WO2016118163A1

WO2016118163A1 - On-screen display size

Info

Publication number: WO2016118163A1
Application number: PCT/US2015/012723
Authority: WO
Inventors: Timothy P GUYNES; Syed S Azam; David Chuang
Original assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, Lp
Priority date: 2015-01-23
Filing date: 2015-01-23
Publication date: 2016-07-28

Abstract

Examples disclosed herein relate to on-screen display (OSD) size. In one aspect, a computing device is disclosed. The computing device may include an input engine to receive a user command and determine an access method, from at least a first method and a second method, through which the user command was received, where the first method includes receiving the user command wirelessly from a remote control, and the second method includes receiving the user command through a physical contact with the computing device, and based at least on the access method, determine a size associated with the OSD. The computing device may also include a display to display the OSD having the determined size.

Description

ON-SCREEN DISPLAY SIZE

BACKGROUND

[00013 Devices equipped with displays may use on-screen displays (OSDs) that may be used by the users to review and adjust various settings of the device. Such devices include, among other things, monitors, TVs, cameras, various types of computers, etc. An OSD may be implemented, for example, as an image superimposed on a screen picture. In many devices, the OSD may be accessed and controlled by physically touching buttons, such as the bezei buttons often located on the panel of the device. In some devices, the OSD may also be accessed controlled from a distance, using a remote control.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] The following detailed description references the drawings, wherein:

[0003] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example computing system;

[0004] FIG. 2A illustrates an example computing device;

[0005] FIG. 2B illustrates another example computing device;

[0006] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method for determining an

OSD menu size; and

[0007] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another example computing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0008] As discussed above, in some devices, the user may access and control the OSD using either physical contact with the device (e.g., using bezei buttons) or using a remote control. A user accessing the OSD via a remote control may be located farther from the device than a user accessing the OSD using the device's buttons. If the same OSD menu size is used for both of these access modes, the user may sometimes find the OSD information hard to read. For example, the OSD may appear too small for a user standing far away, or too large for a user standing right next to the device. Because the OSD may often include one or more menus, in some examples described herein the terms "OSD," "OSD menu," or "OSD menus" may be used interchangeably. [0009] Some examples disclosed herein describe a computing device. The computing device may include an input engine. The input engine may be configured to receive a user command, determine an access method, from at least a first method and a second method, through which the user command was received, where the first method includes receiving the user command wireiessiy from a remote control, and the second method includes receiving the user command through a physical contact with the computing device, and based at least on the access method, determine a size associated with an OSD. The computing device may also include a display to display the OSD having the determined size.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example computing system 100 that may include, among other things, a computing device 110 and a remote control 150. Computing device 110 may include any electronic device (or a combination of electronic devices) that includes or is coupled to a display, a screen, a monitor, and the like. For example, computing device 110 may include any of the following devices or combinations thereof: a computer monitor, a TV, a smartphone, a projector, a camera, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer coupled to a monitor, a retail point of sale system, a gaming device, or any other electronic device.

[0011] In the example illustrated in FIG. 1 , computing device 110 includes an input engine 112 and a display 118. In some examples, display 118 may be a part of (e.g., integrated with or embedded into) computing device 110. In other examples, display 1 18 may be communicatively coupled to computing device 110, for example, in a wired or wireless manner. Display 118 may include any type of display, screen, or monitor, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), and the like, in some examples, display 118 may include a touch-sensitive screen.

[0012] Remote control 150 may include any type of electronic device capable of wireiessiy communicating with computing device 110. The wireless communication may include, for example, infrared (IR) communication, radio communication such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, or communications over any other wireless technologies. In some examples, remote control 150 may be configured communicate with computing device 110 to control display 118. For example, remote control 150 may be configured to control an on-screen display (OSD) of display 118, which may include, for example, turning the OSD on or off, navigating the OSD and its menus, and so forth.

