JP2008065092A - Object display method and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method by which a user easily recognizes the distance and the direction to an object, located outside a map displayed on a display device. <P>SOLUTION: In an object display method by which the user recognizes the distance and the direction to the object located outside the map displayed on the display device, a frame which is similar to a display shape is drawn inside the screen of the display; a circle with the object placed outside of the display as a center which contacts the frame is drawn; and then, two tangent lines are drawn from a current point, displayed on the display to the circle. By the size of the angle degree of the tangential line and the direction, the user is made to recognize the distance and the direction to the object. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a target display method and apparatus for allowing a user to easily recognize the distance and direction to a target outside the display screen of a display having a small display screen size.

  For displays such as small mobile devices with limited screen sizes, the user needs to zoom the map to see the details of the map or move the map to see where it is hidden off the screen, By these operations, information on the destination and the current location is hidden outside the screen.

  It is necessary to return to the state before zooming in order to check the position that has disappeared due to zooming, and to return to the original screen to see information that has disappeared due to movement Operation is required. When the screen size of the display is small, the user must perform such repeated work.

  Conventionally, in order to solve this problem, the Halo method is used as a method of visualizing map information outside the screen on the screen in a pseudo manner. In this Halo method, the position and direction on the map to the target outside the screen are displayed by drawing an arc around the target outside the screen on the screen.

However, since the arc displayed at the four corners of the screen by the Halo method has a small display area and a short arc, it is difficult to recognize the direction. In addition, the Halo display method has a problem that the intuitive distance is low with respect to the absolute distance from the current location because the arc drawing area is secured along the frame of the screen area.
Baudisch, P. and Rosenholtz, R. Halo: a Technique for Visualizing Off-Screen Locations, Proceedings of the CHI2003 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 481-488, 2003.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a target display method that allows a user to easily recognize the distance and direction to a target that is not displayed on the map displayed on the display (outside the screen). There is to do.

  The present invention is a target display method for allowing a user to recognize the distance and direction to a target outside the map displayed on the display, drawing a frame similar to the display shape on the display, Draw a circle that touches the frame with the target as the center, draw two tangents that touch the circle from the current point displayed on the display, and the distance of the target from the included angle and direction of the tangent And the direction is recognized.

  According to the present invention, an approximate distance to a target that is not on the map displayed on the display can be determined from the tangent angle (angle). Further, the user can easily recognize the direction from the current point to the target by the direction of the tangent. The frame shape similar to the display shape may be any of a circle, an ellipse, a rectangle, and the like.

  Moreover, it is preferable to display the frame similar to the display shape in a different color and thickness for each corresponding target. Thus, the target object can be easily identified. In addition, it is preferable to display the frame lightly or lightly when recognizing the target when drawing it over the map. Further, by changing the thickness of the line to be drawn in proportion to the size of the frame, the distance to the target can be easily identified.

  The present invention is a target display method for allowing a user to recognize the distance and direction to a target outside the map displayed on the display, centering on the current point displayed on the display, Draw a first circle, draw a second circle in contact with the first circle with the target outside the map displayed on the display as the center point, and from the size of the second arc, It is characterized in that the distance and direction of the target are recognized.

  When the target is displayed in the map displayed on the display, it is preferable to delete the first circle.

  According to the present invention, the user can easily determine the distance and direction to a target outside the map displayed on the display.

  Hereinafter, a target display method for allowing a user to easily and easily recognize a distance and a direction to a target located outside the map displayed on the display of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Is not limited to this.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of a small portable terminal device 10. Examples of the small mobile terminal device 10 include a mobile phone and a PDA. The small portable terminal device 10 is input with a display unit 11, a direction button 12 for moving the map displayed on the display unit 11, and information such as designation of the current position (including designation or change of an input mode to be described later). For this purpose, various function keys 13 are provided.

  FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of the small mobile terminal device 10. The display unit 11, the direction button 12, and the function key 13 are bus-connected to a processing unit 19 including a CPU (or a microprocessor). The processing unit 19 is responsible for supervising the overall operation of the small mobile terminal device 10 and executing various processes (including input processes for characters and the like). The processing unit 19 is further connected to a storage unit 15, a communication unit 16, an imaging unit 17, and the like.

