Patent Publication Number: US-2013234963-A1

Title: File management method and electronic device having file management function

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to file management, and more particularly, to a file management method and an electronic device having the file management function. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Touch screens are used in many electronic devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and portable computers. Electronic files stored in these electronic devices may be copied, pasted, moved, deleted, and renamed using the touch screen. However, a plurality of steps is required to execute any of the above mentioned functions, which is inconvenient and time consuming. Further, it may be difficult to copy, paste, move, delete, and rename the files only by general touch operations on mere representations (icons) of the files displayed on the touch screen. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an electronic device including a file management unit. 
         FIG. 2  shows a four predetermined directions which a touch applied to an icon may slide along. 
         FIG. 3  shows a flowchart of one embodiment of a file management method of the electronic device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  shows the process of an example of step S 4  of the method of  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings, is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean “at least one.” 
       FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic device  100 . The electronic device  100  includes a touch screen  110 , a processor  120 , a storage  130 , and a file management unit  400 . In the embodiment, the touch screen  110  may be capacitive or resistive. The file management unit  400  can detect touches applied to icons of different files of the electronic device  100 , and execute predetermined functions (e.g., to copy, move, and rename) on the files corresponding to the icons according to the touches. The electronic device  100  may be, for example, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a portable computer, or similar device having the touch screen  110 .  FIG. 1  shows one example of the electronic device  100 , and the electronic device  100  can include more or fewer components than shown in the embodiment, or have a different configuration of the components. 
     The file management unit  400  may include a plurality of programs in the form of one or more computerized instructions stored in the storage  130  and executed by the processor  120  to perform operations of the electronic device  100 . In the embodiment, the file management unit  400  includes a detection module  410 , a determination module  420 , and an execution module  430 . In general, the word “module,” as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, written in a programming language, such as, Java, C, or assembly. One or more software instructions in the modules may be embedded in firmware, such as in an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM). The modules described herein may be implemented as either software and/or hardware modules and may be stored in any type of non-transitory computer-readable medium or other storage devices. Some non-limiting examples of non-transitory computer-readable medium include CDs, DVDs, BLU-RAY, flash memory, and hard disk drives. 
     The detection module  410  detects touches applied to icons of files of the electronic device  100 . The touches may be done with a finger or a tool, such as a stylus. The files may be files of various applications, photos, documents, or others similar files stored in the storage  130  of the electronic device  100 . 
     When a touch applied to an icon of a file is detected, the determination module  420  determines whether the touch is a held touch lasting for more than a predetermined time, such as two or three seconds. If the touch is the held touch, the determination module  420  determines whether the held touch slides along one of a number of predetermined directions, the number of predetermined directions being one or more. 
     If the held touch does slide along one predetermined direction, the execution module  430  executes a predetermined operation on the file, for example, copying or deleting the file. In the embodiment, each of the predetermined directions corresponds to a predetermined operation, and the predetermined operation executed by the execution module  430  corresponds to a predetermined direction. 
     In other embodiments, if the held touch slides along a predetermined direction, the execution module  430  may display a predetermined menu including a plurality of options (e.g., “save as”, “move”, “rename”, “copy”, and “delete”) on the touch screen  110 , and then execute a function corresponding to the option selected by a user. 
     In one example, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the predetermined directions may include a first, second, third, and fourth predetermined directions, which are substantially left, right, up, and down. The execution module  430  includes a first execution sub-module  431  and a second execution sub-module  432 . When the held touch slides along the first predetermined direction, the first execution sub-module  431  executes a first predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to copy the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a first predetermined menu including a first group of options on the touch screen  110 . When the held touch slides along the second predetermined direction, the first execution sub-module  431  executes a second predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to rename the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a second predetermined menu including a second group of options on the touch screen  110 . When the held touch slides along the third predetermined direction, the first execution sub-module  431  executes a third predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to move the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a third predetermined menu including a third group of options on the touch screen  110 . When the held touch slides along the fourth predetermined direction, the first execution sub-module  431  executes a fourth predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to delete the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a fourth predetermined menu including a fourth group of options on the touch screen  110 . Further, when any option of the first, second, third, and fourth predetermined menus is selected, a function corresponding to the selected option is executed by the second execution sub-module  432 . In addition, the first, second, third and fourth predetermined menus have different group of options from each other. 
