Abstract:
A method for showing page flip effect when use electronic device enjoy electronic document, the method provides a flip-page operation table, the flip-page operation table defines relationships between flip effect parameters and lengths of a first touch path or a second touch path. The method comprising: receiving touch signals, determining the touch path and lengths of the touch path according the touch signals; determining which page will be brought into view (hereinafter target page) according to the touch path; obtaining a flip effect parameter when the touch path increase to lengths defined in flip effect table; combining a combined page according to the current page, the next page and the flip effect parameter. Present invention also providing an electronic device capable of executing said steps.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is related to the following co-pending, commonly assigned patent applications, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety: 
     1. “ELECTRONIC DEVICE CAPABLE OF SHOWING PAGE FLIP EFFECT AND METHOD THEREOF” by Li et al., whose application Ser. No. 12/350,231. 
     2. “ELECTRONIC DEVICE CAPABLE OF SHOWING PAGE FLIP EFFECT AND METHOD THEREOF” by Li et al., whose application Ser. No. 12/351,859. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The disclosure relates to electronic devices and, particularly, to an electronic device capable of showing page flip effect and a method thereof. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Nowadays, many electronic devices, e.g., mobile phones, digital photo frames, electronic readers (e-reader), are capable of storing and displaying electronic documents (e.g., digital images, digital texts, etc). Usually, readability of these electronic devices deviates greatly from real paper print. For example, when people flip a page of an electronic document on these electronic devices, the page is directly changed without any visual effect simulating the turning of a page; as a result, it is difficult for people to get the feeling of reading real paper. 
     In order to resolve this problem, a software capable of generating a page flip effect when flipping through the pages of the digital document is introduced. However, a powerful processing unit is needed to run the software, which results in increase of the cost of these electronic devices. 
     Therefore, it is necessary to provide an electronic device and a method to overcome the above-identified deficiencies. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the electronic device. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an electronic device capable of showing information with a page flip effect in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating an effect page in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a flip-page operation table in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIGS. 4A-4E  are a series of schematic diagrams illustrating a process of flipping a page forward in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIGS. 5A-4E  are a series of schematic diagrams illustrating a process of flipping a page backward in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of an electronic device capable of showing information with a page flip effect in accordance with another exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a parameter table in accordance with another exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram illustrating areas determined by coordinates in accordance with another exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 9  is a flip-page operation table in accordance with another exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart illustrating a method for showing page flip effect applied in the electronic device of  FIG. 1  or  FIG. 6  in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an electronic device  1 , capable of showing information with a page flip effect in accordance with an exemplary embodiment, includes a processing unit  10 , a display unit  20 , a storage unit  30 , an interface unit  40 , an touch input unit  50 , and a power source  60 . The electronic device  1  can be an e-reader, a mobile phone, or a digital photo frame, etc. 
     The interface unit  40  is configured to connect to an external electronic device (not shown). The external device can be a storage card (for example, a secure digital (SD) card, a compact flash (CF) card) or another electronic device (for example, a digital camera, a mobile phone, or a computer). 
     The touch input unit  50  is configured to generate touch signals in response to user operations. For example, the user can touch the touch input unit  50  with a finger or a stylus. The touch input unit  50  can be a touch panel. In the exemplary embodiment, the touch input unit  50  is an area extending horizontally. The electronic device  1  also includes other user input units (not shown) used for operating the electronic device  1 , the other user input units can be an input key (button), a knob, a touch panel, and the like. 
     The storage unit  30  is configured to store electronic documents. The display unit  20  is configured to display the electronic documents. The electronic documents may include, but are not limited to, audio files, videos, digital images, texts, etc. In the exemplary embodiment, the storage unit  30  is a built-in storage unit, such as a flash memory, a micro drive, and so on. The storage unit  30  also stores a plurality of effect parameters and a flip-page operation table. The flip-page operation table defines relationships between flip effect parameters and lengths of touch paths. 
     The processing unit  10  includes an instruction receiving module  101 , a touch path detection module  102 , a page determining module  103 , and a view control module  104 . The instruction receiving module  101  is configured for receiving touch signals produced by the touch input unit  50 . The touch path detection module  102  is configured for detecting direction of a path of a sliding touch on the touch input unit  50  (hereinafter, the touch path) and length of the touch path according to the touch signals received by the instruction receiving module  101 . For example, when the sliding touch on the touch input unit  50  is from right to left, the touch path detection module  102  defines the touch path as a first touch path, whereas, the touch path detection module  102  defines the touch path as a second touch path when the sliding touch on the touch input unit  50  is from left to right and then determines the length of the touch path as the touch is executed as explained below. The page determining module  103  is configured for determining which page will be brought into view (hereinafter, the target page) according to the touch path. For example, if the touch path is the first touch path, the page determining module  103  determines the target page is a next page, namely the page determining module  103  determines to flip forward a page; if the touch path is the second touch path, the page determining module  103  determines the target page is a previous page, namely the page determining module  103  determines to flip back a page. 
