Method for controlling electronic apparatus and apparatus and recording medium using the method

This non-provisional application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 61/015,671, filed on Dec. 21, 2007 and included herein by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

The application relates to a control method of an electronic apparatus, and more particularly, to a method of controlling an electronic apparatus to execute a predetermined function, and an apparatus using the method.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Controlling an electronic apparatus using a touch control method is a common way in the present time. Generally speaking, an electronic apparatus includes a touch sensitive module on which a user can move his/her finger(s) to control the electronic apparatus to execute a predetermined function. Therefore, the electronic apparatus must be able to identify the user\'s different moving motions on the touch sensitive module to execute different predetermined functions accordingly.

In light of this, the application provides a control method of an electronic apparatus which detects whether a speed of a moving motion on a touch sensitive module of the electronic apparatus is greater than a threshold speed to control the electronic apparatus to execute a first predetermined function or a second predetermined function. In this way, the aforementioned problem can be solved.

According to one embodiment of the application, a control method of an electronic apparatus is disclosed. The control method includes: detecting a moving motion on a touch sensitive module to generate a sensing signal corresponding to the moving motion; and controlling an operation of the electronic apparatus according to the sensing signal. The step of controlling the operation of the electronic apparatus according to the sensing signal includes:

when a speed of the moving motion is determined less than a threshold speed according to the sensing signal, controlling the electronic apparatus to execute a first predetermined function; and when the speed of the moving motion is determined greater than the threshold speed according to the sensing signal, controlling the electronic apparatus to execute a second predetermined function which is different from the first predetermined function.

According to another embodiment of the application, an electronic apparatus is disclosed. The electronic apparatus includes a touch sensitive module, a controller, and a processing unit. The controller is coupled to the touch sensitive module, and is used for detecting a moving motion on the touch sensitive module to generate a sensing signal corresponding to the moving motion. The processing unit is coupled to the controller, and is used for controlling an operation of the electronic apparatus according to the sensing signal. When the processing unit determines that a speed of the moving motion is less than a threshold speed according to the sensing signal, the processing unit controls the electronic apparatus to execute a first predetermined function. When the processing unit determines that the speed of the moving motion is greater than the threshold speed according to the sensing signal, the processing unit controls the electronic apparatus to execute a second predetermined function which is different from the first predetermined function.

According to yet another embodiment of the application, a recording medium for recording a computer program is disclosed. The computer program includes program codes for executing following steps: detecting a moving motion on a touch sensitive module to generate a sensing signal corresponding to the moving motion; and controlling an operation of the electronic apparatus according to the sensing signal. The step of controlling the operation of the electronic apparatus according to the sensing signal includes: when a speed of the moving motion is determined less than a threshold speed according to the sensing signal, controlling the electronic apparatus to execute a first predetermined function; and when the speed of the moving motion is determined greater than the threshold speed according to the sensing signal, controlling the electronic apparatus to execute a second predetermined function which is different from the first predetermined function.

These and other objectives of the application will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a control method of an electronic apparatus according to the application. The control method is summarized as follows:

S110: Detect a moving motion on a touch sensitive module to generate a sensing signal corresponding to the moving motion;

S120: Determine whether a speed of the moving motion is less or greater than a threshold speed according to the sensing signal. If the speed is less than the threshold speed, go to step S130; if the speed is greater than the threshold speed, go to step S140;

S130: Control the electronic apparatus to execute a first predetermined function;

S140: Control the electronic apparatus to execute a second predetermined function which is different from the first predetermined function.