  The storage unit 15 stores the execution program of the processing device 19 and stores map data to be displayed on the display screen, coordinate data such as the position of the target at the current position, and other data.

  The communication unit 16 performs voice or data communication via a network such as the Internet or a telephone line. A microphone 16A and a speaker 16B are also provided for audio input and output. The imaging unit 17 includes a CCD imaging device and outputs image data representing an image obtained by imaging.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a frame 20D and a tangent line similar to the display shape displayed on the map information on the screen of the display unit 11 are drawn. In FIG. 3, an icon 20B indicating the current position is displayed at the center of the display (screen), and two targets 20C are located at positions outside the screen. A circle centering on the target 20C outside the screen is drawn so as to touch a frame 20D similar to the display shape (screen). Note that FIG. 3 also shows a portion outside the screen that is not actually displayed on the screen.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image actually displayed on the screen after erasing the frame 20D and the arc outside the screen from FIG. The user can estimate the distance from the current location to the target by the angle between two tangents. In addition, the direction of the target can be determined from the direction of the tangent.

  FIG. 5 is displayed when a circle centered on the current position is drawn on the screen of the display unit 11 and a circle is drawn with two targets positioned outside the screen in contact with the circle as the center point. It is the figure which showed the image.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram in which only the display screen in the example of FIG. 5 is extracted, and is information actually displayed on the screen. In particular, a mode in which a circle centered on the current position is deleted is shown. The user can easily estimate the distance to the target object based on the size of the arc displayed on the display among the circles drawn with the target object as the center point. In addition, the direction of the target can be easily determined.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure of graphic processing when the processing unit 19 performs the above-described drawing.

  When the map display mode is selected by the user using a function key or the like (step 41), the map 20A is displayed on the screen 11 (step 42). The frame display mode is selected by the user using a function key or the like (similar frame on the display screen or a circle centered on the current position) (step 43), the current position 20B, the frame 20E, and the tangent line 20F. Is displayed (step 44). When the position of the map image is changed by the user using a direction key or the like (step 45), the map, current position, frame, etc. are redrawn (step 46). As long as there is no mode change (step 47), the above operation and the process (operation) corresponding to it are repeated, and the map and related information are displayed.

It is the figure which showed the external appearance of the small portable terminal device. It is the figure which showed the outline of the structure of a small portable terminal device. It is the figure which showed an example of the concept of the display image which shows the distance and direction from a present location to a target. It is the figure which showed an example at the time of displaying on the display the image which shows the distance and direction from a present location to a target. It is the figure which showed another example of the view of the display image which shows the distance and direction from a present location to a target. It is the figure which showed another example at the time of displaying the image which shows the distance and direction from a present location to a target on a display. It is a flowchart of an image display process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Small portable terminal device 11 Display part 15 Memory | storage part 19 Processing part 20A Map 20B Current position 20C Target object 20D The frame similar to a display 20E Circle as the center point of target object 20F Tangent 20G Image which shows distance and direction

Claims (4)

A target display method for allowing a user to recognize the distance and direction to a target outside a map displayed on a display,
Draw a frame similar to the display shape on the display,
Draw a circle that touches the frame around the target,
2. A target display method characterized by drawing two tangent lines in contact with the circle from a current point displayed on a display and recognizing the distance and direction of the target object from the included angle and direction of the tangent line. . A target display method for allowing a user to recognize the distance and direction to a target outside a map displayed on a display,
Draw a first circle with the current point displayed on the display as the center point,
Draw a second circle that touches the first circle with the target located outside the map displayed on the display as the center point;
A target display method, wherein the distance and direction of a target are recognized from the size of the second arc displayed on the display.   3. The target display method according to claim 2, wherein when the target is displayed in the map displayed on the display, the first circle is deleted. 4. The display apparatus provided with the target object display method in any one of Claim 1 to 3.