CN116249960A

CN116249960A - Device control method, device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116249960A
Application number: CN202080104801.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 沈剑锋; 闫雅婷; 汪智勇; 郑佩; 李晨雄; 张李平; 王�华
Original assignee: Shanghai Chuanying Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Chuanying Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-14
Filing date: 2020-08-14
Publication date: 2023-06-09
Also published as: WO2022032673A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a device control method, a device and a storage medium, which are applied to electronic devices, wherein the method comprises the following steps: determining elements to be added and a user interface; the element to be added is a combined element; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added; if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, splitting the combined element into at least two elements so that the at least two elements can be placed in the free space of the user interface respectively. The space utilization rate is improved.

Description

Device control method, device and storage medium

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of terminals, in particular to a device control method, a device and a storage medium.

Background

Currently, different elements (such as application icons, tool widgets and the like) can be placed on a user interface of an electronic device (such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer and the like) system, and a user often needs to add new elements on the user interface or move existing elements of the user interface in the process of using the electronic device.

In some implementations, when an interface element is added, the area occupied by the element to be added is calculated and compared with the area of the remaining space in the interface where the element to be added is placed, so that the element to be added is placed in the remaining space of the interface. However, in some cases, although there is a remaining space in the interface, the system may still prompt the user that there is insufficient space to place the element to be added, for example, the discontinuity of the remaining space of the interface causes the remaining space to be insufficient to place the element to be added, which reduces the space utilization.

The foregoing description is provided for general background information and does not necessarily constitute prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above problems, embodiments of the present application provide an apparatus control method, an apparatus, and a storage medium, so as to improve space utilization.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus control method, including:

determining elements to be added and a user interface; the element to be added is a combined element; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, splitting the combined element into at least two elements so that the at least two elements can be placed in the free space of the user interface respectively.

In a possible implementation manner, the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, including at least one of the following:

the position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface;

the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the hollow space in the user interface;

the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the hollow space area of the user interface;

the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the hollow cells in the user interface.

In one possible embodiment, after splitting the combined element into at least two elements, the method further includes:

and according to the priority information of the split elements, placing the at least two elements into the free space of the user interface in sequence.

In a possible implementation manner, the priority information of the split element includes at least one of the following:

splitting the sequence of the combined elements;

or the user uses the sequence from low to high or from high to low.

In one possible embodiment, before said splitting the combined element into at least two elements, at least one of the following is further included:

And adjusting attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface.

In one possible embodiment, after the splitting of the combined element into at least two elements, at least one of the following is further included:

and adjusting attribute information of the elements and/or layout information of the elements in the user interface.

In one possible embodiment, the attribute information includes at least one of the following information: the area occupied by the element to be added, the number of cells occupied by the element to be added, the position distribution among the cells occupied by the element to be added, the shape of the element to be added, the combination mode of the element to be added and the priority information of the element to be added; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the layout information includes at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of enabling a user interface to have a hollow space area, enabling the number of hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the position distribution among the hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the shape of the hollow space in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the space to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to the number of the hollow elements in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of the user interface.

In one possible implementation manner, the adjustment manner of the attribute information includes at least one of the following: reducing or cutting occupied area, reducing the number of occupied cells, adjusting the position distribution among the occupied cells or the shape of the elements to be added, and adjusting the combination mode or priority information of the elements to be added; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the adjustment mode of the layout information comprises at least one of the following: enlarging or enlarging the free space area, increasing the number of free cells, adjusting the position distribution or the free space shape between the free cells, adjusting the spacing or the priority information between the existing elements.

In a possible embodiment, the manner of splitting the combined element into at least two elements includes at least one of the following:

splitting according to a preset combination element splitting mode;

splitting is performed according to the attribute information and/or the layout information.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus control method, including:

determining elements to be added and a user interface; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces, and placing the elements to be added into the space of the user interface according to the priority information of the elements to be added;

Moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces, including at least one of:

sequentially moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces in a first order; the first order is from back to front or from front to back;

or sequentially moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces in a second order; the second sequence is the sequence from low to high of the frequency of use of the user;

or moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces to obtain N free cell spaces in the user interface; the N is the number of cells occupied by the element to be added; wherein N is a positive integer.

In one possible implementation, placing the element to be added into a space of the user interface includes:

determining a state of a cell of the user interface;

placing the element to be added into a space of the user interface according to the state of the cell, wherein the state of the cell comprises an idle state or an occupied state; the idle state is an element state to be placed; the occupied state is a placed element state.

In a possible implementation manner, the placing the element to be added into the space of the user interface according to the state of the cell includes:

if the state of the cell is an idle state, placing the element to be added into the cell in the idle state of the user interface;

determining an element to be moved in the user interface;

and adjusting attribute information of the element to be moved and/or layout information of the element in the user interface, and moving the element to be moved into an idle space of the user interface.

In a possible embodiment, the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, including at least one of:

the number of the cells occupied by the elements to be added is larger than the number of the hollow cells in the user interface;

the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the hollow space in the user interface.

In one possible embodiment, before said moving at least one existing element of said user interface to the other user interface, at least one of the following is further included:

In one possible embodiment, after said moving at least one existing element of said user interface to the other user interface, at least one of the following is further included:

and adjusting attribute information of the existing elements and/or layout information of the elements in the user interface.

In one possible implementation, the manner of moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces includes at least one of:

moving according to a preset moving mode;

and moving according to the attribute information and/or the layout information.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus control device, including: a determining module and a splitting module, wherein,

the determining module is used for determining elements to be added and a user interface; the element to be added is a combined element; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

The splitting module is used for splitting the combined element into at least two elements if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, so that the at least two elements can be placed in the free space of the user interface respectively.

In one possible embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a placement module, wherein,

the placement module is used for sequentially placing the at least two elements into the free space of the user interface according to the priority information of the split elements after the splitting module splits the combined elements into the at least two elements.

splitting the sequence of the combined elements;

or the user uses the sequence from low to high or from high to low.

In one possible embodiment, the apparatus further comprises an adjustment module, wherein,

the adjustment module is used for adjusting attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface before the splitting module splits the combined element into at least two elements.

In a possible implementation manner, the adjustment module is further configured to adjust attribute information of the element and/or layout information of the element in the user interface after the splitting module splits the combined element into at least two elements.

Splitting according to a preset combination element splitting mode;

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide an apparatus control method, including a determining module, a moving module, and a placing module, where,

the determining module is used for determining elements to be added and a user interface; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

the mobile module is used for moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added;

the placement module is used for placing the element to be added into the space of the user interface according to the priority information of the element to be added;

In one possible implementation, the placement module is specifically configured to:

determining a state of a cell of the user interface;

determining an element to be moved in the user interface;

the adjustment module is used for adjusting attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface before the mobile module moves at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces.

In a possible implementation manner, the adjustment module is further configured to adjust attribute information of at least one existing element of the user interface and/or layout information of elements in the user interface after the movement module moves the existing element to another user interface.

In one possible implementation, the mobile module is specifically configured to:

moving according to a preset moving mode; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus control device, including: at least one processor and memory;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the at least one processor is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, such that the at least one processor performs the device control method of any one of the first aspects above.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus control device, including: at least one processor and memory;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the at least one processor is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, such that the at least one processor performs the device control method of any one of the second aspects above.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer-executable instructions are stored, and when executed by a processor, implement the device control method according to any one of the first aspects.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the device control method according to any one of the second aspects.

According to the device control method, device and storage medium, the element to be added is split into at least two elements, and the split elements are respectively placed on the user interface, so that the situation that the element to be added cannot be placed on the user interface due to the fact that the spatial position distribution or the spatial shape of the user interface is different from that of the element to be added is avoided, the space of the user interface is wasted, and therefore the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are needed in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort to a person skilled in the art.

