality cannot be get when a display device such as a liquid crystal display whose display processing speed is low is used.
Further, the related art technology has another problem that it becomes difficult to confirm a scroll quantity as the scroll speed increases and that the scroll had to be released in order to confirm the scroll quantity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Hence, a primary object of the invention is to provide a scroll controller capable of scrolling an image in an arbitrary direction when a pen is touched to an image and immediately separated therefrom, and starting and ending a scroll of an image with different scroll quantities from that of the other time of the scroll.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a scroll controller capable of confirming a scroll quantity by changing an image moving speed in accordance to a moving distance of a tip of the pen when the tip of the pen is continuously touched to an image and by informing that an image at specified coordinates has been scrolled to a fixed coordinate position.
The invention provides a scroll controller comprising a storage device for storing image information; a display device for displaying the image information stored in the memory device; a position specifying device for specifying the coordinate position of the image information displayed on the display device; a calculating device for calculating a difference between prefixed coordinates and the coordinate position specified by the position specifying device; a scroll quantity setting device for setting a scroll quantity per unit time on the basis of a calculation result of the calculating device; and a scroll control device for scrolling the image information on the basis of the scroll quantity set by the scroll quantity setting device.
In the invention it is preferable that the scroll quantity setting device sets scrolling quantities so that a scroll starts and ends with different scrolling quantities from that of the other time of the scroll.
In the invention it is preferable that when a plurality of scroll operations by the scroll control device are carried out consecutively, the scroll quantity setting device increments a scroll quantity per unit time operation by operation.
As mentioned above, according to the invention, the scroll controller comprises the position specifying device, e.g., a so-called tablet. Then, an operator is allowed to scroll an image in any direction by touching a pen to the tablet and immediately separating the pen therefrom. Further, since the scroll controller is arranged so as to start and end the scroll operation with different scroll quantities from that of the other time, the operator can readily recognize the moving directionality. Still more, since the scroll quantity per unit time increases when the scroll operation is consecutively carried out a plurality of times, the scroll operation of a long distance may be performed in a short time.
The invention provides a scroll controller comprising a storage device for storing image information; a display device for displaying the image information stored in the memory device; a position specifying device for specifying the coordinate position of the image information displayed on the display device; a calculating device for calculating a difference between prefixed coordinates and the coordinate position specified by the position specifying device; a scrolling device for scrolling the image information at the specified coordinate position to the fixed coordinate position based on the calculation result of the calculating device; and a notifying device for notifying at the point of time when the image at the specified coordinates is scrolled to the fixed coordinates by the scrolling device.
As mentioned above, according to the invention the scroll controller comprises the position specifying device, e.g., a so-called tablet. In the case that the operator continuously touches the pen to the tablet, when the image at the specified coordinates is scrolled to the fixed coordinate position, the scroll controller notifies that the scroll has carried out to the fixed coordinate position
Isoe Toshio
Murasaki Yasushi
Nguyen Cao H.
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
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