FR2861886A1 - DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION SELECTED IN A HYPERDENSE TABLE - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device comprising a means for storing a table of data formed of characters and / or images, a screen (12) capable of displaying the table of characters / images, a first touch input means (32 ) adapted to allow a selection area to be moved on the table displayed on the screen, and a second tactile input means (34) adapted to allow the selected area to be enlarged selectively. It also relates to a process.

Description

The present invention relates to the field of

  visual and communication information.

  It applies to many devices, especially portable devices intended to be held in one hand, for example mobile phone type, personal assistant or personal computer (PC) pocket. The present invention is particularly applicable, but not limited to, devices composed of two parts articulated together and comprising tactile means (touch screens, keyboards or keys for entering data such as "touch pads" or "flush buttons" "(touchpads in English), ...).

  The present invention aims to allow fast and accurate access in a large and dense set of text or image type data to allow the fast and accurate operation of the data thus selected.

  The exploitation in itself of the selected data can be the subject of many modalities. It may be for example and not limited to an exploitation of the selected data in the form of an address (for example address for a telephone call, a fax sending, a website, etc ...) or an exploitation of the selected data as part of a text or image processing.

  None of the many devices or processes already proposed in the context of the processing of visual and communication information is fully satisfactory in this respect.

  The above object is achieved within the scope of the present invention by means of a device comprising: means for storing a data table formed of characters and / or images, a screen capable of displaying the array of characters / images, 30. a first touch input means adapted to allow a selection area to be moved on the table displayed on the screen, and a second touch input means adapted to selectively enlarge the selected area.

  According to other advantageous features of the invention: the second tactile input means is adapted to make it possible to enlarge the selected zone with a controlled progressive magnification factor, the selected data can be used as an address or in part of a word processor or image process.

  The present invention also relates to an information processing method which comprises the steps of: displaying, on a screen, a data table formed of characters and / or images, stored in a memory, moving a selection area on the table displayed on the screen using a first touch input means, and 15. selectively enlarge the selected area using a second touch input means.

  Other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will appear on reading the detailed description which follows, and with reference to the appended drawings, given by way of non-limiting examples and in which: - Figure 1 shows schematically a Apparatus according to the present invention, - Figure schematically an alphabet, - Figure 1 schematically a block of images corresponding to a magnifying zoom, - Figure 1c shows a keypad, - Figure 1d shows a schematic option in the form of a touch screen allowing direct pen writing, - FIG. 2 comprises two figures 2a and 2b, more precisely - FIG. 2a represents an image block and the associated coding, - FIG. 2b represents the coding on two or three bytes of FIG. a selected image; FIG. 3 schematically represents the coding on two or three bytes of the elementary images; FIG. According to the present invention, comprising control ball type input means, FIG. 5 represents another variant embodiment according to the present invention comprising laser-based input means, and FIG. different successive selection and enlargement phases according to a preferred variant of the present invention, respectively in FIGS. 6a to 6e.

  FIG. 1 shows an apparatus incorporating the present invention.

  FIG. 1 shows an apparatus comprising two parts 10, 30 articulated to one another about an axis 50. One of the two parts 10, 30 houses a means for storing a data table formed of characters and / or images. Part 10 has a screen 12 able to display the array of characters / images. The second portion 30 has a first touch input means 32 adapted to allow a selection area to be moved on the table displayed on the screen 12, and a second touch input means 34 adapted to selectively enlarge the selected area. Of course, one of the two parts 10 or 30 houses a microprocessor or equivalent and all the necessary peripherals, known per se, for providing the interface between the storage means of the board, the screen 12, and the means of tactile input 32 and 34.

  In FIG. 1, the selected central image is referenced at 13. This is preferably optically identified, for example by appearing in highlight or by pointing using an index.

