Apparatus, measurement equipment and method for displaying images

The present invention relates to an apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising: a screen comprising a scrollable window for displaying a zoomed image and for displaying a corresponding scrollbar wherein the scrollbar comprises a scalable thumb; a first user engageable device for scrolling the displayed image; a second user engageable device for zooming in and out the displayed image; a scrollbar controller configured to automatically adjust the position and length of the thumb of the displayed scrollbar based on information entered by at least one of the user engageable devices; an information insert controller configured to automatically insert an additional scrollbar information in a predefined field within the thumb of the displayed scrollbar. The present invention further relates to a measurement equipment and a method for displaying images.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus, a measurement equipment and a method for displaying images.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

The present invention is in the environment of an apparatus having a display for displaying a zoomed image and a corresponding scrollbar.

Scrollbars, their functionality and applications are widely known in the art. A scrollbar is a graphical control element with which images such as continuous text, pictures, continuous measuring results or anything else can be scrolled, i.e., viewed even if it does not fit into the available space of a display or a window or viewport thereof.

Scrollbars are present in a wide range of electronic devices including computers, graphing calculators, mobile phones, and portable media players. They usually appear on one or two sides of the window of the windows in the form of long rectangular areas containing a bar or thumb that can be dragged along a trough or track to move the body of the document as well as two arrows on either end for precise adjustments. As the “thumb” of the scrollbar has different names in different environments and applications, it may also referred to as scroller, knob, scroll box, scroll thumb, elevator, quint, puck, wiper, grip. Additional functions of scrollbars may be found, such as zooming in/out or various application-specific tools. Depending on the graphical user interface, the size of the thumb can be fixed or variable in size. In the latter case of so-called proportional thumbs, their length would indicate the size of the window in relation to the size of the whole document or image. A proportional thumb that completely fills the trough indicates that the entire document is being viewed. In this scenario the scrollbar may also temporarily become hidden. The proportional thumb can also sometimes be adjusted by dragging at least one of its ends. In this case it would adjust both the position and the zooming of the document, where the size of the thumb represents the degree of zooming applied.

Besides these information provided by the scrollbar there is the need to obtain additional information. There are different approaches in the art for assigning additional information:

For example, the word-processing program “Microsoft Word 2010” of Microsoft Inc. provides for text documents typically at the right edge of a window a vertical scrollbar. If a user clicks the thumb of the scrollbar with a cursor, then a text box appears next to the thumb. This text box illustrates information of the current page number within the text document. After releasing the thumb of the scrollbar, the text box is disappearing again.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,817 describes an ECG measuring apparatus which comprises means for position information adjacent to a scroll box. When the cursor is on the thumb of the scrollbar and a mouse button is depressed, a data window opens adjacent the thumb and displays time information, such as hours, minutes and seconds of the time of the day when a measuring is conducted. Similar to the above described Microsoft Word approach, the data window moves with the scroll box and continues to display current time of the data displayed. When the mouse button is released, the data window closes again and the screen changes to display only the measuring data from the newly selected time.

In both above mentioned approaches the thumb of the scrollbar—when not activated—only provides relative information of the thumb within the text document without giving the user detailed information, such as detailed position information. For these detailed information, the user has to activate (i.e. click on) the thumb each time again.

Therefore, there is in particular the need to have the additional information permanently available. Another need is that the provision of this additional information should not have an impact on the displayed images.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising: a screen comprising a scrollable window for displaying a zoomed image and for displaying a corresponding scrollbar wherein the scrollbar comprises a scalable thumb; a first user engageable device for scrolling the displayed image; a second user engageable device for zooming in and out the displayed image; a scrollbar controller configured to automatically adjust the position and length of the thumb of the displayed scrollbar based on information entered by at least one of the user engageable devices; an information insert controller configured to automatically insert an additional scrollbar information in a predefined field within the thumb of the displayed scrollbar.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a test or measurement equipment is provided, the equipment comprising: a measuring station for measuring at least one predefined parameter of a device under test; a screen comprising a scrollable window for displaying a zoomed image and for displaying a corresponding scrollbar wherein the scrollbar comprises a scalable thumb; a measurement controller for displaying an information of the measured parameter on the screen; a first user engageable device for scrolling the displayed image; a second user engageable device for zooming in and out the displayed image; a scrollbar controller configured to automatically adjust the position and length of the thumb of the displayed scrollbar based on information entered by at least one of the user engageable devices; an information insert controller configured to automatically insert an additional scrollbar information in a predefined field within the thumb of the displayed scrollbar.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a method for displaying images containing an information of at least one predefined measured parameter of a device under test is provided, the method comprising: measuring at least one predefined parameter of a device under test; displaying a zoomed image and a corresponding scalable scrollbar having a scalable thumb on a window wherein the zoomed image comprises information of the measured parameter; automatically adjusting the position or length of the thumb of the displayed scrollbar based on information entered via a user engageable device; automatically inserting an additional scrollbar information in a predefined field within the thumb of the displayed scrollbar.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an article is provided, the article comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor, causes: measuring at least one predefined parameter of a device under test; displaying a zoomed image and a corresponding scalable scrollbar having a scalable thumb on a window wherein the zoomed image comprises information of the measured parameter; automatically adjusting the position or length of the thumb of the displayed scrollbar based on information entered via a user engageable device; automatically inserting an additional scrollbar information in a predefined field within the thumb of the displayed scrollbar.