Fig. 1 is a schematic hardware structure of a mobile terminal implementing various embodiments of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication network system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a device control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a combination element provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram of a user interface provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram of another user interface provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of adding interface elements according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 12 is a flowchart of another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of adding interface elements in another method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 14 is a flowchart of a fifth device control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of adding interface elements in another method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a flow chart of another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a reduced schematic view of an existing element of a user interface provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a schematic flow chart of another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus control device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another device control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of another device control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of still another device control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 25 is a schematic hardware structure of the device control apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

For the purposes of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present application, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the present application.

In the following description, suffixes such as "module", "component", or "unit" for representing elements are used only for facilitating the description of the present application, and are not of specific significance per se. Thus, "module," "component," or "unit" may be used in combination.

The apparatus may be embodied in various forms. For example, the devices described in this application may include mobile terminals such as cell phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, palm top computers, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), portable media players (Portable Media Player, PMP), navigation devices, wearable devices, smart bracelets, pedometers, and stationary terminals such as digital TVs, desktop computers, and the like.

The following description will be given taking a mobile terminal as an example, and those skilled in the art will understand that the configuration according to the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a fixed type terminal in addition to elements particularly used for a moving purpose.

Referring to fig. 1, which is a schematic hardware structure of a mobile terminal implementing various embodiments of the present application, the mobile terminal 100 may include: an RF (Radio Frequency) unit 101, a WiFi module 102, an audio output unit 103, an a/V (audio/video) input unit 104, a sensor 105, a display unit 106, a user input unit 107, an interface unit 108, a memory 109, a processor 110, and a power supply 111. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mobile terminal structure shown in fig. 1 is not limiting of the mobile terminal and that the mobile terminal may include more or fewer components than shown, or may combine certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

The following describes the components of the mobile terminal in detail with reference to fig. 1:

the radio frequency unit 101 may be used for receiving and transmitting signals during the information receiving or communication process, specifically, after receiving downlink information of the base station, processing the downlink information by the processor 110; and, the uplink data is transmitted to the base station. Typically, the radio frequency unit 101 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like. In addition, the radio frequency unit 101 may also communicate with networks and other devices via wireless communications. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol, including but not limited to GSM (Global System of Mobile communication, global System for Mobile communications), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service ), CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA 2000), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access ), TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access, time Division synchronous code Division multiple Access), FDD-LTE (Frequency Division Duplexing-Long Term Evolution, frequency Division Duplex Long term evolution), and TDD-LTE (Time Division Duplexing-Long Term Evolution, time Division Duplex Long term evolution), etc.

WiFi belongs to a short-distance wireless transmission technology, and a mobile terminal can help a user to send and receive e-mails, browse web pages, access streaming media and the like through the WiFi module 102, so that wireless broadband Internet access is provided for the user. Although fig. 1 shows a WiFi module 102, it is understood that it does not belong to the necessary constitution of a mobile terminal, and can be omitted entirely as required within a range that does not change the essence of the invention.

The audio output unit 103 may convert audio data received by the radio frequency unit 101 or the WiFi module 102 or stored in the memory 109 into an audio signal and output as sound when the mobile terminal 100 is in a call signal reception mode, a talk mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, a broadcast reception mode, or the like. Also, the audio output unit 103 may also provide audio output (e.g., a call signal reception sound, a message reception sound, etc.) related to a specific function performed by the mobile terminal 100. The audio output unit 103 may include a speaker, a buzzer, and the like.

The a/V input unit 104 is used to receive an audio or video signal. The a/V input unit 104 may include a graphics processor (Graphics Processing Unit, GPU) 1041 and a microphone 1042, the graphics processor 1041 processing image data of still pictures or video obtained by an image capturing device (e.g., a camera) in a video capturing mode or an image capturing mode. The processed image frames may be displayed on the display unit 106. The image frames processed by the graphics processor 1041 may be stored in the memory 109 (or other storage medium) or transmitted via the radio frequency unit 101 or the WiFi module 102. The microphone 1042 can receive sound (audio data) via the microphone 1042 in a phone call mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, and the like, and can process such sound into audio data. The processed audio (voice) data may be converted into a format output that can be transmitted to the mobile communication base station via the radio frequency unit 101 in the case of a telephone call mode. The microphone 1042 may implement various types of noise cancellation (or suppression) algorithms to cancel (or suppress) noise or interference generated in the course of receiving and transmitting the audio signal.

The mobile terminal 100 also includes at least one sensor 105, such as a light sensor, a motion sensor, and other sensors. Specifically, the light sensor includes an ambient light sensor and a proximity sensor, wherein the ambient light sensor can adjust the brightness of the display panel 1061 according to the brightness of ambient light, and the proximity sensor can turn off the display panel 1061 and/or the backlight when the mobile terminal 100 moves to the ear. As one of the motion sensors, the accelerometer sensor can detect the acceleration in all directions (generally three axes), and can detect the gravity and direction when stationary, and can be used for applications of recognizing the gesture of a mobile phone (such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, related games, magnetometer gesture calibration), vibration recognition related functions (such as pedometer and knocking), and the like; as for other sensors such as fingerprint sensors, pressure sensors, iris sensors, molecular sensors, gyroscopes, barometers, hygrometers, thermometers, infrared sensors, etc. that may also be configured in the mobile phone, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The display unit 106 is used to display information input by a user or information provided to the user. The display unit 106 may include a display panel 1061, and the display panel 1061 may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display (Liquid Crystal Display, LCD), an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), or the like.

The user input unit 107 may be used to receive input numeric or character information and to generate key signal inputs related to user settings and function control of the mobile terminal. In particular, the user input unit 107 may include a touch panel 1071 and other input devices 1072. The touch panel 1071, also referred to as a touch screen, may collect touch operations thereon or thereabout by a user (e.g., operations of the user on the touch panel 1071 or thereabout by using any suitable object or accessory such as a finger, a stylus, etc.) and drive the corresponding connection device according to a predetermined program. The touch panel 1071 may include two parts of a touch detection device and a touch controller. The touch detection device detects the touch azimuth of a user, detects a signal brought by touch operation and transmits the signal to the touch controller; the touch controller receives touch information from the touch detection device, converts it into touch point coordinates, and sends the touch point coordinates to the processor 110, and can receive and execute commands sent from the processor 110. Further, the touch panel 1071 may be implemented in various types such as resistive, capacitive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave. The user input unit 107 may include other input devices 1072 in addition to the touch panel 1071. In particular, other input devices 1072 may include, but are not limited to, one or more of a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, mouse, joystick, etc., as specifically not limited herein.

Further, the touch panel 1071 may overlay the display panel 1061, and when the touch panel 1071 detects a touch operation thereon or thereabout, the touch panel 1071 is transferred to the processor 110 to determine the type of touch event, and then the processor 110 provides a corresponding visual output on the display panel 1061 according to the type of touch event. Although in fig. 1, the touch panel 1071 and the display panel 1061 are two independent components for implementing the input and output functions of the mobile terminal, in some embodiments, the touch panel 1071 may be integrated with the display panel 1061 to implement the input and output functions of the mobile terminal, which is not limited herein.

The interface unit 108 serves as an interface through which at least one external device can be connected with the mobile terminal 100. For example, the external devices may include a wired or wireless headset port, an external power (or battery charger) port, a wired or wireless data port, a memory card port, a port for connecting a device having an identification module, an audio input/output (I/O) port, a video I/O port, an earphone port, and the like. The interface unit 108 may be used to receive input (e.g., data information, power, etc.) from an external device and transmit the received input to one or more elements within the mobile terminal 100 or may be used to transmit data between the mobile terminal 100 and an external device.

