Patent Publication Number: US-2017351418-A1

Title: Display device and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having display control program recorded thereon

Description:
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE 
     This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-112083 filed on Jun. 3, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates to a display device, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a display control program recorded thereon, and in particular to a technique to scroll an image displayed on a display unit. 
     These days, mobile apparatuses such as mobile phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDA), music players, and electronic tablets have come to be widely utilized. Display devices of many of the mobile apparatuses are configured to display the screen so as to scroll according to a touch operation of a user performed on the screen of the display unit. 
     Many of the existing display devices have an inertial scroll function to gradually reduce the scrolling speed as if by inertia, when the screen is being scrolled by a swipe operation (sliding a finger while keeping the finger in contact with the screen), instead of immediately stopping the scrolling movement when the user&#39;s finger is separated from the screen. 
     In addition, many of the display devices are configured to display, while the scrollable display is in process, a scroll bar indicating which part of the entire content is currently displayed on the screen of the display unit. Further, various techniques have been proposed to improve the operability of the display device by utilizing the scroll bar. 
     SUMMARY 
     The disclosure proposes further improvement of the foregoing technique. In an aspect, the disclosure provides a display device including a display unit and a control unit. The display unit has a touch panel function. The control unit includes a processor that operates according to an operation program, to allow the control unit to control a display on the display unit and receive an instruction made through a touch operation on the display unit and detected through the touch panel function. The control unit (i) performs, upon receipt of a scroll instruction made through the touch operation with respect to an image to be displayed on the display unit, scrollable display of a screen displayed in the display unit, (ii) displays, in a display region in the display unit, a scroll bar indicating, by a position thereof in the display region, to which part of an entirety of the image to be scrollably displayed a partial image displayed on the screen corresponds, and (iii) displays, before the scrollable display ends, a stop position image indicating a stop position of the scroll bar in the display region, calculated from a display end position of the image to be scrollably displayed according to the scroll instruction, at a position corresponding to the stop position. 
     In another aspect, the disclosure provides a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium containing a display control program that causes a computer to act as a controller that controls a display on a display unit and receives an instruction made through a touch operation on the display unit and detected through a touch panel function installed in the display unit. The display control program further causes the controller to: (i) perform, upon receipt of a scroll instruction made through the touch operation, scrollable display of a screen displayed in the display unit; (ii) display, in a display region in the display unit, a scroll bar indicating, by a position thereof in the display region, to which part of an entirety of the image to be scrollably displayed a partial image displayed on the screen corresponds; and (iii) display, before the scrollable display ends, a stop position image indicating a stop position of the scroll bar in the display region, calculated from a display end position of the image to be scrollably displayed according to the scroll instruction, at a position corresponding to the stop position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view showing an appearance of a display device according to a first embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram showing an essential internal configuration of the display device according to the first embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing showing an example of an incoming mail list image. 
         FIG. 4  is a plan view showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit. 
         FIG. 5A  is a plan view showing a scroll bar displayed on the screen of the display unit. 
         FIG. 5B  is a plan view for explaining a scroll bar display region displayed on the screen of the display unit. 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing a display process performed by the display device according to the first embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a plan view showing another example of the screen displayed on the display unit. 
         FIG. 8A  is a plan view showing a movement caused by a swipe operation on the screen of the display unit. 
         FIG. 8B  is a plan view showing a state at the start of scrollable display on the screen of the display unit. 
         FIG. 9A  is a plan view showing a state where the scrollable display is in process on the screen of the display unit. 
         FIG. 9B  is a plan view showing a state where the scrollable display has ended on the screen of the display unit. 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart showing a display process performed by a display device according to a second embodiment. 
         FIG. 11  is a plan view showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit. 
         FIG. 12A  is a plan view showing a state where the scrollable display is in process on the screen of the display unit. 
         FIG. 12B  is a plan view showing a state where the scrollable display has ended on the screen of the display unit. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Hereafter, a display device and a display control program according to embodiments of the disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.  FIG. 1  is a plan view showing an appearance of the display device according to a first embodiment of the disclosure.  FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram showing an essential internal configuration of the display device according to the first embodiment. 
