Display zoom controlled by proximity detection

1. A user device comprising:

a touch screen display having a touch screen input;

a proximity detector arrangement comprising a plurality of sensors for detecting a location of an input device by:

detecting a capacitance change due to a change in a distance between the input device and the touch screen display, wherein the proximity detector arrangement is triggered to detect the capacitance change based upon a distance between the input device and the plurality of sensors; and

producing a voltage change based on the detected capacitance change, the voltage change being linearly related to the distance between the input device and the plurality of sensors;

a control unit comprising a processor, the control unit being configured to:

when the proximity detector detects that the capacitance change reaches a touch detection threshold, the control unit activating a zoom function of the touch screen display; and

while the zoom function of the touch screen display is activated, the control unit increasing a level of zoom in response to movement of the input device toward the plurality of sensors, by:

receiving data from the proximity detector to determine the movement of the input device toward the plurality of sensors, wherein the data comprises the voltage change; and

controlling the display to perform the zoom function to enlarge the size of content on a portion of the display based on the voltage change so that the size of content on the display is enlarged from an initial size as the input device moves closer to the display and maintained as the enlarged size as the input device subsequently moves further from the plurality of sensors, the control unit being further configured to resize the content to the initial size in response to a further input on the user device;

wherein the proximity detector arrangement and control unit are configured to detect the change in the distance between the input device and the plurality of sensors within a detection volume and to provide a gradual variation in enlargement of the size of content as the distance from the input device to the display varies.

2. A user device according to claim 1 wherein the control unit is configured to wait for a predetermined time period between detecting a change in position of the input device within the detection volume and performing the zoom function.

3. A user device according to claim 2 wherein the control unit is configured to calculate an average coordinate position of the input device during the predetermined time period, the processor being further configured to ignore movements of the input device within a predetermined distance of the calculated average position such that they have no effect on the zoom function.

4. A user device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to wait for a predetermined time period between detecting the entrance of the input device into the detection volume and performing the zoom function.

5. A user device according to claim 4 wherein the detection volume extends a predetermined first distance from the display and wherein the detection volume excludes a volume extending a second predetermined distance from the display, the first distance being greater than the second distance.

6. A user device according to claim 5 wherein the control unit is configured to ignore any measurements performed within the excluded volume.

7. A user device according to claim 6 wherein the touch screen input and the proximity detector arrangement are the same components.

8. A user device according to claims 1 wherein the touch screen display is located on a first side of the user device and wherein the proximity detector arrangement is located on a second side of the user device, the second side being an opposite side to the first side.

9. A user device according to claim 1 wherein the control unit is configured to detect when the input device exits and re-enters the detection volume such that a re-entry of the input device into the detection volume causes further zooming whereby the level of zoom further increases as the input device moves closer to the display.

10. A user device according to claim 1 wherein the further input is re-entry of the input device into the detection volume for a predetermined period of time.

11. A user device according to claim 10 wherein the control unit is configured to commence detection of the distance of the input device at a first predetermined distance and to stop detection of the distance of the input device at a second predetermined distance, the first distance being different to the second distance.

12. A user device according to claim 11 wherein the plurality of sensors of the proximity detector arrangement are capacitive sensors.

13. A method executable by a user device for controlling a zoom function, the user device comprising a touch screen display having a touch screen input and a proximity detector arrangement comprising a plurality of sensors for detecting a location of an input device, the method comprising:

detecting a capacitance change at the proximity detector due to a change in a distance between the input device and the touch screen display, wherein the proximity detector is triggered to detect the capacitance change occurring when the input device reaches a touch detection threshold comprising a predetermined distance to the plurality of sensors;

producing a voltage change based on the detected capacitance change, the voltage change corresponding to the distance between the input device and the plurality of sensors; and

when the proximity detector detects the capacitance change occurring when the input device reaches the touch detection threshold, activating a zoom function of the touch screen display; and

as the input device moves closer to the touch screen display while the zoom function is activated, increasing a level of zoom, by:

determining the distance between the input device and the plurality of sensors within a detection volume based on the voltage change; and

controlling the display to perform the zoom function to enlarge the size of content on a portion of the display based on the voltage change by gradually varying the enlargement or reduction of the size of content as the distance from the input device to the plurality of sensors varies so that the size of content on the display is enlarged from an initial size as the input device moves closer to the plurality of sensors and maintained as the enlarged size as the input device subsequently moves further from the plurality of sensors, the control unit being further configured to resize the content to the initial size in response to a further input on the user device.

14. A method according to claim 13 further comprising waiting for a predetermined time period between detecting a change in position of the input device within the detection volume and controlling the display to perform the zoom function.

15. A method according to claim 14 further comprising calculating an average coordinate position of the input device during the predetermined time period, the processor being further configured to ignore movements of the input device within a predetermined distance of the calculated average coordinate position so that such movements have no effect on the zoom function.

16. The method according to claim 13 further comprising detecting when the input device exits and re-enters the detection volume such that a re-entry of the input device into the detection volume causes further zooming whereby the level of zoom further increases as the input device moves closer to the display.