Additionally, the application also provides an electronic apparatus which employs the control method described above. For example, the electronic apparatus is a handheld electronic apparatus (e.g., a cell phone, a smartphone, or a personal digital assistant). However, this is for illustrative purposes only, and is not meant to be a limitation of the application. Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is one exemplary embodiment of an electronic apparatus 200 which employs the control method of the application. As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic apparatus 200 includes a touch sensitive module 210, a controller 220 and a processing unit 230. Exemplary embodiments of the touch sensitive module 210 include a touch pad, a touch panel, a touch screen, etc. But they are not meant to be limitations to the application. The controller 220 is coupled to the touch sensitive module 210, and is used to detect a moving motion on the touch sensitive module 210 to generate a sensing signal corresponding to the moving motion. The processing unit 230 is coupled to the controller 220. When the processing unit 230 detects that a speed of the moving motion is less than a threshold speed according to the sensing signal, the processing unit 230 controls the electronic apparatus 200 to execute a first predetermined function; when the processing unit 230 detects that the speed of the moving motion is greater than the threshold speed according to the sensing signal, the processing unit 230 controls the electronic apparatus 200 to execute a second predetermined function which is different from the first predetermined function. The following will use the electronic apparatus 200 as an example to further address the aforementioned control method of the electronic apparatus.

For example, in an embodiment of the application, the first predetermined function is a panning function, and the second predetermined function is a scrolling function. Under this assumption, when a user\'s finger is moving on the touch sensitive module 210 of the electronic apparatus 200, the controller 220 will detect the moving motion and generate a sensing signal S corresponding to the moving motion of the user\'s finger. If a speed of user\'s finger moving on the touch sensitive module 210 is slower and thereby the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of the moving motion is less than a threshold speed V according to the sensing signal S, the processing unit 230 then controls the electronic apparatus 200 to execute the panning function (i.e., the first predetermined function), for example, for panning a page displayed on the display screen of the electronic apparatus 200. On the other hand, when the speed of user\'s finger moving on the touch sensitive module 210 is faster and thereby the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of the moving motion is greater than the threshold speed V according to the moving signal S, the processing unit 230 then controls the electronic apparatus 200 to execute the scrolling function (i.e., the second predetermined function), for example, for scrolling a list, such as a contact list, a song list, or a file name list, displayed on the display screen of the electronic apparatus 200. Please note that, when the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of the moving motion is equal to the threshold speed V, in one embodiment of the application, the processing unit 230 will control the electronic apparatus 200 to execute the panning function (i.e., the first predetermined function), whereas in another embodiment of the application, the processing unit 230 will control the electronic apparatus 200 to execute the scrolling function (i.e., the second predetermined function). This variation of design still falls within the scope of the application.

In one embodiment of the application, when the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of user\'s moving motion is greater than the threshold speed V and then the moving motion is halted (i.e., the finger stops moving but not yet leaves the touch sensitive module 210), the processing unit 230 will control the electronic apparatus 200 to execute the scrolling function at an increasing scrolling speed; when the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of user\'s moving motion is greater than the threshold speed V and the moving motion stops (i.e., the finger leaves the touch sensitive module 210), the processing unit 230 will control the electronic apparatus 200 to execute the scrolling function at a constant scrolling speed, and the constant scrolling speed of the scrolling function is based on a speed of the user\'s finger moving motion on the touch sensitive module 210 (e.g., the final speed of the finger\'s moving motion on the touch sensitive module 210) which is determined according to the sensing signal S. For example, the faster the final speed of the user\'s finger moving motion on the touch sensitive module 210 is determined according to the sensing signal S by the processing unit 230, the faster the electronic apparatus 200 scrolls a contact list. In addition, when the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, if the controller 220 detects another sensing signal S′ corresponding to another moving motion, the processing unit 230 will increase the scrolling speed. For example, when the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, if the user\'s finger moves again on the touch sensitive module 210 of the electronic apparatus 200, the processing unit 230 will increase the scrolling speed to make the electronic apparatus 200 scroll the contact list at a faster speed. For another example, when the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, if the user\'s finger moves again on the touch sensitive module 210 of the electronic apparatus 200 at a faster speed and the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of the user\'s finger moving motion detected by the controller 220 is greater than the threshold speed V, the processing unit 230 will increase the scrolling speed to make the electronic apparatus 200 scroll the contact list at a faster speed.