[0013] As discussed above, in some examples, the OSD may be implemented as an image displayed on display 118. For example, the OSD may be displayed on display 118 concurrently with other content, such as a video stream, a still image, a desktop of an operating system, etc. Put differently, the OSD may be implemented as an image superimposed on top of other content displayed on display 118, for example, in a transparent, semi-transparent, or opaque fashion. In some examples, the OSD may display various settings associated with display 1 18 and computing device 110, allowing the user to view and reconfigure the settings. The settings may include, for example, a volume level, a brightness level, a contrast level, color settings, language settings, or any other settings.

[0014] Input engine 112 may generally represent any combination of hardware and programming. In some examples, detection engine 112 may be configured to receive one or more user commands associated with the OSD. A user command may include, for example, a command to turn on or show the OSD, a command to turn off or hide the OSD, a command to navigate the OSD and its contents, or a command to perform any other operations associated with the OSD.

[0015] In some examples, the user command may be sent to computing device 110 (and received by computing device 110, e.g., input engine 112) via at least two different methods that may be referred to as a first access method and a second access method. In some examples, the first method may use a different medium, technology, manner, or technique, than the second method. For example, one of the methods (e.g., the second method) may be indicative of the user's close proximity with computing device 110, while the other method (e.g., the first method) may not be indicative of the user's close proximity with computing device 110. [0016] In some examples, the first access method may include receiving the user command wirelessly, for example, as part of a wireless communication from remote control 150 operated by the user. As discussed above, wireless communication may include any type of connection not requiring a physical contact with computing device 110, and may include, for example, infrared communication, radio communication (e.g., using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi standards), or other wireless communication methods and standards.

[0017] In some examples, the second access method may include receiving the user command via a physical contact by the user with computing device 110. As used herein, "physical contact" may refer to any type of physical or direct (non-wireless) contact with computing device 110. For example, the user may make physical contact with computing device 110 by touching computing device 110, any of its components (e.g., display 118), or any elements physically coupled thereto. For example, physical contact may include a user touch on one or more buttons physically coupled to computing device 110, such as one or more bezel buttons attached to a side, bottom, top, front, or back panel of display 118. In some examples, the buttons may include buttons specifically designated for OSD control.

[0018] In some examples, physical contact may include contacts that may not include an actual touch by the user, but which nevertheless indicate a very close proximity of the user to computing device 1 10, such as a distance of only several millimeters or inches. Such contacts may include, for example, contacts detectable by capacitive sensors.

[0019] In some examples, after receiving the user command, input engine 112 may be configured to determine through which access method the user command was received. For example, input engine 112 may determine which of the two access methods discussed above was used by the user to deliver the user command. Input engine 112 may make this determination, for example, by determining which module of computing device 1 10 (e.g., a general-purpose input/out (GPIO) module, a wireless module, etc.) received the user command. [0020] In some examples, based on the determined access method, input engine 1 12 may determine the size associated with OSD, also referred to herein as the "OSD menu size." The OSD menu size may correspond to the size of the OSD's menus, to the size of the area (e.g., window) on display 118 designated for OSD, the size of the text appearing in the OSD, or to any combination of these or other sizes associated with the OSD. in some examples, determining the OSD menu size may include selecting a predefined size associated with the access method that was used to deliver the user command.

[0021] For example, a first predefined size may be associated with the first method discussed above, and a second predefined size may be associated with the second method discussed above. To illustrate, the wireless access method may be associated with a predefined font size of 24 and/or a predefined OSD window size of 360x720, while the physical-contact access method may be associated with a predefined font size of 12 and/or a predefined OSD window size of 180x360. In some examples, as in the above example, the predefined size associated with the first method may be larger than the predefined size associated with the second method.