  FIG. 1 also schematically illustrates an optional text processing area 14 in the upper part of the element 10, above the aforementioned screen 12, and an optional input area 15 in the lower part of the screen 12. element 10, below the screen 12 (the zone 15 can be used for example to display selectable data blocks, for example in the form of keypads, alphabetical, or other, the selection can be made by any appropriate means, direct and simple manner, for example using a stylus), and a selection bar 31 (this is typically used for a selection of selection modes and options, such as telephony, word processing alphabetic, or image text, direct visual writing with stylus on the input screen, sending on the internet ...) and an optional touchpad 33 (for example for the selection of other options, such as word processing, pencil drawing, control p hoto, etc ...) on the element 30.

  This device allows various communication functions. It allows for example, by selection (by visual processing among a large number) of an image stored in the table and displayed on the screen 12 (graphic, symbol, logo, image, photo, ...), to connect directly without having to dial a number or an address to a telephone, a fax, an address or a website corresponding to the selected data. It also allows you to select or import an image, to write or draw a visual or phonetic text or a graphic that can be stored or sent. Reception is of course also possible and displays the image (image, photo, logo, ...) associated with the number or address of the sender if they have been previously registered for visual access. The present invention may allow a visual browser function and may allow for example, from images stored in-situ (eg satellite images of a city) to navigate this image (displacement / magnification). In this context the device can be coupled with a GPS navigation system for example.

  The present invention offers a solution to the problem of fast access to an accurate image (real image, bren flash image, logo, symbols, etc.) stored in a collection or table comprising a large number of such images: for example, but non-limitingly from 1 to 8,000 in single density, from 1 to 800,000 in double density, from 1 to 78,000,000 in triple density, .... The images used in the context of the present invention are not necessarily associated with a word ( we can say then that they are without sound). This last case is particularly difficult to deal with the prior known means since it eliminates any possibility of finding them by an alphabet. However, of course, the present invention also applies to images specific to classification from an alphabet. By way of illustration, the images used in the context of the present invention could be in an extreme case for example the 45 million rock engravings known to date, or simply the 3,673 characters 'jiaguwen' engraved on the turtle shells, all like the 8.000 lexeme-color images of the extended bren flash.

  The present invention applies in particular, and not exclusively to the processing of representative images of ideas called lexemes-images, and in particular those that are defined in the book The natural language of the brain: Flash Bren language of the future? by Georges Rieu, edited by Brenator (ISBN: 2-9504144-1-9).

  The image once detected and selected can be sent by any appropriate means, for example by a click or equivalent, on a line of word processing, or for the control of a telephone number, Fax, or an address of a website (the device being connected on the network or on the net - for example by "i-mode" (registered trademark)) or to activate a hyper-image link (opens a file composed of images, texts, ...).

  The implementation of the present invention can be the subject of numerous variants.

  One of the basic characteristics of the invention consists in placing the images (whatever their number) in the form of an array, for example a planar square, which we will call grid images in rows and columns, boxes may be empty (see for example Figure la which illustrates an alphabet, or the images are alphabetic signs). The invention can thus exploit tables for example of 90 lines by 90 columns (8,100 possible images) or 900 lines by 900 columns (810,000 images) or more.

  Each image is associated with a code (x, y) which corresponds to the row and column address in the stored array, for example a double-byte code with x and y between 1 and 90 for a lower number of images or equal to 8,100, a code (x, y, z) with three bytes, x, y and z between 1 and 90 for a number of images less than or equal to 810,000, with z correlated with x and y as we shall see , or a four-byte code (x, y, z, w), for arrays of up to 78 million images.

  The images are stored at the user's choice, but preferably in the form of groups or visual clusters, which allows the eye a fast detection (10 images / second), which then uses the peripheral mink, for example in cluster (preferably) or linear: All the arrangements are possible: frequency, sense, form, dates, places, ...

  The grid of images (lines / columns) is compressed electronically to appear entirely on the screen of the mobile (for example on a table of 6cm x 6cm). FIG. 5 or FIG. 2a represent at scale 1 this grid for a number of 10,000 images.

  Another important feature of the present invention is to implement means simulating image compression. Preferably, this process consists of not representing the reduced format images on the board, as would be possible for example in EPS format (they might be illegible at these scales), but only the rows and columns serving as reference, indexed in x, in y and possibly in z and w. The images are not treated as such but only their coordinates (x, y) or (x, y, z) or (x, y, z, w), which allows a considerable saving of memory and processing ( two, three or four byte processing). This compression system 'acts only on the coordinates of the image, ie on 2, 3 or even 4 bytes and not on the image (50 to 100 KB) which only appears when it is visible at screen and in the selected group or cluster.