Memory 109 may be used to store software programs as well as various data. The memory 109 may mainly include a storage program area that may store an operating system, application programs required for at least one function (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.), and a storage data area; the storage data area may store data (such as audio data, phonebook, etc.) created according to the use of the handset, etc. In addition, memory 109 may include high-speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other volatile solid-state storage device.

The processor 110 is a control center of the mobile terminal, connects various parts of the entire mobile terminal using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of the mobile terminal and processes data by running or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 109 and calling data stored in the memory 109, thereby performing overall monitoring of the mobile terminal. Processor 110 may include one or more processing units; preferably, the processor 110 may integrate an application processor that primarily handles operating systems, user interfaces, applications, etc., with a modem processor that primarily handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 110.

The mobile terminal 100 may further include a power source 111 (e.g., a battery) for supplying power to the respective components, and preferably, the power source 111 may be logically connected to the processor 110 through a power management system, so as to perform functions of managing charging, discharging, and power consumption management through the power management system.

Although not shown in fig. 1, the mobile terminal 100 may further include a bluetooth module or the like, which is not described herein.

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication network system on which the mobile terminal of the present application is based will be described below.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication network system provided in the embodiment of the present application, where the communication network system is an LTE system of a general mobile communication technology, and the LTE system includes a UE (User Equipment) 201, an e-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network ) 202, an epc (Evolved Packet Core, evolved packet core) 203, and an IP service 204 of an operator that are sequentially connected in communication.

Specifically, the UE201 may be the terminal 100 described above, and will not be described herein.

The E-UTRAN202 includes eNodeB2021 and other eNodeB2022, etc. The eNodeB2021 may be connected with other eNodeB2022 by a backhaul (e.g., an X2 interface), the eNodeB2021 is connected to the EPC203, and the eNodeB2021 may provide access from the UE201 to the EPC 203.

EPC203 may include MME (Mobility Management Entity ) 2031, hss (Home Subscriber Server, home subscriber server) 2032, other MMEs 2033, SGW (Serving Gate Way) 2034, pgw (PDN Gate Way) 2035 and PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function, policy and tariff function entity) 2036, and so on. The MME2031 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE201 and EPC203, providing bearer and connection management. HSS2032 is used to provide registers to manage functions such as home location registers (not shown) and to hold user specific information about service characteristics, data rates, etc. All user data may be sent through SGW2034 and PGW2035 may provide IP address allocation and other functions for UE201, PCRF2036 is a policy and charging control policy decision point for traffic data flows and IP bearer resources, which selects and provides available policy and charging control decisions for a policy and charging enforcement function (not shown).

IP services 204 may include the internet, intranets, IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem ), or other IP services, etc.

Although the LTE system is described above as an example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present application is not limited to LTE systems, but may be applied to other wireless communication systems, such as GSM, CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, and future new network systems.

Based on the above-mentioned mobile terminal hardware structure and communication network system, various embodiments of the present application are presented.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 3, the electronic device 100, a user interface 101, an element to be added 102, and an existing element 103 are included.

The electronic device 100 may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, etc., and the system of the electronic device may be an android system. The user interface 101 may be a primary desktop interface or a secondary desktop interface of the electronic device, and the interface may be divided into a plurality of cells, where the cells are used to place various elements (e.g., the element 102 to be added, the existing element 103). The element to be added 102 may be an element in the user interface that has not been placed to completion. Indicated in fig. 3 by a dashed line. Existing element 103 may be an element in the user interface that has been placed to completion. Represented in fig. 3 by a solid rounded square. The element to be added 102 and the existing element 103 may include an application icon, a shortcut icon of a certain function in an application program, a widget icon, or the like.

In some cases, the user needs to add the element to be added 102 to the user interface 101 of the electronic device 100 for convenience of use, such as adding a time and weather combination element to the main desktop interface of the mobile phone, so as to facilitate the user to view time and weather. Or, after the element 102 to be added is added to the user interface 101 of the electronic device 100, the element is moved in the user interface 101, so that the element can be arranged according to the desire of the user, for example, according to the use frequency of the user, and the element with higher use frequency is moved to the same user interface of the electronic device.

In the application, the attribute information of the element to be added and the layout information of the element in the user interface are acquired by determining the element to be added and the user interface, the attribute information of the element to be added and/or the layout information of the element in the user interface are adjusted, and the element to be added is placed in the space of the user interface, so that the addition of the element is realized. Therefore, the space in the user interface can be fully utilized by combining the attribute information of the elements to be added and/or the layout information of the elements in the user interface, and the space utilization rate can be improved.

The technical scheme shown in the application is described in detail through specific embodiments. It should be noted that the following embodiments may be combined with each other, and for the same or similar matters, the description will not be repeated in different embodiments.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of a method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 4, the method may include:

s201: determining elements to be added and a user interface, wherein the elements to be added are combined elements, and the user interface is an interface for placing the elements to be added.

The execution body of the embodiment of the application may be an electronic device, or may be a device control apparatus provided in the electronic device. Alternatively, the device control apparatus may be implemented by software, or may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware.

The combined element includes at least two elements, i.e., the combined element is a combination of at least two elements. For example, the time element and the weather element may be included in the combination element, or the combination element may include a pattern element and a text element.

Next, the combined elements will be described with reference to fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a combination element provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 5, the user interface includes a combination element M, where the combination element M includes an element M1 and an element M2.

The user interface may be an interface to place the element to be added. The user interface may be divided into a plurality of cells, and the state of the cells may be an idle state or an occupied state. When the state of the cell is in an idle state, the element to be added can be placed in the cell, and when the state of the cell is in an occupied state, the element to be added cannot be placed in the cell. For example, the true state may be used to indicate that the cell state is an occupied state, and the false state may be used to indicate that the cell state is an idle state.

S202: if the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, splitting the combined element into at least two elements.

Optionally, the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, which may include at least one of:

the position distribution among the cells occupied by the element to be added in the case 1 is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface.

In this case, the number of free cells in the user interface may be greater than or equal to the number of cells occupied by the element to be added, but since the position distribution between the cells occupied by the element to be added is different from the position distribution between the free cells in the user interface, the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added.

For example, the position distribution of the cells occupied by the element to be added is 2*3, and the position distribution of the free cells in the user interface is 3*2, and the position distribution between the cells occupied by the element to be added is different from the position distribution between the free cells in the user interface.

This will be described with reference to fig. 6A.

Fig. 6A is a schematic diagram of a user interface according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 6A, the user interface includes a plurality of cells, where the state of the cells shown by the solid line is an occupied state and the state of the cells shown by the dotted line is an idle state. The user interface also comprises an element M to be added, wherein the element M to be added is a combined element, and the position distribution among the cells occupied by the element M to be added is 1*4 (namely, one row and four columns); the location distribution between free cells in the user interface is 2 x 2 (i.e., two rows and two columns). Thus, the location distribution between cells occupied by the element to be added is different from the location distribution between free cells in the user interface.

Of course, in this case, the location distribution between the cells occupied by the element to be added and the location distribution between the idle cells in the user interface may also be other, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

Case 2, the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface.

In this case, the number of free cells in the user interface may be greater than or equal to the number of cells occupied by the element to be added, but since the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface, the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added.

For example, the shape of the element to be added is a rectangle of 1*3, and the shape of the free space in the user interface is a square of 2×2, and the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface.

Next, this case will be described with reference to fig. 6B.

