ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH MULTI-AXIS OPERATION INTERFACE AND INFORMATION DISPLAY METHOD

An electronic device includes a storage module for storing a plurality of first information items and a plurality of second information items corresponding to each of the first information items; a display module for displaying a multi-axis operation interface, which includes a plurality of first information display regions, a plurality of second information display regions and a common display region, the first information display regions being arranged along a first axis and used for displaying the first information items, the second information display regions being arranged along a second axis and used for displaying the second information items, the first axis intersecting the second axis at the common display region; and a control unit for controlling the first information items to move along the first axis or controlling the second information items to move along the second axis.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring toFIGS. 1 to 5,FIG. 1is a functional block diagram illustrating an electronic device1with a multi-axis operation interface10according to an embodiment of the invention,FIG. 2is a schematic diagram illustrating the multi-axis operation interface10shown inFIG. 1,FIG. 3is a schematic diagram illustrating the first information item shown inFIG. 2moving along the first axis Y upward,FIG. 4is a schematic diagram illustrating the second information item shown inFIG. 3moving along the second axis X leftward, andFIG. 5is a flowchart illustrating an information display method according to an embodiment of the invention. The information display method shown inFIG. 5can be implemented by the electronic device1shown inFIG. 1.

The electronic device1of the invention may be a TV, personal computer, flat computer, notebook, mobile phone, personal digital assistant, or other electronic devices equipped with a display. As shown inFIG. 1, the electronic device1comprises a storage module12, a display module14, an input module16, a control unit18, a communication module20and a speaker22, wherein the control unit18is electrically connected to the storage module12, the display module14, the input module16, the communication module20and the speaker22. In practical applications, the storage module12may be a hard disc, memory or other device capable of storing data; the display module14may be a liquid crystal display device or other display devices; the input module16may be a controller, keyboard, mouse, microphone, camera, touch panel or a combination thereof; the control unit18may be a processor or controller with data calculating/processing function; the communication module20may communicate with a server3in wired or wireless manner, wherein the aforesaid wired or wireless communication manner is well known by one skilled in the art, so the related art will not depicted herein. In general, the electronic device1may be further equipped with some necessary hardware or software components for specific purposes, such as a power supply, an operating system, application programs, etc., and it depends on practical applications.

The communication module20may receive a plurality of information tags from a server3(step S10inFIG. 5), wherein each of the information tag records a first information item and a plurality of second information items corresponding to the first information item. In this embodiment, the information tags may be, but not limited to, RSS tags, ATOM tags or a combination thereof. In general, the information tags are made by a service provider (SP) and the service provider puts a plurality of links of the information tags in the server3for a user to subscribe his/her desired information items. It should be noted that the formats of RSS and ATOM tags are well known by one skilled in the art, so the related art will not be depicted herein. In practical applications, after receiving the information tags, the control unit18may read the information items recorded in the information tags through a reader (e.g. RSS reader or ATOM reader) correspondingly.

The storage module12is used for storing a plurality of first information items and a plurality of second information items corresponding to each of the first information items (step S12inFIG. 5). For example, if the multi-axis operation interface10is used for displaying channel/program information items, the first information items may be channel information items (e.g. channel name, channel description, etc.) and the second information items may be program information items (e.g. program name, program description, program thumbnail, etc.). Referring to table 1 in the following, channel/program information items are used to describe the relation between the first information items and the second information items for example. It should be noted that the first information items and the second information items shown in table 1 may be updated by receiving the information tags continuously. Furthermore, in another embodiment, the first information items and the second information items may be built in the storage module12such that the aforesaid step S10may be omitted accordingly.