     In the exemplary embodiment, the touch input unit  50  includes a series of touch sensors (not shown) arranged in a row, the touch path detection module  102  determines the touch path according to the sequence of the touch signals, and determines the length of the touch path according to the number of touch sensors between a current touch point and an initial touch point. 
     The view control module  104  is configured for producing a combined page according to current page, the target page, and the flip effect parameters. In the exemplary embodiment, the view control module  104  includes an obtaining sub-module  1041 , a combination sub-module  1042 , and a display control sub-module  1043 . Functions of the above modules will be described below. 
     Referring also to  FIG. 2 , in the exemplary embodiment, the flip effect parameters are a series of effect pages. Each of the effect pages includes a first part  201 , a second part  202 , and a third part  203 . The first part  201  and the third part  203  are transparent. The second part  202  is a flip-page figure representing the flip effect, such as a dog-ear when flipping a page. The dog-ear can be a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon etc. The three parts of each of the effect pages are different in size and shape. The effect pages are ordered. The effect pages are presented in order in combination with the current page and the target page to form a series of combined pages in sequence as shown in  FIGS. 4A-4E , and a series of effect pages in reverse order combines with the current page and the target page to form a series of combined pages in sequence as shown in  FIGS. 5A-5E . 
     Referring also to  FIG. 3 , the flip-page operation table defines the relationships between effect pages and lengths of a touch input of the first touch path or the second touch path. The obtaining sub-module  1041  obtains an effect page according to the current length and the flip-page operation table. For example, if the touch path is the first touch path and the current length “1” is 0.5 centimeters, in other words since the beginning of a touch input, a user has traced a path 0.5 centimeters long, the obtaining sub-module  1041  obtains the first effect page, if the touch path is the second touch path and current length “1” is 0.5 centimeters, the obtaining sub-module  1041  obtains the Nth effect page. 
       FIGS. 4A-4E  showing the continuous process when flip a page forward.  FIG. 4A  shows a current image without page flipping effect, if the current page displayed on the display unit  20  is page 7/100 as shown in  FIG. 4A , wherein 100 represents a total page number of a current text/album and 7 represents the current page. Therefore, if the touch path is the first touch path, the page determining module  103  determines the target page is page 8. When the touch path is the first touch path and the length of the touch path reaches to 0.5 centimeter, the obtaining sub-module  1041  obtains the first effect page from the storage unit  30  according to the flip-page operation table. The combination sub-module  1042  covers the current page (i.e., page 7) with the first effect page, obtains a part of the target page (i.e., page 8) whose size and location is the same as that of the third part of the first effect page, and covers the third part of the first effect page with the obtained part of page 8, and thus to obtain the first combined page as shown in  FIG. 4B . 
     The display control sub-module  1043  controls the display unit  20  to display the first combined page after it has been combined by the combination sub-module  1042 . Because a part of the first combined page corresponding to the first part of the first effect page is a part of the current page (i.e., page 7), a part of the first combined page corresponding to the second part of the first effect page is the dog-ear, and a part of the first combined page corresponding to the third part of the first effect page is a part of the next page (i.e., page 8), then, the first combined page shows the flipping effect that the page 7 is turned over a corner of page. 
     When the touch path is the first touch path and current length “1” reaches to 1 centimeter, the obtaining sub-module  102  obtains the second effect page correspond to the length “1 centimeter”, the combination sub-module  1042  and the display control sub-module  1043  repeats covering and displaying processes described above to obtain the second combined page as shown in  FIG. 4C . As the touch path increases to lengths defined in the flip-page operation table, the obtaining sub-module  1041 , the combination sub-module  1042  and the display control sub-module  1043  repeats obtaining, covering and displaying processes described above, displaying the combined pages as shown in  FIGS. 4B-4D , until the target page (i.e., page 8) is fully displayed on the display unit  20  as shown in  FIG. 4E . By using the series of combined pages in sequence as shown in  FIGS. 4A-4E , the page flip effect has the appearance of an actual physical page being turned to the next page. 
       FIGS. 5A-5E  showing the process of flipping back a page when the second touch path is input.  FIG. 5  shows a current image without page flipping effect. Supposing the current page is page 8, then when the user wants to flip back a page, the user inputs the left to right touch on the touch input unit  50 , making the target page, page 7. 