Fig. 6B is a schematic diagram of another user interface provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 6B, the user interface includes a plurality of cells, wherein the state of the cells shown by the solid line is an occupied state, and the state of the cells shown by the dotted line is an idle state. The user interface also comprises an element M to be added, wherein the element M to be added is a combined element, and the position distribution among the cells occupied by the element M to be added is 1*2 (namely, one row and two columns); the locations between the free cells in the user interface are distributed 2*1 (i.e., two rows and one column). Thus, the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface.

Of course, in this case, the shape of the element to be added and the shape of the free space in the user interface may be other, which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application.

And 3, the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the free space area in the user interface.

And 4, the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the empty cells in the user interface.

After splitting the combined elements, at least two elements can be obtained, and the elements obtained after splitting can be single elements or sub-combined elements, wherein the sub-combined elements comprise at least two elements (or single elements).

For example, assuming that 3 individual elements are included in a combined element, which are denoted as an individual element 1, an individual element 2, and an individual element 3, respectively, the combined element may be split into two elements, which are denoted as an element 1 and an element 2, respectively, wherein the element 1 may be an individual element 1, and the element 2 may include an individual element 2 and an individual element 3.

S203: at least two elements are placed in the free space of the user interface, respectively.

Alternatively, the split element may also be placed into the free space of the user interface by: splitting the combined element into at least two elements; and sequentially placing at least two elements into the free space of the user interface according to the priority information of the split elements.

For example, the element to be added is a combined element of time and weather, the combined element can be split into a time element and a weather element, and the time element in the combination can also be split into an adult month and day element and a time-division second element. By splitting the combined elements with large cell number into a plurality of elements with small cell number, the free space of the user interface can be reasonably utilized, so that the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

Optionally, the priority information of the split element may include at least one of the following: splitting the sequence of the combined elements; or the user uses the sequence from low to high or from high to low.

The combined element may be split into at least two elements by at least one of: splitting according to a preset combination element splitting mode; or splitting according to the attribute information and/or the layout information. For example, the preset splitting manner of the combination elements includes: if the combined element comprises N elements, splitting the combined element into N elements; or the same attribute element is taken as one element, and different attribute elements are taken as a second element, if the elements of the year, month and day and time and second in the element M to be added in the figure 6B belong to time class elements, the elements are taken as a sub-combination element and are not split, and the weather elements are different from the time class elements and are split into two elements; or different layout partitions exist among elements contained in the elements to be added, and if each element has respective edges, the elements are split according to the edges of the elements; partition lines are arranged among the elements, and splitting is carried out according to the partition lines among the elements; or other user-defined splitting means, without limitation.

Attribute information of the elements to be added and/or layout information of the elements in the user interface may also be adjusted before splitting the combined element into at least two elements.

After splitting the combined element into at least two elements, attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface may also be adjusted.

Alternatively, the attribute information may be adjusted by a number of possible implementations:

mode 1, reducing or clipping the occupied area of the element to be added.

Optionally, the element to be added may be reduced to reduce the area occupied by the element to be added. Or, the element to be added can be cut to reduce the occupied area of the element to be added. For example, content of which importance is low in the element to be added may be cut off, or content other than the element content or the edge to be added may be cut off.

Mode 2, reducing the number of cells occupied by elements to be added.

Alternatively, the element to be added can be reduced or cut to reduce the number of cells occupied by the element to be added.

And 3, adjusting the position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added.

For example, assuming that the position distribution between cells occupied by the element to be added is 1*4 (one row and four columns), the position distribution between cells occupied by the element to be added may be adjusted to 2×2 (two rows and two columns).

And 4, adjusting the shape of the element to be added.

The shape of the element to be added can be round, square, rectangle, trapezoid, etc.

And 5, adjusting the combination mode or priority information of the elements to be added.

Optionally, the layout information includes at least one of the following information: the space area in the user interface, the number of the idle cells in the user interface, the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface, the shape of the idle space in the user interface, the spacing between the existing elements in the user interface, and the priority information of the existing elements in the user interface.

The layout information may be adjusted by at least one of:

mode 1, enlarging or expanding the free space area.

The free space area may refer to a continuous free space area.

For example, the location of at least one existing element in the user interface may be moved to increase the continuous free space area in the user interface.

For example, some of the elements existing in the user interface may be deleted or merged.

Mode 2, increasing the number of idle cells.

Mode 3, adjusting the position distribution or the shape of the free space between the free cells.

Mode 4, adjusting the spacing or priority information between existing elements.

In the embodiment, the elements to be added are split into at least two elements, and the split elements are respectively placed on the user interface, so that the situation that the elements to be added cannot be placed on the user interface due to the fact that the spatial position distribution or the shape of the space in the user interface is different from the position distribution or the shape of the elements to be added is avoided, the space of the user interface is wasted, and therefore the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another apparatus control method according to an embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 7, the method may include:

s501: the elements to be added and the user interface are determined.

The element to be added may be an element, a plurality of elements, or a combination element. May be the same type of element or may be different types of elements. The user interface may be the current interface on which the element to be added is placed. The free space of the user interface is discontinuous. Specifically, please refer to S201.

S502: if the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, at least one existing element of the user interface is moved to the other user interface.

Alternatively, the other user interface may be other user interfaces in the desktop interface of the electronic device than the current interface in which the element to be added is placed.

in case 1, the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the free space area in the user interface.

And 2, the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the idle cells in the user interface.

The position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface.

Case 4, shape of element to be added is different from shape of free space in user interface.

It should be noted that, the above four cases may be referred to the description in S202, and will not be described herein.

Alternatively, at least one existing element of the user interface may be moved to the other user interface by at least one of:

mode 1, sequentially moving at least one existing element of a user interface to other user interfaces in a first order; the first order is a back-to-front, or front-to-back order.

Mode 2, sequentially moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces according to a second sequence; the second order is an order in which the frequency of use by the user is from low to high.

Mode 3, moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces to obtain N free cell spaces in the user interface; n is the number of cells occupied by the element to be added; wherein N can be a positive integer of 1,2,3.

And 4, moving according to a preset moving mode.

For example, the preset moving mode may be to move elements in preset cells in the user interface to other user interfaces, or the preset moving mode may be to move elements of a preset type in the user interface to other user interfaces. For example, the preset type may include a weather type, a text type, and the like.

Mode 5, moving according to the attribute information and/or layout information.

Of course, at least one existing element of the user interface may be moved to other user interfaces by other means, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

S503: and placing the element to be added into a space of the user interface according to the priority information of the element to be added.

Specifically, the elements to be added may be placed in the space of the user interface according to the order of the frequency of using the elements to be added from high to low by the user, or according to the type of the elements to be added, or according to the order of acquiring the elements to be added. The specific placement is not limited herein.

Alternatively, the space of the user interface where the element to be added is placed may be free space, or may be space occupied by an existing element. If the space for placing the element to be added is a free space, the element to be added can be directly placed in the free space; if the space in which the element to be added is placed is the space occupied by the existing element, the existing element may be moved to other spaces of the user interface or moved into other user interfaces while the element to be added is placed.

The element to be added may be placed into the space of the user interface by: determining the states of cells of the user interface, and placing elements to be added into a space of the user interface according to the states of the cells, wherein the states of the cells comprise idle states or occupied states; the idle state is the state of the element to be placed; the occupied state is a placed element state. If the state of the cell is an idle state, placing the element to be added into the cell in the idle state of the user interface; if the cell state is the occupied state, determining an element to be moved in the user interface; and adjusting attribute information of the element to be moved and/or layout information of the element in the user interface, and moving the element to be moved into the free space of the user interface.

Attribute information of the elements to be added and/or layout information of the elements in the user interface may also be adjusted before moving at least one existing element of the user interface to the other user interface.