       FIG. 3  shows a flowchart of one embodiment of a file management method of the electronic device  100  of  FIG. 1 . Depending on the embodiment, additional steps may be added, others removed, and the ordering of the steps may be changed. 
     In step S 1 , the detection module  410  detects touches applied to icons of files (e.g., files of various types and applications) of the electronic device  100 . 
     In step S 2 , when a touch applied to an icon of a file is detected, a determination is made by the determination module  420  as to whether the touch is a held touch lasting for more than a predetermined time (e.g., two or three seconds). If the touch is a held touch, the process goes to step S 3 . If the touch is not a held touch, the process terminates. 
     In step S 3 , the determination module  420  determines whether the held touch slides along one of a number of predetermined directions, the number of predetermined directions being one or more. If the held touch does slide along one predetermined direction, the process goes to step S 4 . Otherwise, if the held touch does not slide along any of the predetermined directions, the process terminates. 
     In step S 4 , the execution module  430  executes a predetermined operation on the file, or displays a predetermined menu including a plurality of options (e.g., “save as”, “move”, “rename”, “copy”, and “delete”) on the touch screen  110 . 
     Under the condition that the predetermined menu has been displayed on the touch screen, when an option of the predetermined menu is selected by a user, the execution module  430  executes the function corresponding to the selected option. In one example of the present embodiment, the predetermined directions include a first, second, third, and fourth predetermined directions, which are substantially left, right, up, and down.  FIG. 4  shows the detail of the process of step S 4  based on the four predetermined directions, which are implemented by the first and second execution sub-modules  431 ,  432 . 
     In step S 5 , the determination module  420  determines whether the held touch slides along the first predetermined direction, and if the held touch does slide along the first predetermined direction, step S 10  is implemented. Otherwise, the procedure goes to step S 6 . 
     In step S 6 , the determination module  420  determines whether the held touch slides along the second predetermined direction, and if the held touch does slide along the second predetermined direction, step S 11  is implemented. Otherwise, the procedure goes to step S 7 . 
     In step S 7 , the determination module  420  determines whether the held touch slides along the third predetermined direction, and if the held touch does slide along the third predetermined direction, step S 12  is implemented. Otherwise, the procedure goes to step S 8 . 
     In step S 8 , the determination module  420  determines whether the held touch slides along the fourth predetermined direction, and if the held touch does slide along the fourth predetermined direction, step S 13  is implemented. Otherwise, the procedure terminates. 
     In step S 10 , the first execution sub-module  431  executes a first predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to copy the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a first predetermined menu including a first group of options. Then the procedure goes to step S 14 . 
     In step S 11 , the first execution sub-module  431  executes a second predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to rename the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a second predetermined menu including a second group of options. Then the procedure goes to step S 14 . 
     In step S 12 , the first execution sub-module  431  executes a third predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to move the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a third predetermined menu including a third group of options. Then the procedure goes to step S 14 . 
     In step S 13 , the first execution sub-module  431  executes a fourth predetermined operation on the file (e.g., to delete the file), or the second execution sub-module  432  displays a fourth predetermined menu including a fourth group of options. Then the procedure goes to step S 14 . 
     In step S 14 , under the condition that the first, second, third, or fourth predetermined menus is displayed on the touch screen  110 , the function corresponding to the selected option is executed by the second execution sub-module  432  when an option of the first, second, third, or fourth predetermined menus is selected. 
     Although certain embodiments of the present disclosure have been specifically described, the present disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.