Patent Application
20140320426
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-091486, filed Apr. 24, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments described herein relate generally to a technique for controlling the luminance of a touch screen display in an electronic apparatus.
In recent years, various battery-powered and easily-carried electronic apparatuses, including tablet terminals and smartphones, have been developed. Most of these electronic apparatuses are equipped with touch screen displays in order to facilitate user's input operations.
A user can give an electronic apparatus an instruction for performing a function related to an icon or menu displayed on the touch screen display by touching it with his/her finger or a pen.
The above electronic apparatuses are also equipped with various power saving functions in order to increase the continuous operating time with battery driving. One of them is controlling the luminance of the touch screen display in accordance with a situation.
An input operation using the touch screen display is applied to enter a document in an electronic apparatus in handwriting, in addition to give an instruction thereto. Lately, for example, there are cases where a user attends a meeting with an electronic apparatus as described above, and he/she makes a memorandum by performing handwriting input to the touch screen display.
On the other hand, there is a technique for controlling the luminance of a touch screen display in accordance with the surrounding brightness detected by an illumination sensor, as the above luminance control technique using the situation. In many cases, this illumination sensor is provided close to the periphery of the display surface of the touch screen display.
While a handwriting input to the touch screen display is being performed, there are cases where the illumination sensor (that is provided close to the periphery of the display surface of the touch screen display) is covered by the user's hand. In this case, the illuminance value detected by the illumination sensor may be varied. As a result, the luminance of the touch screen display could vary. It is not preferable for the luminance of the touch screen display to vary in the course of a handwriting input to the touch screen display.
A general architecture that implements the various features of the embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate the embodiments and not to limit the scope of the invention.
Various embodiments will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In general, according to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a touch screen display, an illumination sensor, a controller and a setting module. The controller is configured to control luminance of the touch screen display based on a signal from the illumination sensor. The setting switch is configured to turn off control of the luminance by the controller to avoid a variation in luminance of the touch screen display, while an input to the touch screen display is performed.
An electronic apparatus of this embodiment can be implemented using a portable electronic apparatus that permits a touch input with a pen or a finger. Examples of this portable electronic apparatus include a tablet terminal, a notebook personal computer, a smartphone, and a personal digital assistant (PDA).
The tablet terminal 1 includes a main body 11, a touch screen display 12, a camera 13 and an illumination sensor 14. The touch screen display 12 is attached to the upper surface of the main body 11 and is stacked thereon. The camera 13 and the illumination sensor 14 are arranged on the upper surface of the main body 11 and close to the periphery of the display surface of the touch screen display 12. The camera 13 is disposed close to an edge of the upper surface of the main body 11 and in the middle of the side, in order to face the lens toward a subject easily. In general, the lens of the camera 13 is less likely to be covered by a user's hand. In the light of this fact, the illumination sensor 14 is disposed close to the camera 13 (in order not to be covered by the user's hand).
The main body 11 has a thin box-shaped casing. The touch screen display 12 contains a flat panel display, and a sensor configured to detect a position of a screen in the flat panel display with which a pen or a finger makes contact. The flat panel display may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD). The sensor may be, for example, a capacitive touch panel or an electromagnetic induction type digitizer. Hereinafter, it is assumed that two sensors, or a touch panel and a digitizer, are incorporated in the touch screen display 12.
Both the touch panel and the digitizer cover the screen of the flat panel display. The touch screen display 12 can detect a touch input to the screen with the finger as well as the pen. The pen may be, for example, an electromagnetic induction type pen. The user can perform a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 by using the pen or the finger. A path of the handwriting input (handwriting) which is described by the pen or the finger is displayed on the screen.
The illumination sensor 14 is a device configured to control the luminance of the touch screen display 12 in accordance with the surrounding brightness. As described above, the illumination sensor 14 is disposed close to the camera 13 (that is less likely to be covered by the user's hand), in order not to be covered by the user's hand.
Even when the illumination sensor 14 is disposed close to the camera 13, however, it is still likely to be covered by the user's hand in the course of a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12. If the illumination sensor 14 is covered by the user's hand, the illuminance value sensed by the illumination sensor 14 may be varied. As a result, the luminance of the touch screen display could vary. It is not desirable for the luminance of the touch screen display 12 to vary in the course of a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12. The tablet terminal 1 includes a mechanism for preventing the luminance of the touch screen display 12 from varying in the course of a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12. This mechanism will be described below in detail.
As illustrated in
The CPU 101 is a processor configured to control individual operations of various modules in the tablet terminal 1. The CPU 101 is configured to execute various types of software to be loaded from the nonvolatile memory 106 to the main memory 103. These types of software include an operating system (OS) 201, and a screen luminance control utility program 202 and a handwriting input application program 203 that are operative under the control of the OS 201. The handwriting input application program 203 is a program configured to accept a touch input to the touch screen display 12. The function of displaying a path of a handwriting input (handwriting) to the screen, as described above, is provided by the handwriting input application program 203. The screen luminance control utility program 202 will be described later.
The CPU 101 is also configured to execute a basic input output system (BIOS) stored in the BIOS-ROM 105. The BIOS is a program for controlling the hardware.
