Apparatus and method for sharing information between terminals on a network

• US 20030145056A1
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kojima, Kiyonobu, Fujisawa, Naoki, Takao, Yoshiyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,185,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

A program for processing information in a selected terminal apparatus includes reproducing contents data as a browsing object for output by the selected terminal apparatus; enabling operations to be performed on the browsing object; transmitting and receiving information over a network between a plurality of terminal apparatuses reproducing and outputting the contents data, the plurality of terminal apparatuses including the selected terminal apparatus, each of the terminal apparatuses having the browsing object, the information including shared information which denotes an operation performed on the browsing object of one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses to obtain a result; and sharing the result of the operation between the browsing objects of a remainder of the terminal apparatuses, the sharing being based on the shared information.

Claims

1. A recording medium recorded with a computer program for processing information in a selected terminal apparatus, the program comprising:

reproducing contents data as a browsing object for output by the selected terminal apparatus;

enabling operations to be performed on the browsing object;

transmitting and receiving information over a network between a plurality of terminal apparatuses reproducing and outputting the contents data, the plurality of terminal apparatuses including the selected terminal apparatus, each of the terminal apparatuses having the browsing object, the information including shared information which denotes an operation performed on the browsing object of one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses to obtain a result; and

sharing the result of the operation between the browsing objects of a remainder of the terminal apparatuses, the sharing being based on the shared information.

2. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein

the enabling step includes enabling a data input operation to be performed on the browsing object of the selected terminal apparatus in order to input data to be processed;

the information transmitting and receiving step transmits and receives the data input through the data input operation as the shared information; and

the sharing step includes inputting the data input through the data input operation to the browsing objects of the reaminder of the terminal apparatuses.

3. The recording medium according to claim 2, wherein

the enabling step includes enabling execution of an operation to process the data input through the data input operation to obtain processed data;

the information transmitting and receiving step transmits and receives the processed data as the shared information; and

the sharing step includes allowing the processed data to be acquired on the browsing objects of the remainder of the terminal apparatuses.

4. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the browsing object depicts the contents data with respect to either a cell for inputting and outputting data or an operator for executing an operation;

the program further comprising;

controlling an external application program to implement a function when the cell or the operator of the selected terminal apparatus is operated in the enabling step.

5. The recording medium according to claim 4, wherein the controlling step includes controlling the external application program which resides locally on the selected terminal apparatus.

6. A network system including a plurality of terminal apparatuses interconnected via a network, each of the terminal apparatuses comprising:

reproducing means for reproducing and outputting contents data as a browsing object;

enabling means for enabling operations to be performed on the browsing object;

transmitting and receiving means for transmitting and receiving information over the network between the plurality of terminal apparatuses reproducing and outputting the contents data, the information including shared information which denotes an operation performed on the browsing object of one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses to obtain a result; and

sharing means for sharing the result of the operation between the browsing objects of a remainder of the terminal apparatuses, the sharing being based on the shared information.

7. The network system according to claim 6, wherein

the enabling means enables a data input operation to be performed on the browsing object of the terminal apparatus in order to input data to be processed;

the transmitting and receiving means transmits and receives the data input through the data input operation as the shared information; and

the sharing means inputs the data input through the data input operation to the browsing objects of ones of the plurality of terminal apparatuses other than the terminal apparatus.

8. The network system according to claim 7, wherein

the enabling means enables execution of an operation to process the data input through the data input operation to obtain processed data;

the transmitting and receiving means transmits and receives the processed data as the shared information; and

the sharing means allows the processed data to be acquired on the browsing objects of the ones of the plurality of terminal apparatuses other than the terminal apparatus.

9. The network system according to claim 6, wherein the browsing object depicts the contents data with respect to either a cell for inputting and outputting data or an operator for executing an operation;

each of the terminal apparatuses further comprising;

controlling means for controlling an external application program to implement a function when the cell or the operator is operated by the enabling means.

10. The network system according to claim 9, wherein the controlling means controls the external application program which resides locally on the terminal apparatus.

11. The network system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a server which stores the contents data and which is connected to the plurality of terminal apparatuses via the network;

each of the terminal apparatuses further comprising;

contents data acquiring means for accessing the server via the network in order to acquire the contents data to be reproduced and output by the reproducing means.

12. The network system according to claim 11, wherein the server comprises:

address acquiring means for acquiring a network address from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses over the network; and

reporting means for reporting the network address acquired from each of the terminal apparatuses on the network to the other terminal apparatuses on the network;

each of the terminal apparatuses further comprising;

connecting means for connecting to another terminal apparatus over the network by use of the network address of the another terminal apparatus reported by the reporting means.

13. A terminal apparatus, comprising:

connecting means for connecting to at least one other terminal apparatus via a network;

reproducing means for reproducing and outputting contents data as a browsing object;

enabling means for enabling operations to be performed on the browsing object;

transmitting and receiving means for transmitting information over the network to and receiving information over the network from the at least one other terminal apparatus reproducing and outputting the contents data, the information including shared information which denotes an operation performed on the browsing object of one of the terminal apparatus and the at least one other terminal apparatus to otain a result; and

sharing means for sharing the result of the operation with the browsing object of the at least one terminal apparatus when the terminal apparatus performs the operation, the sharing being based on the shared information.

14. The terminal apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the enabling means enables a data input operation to be performed on the browsing object in order to input data to be processed;

the transmitting and receiving means transmits and receives the data input through the data input operation as the shared information; and

the sharing means inputs the data input through the data input operation to the browsing object of the at least one other terminal apparatus.

15. The terminal apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the enabling means enables execution of an operation to process the data input through the data input operation to obtain processed data;

the transmitting and receiving means transmits and receives the processed data as the shared information; and

the sharing means allows the processed data to be acquired on the browsing object of the at least one other terminal apparatus.

16. The terminal apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the browsing object depicts the contents data with respect to either a cell for inputting and outputting data or an operator for executing an operation;

the terminal apparatus further comprising;

controlling means for controlling an external application program to implement a function when the cell or the operator is operated by the enabling means.

17. The terminal apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the controlling means controls the external application program which resides locally on the terminal apparatus.

18. A server connected to a plurality of terminal apparatuses via a network, the server comprising:

first storing means for storing contents data which are reproduced and output by each of the terminal apparatuses as a browsing object, the first storing means further allowing the result of an operation performed by one of the terminal apparatuses to be acquired on the browsing objects of a remainder of the terminal apparatuses which reproduce and output the contents data;

first transmitting means for transmitting the contents data to a requesting one of the terminal apparatuses;

second storing means for storing an external application program which is locally installed in each of the terminal apparatuses and which enables execution of a function corresponding to an operation performed on the browsing object;

second transmitting means for transmitting the external application program to one of the terminal apparatuses as a result of a purchase request made through the operation on the browsing object of the one terminal apparatus; and

charging control means for charging a user for the external application program transmitted to the one terminal apparatus.