Patent Publication Number: US-2007118234-A1

Title: Apparatus and method of displaying a symmetric-type menu

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
      The present invention relates to a display apparatus and display method therefor, and particularly to a display apparatus and method of displaying a symmetric-type menu.  
     GENERAL BACKGROUND  
      Generally, a display apparatus is a device to visually output information including texts and graphics on a screen. It is widely and increasingly used in electronic devices. A first conventional display apparatus includes a screen to display data (i.e., an image) thereon, and a frame to support the screen. The frame is further disposed a plurality of mechanical function buttons thereon to input selections and actuate any desired function. The more functions the display apparatus has, the more mechanical function buttons the frame is disposed thereon. Therefore, the frame should be designed larger than needed so as to hold the mechanical function buttons. As a result, a volume of the display apparatus as a whole becomes larger, and an overall appearance of the whole display apparatus looks untidy.  
      A second conventional display apparatus adopts a touch screen instead of mechanical buttons for input selections. The touch screen uses a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on the display screen thereof buttons, allowing to touch by the finger or the like for making a selection. However, by directly touching the display screen, the touch screen thereupon is easily scratched or damaged.  
      Therefore, there is a need for an improved display apparatus and touch-based method therefore that can overcome the above-mentioned problems.  
     SUMMARY  
      A touch-based display apparatus is provided. The display apparatus is capable of displaying a symmetric-type menu. The display apparatus includes a screen and a frame. The screen has a breadthwise menu region and a lengthwise menu region. Each menu region displays a menu therein. The menu in the lengthwise menu region is a sub-menu of a menu option of the menu in the breadthwise menu region. The frame connects to the screen and has a breadthwise touch strip and a lengthwise touch strip thereof. Each touch strip corresponds to one of the menu region, and allows to select a desired menu option to perform an associated function therewith.  
      A touch-based method enabling a display apparatus to display a symmetric-type menu is also provided. The method includes the steps of: (a) providing a display apparatus having a screen and a frame connecting to the screen, the screen having a breadthwise menu region and a lengthwise menu region, and the frame having a breadthwise touch strip and a lengthwise touch strip each corresponding to one of the menu regions; (b) receiving and processing any sensing signal from one of the touch strips; (c) displaying a symmetric-type menu in the menu region; (d) hiding at least one of menu options displayed in the breadthwise menu region and replacing at least one of the displayed menu options by another hidden menu option and displaying a sub-menu of the menu option which moves in the lengthwise menu region, when receiving a plurality of sensing signals from the breadthwise touch strip; (e) hiding at least one of menu options displayed in the lengthwise menu region and replacing at least one of the displayed menu options by another hidden menu option, when receiving a plurality of sensing signals from the lengthwise touch strip; and (f) performing a function associated with a selected menu option when receiving a sensing signal from the lengthwise touch strip.  
      Other advantages and novel features will be drawn from the following detailed description with reference to the attached drawings, in which: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is an exemplary schematic diagram of a touch-based display apparatus enabling to display a symmetric-type menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the display apparatus including a screen and a frame, the frame having a breadthwise touch strip and a lengthwise touch strip thereof;  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram representing a hardware infrastructure of a sensing signal processing circuit for a touch sensitive unit beneath the touch strips of  FIG. 1  with the signal processing circuit connecting to a processing unit;  
       FIGS. 3A-3C  illustrate a series of symmetric-type menus involving different menu options displayed in a breadthwise menu region and a lengthwise menu region of the screen of  FIG. 1  in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each menu region corresponding to a touch strip of  FIG. 1 ; and  
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart of a preferred touch-based method for enabling a display apparatus of  FIG. 1  to display a symmetric-type menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       FIG. 1  is an exemplary schematic diagram of a touch-based display apparatus enabling to display a symmetric-type menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The display apparatus includes a screen  10  and a frame  11 . The screen  10  has a breadthwise menu region  100  and a lengthwise menu region  101  each for displaying a menu therein. The menu contains a number of menu options, furthermore, some of the menu options may be hidden due to a limited space of the screen  10 . In addition, due to a symmetric relationship between the breadthwise menu region  100  and the lengthwise menu region  101 , the menus displayed in the menu regions thereupon forms a symmetric-type menu. The frame  11  includes a breadthwise touch strip  110   a  and a lengthwise touch strip  110   b  thereon selectable by contact to perform a particular function associated with the menu regions.  