     When the length of the touch path reaches to 0.5 centimeters, the obtain sub-module  1041  obtains the Nth effect page according to the flip-page operation table. The combination sub-module  1042  covers the current page (i.e., page 8) with the Nth effect page, obtains a part of the target page (i.e., page 7) whose size and location is the same as that of the first part of the Nth effect page, and covers the first part of the Nth effect page with the obtained part of page 7, and thus to obtain a combined page as shown in  FIG. 5B . 
     Because a part of the combined page as shown in  FIG. 5B  corresponding to the first part of the first effect page is a part of the target page (i.e., page 7), a part of the combined page corresponding to the second part of the first effect page is the dog-ear, and a part of the first combined page corresponding to the third part of the first effect page is a part of current page (i.e., page 8), then, the combined page as shown in  FIG. 5B  shows the flipping effect that the page 8 is cover a corner of page with the page 7. 
     With the second touch path, when the touch path increases to lengths defined in the flip-page operation table, the obtaining sub-module  1041 , the combination sub-module  1042  and the display control sub-module  1043  repeats obtaining, covering and displaying processes described above until the target page (i.e., page 7) is fully displayed on the display unit  20  as shown in  FIG. 5E . During the repeating process, combined pages as shown in  FIGS. 5B-5D  are obtained. By using the series of pages in sequence as shown in  FIGS. 5A-5E , the page flip effect has the appearance of an actual physical page being turned to the previous page. 
     Before the user operates the electronic device  1  to view electronic documents, the user can set flipping effect information. The flipping effect information may include, but is not limited to, content of the second part of the effect page, the number of the effect pages to be used in the process of completely flipping a page. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , in the second embodiment, a flip-control module  104 ′ of the electronic device  1 ′ includes an obtaining sub-module  1044 , a figure producing sub-module  1045 , a combination sub-module  1046 , and a display control sub-module  1047 . In the exemplary embodiment, the flip effect parameters are parameters of a parameter table. 
     Referring also to  FIG. 7 . The parameter table includes a plurality of parameters indicated as parameter  1  to parameter n, n being some whole number greater than zero. Each of the parameters includes a first group of coordinates, content of a flip-page figure, a second group of coordinates, and a third group of coordinates. The first group of coordinates is used to determine a first area of a page, the second group of coordinates is used to determine a second area of a page, the third group of coordinates is used to determine a third area of a page. In the exemplary embodiment, a first area of a combined page is an area displaying a flip-page figure which represents the page flip effects, such as a dog-ear representing a page turnover effect. A second area of a combined page is an area displaying a part of a target page when flipping a page forward, a third area of a combined page is an area displaying a part of a target page when flipping a page backward. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the first group of coordinates of parameter n, namely (X N1 , Y N1 ), (X N2 , Y N2 ), (X N3 , Y N3 ), (X N4 , Y N4 ) (N=1, 2 . . . ) respectively correspond to positioning points A, B, C, and D, and these four points determines four straight line to form a first area A 1 , namely the area of displaying the flip-page figure of the combined page. The second group of coordinates of parameter n, namely (X′ N1 , Y′ N1 ), (X′ N2 , Y′ N2 ), (X′ N3 , Y′ N3 ), (X′ N4 , Y′ N4 ) (N=1, 2 . . . ) respectively correspond to points A, D, E, and F, and these four points A, D, E, and F determine four straight lines to form a second area A 2 , namely the area of displaying a part of the target page of the combined page when flips a page forward. The third group of coordinates of parameter n, namely (X″ N1 , Y″ N1 ), (X″ N2 , Y− N2 ), (X″ N3 , Y″ N3 ), (X″ N4 , Y″ N4 ), (X″ N5 , Y″ N5 ) (N=1, 2 . . . ) respectively correspond to points A, B, C, G, and H, and these five points A, B, C, G, and H determine five straight lines to form a third area A 3 , namely the area of displaying a part of the target page of the combined page when flips a page backward. A number of the coordinates in the first group, the second group, and the third group can be changed according to user&#39;s preferences. Accordingly, shapes of the first area A 1 , the second area A 2  and the third area A 3  would be changed in response to the number of the coordinates, for example, the shapes can be in the form of triangle, quadrangle, or pentagon, etc. 
     Referring also to  FIG. 9 , in the second exemplary embodiment, the flip-page operation table defines relationships between parameters and lengths of the first touch path and the second touch path respectively. The obtaining sub-module  1044  obtains a parameter according to current path length and the flip-page operation table. For example, if the touch path is the first touch path and current length “1” reaches to 0.5 centimeter, the obtaining sub-module  1044  obtains a parameter  1 , if the touch path is the second touch path and current length “1” reaches to 0.5 centimeter, the obtaining sub-module  1044  obtains a parameter n. 