  In other words, in the context of the present invention, the processing is performed on the coordinates or addresses of the data as the enlargement rate is less than a determined value (the treatment is then comparable to a compression). The processing takes into account the actual data only when the enlargement rate is sufficient to allow a perfect readability of the data or images.

  This system can process a very large number of images, this number depends only on the storage capacity of the device (several tens of gigabytes with current technologies).

  The present invention is partly based on the ability of the human brain to memorize not only the images (the memory of the images is almost unlimited) but also to memorize their location very precisely. A trained user can indeed have in memory the very precise and almost automatic geography of the situation of each image, and in particular groups or clusters. This is for example the case of professional chess players who have memorized visually a very large number of situations. This allows extremely fast access to the desired image. The most telling example is that of the Parisian cosmonaut who observes the Earth and although he does not know the millions of houses on the planet he can quickly find his own if he has a powerful telephoto lens that he will focus on France then on Paris then on his neighborhood then on his house: a click on allowing him for example by video to explore his interior.

  As mentioned above, the invention exploits two keypads or tactile input means, one adapted to allow a selection area to be moved on the table displayed on the screen 12, and the other adapted to enable selectively enlarge the selected area.

  The practical modalities of realization of these cobblestones or tactile input means can be the subject of many embodiments. It can be for example a combination corresponding to the association of a pointing system X, Y (touchpad, trackball, laser diodes) for moving on a grid ( hyperdense visual keypad) towards a subset of this grid that appears on the screen thanks to the possibility of enlarging this zone controlled by a second system Z (linear touchpad, trackball in English), laser diode) and thus revealing a second image block, a subset of the first.

  Thus, by a first pointing system, of the type for example touch pad or touch pad (touch pad in English), the user can move the pointer shown on a reading screen of the picture board (illegible scale mobile) to the area where the desired image should be, for example by the action of his left thumb on a touchpad 32 (as shown in Figures 1 and 6a for example).

  A second pad area or linear touch input means 34, accessible for example to the right thumb (as shown in Fig. 6b, Z), allows the enlargement of the area where the index appears around from it a second block for which the boxes have small but visible images (Figure 6b). The images are not shown in fig. 6b, only one image in the diagram of Figure 6d.

  In this second image block (FIG. 6b), the index commanded by the first touchpad 32 can be moved to the right image which is enlarged either to the maximum (screen size) if it is the right one or to a larger size. than the preceding image block (second image block, Fig. 6d) allowing a final selection. The final image appearing in maximum size on the image screen (fig.6e) is selected (for example by clicking on the image - touch screen 12- or any other appropriate mode) to be either sent on a text line either to order a telephone number or an internet address (site, e-mail address, FAX, ...) Each block occupies either a part of the screen (slippery blocks) or almost the entire screen block-images, magnification and 5 displacement can be concomitant or not.

  Preferably the sensitivity of the pointer 32 (x, y) decreases progressively when the enlargement controlled by the pad 34 increases and vice versa, so as to keep on the screen 12 the enlarged area: the distance traveled by the thumb (sensitivity) is always linked to the size of the image tile appearing on the screen and not to the initial x, y coordinates. The sensitivity of the touchpad 32 (x, y) always corresponds to the size of the visual keypad displayed on the screen, that is to say that a complete displacement on the touchpad corresponds to a complete displacement on the enlarged image block appearing on the screen, and this regardless of the magnification.

  To achieve this, the apparatus comprises in all cases a control tablet (selection board), such as the blocks referenced 32 and 34 in Figure 1, and a display tablet, such as the shelf 12 in Figure 1 , the control tablet can also be visual and serve as direct input and the display tablet can also be used for certain inputs and commands.

  Several nonlimiting variants of implementation of the present invention will now be described.

  Several so-called grab bars or touch pads can be used in the context of the present invention.

