Apparatus and method for processing drag and drop

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10838612-B2
Application number	US-201514819694-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 6, 2015
Priority date	Aug 13, 2014
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for processing a drag and drop are provided. The apparatus includes a touch screen configured to display a portion of content including an object and a control module configured to identify the object as a draggable object, determine whether a predetermined touch input associated with the identified object is detected, detect whether an intended drop area associated with the identified object exists in a remaining portion of content when the predetermined touch input is detected, and display a drop area indicator corresponding to the intended drop area on the touch screen.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic apparatus comprising:
a touch screen configured to display at least part of a content, wherein a display area of the content is larger than a display area of the touch screen; and
at least one processor configured to:
display a first portion of the content on the touch screen without displaying a second portion of the content, the second portion of the content being a remaining portion of the content except the first portion,
identify an object in the content as a draggable object,
determine whether a predetermined touch input associated with the identified object is detected,
when the predetermined touch input is detected, determine whether one or more intended drop areas associated with the identified object exists in the second portion of the content, and
control the touch screen to display, when a plurality of intended drop areas are associated with the identified object, a plurality of drop area indicators corresponding to the intended drop areas on the touch screen by overlaying the drop area indicators on the first portion of the content.

2. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify the object as the draggable object from among a plurality of objects displayed on the touch screen.

3. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine whether the touch input associated with the identified object is maintained for a predetermined time,
when the touch input is maintained for the predetermined time, determine whether the touch input is dragged more than at least one of a predetermined distance or a predetermined speed, and
when the touch input is dragged more than the predetermined distance or over the predetermined speed, determine that the predetermined touch input is detected.

4. The electronic apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, when the touch input detected on the identified object is maintained for the predetermined time and the drag of the touch input is not detected, control the touch screen to visually indicate that the identified object is draggable.

5. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify a non-draggable object displayed on the touch screen, and
display the draggable object to be distinguished from the non-draggable object.

6. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine at least one of a number, a location, or a size of the intended drop areas,
adjust at least one of the number, the location, or the size of the drop area indicators to correspond to at least one of the determined number, location, or size of the intended drop areas, and
display the adjusted drop area indicators on the touch screen.

7. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to display a path from the object in which the touch input is detected to the intended drop areas as a guide line.

8. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the touch screen is further configured to, when the touch input detected on the object is dragged to a drop area indicator, enlarge and display a size of an intended drop area to which the object is dragged.

9. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
when the touch input associated with the object is dragged to a drop area indicator, move to the second portion of the content corresponding to an intended drop area, and
display the second portion of the content corresponding to the intended drop area on the touch screen.

10. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, when the touch input associated with the object is dragged to a drop area indicator, display the second portion of the content corresponding to an intended drop area overlapping with the touch screen.

11. The electronic apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, when a number of drop area indicators is more than a predetermined number, display the second portion of the content corresponding to an intended drop area overlapping with the touch screen.

12. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, when the touch input associated with the object is dragged to an area which is not associated with a drop area indicator, remove the drop area indicators from the touch screen.

13. A method of processing a drag and a drop in an electronic apparatus having a touch screen, the method comprising:
displaying a first portion of a content on the touch screen without displaying a second portion of the content, the second portion of the content being a remaining portion of the content except the first portion, wherein a display area of the content is larger than a display area of the touch screen;
identifying an object in the content as a draggable object;
determining whether a predetermined touch input associated with the identified object is detected;
when the predetermined touch input is detected, determining whether one or more intended drop areas associated with the identified object exists in the second portion of the content; and
displaying, when a plurality of intended drop areas are associated with the identified object, a plurality of drop area indicators corresponding to the intended drop areas on the touch screen by overlaying the drop area indicators on the first portion of the content.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the identifying of the object as the draggable object comprises identifying the object from among a plurality of objects displayed on the touch screen.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the determining of whether a predetermined touch input is detected comprises:
determining whether the touch input associated with the identified object is maintained for a predetermined time;
when the touch input is maintained for the predetermined time, determining whether the touch input is dragged more than at least one of a predetermined distance or a predetermined speed; and
when the touch input is dragged more than the predetermined distance or over the predetermined speed, determining that the predetermined touch input is detected.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the determining of whether the intended drop areas associated with the identified object exists comprises:
determining at least one of a number, a location, or a size of the intended drop areas;
displaying a drop area indicator corresponding to each detected intended drop area;
adjusting at least one of a number, a location, or a size of the drop area indicators to correspond to at least one of the determined number, the location, or the size; and
displaying the adjusted drop area indicators on the touch screen.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the displaying of the drop area indicators comprises displaying a path from the object in which the touch input is detected to the drop area indicators on the touch screen as a guide line.

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising, when the touch input associated with the object is dragged to a drop area indicator, enlarging and displaying a size of an intended drop area to which the object is dragged.

19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
when the touch input associated with the object is dragge

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jwa Changhyup
• Kim Kyungtae
• Bae Hyerim
• Lee Jungjik
• Kim Yangwook
• Lee Sunkee

Classifications

• G06F3/0486 Primary

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0488

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title