Operation device, information processing apparatus comprising operation device, and operation receiving method for information processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016291833-A1
Application number	US-201615178383-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 9, 2016
Priority date	Oct 21, 2014
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An operation device includes a touch panel, a detection unit, and a line drawing determination unit. The touch panel detects a contact position where an object has contacted, and outputs a result of detection. The detection unit detects a trace from a start position of contact to an end position of the contact based on the result of the detection output by the touch panel, and detects a change of an area or a width of the contact of the object with the touch panel from the start position to the end position with time. The line drawing determination unit determines whether a line drawing operation to divide the touch panel by a straight line has been performed based on the trace and the change of the area or the width with time detected by the detection unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An operation device comprising:
a touch panel which detects a contact position where an external object has contacted, and outputs a result of detection; a detection unit which detects a trace from a start position where the object has started to contact the touch panel to an end position where the object has come away from the touch panel based on the result of the detection output by the touch panel, and detects a change of an area or a width of contact of the object with the touch panel from the start position to the end position with time; and a line drawing determination unit which determines whether a line drawing operation to divide the touch panel by a straight line has been performed based on the trace and the change of the area or the width with time detected by the detection unit.

2 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein the line drawing determination unit determines that the line drawing operation has been performed when the detection unit detects that the object has moved from one end to the other end in the touch panel.

3 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein
the detection unit is configured to detect the width of the contact of the object based on the result of the detection output by the touch panel, and the line drawing determination unit determines that the line drawing operation has been performed when the width detected by the detection unit gradually decreases from the start position to the end position.

4 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein
the detection unit is configured to detect a predicted width of the contact of the object at the end of the touch panel based on the result of the detection output by the touch panel, and the line drawing determination unit determines that the line drawing operation has been performed when the predicted width is less than or equal to a predetermined value.

5 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein
the detection unit is configured to detect a moving velocity of the object on the touch panel based on the result of the detection output by the touch panel, and the line drawing determination unit determines that the line drawing operation has been performed when the moving velocity is equal to or more than a predetermined value.

6 . The operation device according to claim 1 , wherein
the touch panel is a capacitance type touch panel, the detection unit is configured to detect a change of capacitance detected by the touch panel, and the line drawing determination unit determines that the line drawing operation has been performed when the capacitance detected by the detection unit has gradually decreased from one end to the other end in the touch panel along with a movement of the object.

7 . An information processing apparatus comprising:
the operation device according to claim 1 ; a display unit over which the touch panel is provided and which displays an image; a closed region determination unit which determines whether a closed region has been formed in a display region of the display unit based on results of determinations by the line drawing determination unit; and an image processing unit which trims a region corresponding to the closed region from the image to generate trimmed image data when the closed region determination unit determines that the closed region has been formed.

8 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising:
an imaging unit which images a subject and generates image data regarding the subject; an imaging control unit which controls a photography operation of the imaging unit; and a display control unit which causes the display unit to display an image corresponding to the image data generated by the imaging unit, wherein the imaging control unit causes the imaging unit to perform photography when the closed region determination unit determines that the closed region has been formed, and the image processing unit trims the closed region in the image corresponding to the image data generated by the imaging unit to generate trimmed image data.

9 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the display control unit causes the display unit to display the trace described by the line drawing operation.

10 . An operation receiving method for an information processing apparatus comprising an operation device, the operation device comprising a touch panel which detects a contact position where an external object has contacted and then outputs a result of detection, the operation receiving method comprising:
detecting a trace from a start position where the object has started to contact the touch panel to an end position where the object has come away from the touch panel based on the result of the detection output by the touch panel; detecting a change of an area or a width of contact of the object with the touch panel from the start position to the end position with time; and determining whether a line drawing operation to divide the touch panel by a straight line has been performed based on the trace and the change of the area or the width with time.

Assignees

• Olympus Corp

Inventors

• Ugawa Akira
• Osada Reisuke

Classifications

• H04N23/00

  Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof · CPC title

• H04N23/635

  Region indicators; Field of view indicators · CPC title

• H04N23/62

  Control of parameters via user interfaces · CPC title

• H04N23/632

  for displaying or modifying preview images prior to image capturing, e.g. variety of image resolutions or capturing parameters · CPC title

• G06F3/0416 Primary

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title