  A first system is illustrated in Figure 1. It comprises a first touch pad 32 type touch pad or flush key. The X, Y displacement on the surface of this tablet 32 controls the movement of the pointer on the image grid of the screen 12 (image block). A second Z-shaped linear touch pad 34 makes it possible to control the enlargement of the area around the pointer, revealing a second block, a subset of the first, visual and readable, as illustrated in FIG. 6b and so on for the other successive visual tiles (as shown in Fig. 6d and 6e).

  Tablets such as touch pad or flush key 32 and 34 may use for example a field distortion detection (called field distortion sensing) technology, or a capacitance sensing type of technology.

  Below the protective surface of these tablets are two layers of fine electrical conductors arranged in grid form, which create a surface electric field.

  When touching the surface, the fingerprint distorts the electric field at that location. The location of the finger can be pinpointed by scanning the grid and measuring the amount of distortion on each conductor.

  The movement of the cursor is directly related to the movement of the finger on the surface of the tablet.

  The linear tablet 34 schematically in Figure 1 corresponds to the same principle but on a long and narrow surface controlling the variation of a single coordinate (Z, the enlargement).

  This solution provides good ergonomics as seen in the examination of Figure 1.

  Other types of touch sensors can also be used in the context of the present invention: for example, capacitive cells (in this case the deformation due to the pressure of the finger modifies the capacitance at this point), piezoelectric resistive sensors (for example). example comprising a semiconductive polymer film whose resistance decreases when a low pressure is exerted on it).

  According to another variant according to the present invention, the means forming control touch pads may be formed of devices of the type of trackball (ie trackball), that is to say devices comprising a ball or mobile equivalent associated with means capable of detecting the movements of the ball and coding in the form of electrical signals, advantageously digital, these displacements. FIG. 4 illustrates such a device which comprises two control balls 32, 34, each controlled by a finger, for example the thumb. The left trackball 32 for example rotates about two axes and provides control of the movement of the pointer (X, Y). The right control ball 34 rotates on an axis to allow the entry of a single variable by the rotation of the ball around the axis. The combination of the two movements makes it possible to obtain, on the one hand, the pointer near the desired image as shown schematically in FIG. 6a and on the other hand the appearance of a first subset of the image grid. (Visual keypad visible) as shown schematically in Figure 6, and more particularly in Figure 6b and 6d.

  The trackball (trackball or rollerball in English) is a mouse returned to present the ball on top. The rotational movements of the ball control the movement of the cursor.

  This solution also allows a good behavior of the apparatus and controls of displacement. A much smaller ball size than that of a conventional mouse is required to keep the device thin. It has the advantage of reducing the rotational forces of the ball.

  FIG. 4 diagrammatically shows various gripping devices located around the balls 320, 340 constituting the base member of the gripping means 32 and 34 mentioned above, in order to ensure complementary specific control functions.

  FIG. 4 thus illustrates four gripping means 321, 322, 323 and 324 distributed around the ball 320 ensuring the displacement in X, Y and respectively adapted to allow control of displacements either in X alone or in Y alone. (and in one direction or in the opposite direction depending on the particular means 321, 322, 323 or 324 biased), and two gripping means 341, 342 disposed around the ball 340 controlling the enlargement parameter Z, for example for allow respectively a zoom or fixed zoom (sliding pad) and a click, that is to say a selection.

  FIG. 5 illustrates a third type of input means based on laser diodes. More specifically, the means illustrated in FIG. 5 comprise three laser microdiodes making it possible to measure the displacement distances corresponding to parameters X, Y and Z. Three laser microdiodes emit laser radiation parallel to the surface of the device. A finger moved opposite the path of the radiation reflects the ray or moves a reflector means on this path. The distances measured between the laser diodes and the reflecting surfaces (the fingers) directly give the X, Y and Z magnifications. This measurement technique is well known, accurate and inexpensive. In general, a transmitting and detecting laser diode is used. The laser beam emitted by the laser diode is reflected by the obstacle (here the finger) in all directions and in particular to the laser diode thus modulating the emitted radiation, these modulations being detected by a photodiode. The modulation of the current in the laser diode makes it possible to measure the distance.