     The display device  1  according to the first embodiment of the disclosure may be exemplified by a mobile apparatus such as a smartphone. The display device  1  includes a display unit  10 , a touch panel  20 , a communication unit  30 , a storage unit  40 , and a control unit  100 . These components are configured to exchange data or signals with each other, via a bus of a central processing unit (CPU). 
     The display unit  10  is constituted, for example, of a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED). The display unit  10  displays responses from the control unit  100  and data processing results. 
     The touch panel  20  may be of a resistive film type or an electrostatic capacitance type. The touch panel  20  is located on the front face of the display unit  10 , and detects contact made by a user, as well as the position where the contact has been made, on the screen of the display unit  10 . Upon detecting a contact made by the user, the touch panel  20  outputs a detection signal indicating the coordinate position of the contact point, to an operation reception unit  102 , to be subsequently described, of the control unit  100 . Thus, the touch panel  20  serves as an operation unit through which the user operation with respect to the screen of the display unit  10  is inputted. 
     The touch panel  20  also includes those configured to detect, for example, the user&#39;s finger when the finger comes close to the screen to a predetermined distance, despite a direct contact of the finger not being made on the screen. Accordingly, the term “contact” used in this embodiment encompasses the case where the touch panel  20  detects the finger or other objects that have entered a predetermined range from the screen, though the direct contact has not been made. 
     The display device  1  may also include physical keys for use of an operation unit for inputting the user&#39;s operation, in addition to the touch panel  20 . Examples of the physical key include arrow keys, a page-up key, and a page-down key. 
     The communication unit  30  is a communication interface including a communication module having a non-illustrated local area network (LAN) chip. The display device  1  is connected to other electronic apparatuses such as a personal computer (PC) via a network, and exchanges data with the PC or other apparatuses connected via the communication unit  30 . 
     The storage unit  40  is a storage device, for example a non-volatile memory 
     The control unit  100  is constituted of a processor, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), and so forth. The processor may be, for example, a CPU, a MPU, or an ASIC. The control unit  100  acts as a controller  101 , the operation reception unit  102 , a display controller  103 , and a mail information storage unit  104  when the processor executes a control program stored in the storage unit  40 . Here, the components of the control unit  100  may each be constituted in the form of a hardware circuit, instead of being performed according to the display control program. This also applies to other embodiments, unless otherwise specifically noted. 
     The controller  101  serves to control the overall operation of the display device  1 . The controller  101  is connected to the display unit  10 , the touch panel  20 , the communication unit  30 , and the storage unit  40 , so as to control these functional units and exchange signals or data therewith. For example, the controller  101  has a mail function for transmitting and receiving mails, and stores the information of the transmitted mails and incoming mails, in the storage unit  104 . 
     The operation reception unit  102  receives a touch operation made on the display unit  10  and detected by the touch panel  20 . The operation reception unit  102  identifies the content of the touch operation made by the user according to the detection signal outputted from the touch panel  20 , and outputs an instruction representing the identified content to the controller  101  and the display controller  103 . 
     The touch operation made on the touch panel  20  includes a tap operation and a slide operation (including flick operation and swipe operation). For example, when the user puts the finger on the touch panel  20  and then withdraws the finger from the touched position, the touch panel  20  outputs a detection signal indicating the position where the contact has been detected, to the operation reception unit  102 . Upon receipt of the detection signal, the operation reception unit  102  identifies that the operation inputted by the user is the tap operation. 
     When the finger is placed on the touch panel  20  and then moved maintaining the contact therewith, the touch panel  20  outputs a detection signal indicating the locus of the finger between the initial position where the contact has been detected first and the final position where the contact has been detected last, to the operation reception unit  102 . Upon receipt the detection signal, the operation reception unit  102  identifies that the operation inputted by the user is the slide operation (flick operation or swipe operation). 