      For example, a contact on any of the touch strips initiates the symmetric-type menu to be displayed in the menu regions. After initiating the symmetric-type menu, a further contact on the breadthwise touch strip  110   a  controls a selection of a desired menu option of the menu displayed in the breadthwise menu region  100 . That is, a stroke on the breadthwise touch strip  110   a  hides the currently displayed but now undesired menu options out of the breadthwise menu region  100  until the desired menu option rotates or moves into the lengthwise menu region  101 , thereby displaying a sub-menu of the desired menu option. Alternatively, a further contact on the lengthwise touch strip  110   b  controls a selection of a desired menu option of the menu displayed in the lengthwise menu region  101 . That is, a stroke on the lengthwise touch strip  110   b  hides the currently displayed but now undesired menu options out of the lengthwise menu region  101  until the hidden but desired menu options appears in the lengthwise menu region  101 . When the desired menu option appears, a further touch on a corresponding location of the lengthwise touch strip  110   b  performs the function associated with the menu option such as, for example, displaying a sub-menu of the menu option, executing a particular operation indicated by the menu option, etc.  
      In order to provide a friendly and easy user interface, each touch strip is designed to correspond to one of the menu regions parallel to it, that is, the breadthwise touch strip  110   a  corresponds to the breadthwise menu region  100  and the lengthwise touch strip  110   b  corresponds to the lengthwise menu region  101 . Preferably, a length of each touch strip is designed to correspond to a length of the corresponding menu region. Furthermore, each touch strip has a plurality of touch sensitive units (not shown) beneath thereof. Each touch sensitive unit is constructed to essentially map to a menu option of the menus. That is, each touch sensitive unit is designed to perform a function associated with the menu option. Moreover, each touch sensitive unit includes a sensing signal processing circuit  112  (described in more detail below) for generating sensing signals to perform the function associated with the menu option in response to a contact on a corresponding location of the touch strip. Each touch sensitive unit beneath the touch strip is further assigned a coordinate for identification.  
      The display apparatus further includes a processing unit  25  as shown in  FIG. 2 . The processing unit  25  receives and processes the sensing signals from the touch sensitive units beneath the touch strips according to assigned coordinates therewith, and performs corresponding functions. For example, in response to a single sensing signal from the touch strips (i.e., the breadthwise touch strip  110   a  or the lengthwise touch strip  110   b ), the processing unit  25  processes the sensing signal, and initiates to display the symmetric-type menu last displayed thereon in the menu regions. That is, the processing unit  25  respectively displays the menu and its associated sub-menu in the breadthwise menu region  100  and the lengthwise menu region  101 .  
      In response to a plurality of sensing signals from the breadthwise touch strip  110   a  while the symmetric-type menu is in display, the processing unit  25  hides at least one of the menu options displayed in the breadthwise menu region  100  and replaces the at least one of the displayed menu options by one of the hidden menu options, and further displays the sub-menu of a selected menu option which rotates or moves into the lengthwise menu region  101 . Furthermore, the processing unit  25  displays the selected menu option in a particular location (e.g., a location labeled as  102 ) of the screen  10 .  
      In response to a plurality of sensing signals from the lengthwise touch strip  110   b  while the symmetric-type menu is in display, the processing unit  25  hides at least one of the menu options displayed in the lengthwise menu region  101  and replaces the at least one of the displayed menu options by one of the hidden menu options.  
      In response to a sensing signal from the lengthwise touch strip  110   b  while the symmetric-type menu is in display, the processing unit  25  performs the function indicated by the selected menu option in the lengthwise menu region  101 . In addition, when the menu option has a sub-menu, the processing unit  25  further displays the sub-menu of the menu option in the lengthwise menu region  101 , and displays the selected menu option in the particular location  102  of the screen  10 .  
