Electronic apparatus having a sensing unit to input a user command and a method thereof
An electronic apparatus includes a housing, a display unit installed in the housing and having a display area to display an image or a menu icon, a sensing unit installed in the housing adjacent to the display unit, and having a virtual area to sense an object which is disposed over the display area of the display unit, the virtual area defined by a boundary extended from the display area in a direction perpendicular to the display area, and a controller to analyze status of the object according to an original state of the object and a sensed state of the object, and to determine the analyzed status of the object as a user input.
1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:
a housing;
a display unit installed in the housing and having a display area to display an image or a menu icon;
a sensing unit installed in the housing adjacent to the display unit, and having a virtual area to sense an object which is disposed over the display area of the display unit; and
a controller to analyze status of the object according to an original state of the object and a sensed state of the object, and to determine the analyzed status of the object as a user input,
wherein the original state of the object and the sensed state of the object with respect to the display area are different from each other according to a difference between center lines of the sensing unit and the display area of the display unit, and the controller adjusts the sensed state of the object to the original state of the object with respect to the display area to determine whether the status of the object corresponds to the user input to the display area.
2. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the controller controls the display unit to display a symbol representing the status of the object with respect to the display area; and
the symbol is displayed on the menu icon or outside the menu icon in the display area according to a location of the status of the object with respect to the display area.
3. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the virtual area and the display area overlap in a boundary in a direction perpendicular to the display area;
the menu icon is disposed in the display area; and
the object is disposed in the virtual area to correspond to the menu icon of the display area.
4. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
when the object moves toward a first position of the display area, the sensing unit senses the object moving toward a second position of the display area in the virtual area, the second position being different from the first position; and
the controller adjusts the second position to the first position with respect to the display area.
5. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the sensing unit senses the object at a first position with respect to the virtual area; and
the controller converts the sensed first position into a second position with respect to the display area as the status of the object and determines the status of the object as the user input.
6. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the display area and the virtual area have a same coordinate;
the sensing unit senses the object in the coordinate of the virtual area; and
the controller determines the status of the object as the user input from the sensed object according to the coordinate of the display area.
7. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the virtual area is disposed to overlap the display area in a vertical direction from the display area; and
the controller determines whether the status of the sensed object of the virtual area corresponds to the menu icon of the display area, and determines the status of the sensed object as the user input of the menu icon to perform a function of the menu icon.
8. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensing unit senses one or more sub-objects, and the controller determines one of the one or more sub-objects as the object.
9. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensing unit senses a user face and a user finger, and the controller determines the user finger as the object.
10. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensing unit senses a user finger as the object, and the controller determines a distal end of the user finger as the status of the object.
11. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the sensing unit is a camera having a photographing area as the sensing area to photograph the object, and the controller extracts from the photographing area the virtual area including the object disposed over the display area; and
the controller determines from the photographed image that the object is disposed over the menu icon in a direction perpendicular to the display area.
12. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the display unit is a touch panel usable as an output unit to display the image or the menu icon and an input unit to receive the user input to control the image or the menu icon; and
the sensing unit includes a lens unit with a sensing area in which the virtual area and a non-virtual area are included, and the lens unit includes a sensor to photograph the virtual area.
13. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the display unit includes a display panel having the display area; and
the sensing unit is disposed at a bottom area of the display panel of the display unit.
14. The electronic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the sensing unit has a sensing area having the center line, and the sensing area includes the virtual area; and
the controller extracts the virtual area from the sensing area.
15. An electronic apparatus, comprising:
a housing;
a display unit installed in the housing and having a display area to display an image or a menu icon;
a sensing unit installed in the housing adjacent to the display unit, and having a virtual area to sense an object which is disposed over the display area of the display unit; and
a controller to analyze status of the object according to an original state of the object and a sensed state of the object, and to determine the analyzed status of the object as a user input,
wherein:
the sensing unit has a sensing area with a sensing center line and the display area has a display center line which is spaced apart from the sensing center line by a distance;
the virtual area is disposed in a side of the sensing area with respect to the sensing center line; and
the controller extracts the virtual area from the sensing area.
16. The electronic apparatus of claim 15 , wherein:
when the object is disposed over a portion of the display area of the display unit, the controller modifies the sensed state of the object in the virtual area of the sensing area to the original state of the object which is disposed over the portion of the display area; and
the display unit displays a symbol representing the object at the portion of the display area of the display unit.
17. An electronic apparatus, comprising:
a housing;
a display unit installed in the housing and having a display area to display an image or a menu icon;
a sensing unit installed in the housing adjacent to the display unit, and having a virtual area to sense an object which is disposed over the display area of the display unit; and
a controller to analyze status of the object according to an original state of the object and a sensed state of the object, and to determine the analyzed status of the object as a user input,
wherein:
when the object moves a first distance in a first direction within the virtual area, the sensing unit senses the object moving a second distance in a second direction since a sensing center line of the sensing unit is not a center line of the virtual area; and
the controller analyzes the status of the object according to differences between the first and second distances and between the first and second directions and determines the status of the object as the user input with respect to the display area.
18. The electronic apparatus of claim 17 , wherein:
the sensing unit has a sensing area having the sensing center line, and the sensing area includes the virtual area; and
the controller extracts the virtual area from the sensing area.
19. An electronic apparatus, comprising:
a housing;
a display unit installed in the housing and having a display area to display an image or a menu icon;
a sensing unit installed in the housing adjacent to the display unit, and having a virtual area to sense an object which is disposed over the display area of the display unit; and
a controller to analyze status of the object according to an original state of the object and a sensed state of the object, and to determine the analyzed status of the object as a user input,
wherein the sensing unit has a sensing center line to have an angle with a display center line of the display area, and the sensing center line of the camera is not parallel to the display center line of the display area.
20. The electronic apparatus of claim 19 , wherein:
the sensing unit has a sensing area having the sensing center line, and the sensing area includes the virtual area; and
the controller extracts the virtual area from the sensing area; and
a location or movement of the object with respect to a portion of the display area of the display unit is determined as the user input to the portion of the display area of the display unit according to the analyzed status of the object.