[0022] While the OSD menu size may be determined based on the access method, in some examples, the OSD menu size may be determined independently of the actual distance between the user (or remote control 150) and computing device 110 (or display 1 18). Accordingly, in some examples, when a wireless access method is used by the user to deliver the user command, the same OSD menu size may be determined by input engine 112 irrespective of how far (e.g., 0 feet, 3 feet, 100 feet, etc.) from computing device 110 the user was located when the command was delivered. Similarly, in some examples, when the user delivered the command via a physical contact (e.g., by pushing a button), input engine 1 12 may determine the same OSD menu size irrespective of exactly how far from computing device the user's body was located.

[0023] In some examples, however, computing device 110 may also determine its distance from the user (for example, using a distance sensor such as an IR distance sensor) and determine the OSD menu size based on both the access method and the distance. For example, the OSD menu size may be proportional to the distance, or may be calculated based on any other increasing or non-decreasing function of the distance. In some examples, engine 112 may determine the OSD menu size based at least on the access method and the size of display 1 18. In some examples, engine 1 12 may use any combination of the above-specified factors and any other factors to determine the OSD menu size.

[0024] In some examples, after determining the OSD menu size, input engine 112 may provide the OSD menu size to computing device 110. Computing device 1 10 may then generate an OSD having the OSD menu size and provide the generated OSD to display 118 for display. In some examples, the OSD may be generated by input engine 112 or by one or more other engines of computing device 1 10.

[0025] Display 118 may display the generated OSD having the determined OSD menu size. For example, if the OSD menu size includes a font size, display 118 may display some or all text of the OSD with that font size. As another example, if the determined size includes a window size, display 118 may display the OSD such that it occupies a window of that size. As used herein, "displaying" the OSD may include displaying the OSD for the first time (e.g., if no OSD was displayed when the user command was received and the user command includes a command to display the OSD) or re-rendering the OSD with the determined OSD menu size (e.g., if an OSD was already displayed but had a different OSD menu size).

[0026] FIG. 2A illustrates an example remote control 150 and an example computing device 110. FIG. 2A also illustrates bezel buttons 210a, 210b, and 210c coupled to a panel 215 of computing device 1 10. In this example, a user 230 uses remote control 150 (e.g., by pushing one or more buttons of remote control 150) to wirelessly send to computing device 110 a user command. As discussed above, the user command may include a command to display an OSD or a command to control (e.g., navigate) a displayed OSD. In response to receiving the user command, computing device 110 may, as discussed above, determines an access method through which the user command was received. In this example, computing device 110 determines that the access method included a wireless communication. Accordingly, computing device 110 selects a first OSD menu size (e.g., a first window size and/or a first font size) and displays an example OSD 205a having the first OSD menu size.

[0027] FIG. 2B illustrates another example computing device 110. In this example, user 230 physically pushes bezel button 210a to deliver the user command, in this example, computing device 110 determines that the access method included physical contact and therefore selects a second OSD menu size and displays an example OSD 205b having the second OSD menu size. As illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the first OSD menu size may be larger than the second OSD menu size.

[0028] Thus, in some examples, every time computing device 110 receives a user command associated with the OSD, computing device may determine the OSD menu size and render or re-render the OSD based on the determined size. Alternatively, in some examples, computing device 110 may perform the size determination and the re-rendering of the OSD only if the method used to deliver the last user command is different from the method used to deliver the previous user command. Thus, in some examples, computing device 1 10 may change the size of the OSD in response to receiving a user command through a method different than the method through which the previous command was received.

[0029] In some examples, computing device 110 may store (e.g., in an internal non-volatile memory such as flash memory) a default OSD menu position and display the OSD menu at the default OSD menu position. The default OSD menu position may be defined, for example, by the display coordinates associated with the top-left corner of the OSD menu. In some examples, computing device 110 may store a first default OSD menu position associated with a first access method (e.g., the wireless communication method) and a second default OSD menu position associated with a second access method (e.g., the physicai-contact method). In some examples, the user may change the first and/or second default OSD menu positions, for example, by accessing and navigating one or more of the OSD menus. After any default OSD menu position is changed by the user, computing device 110 may store the updated position, and display the OSD menu at the updated position, until the default position is changed by the user again, in some examples, the user can revert the default position to its original position, for example, by issuing a "factory reset" command.

