Touch Panel Menu Free Area for Drag Operation Distinction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image display apparatuses lack efficient methods for users to perform operations on displayed images, particularly in smartphones with touch panels, where distinguishing between menu selections and drag operations can be cumbersome due to the absence of hardware keyboards and limited operation buttons.
Innovation Solution
An image display control apparatus with a display controller, determination unit, and execution unit that displays menu screens with adjacent free areas, allowing users to specify menu items by moving their touch on the touch panel, distinguishing between menu selections and drag operations by detecting movement into these areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If menu screens are displayed adjacent to the image on a touch panel, then menu selection capability is improved, but the risk of accidental menu execution during drag operations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The touch panel is divided into distinct functional zones: a menu screen display area and an image display area. Each zone has specific interaction rules - touching and moving within the menu screen area triggers menu selection, while touching and moving within the image area triggers drag operations. This spatial differentiation of functionality resolves the contradiction by making the system responsive to location-specific gestures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary detection mechanism that monitors the position and movement trajectory of touch inputs. By detecting whether the touch movement occurs within the menu screen area or the image area, the system mediates between the user's drag intention and potential accidental menu selection, ensuring reliable operation interpretation.
2Area of stationary object
If the display area is used entirely for image display, then image viewing area is maximized, but operation capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The touch panel serves multiple functions: it displays images, presents menu screens for selection, and detects both drag operations and menu selection gestures. By making the display area multi-functional, the system maintains large image viewing capability while integrating operation interfaces directly on the display surface, eliminating the need for separate hardware keyboards.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a temporal and spatial dimension to touch interactions by detecting movement trajectories. Instead of relying on static button presses, the system interprets the path and destination of finger movements across the touch panel, enabling both menu selection and drag operations within the same display area through different movement patterns.
3Ease of operation
If the touch panel responds to any movement as a drag operation, then drag functionality is simplified, but menu selection capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Different operational responses are assigned to different spatial zones on the touch panel. When touch movement occurs within the menu screen area, the system interprets it as menu selection. When touch movement occurs within the image area, the system interprets it as drag operation. This location-dependent behavior enables both functionalities to coexist on the same touch panel.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts its interpretation of touch movements based on the current display state and touch position. The operational meaning of a gesture is not fixed but changes according to where on the screen the gesture occurs, allowing the same physical action (finger movement) to trigger different functions contextually.
Data Source
AI summary
An image display control apparatus includes a display controller, a determination unit, and an execution unit. When an image displayed on a display having a display area and a touch panel disposed on the display area is specified through the touch panel, the display controller performs control to display menu screens individually representing predetermined plural menu items in such a manner that a free area is provided in part of a peripheral area adjacent to the image displayed in the display area. The determination unit determines that, when specification of the image through the touch panel is followed by movement of a specified position onto a desired menu screen, the menu item represented by the desired menu screen is specified, and determines that, when the specified position is moved to the free area, a drag operation is specified. The execution unit executes a process corresponding to a determination result.