     The display controller  103  controls the display in the display unit  10 . For example, upon receipt of a user&#39;s display instruction of an incoming mail list, an example of the image to be displayed, from the operation reception unit  102 , the display controller  103  reads incoming mail information from the mail information storage unit  104 , generates an incoming mail list image representing the incoming mail information read out, and displays the incoming mail list image on the display unit  10 . Here, the incoming mail list image exemplifies the list image in What is claimed is. 
     When the operation reception unit  102  identifies that, for example, the touch operation made by the user is the swipe operation, the display controller  103  performs a scrollable display in which the scrolling speed is gradually reduced according to the direction and speed of the swipe operation (inertial scroll). The operation reception unit  102  detects the direction of the swipe operation according to the moving direction of the finger in contact with the touch panel  20 , and the speed of the swipe operation on the basis of the travel distance per unit time. Although the description given hereunder refers to the case where the swipe operation is performed, the disclosure is equally applicable to the cases where the operation reception unit  102  and the display controller  103  are operated on the basis of other touch operations such as the flick operation. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing showing an example of the incoming mail list image, and  FIG. 4  is a plan view showing an example of the screen displayed on the display unit  10 . 
     In the case where the incoming mail list image M 1  protrudes from the display region of the display unit  10  because of a large volume of the incoming mail information as result of generating the incoming mail list image M 1 , the display controller  103  performs the scrollable display so as to sequentially display divided portions of the incoming mail list image M 1  in the display region E 1 . In this embodiment, the image displayed by the display controller  103  on the display unit  10  as object of the scrollable display will be referred to as scrollable image. Therefore, the scrollable image is an image the entirety of which is unable to be displayed at a time in the display region of the display unit  10 , in other words an image the entirety of which is unable to be displayed in the display region unless the divided portions are sequentially displayed in the display region by the scrollable display. The incoming mail list image M 1  containing a large volume of incoming mail information exemplifies the scrollable image. 
     The display controller  103  builds up the screen D 1  to be displayed on the display unit  10  with a title bar Bt representing, for example, a title “INCOMING MAIL BOX”, and a partial image of the incoming mail list image M 1  located in the display region E 1 . In this embodiment, the display region E 1  will be defined as a region in the screen of the display unit  10  other than the section where the title bar Bt is displayed. A portion P 1  indicated by broken lines in  FIG. 3  is displayed in the display region E 1  shown in  FIG. 4 . Here, the portion P 1  exemplifies the partial list image in What is claimed is. 
     To perform the scrollable display of the incoming mail list image M 1 , the display controller  103  displays, as shown in  FIG. 5A , an image of the scroll bar Bs indicating, by the position thereof in the display region E 1 , to which part of the entirety of the incoming mail list image M 1  (see  FIG. 3 ) the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  corresponds. 
     A region indicated by broken lines in  FIG. 5B  represents a scroll bar display region E 2  in which the scroll bar Bs can be displayed. Although the display controller  103  does not display the scroll bar display region E 2 , the scroll bar display region E 2  may be displayed, for example, so as to extend throughout the entire length of the display region E 1  (in  FIG. 5B , the entire length in the vertical direction). 
       FIG. 5A  illustrates an example in which the display controller  103  displays the scroll bar Bs so as to extend from the upper end of the scroll bar display region E 2  to a position corresponding to 30% of the entire length of the scroll bar display region E 2  from the upper end thereof. In this case, the scroll bar Bs indicates that the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  corresponds to a region that covers 30% of the entire length of the incoming mail list image M 1  from the upper end thereof. Thus, the scroll bar Bs indicates, by the position thereof in the display region E 1 , to which part of the entirety of the incoming mail list image M 1  (see  FIG. 3 ) the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  corresponds. 
