This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-145355, filed May 31, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
One embodiment of this invention generally relates to a mobile device, data transfer method and data transfer system which perform data transfer with respect to various devices which can be accessed on a wireless network, and more particularly to a mobile device, data transfer method and data transfer system which specify a data transfer partner by use of a touch panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, mobile devices such as portable telephones and portable information terminals (PDA) are widely and popularly used. The mobile devices generally include displays, key operating sections and the like as user interfaces. Further, the functionality of each mobile device is enhanced by additionally providing a global positioning system (GPS) function, wireless network function and other functions.
Concomitant with the developments in mobile devices, most users store various data items such as music, photographs, moving pictures and maps in such mobile devices. Further, in the facilities and fields where the users come together, each user links his own mobile device with a mobile device of the other user by use of the wireless network function and can commonly utilize the above various data items with the other users by performing data transfer between the mobile devices. The user interface is used to specify a desired mobile device as a data transfer partner when it is required to perform data transfer.
Conventionally, the wireless network is configured by use of a plurality of mobile devices having GPS functions in some cases. Each mobile device acquires position information from the other mobile device capable of communicating therewith and displays an identification code of the other mobile device together with a mark arranged in the coordinate position corresponding to the position information on the display. In this case, the data transfer partner is specified by operating the key operating section to input the identification code. Further, there is provided a system which selects one of candidates displayed on the display by operating the key operating section or touch panel and specifies a data transfer partner (for example, refer to Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. H11-98218).
However, it is necessary for each user to retrieve the data transfer partner on the display and operate the key operating section or touch panel even when the user knows the other user who has the mobile device of the data transfer partner is present right next to him, and this imposes a burden on the user. Further, since the mark of the mobile device is displayed on the display with the upper end set to indicate the north, for example, the user may fail to recognize the correct data transfer partner. In this case, if it is supposed that the user views the display with a southern aspect, a mobile device adjacent on the right side is indicated by a mark displayed on the left side on the display and a mobile device adjacent on the left side is indicated by a mark displayed on the right side on the display.
A general architecture that implements the various features of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.
Various embodiments according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.
According to one embodiment of this invention, there is provided a mobile device including a communicating section which is linked with various devices accessible on a wireless network, a touch panel which detects a contact point of a pointer, and a control section which determines a moving direction of the pointer based on the detection result of the touch panel, selects one of various devices which lies in an azimuth range with the moving direction of the pointer set as a reference as a data transfer partner and controls the communicating section to perform data transfer with respect to the data transfer partner.
According to one embodiment of this invention, there is provided a data transfer method in a mobile device including a communicating section linked with various devices accessible on a wireless network and a touch panel used to detect a contact point of a pointer, which includes determining a moving direction of the pointer based on the detection result of the touch panel, selecting one of various devices which lies in an azimuth range with the moving direction of the pointer set as a reference as a data transfer partner, and controlling the communicating section to perform data transfer with respect to the data transfer partner.
According to one embodiment of this invention, there is provided a data transfer system comprising various devices provided on a wireless network, and a mobile device which includes a communicating section linked with the various devices accessible on the wireless network, a touch panel which detects a contact point of a pointer, and a control section which determines a moving direction of the pointer based on the detection result of the touch panel, selects one of the various devices which lies in an azimuth range with the moving direction of the pointer set as a reference as a data transfer partner and controls the communicating section to perform data transfer with respect to the data transfer partner, wherein the control section of the mobile device is configured to measure the position of the mobile device to generate position information, cause the communicating section to issue a call to which the position information generated as the measurement result and direction information relating to the moving direction of the pointer are added, cause the communicating section to confirm a response from one of the various devices and select the device as a data transfer partner and each of the various devices is configured to confirm that the device itself lies in an azimuth range specified by the position information and direction information added to the call and respond to the call.
In the above mobile device, data transfer method and data transfer system, the moving direction of the pointer is determined based on the detection result of the touch panel, one of the various devices which lies in the azimuth range with the moving direction of the pointer set as a reference is selected as a data transfer partner, and the communicating section is controlled to perform data transfer with respect to the data transfer partner. If the user moves the pointer in a desired direction on the touch panel, one of the various devices accessible on the wireless network which lies in the azimuth range with the moving direction of the pointer set as a reference is selected as a data transfer partner. In this case, it is not necessary for the user to retrieve the data transfer partner based on information in the mobile device. Further, the data transfer partner can be prevented from being erroneously retrieved in the retrieval process. Therefore, the load on the user caused when the data transfer partner is specified can be alleviated.