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a sensing signal processing circuit  112  for the touch sensitive unit beneath the touch strips of  FIG. 1  according to one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the signal processing circuit  112  is in communication with the processing unit  25 . The sensing signal processing circuit  112  has an antenna  20 , a clamping circuit  21 , a detector  22 , a feedback line  23 , and a grounding line  24 . The antenna  20  is electrically coupled to the clamping circuit  21 , which itself is electrically coupled to an input end of the detector  22 . An output end of the detector  22  is respectively electrically coupled to the processing unit  25  and one end of the feedback line  23 . The feedback line  23  forms a positive feedback circuit with the antenna  21 . The grounding line  24 , which takes a form of a space between two adjacent touch sensitive units, is for spacing the touch sensitive units therebetween.  
      It is known that the human body is electrically charged with noise and static signals. Therefore, when a user contacts at least one of the touch strips, at least some of the noise and static signals of the user with a desired signal may be received by the antenna  20 . The antenna  20  transmits the received noise and static signals to the clamping circuit  21 . However, the static electrical signals may cause interference to normal operation of the detector  22 , and may even fry the detector  22 . In addition, a strong noise may adversely influence a resulting sensing signal for the processing unit  25 ; that is, the sensitivity of the touch sensitive unit may be diminished, and the quality of the resulting sensing signal may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, the clamping circuit  21  is adapted for eliminating the static signals and for reducing the noise, thus improving the sensitivity accuracy of the touch sensitive unit.  
      The clamping circuit  21  in one embodiment of the present invention includes a diode  210 , and a capacitor  211 . The cathode of the diode  210  is electrically coupled to the antenna  20 , while the anode is electrically coupled to ground. Upon receiving the noise and static signals with a desired signal, the diode  210  filters out the static signals to ground so as to avoid frying the detector  22 , and reducing the noise influencing to the capacitor  211 . The capacitor  211  further leaks a portion of the reduced noise to ground. Thus the reduced noise is further weakened, thereby obtaining a more accurate sensitivity.  
      The detector  22  has a high input impedance, so as to easily detect the desired signal with the reduced and weakened noise received from the input end of the detector  22 . The detector  22  then converts the desired signal with the reduced and weakened noise into digital signals, namely the sensing signals, and transmits the sensing signals through the output end of the detector  22  to the processing unit  25  to perform corresponding controls. Furthermore, because the feedback line  23  forms a positive feedback circuit with the antenna  20 , the noise generated as the user touches the edge of the touch sensitive unit is filtered, thereby further improving the sensitivity accuracy of the touch sensitive unit.  
       FIGS. 3A-3C  illustrate a series of symmetric-type menus having different menu options displayed in menu regions of the screen of  FIG. 1  in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each menu region corresponding to a touch strip of  FIG. 1 . As described above, the breadthwise menu region  100  and the lengthwise menu region  101  respectively display the menu and the sub-menu associated therein, thereby forming the symmetric-type menu in the screen  10 . In this exemplary embodiment, contents of the menu options provide information related to music, and only three symmetric-type menus are illustrated therein. However, either the contents of the menu options or the number of the symmetric-type menus are not to be construed as being limited thereto.  
      Each menu region is capable of displaying different parts of the information in different display states. For example, referring to  FIG. 3A , where namely a first display state of the screen  10  is shown, the breadthwise menu region  100  displays a menu providing information related to selectable music styles (e.g., Pop, Hip-Hop, Rock, Jazz, Folk, etc.), and the lengthwise menu region  101  displays a sub-menu of a desired music style menu option such as, for example, “Rock”, the sub-menu providing information related to the selectable music style&#39;s singers (e.g., Sam, Robert, Tony, Kaven, Jacky, etc.).  
      Referring to  FIG. 3B , where namely a second display state of the screen  10  is shown, the breadthwise menu region  100  displays the menu providing information related to rock music singers, which contents have been displayed as the sub-menu in the first display state, and the lengthwise menu region  101  displays a sub-menu of a desired music singer menu option such as, for example, “Tony”, the sub-menu providing information related to one rock music singer Tony&#39;s music albums (e.g., Album A, Album B, Album C, Album D, etc.).  
      Referring to  FIG. 3C , where namely a third display state of the screen  10  is shown, the breadthwise menu region  100  displays the menu providing information related to selectable music albums of one rock music singer Tony, which contents have been displayed as the sub-menu in the second display state, and the lengthwise menu region  101  displays a sub-menu of a desired music album menu option such as, for example, “Album C”, the sub-menu providing information related to specific music names in “Album C” (e.g., Song A, Song B, Song C, Song D, etc.).  