     Hereunder, a display process performed by the display device  1  will be described.  FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing the display process performed by the display device  1 .  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 8A ,  FIG. 8B ,  FIG. 9A , and  FIG. 9B  each illustrate an example of the screen displayed on the display unit  10 . Specifically,  FIG. 8A  represents a screen under the swipe operation,  FIG. 8B  represents a screen at the start of the scrollable display,  FIG. 9A  represents a screen that appears during the scrollable display, and  FIG. 9B  represents a screen at the end of the scrollable display. The description given hereunder refers to the case where the swipe operation is performed on the incoming mail list image M 1  when the incoming mail list image M 1  is displayed on the display unit  10  as scrollable image (see  FIG. 4 ). 
     Referring to  FIG. 8A , when the user performs, for example, the swipe operation in a direction of an arrow A 1  (upward in  FIG. 8A ) on the incoming mail list image M 1  and the operation reception unit  102  detects the swipe operation, the operation reception unit  102  receives the scroll instruction made through the swipe operation, and detects the direction and speed of the swipe operation (S 1 ). The operation reception unit  102  calculates a scroll amount to be applied to the incoming mail list image M 1  on the basis of the direction and speed of the swipe operation detected and the display position of the incoming mail list image M 1  displayed at this point on the display unit  10 , and identifies a display end position of the scrollable display in the incoming mail list image M 1  (S 2 ). The operation reception unit  102  then outputs the direction and speed of the swipe operation detected at S 1 , the display end position of the scrollable display identified at S 2 , and the scroll instruction, to the display controller  103 . 
     Then the display controller  103  calculates a position in the entire length of the scroll bar display region E 2  where the scroll bar Bs is supposed to be displayed at the end of the scrollable display (which may also be defined as the position of the scroll bar Bs displayed in the display region E 1  at the end of the scrollable display), on the basis of the display end position identified as above (S 3 ). Further, the display controller  103  generates a guide image G 1  of a rectangular shape for example (see  FIG. 7 ), extending from the upper end of the scroll bar display region E 2  to the position calculated at S 3  (S 4 ). Accordingly, the guide image G 1  indicates a stroke range in which the scroll bar Bs is movably displayed while the scrollable display is being performed. The display controller  103  displays the generated guide image G 1  in the scroll bar display region E 2 , as shown in  FIG. 7  (S 5 ). The display controller  103  further displays the scroll bar Bs so as to overlap the guide image G 1  (S 5 ). For example, as shown in  FIG. 8B , the display controller  103  displays the scroll bar Bs so as to overlap the guide image G 1 , at the position in the display region E 1  corresponding to the position of the image displayed in the display region E 1  and representing the part of the entirety of the incoming mail list image M 1  (see  FIG. 3 ) currently displayed on the display unit  10  (i.e., position in the entire length of the guide image G 1 ). Here, the guide image G 1  exemplifies the stop position image in What is claimed is. 
     In the case where, for example, the scroll instruction of the scrollable display instructs to scroll up, the display controller  103  displays the scroll bar Bs at the upper end of the scroll bar display region E 2 , when starting the scrollable display. The display controller  103  then displays the guide image G 1  generated at S 4  such that the upper end thereof is located at the upper end of the scroll bar display region E 2 .  FIG. 8B  illustrates the mentioned situation. 
     In the case where the scroll instruction of the scrollable display instructs to scroll down, the display controller  103  displays the scroll bar Bs at the lower end of the scroll bar display region E 2 , when starting the scrollable display. The display controller  103  then displays the guide image G 1  generated at S 4  such that the lower end thereof is located at the lower end of the scroll bar display region E 2 . 
     In either of the mentioned cases, the length of the guide image G 1  corresponds to the stroke range of the scroll bar Bs during the scrollable display. 
     Then the display controller  103  starts the scrollable display of the incoming mail list image M 1 , in the direction and at the speed of the swipe operation detected at S 1  (S 6 ). The display controller  103  moves the display position of the scroll bar Bs, in accordance with the transition of the display in the display region E 1  for performing the scrollable display (S 7 ). In this case, the display controller  103  shifts the display position of the scroll bar Bs in the entire length of the guide image G 1 , according to which part of the incoming mail list image M 1  the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  corresponds to, as shown in  FIG. 9A . 