The display module is used for displaying a multi-axis operation interface10(step S14inFIG. 5), wherein the multi-axis operation interface10comprises a plurality of first information display regions100, a plurality of second information display regions102and a common display region104, the first information display regions100is arranged along a first axis Y and used for displaying the aforesaid first information items, the second information display regions102is arranged along a second axis X and used for displaying the aforesaid second information items, and the first axis Y intersects the second axis X at the common display region104. As shown inFIGS. 2 to 4, the multi-axis operation interface10comprises two first information display regions100and two second information display regions102, wherein the two first information display regions100are arranged at opposite sides of the common display region104linearly and the two second information display regions102are arranged at another opposite sides of the common display region104linearly, such that the multi-axis operation interface10is crisscross. It should be noted that the number and arrangement of the first information display regions100and the second information display regions102can be determined based on practical applications and are not limited to the embodiment shown inFIGS. 2 to 4. In other words, the invention may dispose more than two first information display regions100at upper and lower sides of the common display region104and dispose more than two second information display regions102at left and right sides of the common display region104. Furthermore, the multi-axis operation interface10may be X-shaped or other shapes except crisscross. In another embodiment, the first information display regions100may be also arranged along the second axis X and the second information display regions102may be also arranged along the first axis Y according to practical applications.

In this embodiment, when an i-th first information item of the first information items is displayed in the common display region104, the second information display regions102and the common display region104display the second information items corresponding to the i-th first information item, wherein i is a positive integer. As shown inFIG. 2and table 1, the information item of channel B (i.e. first information item) is displayed in the common display region104, so the second information display regions102and the common display region104display the information items of programs B2, B3 and B4 (i.e. second information items) corresponding to channel B, wherein the channel information item may comprise channel name, channel description, channel issued date, channel title and so on, and the program information item may comprise program name, program type, program description, program thumbnail, program link, program issued date, program title and so on. The first and second information items may be default or adjusted by the user.

In this embodiment, when the i-th first information item and a j-th second information item of the second information items corresponding to the i-th first information item are displayed in the common display region104, the control unit18controls the display module14to display an image corresponding to the i-th first information item and the j-th second information item and/or controls the speaker22to broadcast a sound corresponding to the i-th first information item and the j-th second information item, wherein j is a positive integer. As shown inFIG. 2, the information item of channel B (i.e. first information item) and the information item of program B3 (i.e. second information item) corresponding to channel B are displayed in the common display region104, so the control unit18downloads the program B3 of the channel B from the server3through the program link and controls the display module14to display an image corresponding to the program B3 of the channel B and/or controls the speaker22to broadcast a sound corresponding to the program B3 of the channel B. For example, if the program B3 of the channel B is a video, the control unit18will control the display module14and the speaker22to display the video and broadcast the sound of the video; if the program B3 of the channel B is music, the control unit18will control the speaker22only to broadcast the music.

When the user wants to browse the previous first information item (e.g. the channel A inFIG. 2) or the next first information item (e.g. the channel C inFIG. 2), he/she can operate the input module16to input an operation command (step S16inFIG. 5) to control the current first information item (e.g. the channel B inFIG. 2) to move along the first axis Y upward and downward, so as to browse and select the desired first information item. In this embodiment, the input module16may be a controller, keyboard, mouse, microphone, camera, touch panel or a combination thereof, such that the user may control the current first information item (e.g. the channel B inFIG. 2) to move along the first axis Y upward and downward through press operation, drag operation, voice input, gesture input and so on and then browse and select the desired first information item.

As shown inFIG. 3, after the user operates the input module16to input a moving-upward operation command, the control unit18will control the first information items to move along the first axis Y within the first information display regions100and the common display region104(step S18inFIG. 5). At this time, the original channel B and program B3 displayed in the common display region104will be changed to the information items of channel C and program C3, and the second information display regions102at left and right sides of the common display region104will be changed to the information items of programs C2 and C4 of channel C. It should be noted that after changing the channel B to the channel C, it may be default to display the newest program of the channel C in the common display region104or display the last displayed program in the common display region104.