The data transfer system according to a first embodiment of this invention is explained below.
The mobile device shown in
The mobile device further includes a hard disk drive 18, input interface 19, key set 20, USB controller 21, audio controller 22, input and output controller 23 and power supply circuit 24 which are connected to the CPU 11 via the bus. The hard disk drive 18 stores various data items such as music, photographs, moving pictures, maps and application software. The input interface 19 is connected to the key set 20 configured by a plurality of keys arranged in positions adjacent to the liquid crystal display 15 and inputs data generated in accordance with the operation of the keys. The USB controller 21 is connected to a USB terminal 25 and controls a unit connected to the USB terminal 25. The audio controller 22 is connected to a headphone terminal 26 and outputs a sound to the headphone terminal 26. The input and output controller 23 is connected to a global positioning system (GPS) module 27 and wireless local area network (LAN) module 28 to control the GPS module 27 and wireless LAN module 28. The GPS module 27 receives radio waves emitted from a plurality of GPS satellites, measures the present position of the mobile device itself based on the received radio waves and generates position information. The wireless LAN module 28 is a communicating section linked with various other mobile devices accessible on the wireless network and transmits or receives identification codes, position information and other data items with respect to the other mobile devices. The power supply circuit 24 is connected to a battery 29A and outputs power supply voltages Vcc1 and Vcc2 required for the operations of the respective circuit components according to electric power from the battery 29A. Further, the power supply circuit 24 can be connected to an AC adapter 29B and is configured to charge the battery 29A by use of electric power from the AC adapter 29B.
In the mobile device, as shown in
If it is confirmed in step ST8 that the number of detected devices is two or more, step ST12 is performed. In step ST12, one of the detected devices is selected based on the moving speed of the touch pen 17 obtained when the touch pen 17 is moved to obtain the above moving locus and the selection result is displayed on the liquid crystal display 15. In step ST13, whether or not the data transfer partner of the selection result is approved by the operation of the touch pen 17 or the operation of the key set 20 is checked. When the approval is attained, data transfer is performed with respect to the data transfer partner via the wireless LAN module 28 in step ST11.
When the approval is not attained, whether the data transfer partner is changed or not is confirmed in step ST14. When the change is specified by the operation of the touch pen 17 or the operation of the key set 20, the data transfer partner is changed to one of the non-selected devices in step ST15 and the process of steps ST13 and ST14 is repeatedly performed. If the approval is attained in step ST13, data transfer is performed with respect to the data transfer partner in step ST11. Further, if the change of the data transfer partner is not specified in step ST14, the transfer mode process is terminated.
If data transfer with the device which is not detected in step ST7 is necessary, the transfer mode process is performed again.
Next, the operation of the touch pen 17 performed to specify a data transfer partner of data transfer is explained. In this case, it is supposed that, for example, a mobile device A can access mobile devices B and C on the wireless network and the devices B and C are arranged with respect to the device A as shown in
A location map is displayed on the liquid crystal display 15 as shown in
In the data transfer system of the first embodiment, the moving direction of the touch pen 17 is determined based on the detection result of the touch panel 16, one of the various devices B, C which lies in the azimuth range with the moving direction of the touch pen 17 set as the reference is selected as a data transfer partner and the wireless LAN module 28 is controlled to transfer data with respect to the data transfer partner. Specifically, the wireless LAN module 28, touch panel 16 and liquid crystal display 15 are controlled by the following control section. The control section includes measuring means (GPS module 27) for measuring the position of the mobile device and generating position information, collection means (CPU 11) for collecting position information items of various devices via a communicating section (wireless LAN module 28), calculation means (CPU 11) for calculating directions and distances of the various devices with respect to the position of the mobile device based on the position information items obtained from the measuring means (GPS module 27) and collection means (CPU 11), and selection means (CPU 11) for selecting one of the various devices which lies in the azimuth range as a data transfer partner based on the calculation result of the calculation means (CPU 11).
If the user moves the touch pen 17 in a desired direction on the touch panel 16, the device B or C among the various devices B, C accessible on the wireless network which lies in the azimuth range with the moving direction of the touch pen 17 set as a reference is selected as a data transfer partner. In this case, the user is not required to retrieve a data transfer partner based on information of the device A. Further, the data transfer partner is prevented from being erroneously retrieved in the retrieving process. Therefore, the load imposed on the user when the data transfer partner is specified can be alleviated.