In another embodiment of the application, when the controlling unit 230 determines that the user\'s finger moving motion stops on the touch sensitive module 210 according to the sensing signal S, the processing unit 230 then controls the electronic apparatus 200 to scroll at a decreasing speed and determines a scrolling distance according to a speed of the user\'s finger moving motion (e.g., the final speed of finger\'s moving motion). For example, the faster the final speed of the user\'s finger moving motion on the touch sensitive module 210 is determined according to the sensing signal S by the processing unit 230, the longer scrolling distance the electronic apparatus 200 scrolls the contact list with. In addition, when the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, if the processing unit 230 detects another sensing signal S′ corresponding to another moving motion, the processing unit 230 will increase the scrolling distance. For example, when the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, if the user\'s finger moves again on the touch sensitive module 210 of the electronic apparatus 200, the processing unit 230 will increase the scrolling distance to make the electronic apparatus 200 scroll a contact list with a longer scrolling distance. For another example, when the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, if the user\'s finger moves again on the touch sensitive module 210 at a faster speed and the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of the user\'s finger moving motion detected by the controller 220 is greater than the threshold speed V, the processing unit 230 will increase the scrolling distance to make the electronic apparatus 200 scroll a contact list with a longer scrolling distance.

In addition, in this embodiment, the controller 220 further detects a touch motion on the touch sensitive module 210 to generate a touch signal corresponding to the touch motion. When the processing unit 230 receives the touch signal while the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, the processing unit 230 controls the electronic apparatus 200 to stop executing the scrolling function. For instance, when the electronic apparatus 200 is executing the scrolling function, if the user\'s finger touches the touch sensitive module 210 of the electronic apparatus 200 without moving, the controller 220 will detect the touch motion to generate a touch signal ST according to the touch motion, and thereby the processing unit 230 will control the electronic apparatus 200 to stop the scrolling function.

Please note that, in the above embodiment, the first predetermined function and the second predetermined function are not limited to the panning function and the scrolling function. In a practical implementation, the first predetermined function and the second predetermined function can be any two different predetermined functions.

In another embodiment of the application, when the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of the user\'s finger moving motion corresponding to the sensing signal S is greater than the threshold speed V according to the sensing signal S, and within a predetermined period of time T′ after the sensing signal S is terminated, the processing unit 230 determines that the speed of the user\'s another finger moving motion corresponding to the sensing signal S′ is greater than the threshold speed V according to the sensing signal S′, the processing unit 230 will then control the electronic apparatus 200 to execute a third predetermined function which is different from the first and second predetermined functions. For example, the third predetermined function can be a letter-jumping function to rapidly browse a list by letter jumping. Under this assumption, when a user\'s finger moves on the touch sensitive module 210 and leaves, and then moves on the touch sensitive module 210 and leaves again, and each of the two moving motions on the touch sensitive module 210 is less than the predetermined period of time T and the time interval between those two moving motion is less than T′, the processing unit 230 controls the electronic apparatus 200 to execute the letter-jumping function, for example, for displaying the first contact person\'s name in each of the contact groups which are sorted alphabetically.

The application also provides a recording medium for recording a computer program used to perform the aforementioned control method of an electronic apparatus. The computer program is basically composed of multiple program code segments (e.g., a program code segment of establishing an organization chart, a program code segment of sign-off forms, a program code segment of configuration, and a program code segment of allocation), and after those program code segments are loaded and executed in an electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 200), the above-mentioned steps and functions of the aforementioned control method of the electronic device are then accomplished.

Briefly summarized, in accordance with the application, a control method of an electronic apparatus, an apparatus using the control method detect whether a speed of moving motion on a touch sensitive module of an electronic apparatus is greater or less than a threshold speed to control the electronic apparatus to execute a first predetermined function (e.g., a panning function) or a second predetermined function (e.g., a scrolling function). In this way, a user can control the electronic apparatus to execute a panning function or a scrolling function by the duration of his/her finger moving on the touch sensitive module.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the application. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.