Patent Application
20120229397
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to a Korean patent application filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Mar. 8, 2011 and assigned Serial No. 10-2011-0020285, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a portable terminal, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for selecting desired contents within a text.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable terminals such as mobile terminals, electronic schedulers, and complex terminals have become necessities for many users, due at least in part to the development of electronic communication industries. The portable terminals have developed into important means of information transmission.
Portable terminals may be used to generate and/or provide a variety of documents (e.g., web pages, texts, etc).
Such a portable terminal may provide a function for specifying desired contents via a block indicating the desired contents, when a user of the portable terminal reads or writes a document. For example, while reading text, the user specifies desired contents within the text via a block before copying and storing the desired contents. For another example, when the user edits a text (such as by copying or deleting a part of the contents of the text or by changing the form of a letter or a paragraph), the user initially specifies desired contents via a block.
For example, a user may specify a block using a mouse, by dragging a mouse from a start part of contents to be set by a block to an end part of the contents to be set by the block while pushing a left button of the mouse, and then specifying the block. This method of specifying a block has a disadvantage in that, when the contents to be indicated by the block has a significant length, the user must drag the mouse for a long time in order to specify the block. Such a disadvantage is also present in touch screen terminals.
An aspect of the present invention is to solve at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for easily selecting desired contents on a read text by a block in a portable terminal.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for easily setting contents by a block, even when the contents to be selected on a read text are significantly long.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a method of selecting desired contents within text in a portable terminal is provided. The method includes determining a first position on a first row of the text; determining a second position on a second row of the text; and selecting contents located between the first position and the second position.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for selecting desired contents within text in a portable terminal is provided. The apparatus includes an input for receiving user input; a display unit for displaying the text; and a controller for determining a first position on a first row of the text, determining a second position on a second row of the text, and selecting contents located between the first position and the second position.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of selecting desired portions of content in a portable terminal is provided. The method includes determining a first position on a first row of the content; determining a second position on a second row of the content; and selecting portions of the content located between the first position and the second position.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a portable terminal for selecting desired contents within text is provided. The portable terminal includes a memory; a processor; at least one module stored in the memory and configured for execution by the processor, the at least one module including instructions for determining a first position on a first row of the text, determining a second position on a second row of the text, and selecting contents located between the first position and the second position; and a touch screen for displaying the first position, the second position and the selected contents.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a portable terminal for selecting desired portions of content is provided. The portable terminal includes a memory; a processor; at least one module stored in the memory and configured for execution by the processor, the at least one module including instructions for determining a first position on a first row of the content, determining a second position on a second row of the content, and selecting portions of content located between the first position and the second position; and a touch screen for displaying the first position, the second position and the selected contents.
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of certain embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Embodiments of the present invention are described herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the invention in unnecessary detail. Also, the terms used herein are defined according to the functions of the present invention. That is, the terms used herein must be understood based on the descriptions made herein. Herein, with respect to numbered terms such as “first row” and “second row”, for example, the term “first row” is not limited to a first row in order at the beginning of the content, and similarly, “second row” is not limited to the row immediately following the row at the beginning of the content. Instead, “first row” and “second row” may refer to rows at other locations within the content, and the words “first” and “second” are merely used in order to identify each respective row with respect to the sequence of operations performed with the text. Accordingly, herein, the “first row” and the “second row” may refer to the same or different rows
Embodiments of the present invention described hereinafter relates to a portable terminal. Particularly, embodiments of the prevent invention relate to a method and apparatus for easily selecting desired contents on a text by a block. Embodiments of the prevent invention also relate to a method and apparatus for easily selecting desired contents on an image file by a block, and a method and apparatus for easily selecting, by a block, desired contents on a multimedia electronic file.
Referring to
The touch screen unit 11, which is a touch-sensitive display, provides an input signal according to a touch of a user to the controller 14, and receives and displays display data corresponding to the input signal according to control of the controller 14. The input provided to the touch screen unit 11 may be according to one or more touches.