Next, a data transfer system according to a second embodiment is explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. Mobile devices provided in the data transfer system have the same circuit configuration as those of
In the second embodiment, each mobile device is configured to perform a transfer mode process shown in
In the mobile device, the CPU 11 performs the transfer mode process to control the components in the device as shown in
On the other hand, when it is confirmed in step ST27 that the number of detected devices is two or more, step ST31 is performed. In step ST31, one of the detected devices is selected based on the moving speed of the touch pen 17 attained when the touch pen 17 is moved to obtain the above locus and the selection result is displayed on the liquid crystal display 15. In step ST32, whether or not the data transfer partner of the selection result is approved by the operation of the touch pen 17 or the operation of the key set 20 is checked. When the approval is attained, data transfer is performed with respect to the data transfer partner via the wireless LAN module 28 in step ST30.
If the data transfer partner is not approved, whether the data transfer partner is changed or not is checked in step ST33. If the change is specified by the operation of the touch pen 17 or the operation of the key set 20, the data transfer partner is changed to one of the non-selected devices in step ST34 and steps ST32 and ST33 are performed again. If it is detected in step ST32 that the approval is attained, data transfer is performed with respect to the data transfer partner in step ST30. Further, if the change of the data transfer partner is not specified in step ST33, the transfer mode process is terminated.
If data transfer with respect to the device which is not detected in step ST26 is necessary, the transfer mode process is performed again.
The other devices perform the standby mode process shown in
Next, the operation of the touch pen 17 performed to specify a data transfer partner of data transfer is explained. In this example, like the first embodiment, for example, it is supposed that the mobile device A can access the mobile devices B and C on the wireless network, the devices B and C being arranged with respect to the device A as shown in
A location map is displayed on the liquid crystal display 15 as shown in
In the data transfer system of the second embodiment, the moving direction of the touch pen 17 is determined based on the detection result of the touch panel 16, and one of the various devices B, C which lies in the azimuth range with the moving direction of the touch pen 17 set as the reference is selected as a data transfer partner and the wireless LAN module 28 is controlled to transfer data with respect to the data transfer partner. Specifically, the wireless LAN module 28, touch panel 16 and liquid crystal display 15 are controlled by the following control section. The control section includes measuring means (GPS module 27) for measuring the position of the mobile device and generating position information, calling means (CPU 11) for causing a communicating section (wireless LAN module 28) to make a call to which position information obtained by the measuring means (GPS module 27) and direction information relating to a moving direction of the touch pen 17 are added, confirming means (CPU 11) for confirming a response from a device which lies in an azimuth range specified by the position information and direction information from the calling means (CPU 11) by use of the communicating section (wireless LAN module 28), and selection means (CPU 11) for selecting the device as a data transfer partner.
If the user moves the touch pen 17 in a desired direction on the touch panel 16, one of the devices B and C among the various devices accessible on the wireless network which lies in the azimuth range with the moving direction of the touch pen 17 set as a reference is selected as a data transfer partner. In this case, the user is not required to retrieve a data transfer partner based on information of the device A. Further, the data transfer partner is prevented from being erroneously retrieved in the retrieving process. Therefore, the load imposed on the user when the data transfer partner is specified can be alleviated. Further, the load on the CPU 11 of a mobile device which specifies a data transfer partner can be dispersed on the CPUs 11 of the other mobile devices.
The above embodiments can be variously modified.
In the above embodiments, when one or more devices are present in the azimuth range, the data transfer partner is selected based on the moving speed of the touch pen 17. However, the data transfer partner can be selected based on the moving distance of the touch pen 17 or the inclination of the mobile device, for example.
Further, the mobile devices A, B, C are formed with the same configuration, but the devices B and C may be replaced by wireless identification tags (RFIDs) or may be TV receivers or audio devices fixedly arranged in a house. In this case, GPS modules 27 are not necessarily provided in the devices B, C and it is sufficient to previously hold position information in the device.
Further, each mobile device has the GPS module 27 to measure the present position of the device itself, but the GPS modules 27 can be omitted by providing equipment which informs the respective mobile devices of the present positions thereof on the wireless network.
While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, those embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems descried herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems descried 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 |
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2007-145355 | May 2007 | JP | national |