The attribute information of the existing elements and/or the layout information of the elements in the user interface may also be adjusted after moving at least one of the existing elements of the user interface to the other user interface.

Optionally, the attribute information includes at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of occupation area of elements to be added, number of cells occupied by the elements to be added, position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added, shapes of the elements to be added, combination modes of the elements to be added and priority information of the elements to be added.

The attribute information may be adjusted by a number of possible implementations:

mode 1, reducing or clipping the occupied area of the element to be added.

Optionally, the element to be added may be reduced to reduce the area occupied by the element to be added. Or, the element to be added can be cut to reduce the occupied area of the element to be added. For example, content of the element to be added, which has a low importance degree, may be cut off, or content other than the content or edges of the element to be added may be cut off.

Mode 2, reducing the number of cells occupied by elements to be added.

And 4, adjusting the shape of the element to be added.

The layout information may be adjusted by at least one of:

mode 1, enlarging or expanding the free space area.

Mode 2, increasing the number of idle cells.

In this embodiment, by moving the existing elements with low priority in the current user interface to other interfaces, the free space of the current user interface is increased enough to place the element to be added, so that some space of the user interface is left, which is caused by that the free space of the user interface is insufficient and the element to be added cannot be placed, is avoided, and therefore, the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

Next, a method shown in the embodiment of fig. 7 will be described with reference to fig. 8.

Fig. 8 is an interface element adding schematic diagram provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 8, the solid rounded boxes are existing elements of the user interface, the free space in the user interface in the left-hand diagram is 2 x 2, the black filled rounded boxes are the lowest priority existing elements, and the time widgets and the three dotted rounded boxes in the right-hand diagram are elements to be added. If the element to be added is to be placed in the user interface of the left diagram, the element to be added is not to be placed, and then the existing element with the lowest priority in the left diagram is moved to other user interfaces, so that the element to be added can be placed in the space of the user interface. The user interface for placing the completed element to be added is shown in the right-hand diagram of fig. 8.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of another method for controlling an apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application, referring to fig. 9, where the method is applied to an electronic apparatus, may include:

s701: the elements to be added and the user interface are determined.

Alternatively, the execution body in the embodiment of the present application may be an electronic device, or may be a device control apparatus disposed in the electronic device. Alternatively, the device control apparatus may be implemented by software, or may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware.

Preferably, the user interface may be an interface in which an element to be added is placed. The user interface may be divided into a plurality of cells, and the state of the cells may be an idle state or an occupied state. For example, the true state may be used to indicate that the cell state is an occupied state, and the false state may be used to indicate that the cell state is an idle state. If the state of a cell of the user interface is false, then the element to be added may be placed into the cell.

Optionally, the element may comprise at least one of: application icons, widget icons, function icons, at least two application icons, patterns, text information, and the like. Wherein, the application icon can be an icon of an application program (such as a chat application program, a shopping application program and the like); the widget icons may be widget icons (e.g., clock weather widgets, music widgets, etc.); the function icons can be icons of functions such as 'set' or 'one-key lock screen'; the at least two application icons may be icons that are a combination of icons of at least two application programs. The element to be added may be any one or more of the above elements.

S702: and acquiring the occupied area or the number of occupied cells of the element to be added and the free space area or the number of free cells in the user interface.

Alternatively, the area occupied by the element to be added may be the product of the number of the user interface cells to be occupied horizontally and the number of the user interface cells to be occupied vertically if the element to be added is placed on the user interface. For example, the element to be added is a combined element of time and weather, and the area occupied by the combined element can be 1*4 or 2 x 2.

Alternatively, the number of cells occupied by the element to be added may be the number of cells that would occupy the user interface if the element to be added were placed on the user interface. Assuming that the element to be added is 1*4 or a combined element of 2 x 2 time and weather, the combined element is placed on the user interface, and the number of cells needing to occupy the user interface is 4, that is, the number of cells occupied by the element to be added is 4.

Alternatively, the space area in the user interface may be the space area in the user interface where no element is placed, or may be the sum of the areas of the cells in the idle state in the user interface. The number of idle cells information may include the number of idle state cells or the sum of the number of idle state cells in the user interface.

S703: and adjusting attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface, and placing the element to be added into a space of the user interface.

Alternatively, the attribute information may include at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of occupation area of elements to be added, position distribution among cells occupied by the elements to be added, shapes of the elements to be added, combination modes of the elements to be added and priority information of the elements to be added.

The position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added can be continuous or discontinuous. The shape of the element to be added may include rectangle, square, etc. The combination mode of the elements to be added can comprise transverse combination and longitudinal combination. The priority information of the element to be added may include priority information according to a frequency of use by a user, priority information according to a place where the element to be added is placed, priority information according to a type of the element to be added, and the like.

Alternatively, the layout information may include at least one of the following information: the space area in the user interface, the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface, the shape of the idle space in the user interface, the spacing between the existing elements in the user interface, and the priority information of the existing elements in the user interface.

Wherein the free cells may be cells in a false state, and the free space area in the user interface may be a product of the number of horizontal free cells and the number of vertical free cells in the user interface. The distribution of locations between free cells in the user interface may or may not be continuous. The shape of the space in the user interface may be rectangular or square, etc. The spacing between existing elements in the user interface may be a lateral spacing and/or a longitudinal spacing between existing elements. The priority information of the existing elements in the user interface may include priority information according to the frequency of use of the user, priority information according to the place where the existing elements are placed, priority information according to the type of the existing elements, and the like.

Optionally, whether the element to be added and the element in the user interface accord with preset conditions can be judged first; if the preset conditions are met, executing the steps of adjusting attribute information of the elements to be added and/or layout information of the elements in the user interface, and placing the elements to be added into a space of the user interface; if the preset condition is not met, the step of placing the element to be added into the space of the user interface is directly executed.

Optionally, the preset condition may include at least one of: the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the empty cells in the user interface; the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the free space area in the user interface; the position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface; the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface.

Alternatively, the space of the user interface may be an empty space in the user interface, or may be a cell in the user interface whose state is an empty state.

Optionally, attribute information of the element to be added or layout information of the element in the user interface may be adjusted separately, or the attribute information of the element to be added and the layout information of the element in the user interface may be combined, and both may be adjusted at the same time, so that space of the user interface may be utilized more reasonably.

Optionally, before adjusting attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface, the state of the cell of the user interface may be determined before the element to be added is placed in the space of the user interface, where the state may be an idle state or an occupied state. In this way, the attribute information of the element to be added and/or the layout information of the element in the user interface can be adjusted according to the position distribution of the cells in the idle state of the user interface, and the element to be added is placed in the cells in the idle state of the user interface. By determining the states of the cells of the user interface, the elements to be added can be quickly and conveniently placed in the space of the user interface, and the efficiency of adding the interface elements is improved.

Optionally, after placing the element to be added into the space of the user interface, the element to be moved in the user interface may also be determined; acquiring attribute information of elements to be moved and layout information of the elements in a user interface; and adjusting attribute information of the element to be moved and/or layout information of the element in the user interface, and placing the element to be moved into an idle cell of the user interface.

Wherein the attribute information of the element to be moved may include at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of determining the number of cells occupied by elements to be moved, the occupied area of the elements to be moved, the position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be moved, the shapes of the elements to be moved, the combination mode of the elements to be moved and the priority information of the elements to be moved. The user interfaces may be the same user interface or different user interfaces.

In this way, by adjusting the attribute information of the elements and/or the layout information of the elements in the user interface, intelligent movement of the elements is realized, mechanical movement of the elements is avoided, and user experience is improved.