[0030] In the foregoing discussion, engine 112 was described as any combination of hardware and programming. Such components may be implemented in a number of fashions. The programming may be processor executable instructions stored on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium and the hardware may include a processing resource for executing those instructions. The processing resource, for example, may inciude one or multipie processors {e.g., central processing units (CPUs), semiconductor- based microprocessors, graphics processing units (GPUs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) configured to retrieve and execute instructions, or other eiectronic circuitry), which may be integrated in a single device or distributed across devices. The computer-readable medium can be said to store program instructions that when executed by the processor resource implement the functionality of the respective component. The computer-readable medium may be integrated in the same device as the processor resource or it may be separate but accessible to that device and the processor resource, in one example, the program instructions can be part of an installation package that when installed can be executed by the processor resource to impiement the corresponding component. In this case, the computer-readable medium may be a portable medium such as a CD, DVD, or flash drive or a memory maintained by a server from which the installation package can be downloaded and installed. In another example, the program instructions may be part of an application or applications already installed, and the computer-readable medium may include integrated memory such as a hard drive, solid state drive, or the like, in another example, engine 112 may be implemented by hardware logic in the form of electronic circuitry, such as appiication specific integrated circuits.

[00313 FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method 300 for determining an OSD menu size. Method 300 may be described below as being executed or performed by a system or by a computing device such as computing device 110 of FIG. 1. Other suitable systems and/or computing devices may be used as well. Method 300 may be implemented in the form of executable instructions stored on at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of the system and executed by at least one processor of the system. Alternatively or in addition, method 300 may be implemented in the form of electronic circuitry (e.g., hardware). In alternate examples of the present disclosure, one or more blocks of method 300 may be executed substantially concurrently or in a different order than shown in FIG. 3. In aiternaie examples of the present disclosure, method 300 may include more or less blocks than are shown in FIG. 3. In some examples, one or more of the blocks of method 300 may, at certain times, be ongoing and/or may repeat.

[0032] At biock 310, the method may detect a wireless communication from a remote control (e.g., 150). As discussed above, the wireless communication may include, for example, a command to display an OSD. At biock 315, the method may, responsive to the wireless communication, provide for display at a computing device (e.g., 110) an OSD having a first size. At biock 320, the method may detect a touch on a button physically coupled to the computing device. As discussed above, the button may include a designated button (e.g., a bezel button attached to a panel on a dispiay included or coupled to the computing device) for at least one of displaying an OSD and controiling an OSD. At block 325, the method may, responsive to the touch, provide for display at the computing device an OSD having a second size, where the second size is smaller than the first size.

[0033] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example computing device 400. Computing device 400 may be similar to computing device 110 of FIG. 1. in the example of FIG. 4, computing device 400 includes a processor 410 and a non- transitory machine-readable storage medium 420. Although the following descriptions refer to a single processor and a single machine-readabie storage medium, it is appreciated that multiple processors and multiple machine-readable storage mediums may be anticipated in other examples. In such other examples, the instructions may be distributed (e.g., stored) across multiple machine-readable storage mediums and the instructions may be distributed (e.g., executed by) across multiple processors.

[0034] Processor 410 may be one or more central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, and/or other hardware devices suitable for retrieval and execution of instructions stored in non-transitory machine-readable storage medium 420. In the particular example shown in FIG. 4, processor 410 may fetch, decode, and execute instructions 424, 426, 428, 430, or any other instructions not shown for brevity. As an alternative or in addition to retrieving and executing instructions, processor 410 may include one or more electronic circuits comprising a number of electronic components for performing the functionality of one or more of the instructions in machine-readable storage medium 420. With respect to the executable instruction representations (e.g., boxes) described and shown herein, it should be understood that part or all of the executable instructions and/or electronic circuits included within one box may, in alternate examples, be included in a different box shown in the figures or in a different box not shown.