  Thus two laser microdiodes can be placed in a common housing 325 emerging on the surface and allowing the radiation just above the surface to emit radiation referenced 326 and 327 in Figure 5, corresponding to the X and Y coordinates, another microdiode The laser 345 emits radiation 347 allowing the control of the Z magnification. These telemetry measurements by modulation have the advantage of being very widespread and easy to obtain, very reliable, but also very accurate. They are particularly suitable for the case of a very large number of images. They also have the advantage of being able to separate the two coordinates X and Y and thus to scan vertically and horizontally the image grid.

  Another advantage is that it is also possible by this method to have the image grid directly on the input box (in FIG. 5 this image grid is shown schematically at scale 1 under the reference 60) leaving the display screen 12 on the lid 10 completely free for word processing or other control (touch screen).

  In FIG. 5 the detection means 32, 34 based on laser radiation are arranged on the periphery of the image grid 60.

  More precisely, the aforementioned diodes 325 and 345 are adapted to emit their radiation parallel to the sides of this image grating 60.

  For maximum safety, it is possible to double the laser diodes so that in the event of failure of the first diodes, the seconds make it possible to keep an operational device. By way of non-limiting example, the emergency diodes may be arranged to emit beams on the same paths as the initial diodes and in the direction of the latter, or in a direction opposite to them. The emergency diodes are put into operation by the central unit of the device during a detection of deficiency of the first diodes, the central unit also taking care of the exploitation of the detected signals.

  FIG. 5 schematizes generally rectilinear tracks 328, 329 and 348 superimposed on the respective paths of the laser beams emitted by the aforementioned diodes. These tracks are preferably in relief. They can perform several functions. On the one hand, they guide the user's finger as it moves along the path of the laser beam. On the other hand they can control a specific selection function during their solicitation, (for example sending an image on a line of word processing, or on a reading screen, ...). Thus, for example, and without this description being limiting, a solicitation or click on the bar 348 associated with the enlargement selection may allow a fixed zoom and therefore to slide a subset of the image grid zoomed using displacement X , Y; A solicitation or click on the bar 329 associated with the Y control may allow fixed X, Y pointing and variable magnification Z; A solicitation or click on the horizontal bar 328 associated with the X command may allow the command to send a selected image in part text processing or communication command.

  Note that in all cases, the apparatus preferably comprises a portion 30 held in the said hand seized portion and a portion 10 corresponding to the so-called read portion, regardless of the method used for seizure (double touch pad or key to outcrop, double trackball, triple laser diodes).

  The display screen portion 12 (preferably located on the cover 10, as shown in FIG. 1 for example) comprises, for example, a high-resolution touch-sensitive LCD screen (for example 380 × 420 pixels) or more, for example by means of the emitting diodes (Oled ) allowing a resolution of 300 dots per inch and more. This screen also allows direct writing with stylus (as shown schematically in Figure 1d) which can be recognized by character recognition (flash bren, Chinese,

  .) sent directly over the Internet or by FAX. All the desired commands: telephone, FAX, Internet, word processing, ... appear on the touch screen and double some commands of the input box (telephone, Internet, ...), except the command ON / OFF, which will be able to be automatic when you open the device in certain cases: this last feature is particularly interesting in the context of the application to automatic telephone numbering systems, especially for the elderly or children for example ... DTD: The paid zoomed images (image subsets of the initial image block) can be artificially distorted by conventional image deformation software (spherical or Gaussian deformation for example) giving the impression of a deformation of the image matrix as it has been illustrated in Figure 1 for the zone 120 which corresponds to a distortion zoom. Note that preferably, as illustrated in FIG. 1b, the zoom lens has a square shape which makes it possible to display more images than a round shape.

  In text mode, lexemes-images for example are defined by a matrix of 24x24 pixels allowing a clear vision, even 32x32 for a clear and pleasant high resolution. A screen controller manages the string of characters. The images (fonts for the image lexemes) are stored in ROM (READ Only Memory) and can be read in BIOS (Basic Imput / Output System) which allows to display them programmatically in graphic mode. All conventional image compression algorithms can be used.

