Patent ID: 9210459
Filing Date: 2015-12-08
Classification: G06F,G08C,H04M,H04N

Abstract:
1. An operation terminal comprising: a mode selection section to select an operation mode from a plurality of operation modes including a gesture mode and a non-gesture mode; a plurality of input sections to accept a plurality of types of inputs, in which each type of input is different from each other, and in which one type of input is a non-gesture input for use in the non-gesture mode wherein a user utilizes a button to select a desired operation without utilizing a posture or a change in posture of the operational terminal and another type of input is a gesture input for use in the gesture mode wherein the user utilizes one or both of the posture and the change in posture of the operation terminal to select a desired operation without utilizing any buttons; and a transmission section to send a control command corresponding to at least one of the gesture input or the non-gesture input, in which one of the input sections is an operation input section having a display screen with a touch panel disposed in an overlapping manner thereon and a number of buttons associated therewith to accept a desired non-gesture input from the user by use of a respective button in which the number of buttons are one or both of physical type buttons or touch type buttons, and another of the input sections is a gesture input section which includes (i) a posture detection section to detect the posture of the operation terminal, the change of the posture, or both thereof and (ii) a gesture determination section to determine a respective gesture input made by the user of said operation terminal based on a detection result of the posture detection section, and in which when the non-gesture mode is currently selected the mode selection section automatically switches the operation mode from the non-gesture mode to the gesture mode when a detection result of the posture detection section indicates a change in posture to a first new posture in which the display screen and touch panel are arranged so as not to face the user and have remained in the first new posture for a predetermined period of time, and when the gesture mode is currently selected the mode selection section automatically switches the operation mode from the gesture mode to the non-gesture mode when a detection result of the posture detection section indicates a change in posture to a second new posture in which the display screen and touch panel are arranged so as to face the user and have remained in the second new posture for a predetermined period of time.