When the user wants to browse the previous second information item (e.g. the program C2 inFIG. 3) or the next second information item (e.g. the program C4 inFIG. 3), he/she can operate the input module16to input an operation command (step S20inFIG. 5) to control the current second information item (e.g. the program C3 inFIG. 3) to move along the second axis X leftward and rightward, so as to browse and select the desired second information item. Similarly, the user may control the current second information item (e.g. the program C3 inFIG. 3) to move along the second axis X leftward and rightward through press operation, drag operation, voice input, gesture input and so on and then browse and select the desired second information item.

As shown inFIG. 4, after the user operates the input module16to input a moving-leftward operation command, the control unit18will control the second information items to move along the second axis X within the second information display regions102and the common display region104(step S22inFIG. 5). At this time, the original information item of program C3 displayed in the common display region104will be changed to the information item of program C4.

Besides the aforesaid channel/program information items, the multi-axis operation interface10of the invention may be also used to display other information items. For example, the first information items may be application program information items (e.g. application program name, application program description, etc.) and the second information items may be version information items (e.g. version level, version issued date, etc.). Referring to table 2 in the following, application program/version information items are used to describe the relation between the first information items and the second information items for example.

Furthermore, the first information items may be musical album information items (e.g. album name, singer name, number of songs, etc.) and the second information items may be song information items (e.g. song name, broadcasting time, etc.). Referring to table 3 in the following, musical album/song information items are used to describe the relation between the first information items and the second information items for example.

Referring toFIG. 6,FIG. 6is a schematic diagram illustrating a multi-axis operation interface10′ according to another embodiment of the invention. The main difference between the multi-axis operation interface10′ and the aforesaid multi-axis operation interface10is that the multi-axis operation interface10′ further comprises a plurality of third information display regions106, wherein the third information display regions106are arranged along a third axis Z, and the first axis Y, the second axis X and the third axis Z are intersected at the common display region104. In this embodiment, the storage module12further stores a plurality of third information items corresponding to each of the second information items and the third information display regions106are used for displaying the third information items.

For example, if the multi-axis operation interface10′ is used for displaying channel/category/program information items, the first information items may be channel information items (e.g. channel name, channel description, etc.), the second information items may be category information items (e.g. program category, number of programs, etc.), and the third information items may be program information items (e.g. program name, program description, program thumbnail, etc.). Referring to tables 4-1 and 4-2 in the following, channel/category/program information items are used to describe the relation between the first information items, the second information items and the third information items for example.

As shown inFIG. 6, besides the aforesaid first information display regions100and second information display regions102, the multi-axis operation interface10′ further comprises two third information display regions106arranged at front and rear sides of the common display region104linearly, such that the multi-axis operation interface10′ is three-dimensional. It should be noted that the number of the third information display regions104can be determined based on practical applications and is not limited to the embodiment shown inFIG. 6.

In this embodiment, when a j-th second information item of the second information items is displayed in the common display region104, the third information display regions106and the common display region104display the third information items corresponding to the j-th second information item, wherein j is a positive integer. As shown inFIG. 6, tables 4-1 and table 4-2, the information item of channel B (i.e. first information item) is displayed in the common display region104, so the second information display regions102and the common display region104display the information items of categories B2, B3 and B4 (i.e. second information items) corresponding to the channel B; the information item of category B3 (i.e. second information item) is displayed in the common display region104, so the third information display regions106and the common display region104display the information items of programs B31, B32 and B33 (i.e. third information items) corresponding to the category B3. As the operation principle mentioned in the above, the control unit18will control the third information items to move along the third axis Z within the third information display regions106and the common display region104according to the operation command inputted by the user.

It should be noted that the multi-axis operation interface10shown inFIGS. 2 to 4, the multi-axis operation interface10′ shown inFIG. 6, and the control logics of the information display method shown inFIG. 5can be implemented by software. The software can be executed in any electronic devices with data processing function, such as TV, personal computer, flat computer, mobile phone, personal digital assistant, and so on. It is reasonably expected that each part or function of the control logics may be implemented by software, hardware or the combination thereof. Moreover, the control logics of the information display method shown inFIG. 5can be embodied by a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium stores instructions, which can be executed by the electronic device so as to generate control command to execute corresponding function.