  A storage mode of "compression" and image coordinate processing is shown in Figures 3 and 6.

  Up to 8,000 images (8,836 exactly) we will preferably code the images according to their coordinates in X and Y: for example the image having the coordinates 77,81 identified at the top left in Figure 3. If we code each of the coordinates on one byte, we thus have a coding on two bytes, and it is this coding that we will treat and not the image, which considerably reduces the processing and therefore the processing speed and the memory used . Since the coding is double byte, the maximum theoretical number of images that can be encoded is 94x94, or 8,836 images.

  It is possible to move the images on their grid which automatically assigns them the code x, y corresponding to the new location, the user choosing only the location on the image grid. It is also possible to import images (via the Internet or FAX or by photographing them with an integrated digital camera (shown at 80 in Figure 1) or connected by USB for example photos of people or identity, and to place them on the grid One can even build totally personal grids In this case a grid selection control is necessary (on the touch screen for example by using the displacement of the push on the touchpad for example to control the index).

  For a number of images up to 800,000 (830,584 exactly) a three-byte coding is preferably used as indicated in FIG. 3. All the images from 1 to 8,836 will then be encoded (x, y, 00) by example (77, 58, 00) as shown in Figure 2b. The images between 8,836 and 830,584 will also be encoded on three bytes (x, y, 01), (x, y, 02), ... for example (77,81, 01), (77,81, 02), (77,81, 03), the incrementation being around the coding (x, y, 00) in the direction of the clockwise. Figure 3 shows the principle of this coding.

  For a number of images up to 78,074,896 (for example by downloading from a database) the coding will be the same way but on four bytes or more, for example we will have: (77; 81, 00, 00) is (x, y, 00.00) up to 8.836, (x, y, z, 00) up to 830.584, (x, y, z, w) up to 78.074.896 , with x, y, z, and w taking all values between 1 and 94.

  In practice, the images will not fill all the possible boxes corresponding to the coding because specific and peripheral boxes not visible on the screen will be reserved for shift type command codes (shift in English) for example.

  It is important to note that in the case of global satellite images, the images can be divided into small image squares which will be processed by their coordinates as before, each image being here an element of the overall image, which makes it possible to make a local enlargement as for independent images.

  The enlargement system implemented in the context of the present invention and schematized in Figure 6 is very simple since the coordinates of the pointer (x, y) will be added a number of boxes inversely proportional to the magnification: for example for an enlargement z = 7 (theoretical number) will correspond to a visible visual block, under set of the initial block, of 7x7 images, the indexed image (xl, yl) being in the center: (x1 + or - 3, yl + or - 3).

  The images appear on the screen only from a certain magnification allowing their readability. They appear from a readability threshold according to the characteristics of the screen. It is important to note that the processing is not done on images that correspond to different font sizes (except in the case of EPS images treated as fonts) but on the coordinates.

  A second widening for example z = 9 around the point (x2, y2) corresponds to the visual block (x2 +/- 1, y2 +/- 1) (as shown schematically in Figure 6d). And this up to the maximum magnification corresponding to the block with the image sought as shown schematically in Figure 6e.

  A very particular adaptation can be made in the context of the present invention for the elderly or for young children.

  Generally these people either do not know the phone numbers they would like to be connected to (children) or they have forgotten or have trouble dialing it.

  In this case, the visual system according to the present invention makes it possible to connect them directly.

  For example, a person takes a photo of the daughter of Mrs. DUPONT, aged, with a digital camera integrated into this device or connected by USB. A key is used to associate the photo with the phone number of the daughter of Mrs. DUPONT, Hélène DUPONT. Mrs DUPONT mother (Berthe DUPONT) wants to call her daughter whom she does not remember the phone number. She opens the camera that automatically turns ON and shows the picture of the daughter of Mrs. DUPONT on the touch screen. Madame DUPONT mother presses the picture (touch screen) and the device automatically dials the number of her daughter.

  According to one variant, the apparatus can be adapted to indicate vocally: I call Mrs. Hélène DUPONT and dial the number.