     Referring to  FIG. 9B , the display controller  103  performs the scrollable display and the movable display of the scroll bar Bs while the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  is away from the display end position (NO at S 8 ), and when the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  reaches the display end position (YES at S 8 ), the display controller  103  finishes the scrollable display of the incoming mail list image M 1  (S 9 ). The display controller  103  then erases the scroll bar Bs and the guide image G 1 , upon finishing the scrollable display (S 10 ). The display controller  103  thus finishes the scrollable display and erases the scroll bar Bs and the guide image G 1 , when the portion P 1  reaches the display end position, and therefore the user can visually recognize easily that the entirety of the incoming mail list image M 1  has been displayed by being scrolled. 
     Hereunder, a second embodiment of the display process performed by the display device  1  will be described.  FIG. 10  is a flowchart showing the display process performed by the display device  1  according to the second embodiment. The description of the same steps as those of the first embodiment will not be repeated. 
     Although the guide image G 1  indicating the stroke range of the scroll bar Bs is displayed on the display unit  10  according to the first embodiment, the second embodiment is different therefrom in that an image of the same shape as the scroll bar Bs is displayed on the display unit  10  at the position where the scroll bar Bs is supposed to be displayed at the end of the scrollable display. 
     In the second embodiment, the display controller  103  calculates the position in the display region E 1  where the scroll bar Bs is to be displayed at the end of the scrollable display, on the basis of the display end position calculated at S 2  (S 3 ), and displays, as shown in  FIG. 11 , a part image Pt of the same shape as the scroll bar Bs on the portion P 1  in the display region E 1 , at the position calculated at S 3  (S 14 ). The part image Pt exemplifies the stop position image in the disclosure. 
     Then the display controller  103  starts the scrollable display of the incoming mail list image M 1 , in the direction and at the speed of the swipe operation detected at S 1  (S 6 ), and moves the display position of the scroll bar Bs, in accordance with the transition of the display in the display region E 1  for performing the scrollable display, as shown in  FIG. 12A  (S 7 ). 
     Referring to  FIG. 12B , the display controller  103  performs the scrollable display and the movable display of the scroll bar Bs while the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  is away from the display end position (NO at S 8 ), and when the portion P 1  displayed in the display region E 1  reaches the display end position (YES at S 8 ), the display controller  103  displays the scroll bar Bs so as to overlap the part image Pt, and finishes the scrollable display of the incoming mail list image M 1  (S 9 ). The display controller  103  then erases the scroll bar Bs and the part image Pt upon finishing the scrollable display (S 20 ). The display controller  103  thus finishes the scrollable display and erases the scroll bar Bs and the guide image G 1 , when the portion P 1  reaches the display end position, and therefore the user can visually recognize easily that the entirety of the incoming mail list image M 1  has been displayed by being scrolled. 
     In existing display devices, employing the inertial scroll so as not to finish the scrolling motion immediately after the finger is separated from the screen provides an advantage in that the user is alleviated from the trouble of the operation. On the other hand, it is difficult to identify the end position of the display being scrolled. In addition, regarding the existing display devices, a technique to notify the end position where the scrollable display of the entire image ends, to the user in advance, is not disclosed or suggested. 
     According to the first and second embodiments, in contrast, the scroll bar Bs, as well as the guide image G 1  or the part image Pt indicating the stroke range of the scroll bar Bs are displayed on the display unit  10  immediately after the swipe operation and while the display is being scrolled. Therefore, the user can surely recognize in advance the display end position of the display being scrolled, despite that the scrolling motion is not stopped immediately after the swipe operation. 
     The disclosure is not limited to the foregoing embodiment, but may be modified in various manners. For example, although the display device according to the foregoing embodiments of the disclosure is exemplified by the smartphone, the disclosure is equally applicable to different electronic apparatuses, such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a music player, and an electronic tablet. 
     The configurations and processing according to the foregoing embodiments, described above with reference to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 12B , are merely exemplary and in no way intended to limit the configurations and processing of the disclosure. 
     Various modifications and alterations of this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure, and it should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the illustrative embodiments set forth herein.