      In addition, in each display state, the screen  10  displays the selected menu option (i.e., “Rock”, “Tony”, “Album C”) in the particular location  102  such as that shown in  FIGS. 3A-3C . Furthermore, the screen  10  can display the selected menu option in an appropriated mode, such as a flashing mode. Moreover, in the described display states except the first display state, each sub-menu further has a “Back” menu option displayed in a constant location in the lengthwise menu region  101  for easily returning to a former display state.  
      Accordingly, because the touch strips are used instead of function buttons for performing functions, the frame  11  can retain its neatness, regardless of how many functions the display apparatus has. Furthermore, since the surface areas of the touch sensitive strips can be designed in smaller sizes, the frame  11  of the display apparatus thereupon can be designed in a smaller size by using a narrow configuration, whereas the screen  10  thereof can be designed in a larger size, thereby the display apparatus may not only obtain a neater appearance but may also posses a larger screen for display more information. Moreover, due to the utilization of the two-dimensional touch strips and dynamic symmetric-type menus of the display apparatus, a user can easily select a desired menu option to perform the function associated therewith.  
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart of a preferred touch-based method for enabling a display apparatus of  FIG. 1  to display the symmetric-type menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In step S 400 , the processing unit  25  receives and processes any sensing signal from the touch sensitive units beneath the touch strips. In step S 401 , the processing unit  25  initiates the symmetric-type menu last displayed thereon in the menu regions to be displayed. That is, the processing unit respectively displays the menu and its associated sub-menu in the breadthwise menu region  100  and the lengthwise menu region  101 .  
      In step S 402 , the processing unit  25  determines whether it receives any sensing signal mapped to the menu options of the displayed symmetric-type menu.  
      If the processing unit  25  does not receive a sensing signal mapped to the menu options of the displayed symmetric-type menu, in step S 403 , the processing unit  25  determines whether a duration of not receiving any sensing signal mapped to the menu options of the displayed symmetric-type menu reaches a predetermined value. If the duration reaches the predetermined value, in step S 404 , the processing unit  25  hides the symmetric-type menu displayed on the menu regions, and the procedure is finished. If the duration does not reach the predetermined value, the procedure returns to step S 402 .  
      If the processing unit  25  receives a sensing signal mapped to the menu options of the displayed symmetric-type menu, in step S 405 , the processing unit  25  determines whether it further receives a plurality of sensing signals from the breadthwise touch strip  110   a . If received, in step S 406 , the processing unit  25  hides at least one of the menu options displayed in the breadthwise menu region  100  and replaces at least one of the displayed menu options by another hidden menu option, and further displays the sub-menu of the menu option which moves into the lengthwise menu region  101 , and the procedure returns to step S 402 .  
      If not, in step S 407 , the processing unit determines whether it receives the sensing signal mapped to the “Back” menu option. If received, in step S 408 , the processing unit displays a former symmetric-type menu in the menu regions.  
      If not, in step S 409 , the processing unit  25  determines whether it receives a plurality of sensing signals from the lengthwise touch strip  110   b . If received, in step S 410 , the processing unit  25  hides at least one of the menu options displayed in the lengthwise menu region  101  and replaces at least one of the displayed menu options by another hidden menu option, and the procedure returns to step S 402 .  
      If not, in step S 411 , the processing unit  25  determines whether it receives the sensing signal for performing the function associated with the menu options except the “Back” menu option from the lengthwise touch strip  110   b . If not, the procedure returns to step S 403 .  
      If received, in step S 412 , the processing unit  25  determines whether the selected menu option has a sub-menu. If the selected menu option has a sub-menu, in step S 413 , the processing unit  25  displays the sub-menu of the selected menu option in the lengthwise menu region  101  and displays the menu including the selected menu option in the breadthwise menu region  100 , and further displays the selected menu in the particular location  102  of the screen  10 , and the procedure returns to step S 402 .  
      If the selected menu option doesn&#39;t have a sub-menu, in step S 414 , the processing unit  25  performs the function associated with the selected menu option, and the procedure is finished.  
      Although the present invention has been specifically described on the basis of the preferred embodiment and preferred method thereof, the invention is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the embodiment and method without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.