According to the equipment control method, the to-be-added elements and the user interface are determined, the occupied area or the occupied cell number information of the to-be-added elements and the empty space area or the empty cell number information of the user interface are obtained, the attribute information of the to-be-added elements and/or the layout information of the elements in the user interface are adjusted, and the to-be-added elements are placed in the space of the user interface, so that the addition of the elements in the user interface is realized. Therefore, the space in the user interface can be fully utilized by combining the attribute information of the elements to be added and/or the layout information of the elements in the user interface, and the space utilization rate is improved.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device control method, please refer to fig. 10, and fig. 10 is a flow chart of another device control method provided in the embodiment of the application. In the method, if the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, the element to be added is reduced. The method may include:

s801: the elements to be added and the user interface are determined.

The element to be added can be an element or a combined element. The user interface may be an interface to place the element to be added. Specifically, please refer to S201.

S802: if the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, the element to be added is contracted.

Optionally, the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, and may include at least one of: the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the empty cells in the user interface; or the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the free space area in the user interface.

Alternatively, the element to be added may be scaled down.

Optionally, reducing the element to be added to a preset size in an equal ratio, and obtaining a reduced element to be added, wherein the preset size is a size capable of being placed in a free space of a user interface;

Or the element to be added is reduced by a preset size in an equal ratio, so that the element to be added can be placed in the idle space of the user interface, and the reduced element to be added is obtained.

S803: and placing the reduced element to be added into the free space of the user interface.

For example, fig. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application. Assuming that the element to be added is a time widget, please refer to fig. 11, the dotted line element in the left side is the time widget to be added, the number of cells occupied by the time widget is 2*3, the number of idle cells in the user interface is 1*2, the solid line time widget in the right side is the reduced time widget to be added, the solid line time widget in the right side is obtained by reducing the left side dotted line element to a free space capable of being placed in the user interface, the number of cells occupied by the solid line time widget is 1*2, and the number of cells occupied by the solid line time widget is the same as the number of idle cells in the user interface, so that the reduced time widget can be placed in the free space of the user interface.

Optionally, if the free space in the user interface becomes larger, the element to be added after being scaled down can be enlarged. Alternatively, the reduced element to be added may be enlarged to the original proportion of the element to be added.

In the embodiment, the element to be added is placed on the user interface after being reduced, so that the problem that the element to be added cannot be placed on the user interface due to insufficient size of free space in the user interface, and space of the user interface is wasted is avoided, and therefore the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device control method, please refer to fig. 12, and fig. 12 is a flow chart of another device control method provided in the embodiment of the application. In the method, elements to be added are combined elements, and if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, the combination mode of the combined elements is adjusted. The method may include:

s1001: the elements to be added and the user interface are determined.

The elements to be added can be combined elements such as time and weather combined elements, pattern and text information combined elements and the like. The user interface is an interface for placing elements to be added. Specifically, please refer to S201.

S1002: and if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, adjusting the combination mode of the combination elements.

Optionally, the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, and may include at least one of: the position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface; or the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface.

For example, the position distribution of the cells occupied by the element to be added is 2*3, and the position distribution of the idle cells in the user interface is 3*2, and the position distribution of the cells occupied by the element to be added is different from the position distribution of the idle cells in the user interface. For another example, the shape of the element to be added is a rectangle of 1*3, and the shape of the free space in the user interface is a square of 2×2, and the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface.

Alternatively, the combination may be a combination set in the electronic device in advance, the combination set including a plurality of different combinations of elements.

S1003: and placing the adjusted combined element into the free space of the user interface.

Optionally, the combination manner of the combination elements may be adjusted by at least one of the following ways, and the adjusted combination elements are placed into the free space of the user interface:

and selecting a combination mode matched with the position distribution or the shape of the free space among the free cells in the user interface in a preset combination mode set, and placing the selected combination element into the free space of the user interface.

Or, the combination mode of the combination elements is adjusted to be a combination mode matched with the position distribution or the shape of the free space among the free cells in the user interface, and the adjusted combination elements are placed in the free space of the user interface.

And if the free space in the user interface is increased, adjusting the combination mode of the adjusted combination elements to be the optimal combination mode.

For example, fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another method for controlling a device according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 13, the time and weather combined widget in the left diagram is a to-be-added element, the shape of the combined widget is a rectangle of 1*4, and the shape of the free space in the user interface is a square of 2×2, by concentrating in the preset time and weather combined widget combination mode, the combination mode of 2×2 identical to the shape of the free space in the user interface is selected, or the combination mode of the time and weather combined widget is adjusted to 2×2 from 1*4, so that the square combined widget in the right diagram is obtained, and the shape of the combined widget is identical to the shape of the free space in the user interface, so that the adjusted combined widget can be placed in the free space of the user interface.

Optionally, if the number of idle cells in the user interface is increased, the adjusted combination manner of the combination elements may be adjusted to an optimal combination manner. The optimal combination mode can be a combination mode in which preset combination modes are concentrated. The visual effect of the user on the elements can be improved by adjusting the combination mode of the combination elements to the optimal combination mode, so that the user experience is improved.

In this embodiment, by adjusting the combination manner of the elements to be added, the adjusted elements to be added are placed on the user interface, so that the situation that the elements to be added cannot be placed on the user interface due to the fact that the spatial distribution or shape of the space in the user interface is different from the spatial distribution or shape of the elements to be added is avoided, and the space of the user interface is wasted, and therefore the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device control method, please refer to fig. 14, and fig. 14 is a flow chart of a fifth device control method provided in the embodiment of the application. In the method, the elements to be added are at least two elements, and if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, part of the elements to be added are placed. The method may include:

S1201: the elements to be added and the user interface are determined.

The elements to be added may be at least two elements of the same type or different types, such as at least two shopping type application icons, or more than one shopping type application icon and more than one chat type application, or more than one application icon and more than one widget icon, etc. The user interface may be an interface to place the element to be added. Specifically, please refer to S201.

S1202: if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, placing part of the elements in at least two elements to be added into the free space of the user interface according to the position distribution among the free cells in the user interface, and leaving the rest elements which are not placed in the original user interface.

Optionally, the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, and may include at least one of: the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the empty cells in the user interface; or the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the idle area in the user interface.

Optionally, part of the at least two elements to be added may be determined by at least one of the following: determining from high to low according to the frequency of using elements by a user; or by the type of element; or according to the preference of the user; the specific examples are not limited.

Alternatively, the remaining non-placed elements may be elements other than the elements placed into the free space of the user interface among the elements to be added. The original user interface may be a user interface where the element to be added is located when the element to be added is not added.

For example, fig. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 15, the left five dotted rounded boxes are elements to be added, if five elements to be added are to be placed in the free space of the user interface, at least 1*5 or 2*3 cells are required, and the free space in the user interface is 2×2, according to the position distribution of the free cells in the user interface, four elements in the five elements to be added are placed in the free space of the user interface according to the position distribution of 2×2, as shown in the right diagram in fig. 15, and at the same time, the remaining element is restored to the original position and is not added.

In the embodiment, by placing part of the elements in the elements to be added to the user interface, the situation that the elements to be added cannot be placed to the user interface because the number or the area of the cells occupied by the elements to be added is larger than the number or the idle area of the idle cells in the user interface is avoided, and the space of the user interface is wasted, so that the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device control method, please refer to fig. 16, and fig. 16 is a flow chart of another device control method provided in the embodiment of the application. In the method, if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, the distance between the existing elements in the user interface is adjusted, so that the elements to be added are placed in the adjusted user interface. The method may include:

s1401: the elements to be added and the user interface are determined.

The element to be added may be an element or a plurality of elements or a combination of elements. The user interface may be an interface to place the element to be added. Specifically, please refer to S201.