The present invention provides a fast zooming feature for scrollbar based display applications which comprise permanently visible additional information. This additional information is contained completely within the thumb of the scrollbar. Thus, the additional information does not affect the remaining image displayed on the screen or window.

This additional information is typically much appreciated by users since this information is permanently available without the need of activating, clicking or pushing any user engageable devices such as a button. The user can therefore concentrate on other operations or activities. The present invention consequently provides added functionality which is easy to implement and provides a smart solution. This added functionality enables the user to operate quicker since he is not forced to interrupt his normal operation for just obtaining the additional information. The whole operation of the user may therefore be handled much quicker and streamlined.

Further, since the additional information is completely provided within the thumb of the scrollbar, the remaining image displayed on the screen will not be negatively affected. Consequently, the view of the user on the displayed image is not restricted or limited by any text window covering parts of the displayed image as this additional information is provided exclusively inside and within the thumb of the scrollbar.

Specific embodiments of the present invention are set forth in the dependent claims.

These and other aspects of the present invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

The enclosed drawings are intended to provide further understanding of the embodiments of the invention. They illustrate embodiments and, in conjunction with the description, serve to explain principles and concepts of the invention. Other embodiments and many of the stated advantages can be found from the drawings. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily shown in scale with one another.

In the figures of the drawing, any elements and components that are identical, have the same function and work in the same way, are each given the same reference signs, unless stated otherwise.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1schematically depicts a block diagram of an apparatus according to a specific aspect of the present invention. InFIG. 1, the apparatus is denoted by reference sign10. This apparatus10comprises a screen11, a first using engageable device12, a second using engageable device13, a scrollbar controller14and an information insert controller15.

The screen11comprises a scrollable window16for displaying an image17. The window16is configured to display static information, such as static measurement data, or successive occurring information, such as continuously measured data.

Within the window16a zoomed image17and a scrollbar18is provided. In the present embodiment, the scrollbar18is in the form of a horizontal scrollbar18which is arranged at the bottom area of the window16, i.e. the scrollbar18is a horizontal scrollbar representing the axis of abscissae of the zoomed image17. The scrollbar18further comprises a scalable thumb19. The thumb19is configured to more left and right along the scrollbar18.

The first user engageable device12is configured for scrolling the displayed image17.

The second user engageable device13is configured for zooming in and/or zooming out of the displayed image17.

Further, a scrollbar controller14is provided and configured such to automatically adjust the position of the thumb19of the displayed scrollbar18. The adjustment of the position of the thumb19is based on information entered by any of the user engageable devices12,13. Thus, based on an input signal entered via the first and/or second user engageable devices12,13, the thumb19will be shifted left or right along the scrollbar18. Further, depending on the input signals of the first and/or second user engageable devices12,13, the length of the thumb19of the scrollbar18is adjusted based on zooming information, e.g. depending whether a user is zooming in or zooming out of the displayed image17.

Further, an information insert controller15is provided and configured such to automatically insert additional scrollbar information within the thumb19of the displayed scrollbar18. In particular, the additional scrollbar information is inserted in a predefined field20of the thumb19. It is one of the care aspects of this invention that this predefined field20is arranged completely and exclusively inside the thumb19of the displayed scrollbar18, which means that the field20is not overlapping the thumb19in any function and thus it is not extending into the displayed image17.

In this predefined field20any additional scrollbar information may be inserted, such as text information, numbers and/or graphical information. It is only relevant that this additional scrollbar information is preferably assigned to the displayed image17, displayed thumb19and/or displayed scrollbar18. For example, the additional scrollbar information may also be an information of the zoom factor of the zoomed image, the length of the thumb, the length of the scrollbar, the displayed duration, a measured parameter, a parameter range or the like.

The scrollbar controller14and the information insert controller15are both connected to the screen11.

In the present embodiment illustrated inFIG. 1, the first and second user engageable devices12,13are connected both to the scrollbar controller14and information insert controller15. In still another embodiment, it may also be sufficient that the first user engageable device12is only connected to the scrollbar controller14and/or the second user engageable device13is connected only to the information insert controller15.

FIG. 2shows schematically a block diagram of an apparatus according to a further aspect of the present invention. In addition to the apparatus shown inFIG. 1, the apparatus10illustrated inFIG. 2comprises a third user engageable device21. The third user engageable device21is configured to activate an input field22which is arranged within the thumb19. This third user engageable device21is further configured for entering a user defined information within the activated input field22. Further, the scrollbar controller14is further configured to automatically adjust the position and/or length information within the displayed thumb19of the scrollbar18based on the user defined information which are entered via the third user engageable device21. For example, when entering a position information or a length information for the thumb19via the third user engageable device21, the thumb19will be adjusted accordingly for example by jumping to the desired position or by adjusting the length of the thumb19, respectively.