  Of course, the aforementioned principle of a phone call addressed by selection of a photo can be generalized to a database comprising any number of photos.

  From a number of pictures (pictures), which can be chosen by the user (8, 12, 18, ...) and depending on the type of camera, the camera automatically switches from "direct" selection (by "direct" selection mode is meant a mode in which photos or images are viewed directly at scale 1, which supposes a small number of photos or images, and the selection of a photo or image directly causes the associated function, for example the automatic numbering of the telephone number associated with) the selection mode "pointingagegrossissement" which corresponds to the process defined by the invention.

  As mentioned above, the present invention also applies to the implementation of a navigation system.

  In this case, the satellite image is for example stored in the device (image of a city, an archaeological site, a battlefield, ...) and appears on the screen in compressed size, with only linear geographical indications for major compressions (for example, for the periphery and for the Seine in the case of Paris), the images then appear by combining the pointing and the magnification, the pointing allowing a movement on the overall or partial image.

  A click on a particular punctual image activates a hypertext link of this image: large photo of the building or monuments, entered on the corresponding website (Louvre, etc ....).

  In combination with a GPS system, positioning and movement can be tracked on the screen and enlarged if necessary, allowing perfect tracking.

  Naturally, the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiment which has just been described but extends to any variant within its spirit.

  In particular, the selection or click of a data may be performed by any means of the device.

  Moreover not only the nature of the input means, but also their arrangement can be many variations. Thus the present invention is not limited to the particular provisions of the gripping means 32 and 34 shown in the accompanying figures and previously described.

Claims (26)

  1. Device comprising: means for storing a data table formed of characters and / or images, a screen (12) capable of displaying the character / image table, 10. a first touch-sensitive input means (32) ) adapted to allow to move a selection area on the table displayed on the screen, and a second touch input means (34) adapted to allow to selectively enlarge the selected area.   2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the second touch input means (34) is adapted to allow to enlarge with a controlled progressive magnification factor the selected area.   3. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensitivity of the first touch input means (32) decreases gradually when the enlargement controlled by the second touch input means (34) increases and vice versa.   4. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sensitivity of the first touch input means (32) corresponds to the size of the visual keypad displayed on the screen, so that a complete movement on this means touch input corresponds to a complete displacement on the enlarged image keypad appearing on the screen, and this regardless of the magnification.   5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for exploiting the selected data as an address, for example telephone address, fax, address or website.   6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for exploiting the selected data in the context of a word processing or image process.   7. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table is organized in rows and columns.   8. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table stores codes (x, y, z, w) which correspond to the address of each data.   9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table stores address codes over at least two bytes.   10. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table stores address codes on at least three bytes.   11. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table stores address codes on at least four bytes.   12. Device according to one of claims 10 or 11, characterized in that the incrementation of one of the bytes is done by rotation around the encoding of a datum (x, y, 00) located at the origin for the byte in question.   13. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table stores data arranged in the form of groups or visual clusters.   14. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the screen (12) only displays the rows and columns serving as a reference to the data organized in a table.   15. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it implements a process simulating data compression.   16. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it proceeds by processing coordinates or data addresses as the enlargement rate is less than a determined value.   17. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the touch input means (32, 34) are selected from the group comprising touch pads, control balls, laser diodes.   18. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is adapted to display on the screen (12) a first image block representing the entire table, then after selection and enlargement of a selected area of the first image block, at least a second image block which corresponds to a limited number of data.   19. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the enlarged image blocks, which correspond to image subsets of the initial image block are represented with a distortion.   20. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the enlarged image blocks, which correspond to image subsets of the initial image block are represented with a deformation of spherical or Gaussian type.   21. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table contains satellite images.   22. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table contains photographs.   23. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the table contains photographs each associated respectively with a telephone address.   24. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is coupled with a radiopositioning system, such as a GPS system.   25. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the data table contains data not associated with a word, such as lexemes-images. sT   26. A method of information processing characterized in that it comprises the steps of: displaying, on a screen, a data table formed of characters and / or images, stored in a memory, 5. moving a zone selecting on the table displayed on the screen using a first touch input means, and selectively enlarge the selected area using a second touch input means.