     Referring again to  FIGS. 4A-4E . Suppose current page is page 7 as shown in  FIG. 4A , if the touch path is the first touch path (namely the touch path is from right to left), the page determining module  103  determines the target page is next page (i.e., page 8). when current length reaches to 0.5 centimeter, the obtaining sub-module obtains the parameter  1  from the parameter table. The figure producing sub-module  1045  produces the flip-page figure on the first area of the current page according to the first group of coordinates and the content of the flip-page figure. In detail, the figure producing sub-module  1045  determines the positioning points of the first area of the current page according to the first group of coordinates, and obtains the area of displaying the flip-page figure by connecting every two adjacent positioning points, and adds the content to the obtained area, thus forming the flip-page figure. 
     The combination sub-module  1046  determines a second area of the current page (i.e., page 7) and a second area of the next page (i.e., page 8) according to the second group of coordinates respectively. The combination sub-module  1046  covers the determined second area of the current page with the determined second area of the next page to obtain a combined page as shown in  FIG. 4B , the display control sub-module  1047  displays the combined page accordingly. 
     Then, in the second embodiment, When the touch path is the first touch path, as the touch path increases to lengths defined in the flip-page operation table, the obtaining sub-module  1044 , the figure producing sub-module  1045 , combination sub-module  1046  and the display control sub-module  1047  repeat obtaining, producing, combining and displaying processes described above, combined pages as shown in  FIGS. 4B-4D  are displayed in sequence accordingly, until the target page (i.e., page 8) is fully displayed on the display unit  20  as shown in  FIG. 4E . 
     Referring again to  FIGS. 5A-5E . Suppose current page is page 8 as shown in  FIG. 5A , if the touch path is the second touch path, the page determining module  103  determines the target page is the previous page (i.e., page 7). If the touch path is the second touch path and the length reaches to 0.5 centimeter, the obtaining sub-module obtains the parameter n from the parameter table. The figure producing sub-module  1045  produces the flip-page figure on the first area of the current page according to the first group of coordinates and the content of the flip-page figure of parameter n. 
     The combination sub-module  1046  determines a third area of the current page (e.g., 7) and a third area of the next page (e.g., 8) according to the third group of coordinates of the parameter n respectively. The combination sub-module  1046  covers the determined third area of the current page with the determined third area of the previous page to obtain a combined page as shown in  FIG. 5B , the display control sub-module  1047  displays the combined page accordingly. 
     Then, in the second embodiment, if the touch path is the second touch path, as the touch path increases to lengths defined in the flip-page operation table, the obtaining sub-module, the figure producing sub-module  1045 , combination sub-module  1046  and the display control sub-module  1047  repeat obtaining, covering and displaying processes described above, combined pages as shown in  FIG. 5B-5D  are displayed in sequence accordingly, until the target page (i.e., page 7) is fully displayed on the display unit  20  as shown in  FIG. 5E . 
       FIG. 10  is a flowchart illustrating a method for showing page flip effect applied in the electronic device of  FIG. 1  or  FIG. 6  in accordance with an embodiment. In step S 1001 , the instruction receiving module  101  receives touch signals. 
     In step S 1002 , the touch path detection module  102  determines the touch path and lengths of the touch path according to the touch signals. 
     If the touch path detection module  102  determines the touch path is a first touch path, e.g., from right to left, in step S 1003 , the page determining module  103  determines the target page is a next page. 
     In step S 1005 , as the touch path detection module  102  determines the touch path increases to lengths defined in the flip-page operation table, the view control module  104 / 104 ′ obtains a flip effect parameter according to the relationships between the flip effect parameters and the lengths of the first touch path defined in the flip-page operation table, produces a combined page according to the current page, the target page, and the flip effect parameter, and displays the combined page accordingly. Namely, when the touch path is the first touch path and the length of the touch path is gradually increased, a series of combined pages are produced and displayed, which exhibit the page flip effect reflecting the appearance of a physical page being turned to the next page. 
     If the touch path detection module  102  determines the touch path is a second touch path, e.g., from left to right, in step S 1004 , the page determining module  103  determines the target page is the previous page. 
     In step S 1006 , as the touch path detection module  102  determines the touch path increases to lengths defined in the flip-page operation table, the view control module  104 / 104 ′ obtains a flip effect parameter according to the relationships between the flip effect parameters and lengths of the second touch path defined in the flip-page operation table, produces a combined page according to the current page, the target page, and the flip effect parameter, and displays the combined page accordingly. Namely, when the touch path is the second touch path and the length of the touch path is gradually increased, a series of combined pages are produced and displayed, which exhibit the page flip effect reflecting the appearance of a physical page being turned to the previous page. 
     It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.