[0035] Non-transitory machine-readable storage medium 420 may be any electronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical storage device that stores executable instructions. Thus, medium 420 may be, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), an Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), a storage drive, an optical disc, and the like. Medium 420 may be disposed within computing device 400, as shown in FIG. 4. in this situation, the executable instructions may be "installed" on computing device 400. Alternatively, medium 420 may be a portable, external or remote storage medium, for example, that allows computing device 400 to download the instructions from the portable/external/remote storage medium. In this situation, the executable instructions may be part of an "installation package". As described herein, medium 420 may be encoded with executable instructions for finding a network device on a network. [0036] Referring to FIG. 4, instructions 424, when executed by a processor, may cause a computing device to detect a first command associated with an OSD. Instructions 426, when executed by the processor, may cause the computing device to determine whether the first command was received via wireless communication from a remote control or via physical contact with the computing device. Instructions 428, when executed by the processor, may cause the computing device, based on a determination that the first command was received via wireless communication, to display the OSD having a first size. Instructions 430, when executed by the processor, may cause the computing device, based on a determination that the first command was received via physical contact, to display the OSD having a second size, where the second size is smaller than the first size.

[0037] As discussed above, the physical contact may include a touch on a button physically coupled to the computing device, and the wireless communication may include wireless communication from a remote control associated with the computing device. Other instructions (not shown in FIG. 4 for brevity), when executed by the processor, may cause the computing device to detect a second command associated with the OSD, and modify the OSD's size responsive to a determination that one of the first and second commands was received via wireless communication and another of the first and second commands was received via physical contact. As discussed above, the first command and the second command may each include any combination of a command to turn on the OSD, a command to control the OSD, or any other commands associated with the OSD.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

an input engine to:

receive a user command,

determine an access method, from at ieast a first method and a second method, through which the user command was received, wherein the first method comprises receiving the user command wirelessly from a remote controi, and the second method comprises receiving the user command through a physical contact with the computing device, and based at ieast on the access method, determine a size associated with an on-screen display (OSD); and

a display to display the OSD having the determined size.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein determining the size comprises determining a predefined size associated with the access method.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the first predefined size is associated with the first method and the second predefined size is associated with the second method, and wherein the first predefined size is larger than the second predefined size.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the input engine is further to: responsive to receiving another user command received by another access method, change the size associated with the OSD.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the display is to display the OSD at a position associated with the access method, wherein the position is modifiable by a user.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the physical contact comprises contact with a button on the computing device.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the size is determined independently of a distance between a user issuing the user command and the display.

8. A method comprising:

detecting a wireless communication from a remote control;

responsive to the wireless communication, providing for display at a computing device an on-screen display (OSD) having a first size;

detecting a touch on a button physically coupled to the computing device; and

responsive to the touch, providing for display at the computing device the on-screen display (OSD) having a second size, wherein the second size is smaller than the first size.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the wireless communication comprises a command to display the OSD.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the button comprises at least one designated button for at least one of displaying the OSD and controlling the OSD.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the computing device comprises a display to display the OSD, and wherein the button comprises a bezel button attached to a pane! of the display.

12. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by at least one processor of at least one computing device to cause the computing device to:

detect a first command associated with an on-screen display (OSD); determine whether the first command was received via wireless communication from a remote control or via physical contact with the computing device;

based on a determination that the first command was received via wireless communication, display the OSD having a first size; and

based on a determination that the first command was received via physical contact, display the OSD having a second size, wherein the second size is smaller than the first size.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the physical contact comprises a touch on a button physically coupled to the computing device, and the wireless communication comprises wireless communication from a remote control associated with the computing device.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further to cause the computing device to:

detect a second command associated with the OSD; and

modify the OSD's size responsive to a determination that one of the first and second commands was received via wireless communication and another of the first and second commands was received via physical contact.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first command and the second command each comprises at least one of a command to turn on the OSD and a command to control the OSD.