S1402: and if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, adjusting the interval between the existing elements in the user interface.

Optionally, the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, and may include at least one of: the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the empty cells in the user interface; or the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the free space area in the user interface; or the position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface; or the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the free space in the user interface.

Optionally, the lateral and/or longitudinal spacing between the existing elements in the user interface may be adjusted such that the lateral and/or longitudinal spacing between the existing elements becomes smaller, thereby obtaining more free space for placing the elements to be added.

S1403: the element to be added is placed into the space of the adjusted user interface.

For example, fig. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 17, the solid rounded square is an existing element, the overall layout of the user interface in the left diagram is 4*5, and the free cells are 2×2, i.e. four elements to be added can be placed. If six elements to be added are to be added to the user interface in the left diagram, the current free space in the user interface is insufficient, and by adjusting the longitudinal spacing between the existing elements in the user interface, the adjusted user interface is obtained, as shown in the right diagram of fig. 17, in which the longitudinal spacing between the existing elements becomes smaller, so that the overall layout of the user interface becomes 4*6, and thus, the user interface has eight free cells enough to place all six elements to be added into the free space of the adjusted user interface.

Alternatively, the existing elements in the user interface may be reduced prior to adjusting the spacing between the existing elements in the user interface. As shown in fig. 18, fig. 18 is a reduced schematic diagram of existing elements of a user interface provided in an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 18, the solid rounded square in the left side of the figure is an existing element of original size, which may be 144×144 pixels, and the solid rounded square in the right side of the figure is a reduced existing element, which may be 122×122 pixels. By reducing the existing elements in the user interface, the transverse and longitudinal distances between the existing elements are increased, and then the transverse and/or longitudinal distances between the existing elements are decreased, so that the free space in the user interface can be increased, more elements to be added are placed in the user interface, and the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

In this embodiment, by adjusting the intervals between the existing elements of the user interface, the free space of the user interface is increased, so that more elements to be added are placed, and therefore, the space utilization rate of the user interface is improved.

The embodiment of the application also provides a device control method, please refer to fig. 19, and fig. 19 is a flow chart of another device control method provided in the embodiment of the application. In the method, the free space of the user interface is discontinuous, and if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, the positions of the existing elements in the user interface are moved to obtain the free space with continuous positions, and the element to be added is placed. The method may include:

s1701: the elements to be added and the user interface are determined.

The user interface may be an interface in which an element to be added is placed, and the free space of the user interface is discontinuous in position. Specifically, please refer to S201.

S1702: if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, the position of at least one existing element in the user interface is moved, and the free space of the continuous position is obtained.

Alternatively, the free space of successive positions may be obtained by at least one of:

Sequentially moving the positions of at least one existing element of the user interface according to a first sequence to obtain a free space of continuous positions; the first order may be a back-to-front, or front-to-back order;

or sequentially moving the positions of at least one existing element of the user interface according to a second sequence to obtain an idle space of continuous positions; the second sequence is the sequence from low to high of the frequency of use of the user;

or, moving at least one existing element of the user interface by at least one cell to obtain N idle cell spaces in continuous positions; n is the number of cells occupied by the element to be added; wherein N can be a positive integer of 1,2,3.

S1703: the element to be added is placed into free space of successive positions of the user interface.

For example, fig. 20 is a schematic diagram illustrating interface element addition in another device control method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 20, the solid rounded square is an existing element of the user interface, and the existing element of the user interface in the left graph is distributed and dispersed, and three idle cells are discontinuous, and only three 1*1 elements to be added can be placed, and if 1*3 elements to be added are to be placed, the elements to be added are not placed. The user interface in the right diagram is obtained by moving the positions of the existing elements in the user interface, the existing elements of the user interface are arranged in a concentrated mode, and three idle cells are continuous, so that not only can three 1*1 elements to be added be placed, but also one 1*3 element to be added can be placed.

In this embodiment, by moving the positions of the existing elements in the user interface, the discontinuous free space of the user interface is changed into the continuous free space, so that all the free spaces in the user interface are concentrated, and the elements to be added with different types and sizes can be placed, thereby improving the space utilization rate of the user interface.

In addition, it should be noted that the method of the embodiment of fig. 4 to 20 for the element to be added is applicable to the element to be moved, that is, the method for moving the user interface element is the same as the method for adding the interface element of the embodiment of fig. 4 to 20, and will not be repeated here.

Based on the above method embodiments, the present application further provides an apparatus control device, and the apparatus control device is described in detail below.

Fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a device control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 21, the device control apparatus 190 may include: a determination module 1901 and a split module 1902, wherein,

the determining module 1901 is used for determining elements to be added and a user interface; the element to be added is a combined element; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

The splitting module 1902 is configured to split the combined element into at least two elements if the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, so that the at least two elements can be placed in the free space of the user interface respectively.

The device control apparatus shown in the embodiment of the present application may execute the technical solution shown in the embodiment of the method, and its implementation principle and beneficial effects are similar, and will not be described herein again.

Fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another device control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. On the basis of the embodiment shown in fig. 21, referring to fig. 22, the device control apparatus 190 further includes a placement module 1903, wherein,

The placement module 1903 is configured to, after the splitting module 1902 splits the combined element into at least two elements, sequentially place the at least two elements into the free space of the user interface according to the priority information of the split elements.

splitting the sequence of the combined elements;

or the user uses the sequence from low to high or from high to low.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes an adjustment module 1904, wherein,

the adjustment module 1904 is configured to adjust attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of elements in the user interface before the splitting module 1902 splits the combined element into at least two elements.

In a possible implementation manner, the adjustment module 1904 is further configured to adjust attribute information of the element and/or layout information of the element in the user interface after the splitting module 1902 splits the combined element into at least two elements.

Splitting according to a preset combination element splitting mode;

Fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of another device control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 23, the device control apparatus 210 may include: a determination module 2101, a movement module 2102, and a placement module 2103, wherein,

the determining module 2101 is used for determining elements to be added and a user interface; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

the moving module 2102 is configured to move at least one existing element of the user interface to another user interface if the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added;

the placement module 2103 is configured to place the element to be added into a space of the user interface according to priority information of the element to be added;

In one possible implementation, the placement module 2103 is specifically configured to:

determining a state of a cell of the user interface;

determining an element to be moved in the user interface;

Fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of still another device control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. On the basis of the embodiment shown in fig. 23, referring to fig. 24, the device control apparatus 210 further includes an adjustment module 2104, wherein,

The adjustment module 2104 is configured to adjust attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of elements in the user interface before the movement module 2102 moves at least one existing element of the user interface to another user interface.

In one possible implementation, the adjustment module 2104 is further configured to adjust attribute information of at least one existing element of the user interface and/or layout information of elements in the user interface after the movement module 2102 moves the existing element to another user interface.

In one possible implementation, the mobile module 2102 is specifically configured to:

Fig. 25 is a schematic hardware structure of the device control apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application, please refer to fig. 25. The device control apparatus 230 includes: at least one processor 2301 and a memory 2302. Wherein the processor 2301 and the memory 2302 are connected by a bus 2303.

In a specific implementation, at least one processor 2301 executes computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 2302, such that the at least one processor 2301 performs the device control method as described above.

The specific implementation process of the processor 2301 may refer to the above method embodiment, and its implementation principle and technical effects are similar, which is not described herein again.

The device control apparatus shown in fig. 25 is merely an example, and should not impose any limitation on the functions and the scope of use of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The present application also provides an apparatus comprising: a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor, performs the steps of the method as described above.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium, wherein computer executable instructions are stored in the computer readable storage medium, and when a processor executes the computer executable instructions, the device control method according to any of the method embodiments is realized.