The storage unit 12, which may also be referred to as a memory, stores a program for controlling an overall operation of the touch screen terminal and a variety of data input and output when a control operation of the touch screen terminal is performed. The storage unit 12 includes at least one software module (not shown) that includes instructions for determining a first position on a first row of the text and determining a second position on a second row of the text, and selecting contents located between the first position and the second position may be included. The storage unit 12 also includes at least one software module (not shown) that includes instructions for determining a first position on a first row of the content and to determine a second position on a second row of the content, and selecting portions of the content located between the first position and the second position. The software modules are configured for execution by the controller 14. The software modules include instructions for selecting desired contents on a text or/and on an image file or/and on a multimedia electronic file by a block.
The controller 14 controls an overall operation of the touch screen terminal. Hereinafter, a method of selecting desired contents on a text according to an embodiment of the present invention in the controller 14 is described in detail with reference to drawings. The controller 14 may include one or more processors.
Referring to
If the first touch point is generated, the controller 14 controls display of a first cursor corresponding to the first touch point in the touch screen unit 11, in step 203. The first cursor indicates a start position of contents to be specified by a block.
The controller 14 verifies whether a second touch point is generated, in step 205.
If the second touch point is generated, the controller 14 controls display of the second cursor corresponding to the second touch point on the touch screen unit 11, in step 209. The second cursor indicates an end position of the contents to be specified by the block. The controller 14 reverses colors of contents that exist between the first cursor and the second cursor, and selects the reversed contents via a block, in step 209.
However, if the second touch point is not generated, the controller 14 verifies whether the first cursor is released, in step 213. The first cursor may be released to re-determine a start position of contents to be specified by a block. For example, the first curser may be released when the user touches a blank area within a text. If the first touch point is released, the controller 14 returns to step 201. If the first touch point is not released, the controller 14 remains at steps 205 and 206 until a second touch point is generated or the first cursor is released.
According to some embodiments of the present invention, the method of
A menu window for selecting functions capable of executing contents selected by a block may be provided through a pop-up display element. The functions in the pop-up display element may include a copy function, a storage function, etc.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the first touch point and the second touch point may be simultaneously generated. For example, the user may simultaneously generate two touch points by using two fingers. At this time, a start position and an end position of a block corresponding to the respective touch points are determined. As described above, the touch points may be displayed as cursors. The range of contents selected by a block may be modified to a more accurate range through a process of moving either of the first and second touch points after they are initially generated.
Referring to
If the user performs a second touch, the second touch point 303 is generated and a second cursor 307 corresponding to the second touch point 303 is displayed. The second cursor 307 indicates an end of the block. A color of contents that exist between the first cursor 305 and the second cursor 307 is reversed and the reversed contents are selected by the block.
The contents selected by the block may be letters, words, or sentences, for example, according to a range of the first cursor 305 and the second cursor 307. As shown in
The cursors 305 and 307 corresponding to the touch points 301 and 303 may be displayed near or on letters that are closest to the touch points 301 and 303.
A menu window for selecting functions capable of executing the contents selected by the block may be displayed as a pop-up window. The functions within the menu window may include a copy function, a storage function, etc.
Referring to
Referring to
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the text selected by the block may only include a displayed part of the contents existing between the first cursor 501 and the second cursor 503, while excluding contents 507 included within the region 505.
Referring to
Although embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to a touch screen terminal, the present invention is not limited to the touch screen terminal. More specifically, other forms of input, such as a mouse and a keypad, may be applied to a terminal in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. For example, if a user performs a first click using the mouse, a start position corresponding to a first point is determined. If the user performs a second click using the mouse, an end position of the block corresponding to a second point is determined. In this manner, the block is specified according to the respective positions corresponding to the first and second mouse clicks.
Although embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to contents selected from within text, the present invention is not limited to such a selection. More specifically, contents within other types of data such as an image file and/or an electronic multimedia file may also be selected in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
As described herein, according to embodiments of the prevent invention, a user may easily select desired contents within a read text in a portable terminal. While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to certain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2011-0020285 | Mar 2011 | KR | national |