In one embodiment, the input field22of the thumb19is a text input field for entering text data or numbers. The scrollbar controller14is further configured to amend the current additional scrollbar information (which is currently displayed within the thumb19) by substituting this previous information with the newly entered text data or numbers.

In one further embodiment (not shown inFIG. 2), after having activated the input field22within the thumb19via the third user engageable device21, the scrollbar controller14is further configured to offer a selection of predefined user selectable information.

Further, a zoom controller23is provided, which is connected to at least one of the user engageable devices12,13,21and to the screen11. The zoom controller22is configured to automatically adjust the scale of the displayed image based on information entered by at least one of the user engageable devices12,13,21, in particular based on zoom information entered by the second or third user engageable device13,21.

At least one of the user engageable devices12,13,21may comprise a scroll wheel, a push button, a rotary knob, a mouse, a touch pad, a keyboard, a voice command recognition device, a sensor and the like or are part of them. It may also be possible that user engageable devices12,13,21are configured such to receive input signals from an externally arranged scroll wheel, push button, rotary knob, mouse, touch pad, keyboard, voice command recognition device, sensor, etc.

The scrollbar controller14, information insert controller15and zoom controller23may be separated from each other and implemented in separate devices and/or programs. However, it may be also possible and preferable in terms of hardware reduction to implement the functionality of these controllers14,15,23in one and the same controller (not shown inFIG. 2).

FIG. 3schematically shows a window16for an apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention. In the embodiment ofFIG. 3, the scrollbar18is a horizontal scrollbar18representing the timeline axis18of the displayed and zoomed image17. The insert controller14is configured to automatically insert an additional time information within the predefined field20of the thumb19. The additional time information may be a starting time of the thumb19within the scrollbar18, an end time of the thumb19within the scrollbar18and/or a duration of the thumb19.

In the example shown inFIG. 3, the axis of abscissae30represents the timeline axis and the axis of ordinates31represents the measured throughput. The displayed thumb19contains in the predefined field20an additional time information “16 m” which means a duration of 16 minutes. This duration represents exactly the duration of the displayed image17displayed on the window16.

FIG. 4schematically shows a block diagram of a measuring equipment according to a further aspect of the present invention. The measurement equipment which is denoted by reference symbol40comprises a measuring station41for measuring at least one predefined parameter of a device under test42(DUTY and a measurement controller43for displaying an information of the measured parameter on a screen. The measurement equipment also comprises an apparatus10, which may be configured such as the apparatus10described previously with regard to the embodiments inFIGS. 1-3.

The measuring station41comprises—besides other things and functions—a measurement unit44. A measurement unit44within the measuring station41is designed to measure at least one of following items of information of the device under test42:power consumption of the device under test42;data volume produced by the of the device under test42via a wired or wireless communication link45;frequency or spectrum information of the transferred data from the device under test42via the applied communication link45;input signals to the device under test42;output signals received from the device under test42;current signals to or from the device under test42;voltage signals to or from the device under test42.

The measurement unit44further comprises an analysis unit46or an evaluation unit47which are designed to evaluate on the basis of specified parameters the measured information.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific examples of the embodiments of the invention. It will, however, be evident that various notifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appending claims.

Moreover, the present invention is not limited to physical devices or units implemented in non-programmable hardware, but can also be applied in programmable devices or units able to perform the desired device functions or operating in accordance with suitable program code.

In the description, any reference signs shall not be construed as limiting the claims. The term “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps listed in the claim. Furthermore, the terms “a” or “an” as used herein are defined as one or more than one. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as “at least one” and “one or more” in the claims should not be construed to imply that the introduction of another claim element by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limiting any particular claim containing such introduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element. The same holds true for the use of definite articles. Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in different claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. The order of method steps presented in a claim does not prejudice the order in which the steps can actually be carried out, unless specifically recited in the claim.

The skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the chosen elements are only used to help to improve the understanding of the functionality and the arrangements of these elements in various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercial and feasible embodiment are mostly not depicted in order to facilitate a less abstracted view of these various embodiments of the present invention.

In the context of the present invention, a scrollbar should be distinguished from a slider which is another object that works in a similar fashion. The difference between a scrollbar and a slider is that the slider is used to change values, and does not change the display or move the area that is shown. While dragging the thumb is historically the traditional way of manipulating a scrollbar, a scroll wheel may also be used. In addition, the arrow buttons may be clicked to scroll a small amount, or the trough above or below the thumb for a larger amount.

A controller refers to any type of programmable device, such as a microprocessor, microcontroller, microcomputer, digital signal processor, and the like, but also to hard wired programmable devices, such as FPGA, PLDs and the like. Typically, the controller functionality is implemented in software, however, the invention is not restricted thereon.