The system controller 102 is a device configured to connect a local bus of the CPU 101 to each component. The system controller 102 includes a built-in memory controller configured to control access to the main memory 103. In addition, the system controller 102 is also configured to communicate with the graphics controller 104, for example, via a serial bus that conforms to the PCI EXPRESS specification. Furthermore, the system controller 102 includes a luminance controller 102A configured to control the luminance of the touch screen display 12 (LCD 12A), based on a signal from the illumination sensor 14. The control function of the luminance controller 102A can be turned on or off, in response to a command issued to the system controller 102.
The graphics controller 104 is a display controller configured to control the LCD 12A to be used as a display monitor of the tablet terminal 1. A signal generated by the graphics controller 104 is supplied to the LCD 12A. The LCD 12A is configured to display a screen image, based on this signal. A touch panel 12B and a digitizer 12C are disposed on the LCD 12A. The touch panel 12B is a capacitive pointing device for performing an input to the screen of the LCD 12A. A position of the screen with which the finger makes contact is detected by the touch panel 12B. The digitizer 12C is an electromagnetic induction type pointing device for performing an input to the screen of the LCD 12A. A position of the screen with which the pen (stylus) makes contact is detected by the digitizer 12C.
The wireless communication device 107 is a device configured to wirelessly communicate in accordance with a wireless LAN or a 3G mobile communication, for example. The EC 108 is a single-chip microcomputer including an embedded controller for controlling the electricity. The EC 108 is configured to power on or off the tablet terminal 1 in response to a user's operation of a power button.
Next, a description will be given of a function of the screen luminance control utility program 202 operating in the tablet terminal 1, with reference to
As illustrated in
As described above, the touch screen display 12 is configured to detect an operation of touching the screen through the touch panel 12B or the digitizer 12C. The handwriting input application program 203 is configured to: receive a signal from the touch panel 12B or the digitizer 12C; describe a path (handwriting) of a handwritten input; and display it on the touch screen display 12 (LCD 12A) through the graphics controller 104. In addition, the luminance controller 102A is configured to control the luminance of the touch screen display 12 (LCD 12A), based on an illuminance value detected by the illumination sensor 14.
The handwriting input detector 31 is a module configured to detect that the tablet terminal 1 moves into a state where a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 would be performed. The screen luminance controller 32 is a module configured to turn off the control function of the luminance controller 102A, when the tablet terminal 1 moves into the state where a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 would be performed. The luminance controller 102A has setting information 301 for enabling the function of controlling the luminance of the touch screen display 12 to be switched on or off. The screen luminance controller 32 is configured to turn off the control function of the luminance controller 102A, by issuing a command for updating the setting information 301 in the luminance controller 102A to the system controller 102. Thus, the screen luminance control utility program 202 can be a program configured to prevent the luminance of the touch screen display 12 from varying in the course of a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12.
Examples of a method in which the handwriting input detector 31 detects that the tablet terminal 1 moves into a state where a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 would be performed can be considered to include two methods: (1) a method of monitoring an output of a signal from the touch panel 12B or the digitizer 12C (a1 in
As illustrated in
The handwriting input detector 31 also detects that the tablet terminal 1 moves out of a state where a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 would be performed. More concretely, the handwriting input detector 31 determines that the tablet terminal 1 moves out of a state in which a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 would be performed, (1) when an output of a signal from the touch panel 12B or the digitizer 12C is interrupted beyond a predetermined period, (2) when the handwriting input application program 203 is terminated, or the like.
When the tablet terminal 1 moves out of a state in which a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 would be performed, the screen luminance controller 32 turns on the control function of the luminance controller 102A again.
If sensing a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 (or sensing the presence of the stylus at a nearby site) (YES in Block A1), the tablet terminal 1 turns off the function of controlling the luminance of the touch screen display 12 which is based on the illuminance value sensed by the illumination sensor 14 (Block A2).
After turning off the function of controlling the luminance of the touch screen display 12, the tablet terminal 1 monitors whether or not the handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 continues (Block A3). If the handwriting input has not continued (NO in Block A3), the tablet terminal 1 checks whether or not the predetermined period has passed since the handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 is interrupted (Block A4).
If the predetermined period has passed since the handwriting input to the touch screen display 12 is interrupted (YES in Block A4), the tablet terminal 1 turns on the function of controlling the luminance of the touch screen display 12 which is based on the illuminance value sensed by the illumination sensor 14 again (Block A5).
If a program configured to accept a handwriting input to the touch screen display 12, or the handwriting input application program 203, is activated (YES in Block B1), the tablet terminal 1 turns off the function of controlling the luminance of the touch screen display 12 which is based on the illuminance value sensed by the illumination sensor 14 (Block B2).
After turning off the function of controlling the luminance of the touch screen display 12, the tablet terminal 1 monitors whether or not the handwriting input application program 203 has been terminated (Block B3). If the handwriting input application program 203 has been terminated (YES in Block B3), the tablet terminal 1 turns on the function of controlling the luminance of the touch screen display 12 which is based on the illuminance value sensed by the illumination sensor 14 again (Block B4).
In this way, the tablet terminal 1 prevents the luminance of the touch screen display from varying in the course of a handwriting input to the touch screen display.
The procedure in each embodiment can be implemented using software (program). Therefore, it is possible to easily produce the effect of each embodiment, simply by installing the above program in a general-purpose computer from a computer-readable storage medium and executing it.
The various modules of the systems described herein can be implemented as software applications, hardware and/or software modules, or components on one or more computers, such as servers. While the various modules are illustrated separately, they may share some or all of the same underlying logic or code.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-091486 | Apr 2013 | JP | national |