The present embodiments also provide a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method as described in the various possible embodiments above.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip, which comprises a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used for storing a computer program, and the processor is used for calling and running the computer program from the memory, so that a device provided with the chip executes the method in the various possible embodiments.

It should be noted that, in this document, step numbers such as S201 and S202 are adopted, and the purpose of the present invention is to more clearly and briefly describe the corresponding content, and not to constitute a substantial limitation on the sequence, and those skilled in the art may execute S202 before S201 in the implementation, which are all within the scope of protection of the present application.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, the element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element, and furthermore, elements having the same name in different embodiments of the present application may have the same meaning or may have different meanings, a particular meaning of which is to be determined by its interpretation in this particular embodiment or by further combining the context of this particular embodiment.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope herein. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …" or "responsive to a determination", depending on the context. Furthermore, as used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," and/or "including" specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, categories, and/or groups, but do not preclude the presence, presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, categories, and/or groups. The terms "or" and/or "as used herein are to be construed as inclusive, or meaning any one or any combination. Thus, "A, B or C" or "A, B and/or C" means "any of the following: a, A is as follows; b, a step of preparing a composite material; c, performing operation; a and B; a and C; b and C; A. b and C). An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or operations are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.

It should be understood that, although the steps in the flowcharts in the embodiments of the present application are shown in order as indicated by the arrows, these steps are not necessarily performed in order as indicated by the arrows. The steps are not strictly limited in order and may be performed in other orders, unless explicitly stated herein. Moreover, at least some of the steps in the figures may include multiple sub-steps or stages that are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, the order of their execution not necessarily occurring in sequence, but may be performed alternately or alternately with other steps or at least a portion of the other steps or stages.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments described above may be performed by hardware associated with program instructions. The foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The program, when executed, performs steps including the method embodiments described above; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program code, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and are not limited thereto; although embodiments of the present application have been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some or all of the technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit of the corresponding technical solutions.

Claims

A method of controlling a device, the method comprising:

determining elements to be added and a user interface; the element to be added is a combined element; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, splitting the combined element into at least two elements so that the at least two elements can be placed in the free space of the user interface respectively.
The method of claim 1, wherein the free space in the user interface is insufficient to place the element to be added, comprising at least one of:

The position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface;

the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the hollow space in the user interface;

the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the hollow space area of the user interface;

the number of the cells occupied by the element to be added is larger than the number of the hollow cells in the user interface.
The method of claim 1, further comprising, after splitting the combined element into at least two elements:

and according to the priority information of the split elements, placing the at least two elements into the free space of the user interface in sequence.
A method according to claim 3, wherein the priority information of the split elements comprises at least one of:

splitting the sequence of the combined elements;

or the user uses the sequence from low to high or from high to low.
The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to said splitting the combined element into at least two elements, at least one of:

And adjusting attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface.
The method of claim 1, further comprising, after said splitting the combined element into at least two elements, at least one of:

and adjusting attribute information of the elements and/or layout information of the elements in the user interface.
The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein,

the attribute information includes at least one of the following information: the area occupied by the element to be added, the number of cells occupied by the element to be added, the position distribution among the cells occupied by the element to be added, the shape of the element to be added, the combination mode of the element to be added and the priority information of the element to be added; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the layout information includes at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of enabling a user interface to have a hollow space area, enabling the number of hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the position distribution among the hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the shape of the hollow space in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the space to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to the number of the hollow elements in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of the user interface.
The method of claim 7, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the adjustment mode of the attribute information comprises at least one of the following: reducing or cutting occupied area, reducing the number of occupied cells, adjusting the position distribution among the occupied cells or the shape of the elements to be added, and adjusting the combination mode or priority information of the elements to be added; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the adjustment mode of the layout information comprises at least one of the following: enlarging or enlarging the free space area, increasing the number of free cells, adjusting the position distribution or the free space shape between the free cells, adjusting the spacing or the priority information between the existing elements.
The method of claim 7, wherein the manner in which the combined element is split into at least two elements comprises at least one of:

splitting according to a preset combination element splitting mode;

splitting is performed according to the attribute information and/or the layout information.
A method of controlling a device, the method comprising:

determining elements to be added and a user interface; the user interface is an interface for placing the element to be added;

if the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the elements to be added, moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces, and placing the elements to be added into the space of the user interface according to the priority information of the elements to be added;

Moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces, including at least one of:

sequentially moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces in a first order; the first order is from back to front or from front to back;

or sequentially moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces in a second order; the second sequence is the sequence from low to high of the frequency of use of the user;

or moving at least one existing element of the user interface to other user interfaces to obtain N free cell spaces in the user interface; the N is the number of cells occupied by the element to be added; wherein N is a positive integer.
The method of claim 10, wherein placing the element to be added into the space of the user interface comprises:

determining a state of a cell of the user interface;

placing the element to be added into a space of the user interface according to the state of the cell, wherein the state of the cell comprises an idle state or an occupied state; the idle state is an element state to be placed; the occupied state is a placed element state.
The method of claim 11, wherein the placing the element to be added into the space of the user interface according to the state of the cell comprises:

if the state of the cell is an idle state, placing the element to be added into the cell in the idle state of the user interface;

determining an element to be moved in the user interface;

and adjusting attribute information of the element to be moved and/or layout information of the element in the user interface, and moving the element to be moved into an idle space of the user interface.
The method according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the free space in the user interface is insufficient for placing the element to be added, comprising at least one of:

the occupied area of the element to be added is larger than the hollow space area of the user interface;

the number of the cells occupied by the elements to be added is larger than the number of the hollow cells in the user interface;

the position distribution among the cells occupied by the elements to be added is different from the position distribution among the idle cells in the user interface;

the shape of the element to be added is different from the shape of the hollow space in the user interface.
The method of claim 10, further comprising, prior to said moving at least one existing element of the user interface to the other user interface, at least one of:

and adjusting attribute information of the element to be added and/or layout information of the element in the user interface.
The method of claim 10, further comprising, after said moving at least one existing element of the user interface to another user interface, at least one of:

and adjusting attribute information of the existing elements and/or layout information of the elements in the user interface.
The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein,

the attribute information includes at least one of the following information: the area occupied by the element to be added, the number of cells occupied by the element to be added, the position distribution among the cells occupied by the element to be added, the shape of the element to be added, the combination mode of the element to be added and the priority information of the element to be added; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the layout information includes at least one of the following information: the method comprises the steps of enabling a user interface to have a hollow space area, enabling the number of hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the position distribution among the hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the shape of the hollow space in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface, enabling the space to be equal to or smaller than the number of hollow cells in the user interface to be equal to the number of the hollow elements in the user interface to be equal to or smaller than the number of the user interface.
The method of claim 16, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe comprises,

the adjustment mode of the attribute information comprises at least one of the following: reducing or cutting occupied area, reducing the number of occupied cells, adjusting the position distribution among the occupied cells or the shape of the elements to be added, and adjusting the combination mode or priority information of the elements to be added; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the adjustment mode of the layout information comprises at least one of the following: enlarging or enlarging the free space area, increasing the number of free cells, adjusting the position distribution or the free space shape between the free cells, adjusting the spacing or the priority information between the existing elements.
The method of claim 16, wherein the manner in which at least one existing element of the user interface is moved to another user interface comprises at least one of:

moving according to a preset moving mode;

and moving according to the attribute information and/or the layout information.
An apparatus control device, comprising: at least one processor and memory;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, such that the at least one processor performs the device control method according to any one of claims 1 to 18.
A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the device control method of any one of claims 1 to 18.