CONTENT DISPLAY APPARATUS AND DISPLAY METHOD THEREOF

• US 20090070710A1
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kikuchi, Toru, Kagaya, Naoto
• Granted Patent: US 8,656,312 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

In a content display apparatus in which a plurality of contents are displayed according to the order of metadata added to each content, the plurality of contents are arranged hierarchically by metadata and a group of metadata, and an array of plurality of contents arranged hierarchically is formed. Icons representing contents are displayed on a display device according to the order of the array of plurality of contents formed, and when a command for scroll is made for the displayed icons, icons in the hierarchy level to which the icons belong are scroll displayed. The scroll speed for scroll displaying the icons is changed, and based on the changed scroll speed, the hierarchy level is changed so that icons in different hierarchy level are displayed and scrolled.

Claims

1. A content display apparatus that displays a plurality of contents according to the order of metadata added to each of the plurality of contents, the apparatus comprising:

forming means for arranging the plurality of contents hierarchically by the metadata and groups of the metadata, and forming an array of the plurality of contents arranged hierarchically;

display control means for displaying icons representing contents or icons representing groups on a display device according to the order of the array of the plurality of contents formed by the forming means;

scroll control means for scroll displaying icons in a hierarchy level that the icons belong to when a scroll is made for the icons displayed by the display control means;

scroll speed changing means for changing the scroll speed; and

switching means for switching the hierarchy levels based on a scroll speed changed by the scroll speed changing means so as to scroll while displaying the icons of different hierarchy levels.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the icons representing the contents are at least one of the content itself, a reduced image of the content, and an image that can be recognized as the content.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the icon representing the group is at least one of a representative content in the group, an image displaying one or a plurality of contents in the group, and an image that can be recognized as the group.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, while the icons in the hierarchy level to which the icons commanded to be scrolled belong are scrolled and displayed, the switching means switches the hierarchy level so that the icons in a higher hierarchy level are displayed and scrolled when the scroll speed is changed to a predetermined speed or more by the scroll speed changing means.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control means displays the icons so as to shorten a time interval by which the icons are displayed by the display device when an acceleration command is made by the scroll speed changing means while the icons in the hierarchy level to which the icons commanded to be scrolled belong are scrolled and displayed, and the switching means switches the hierarchy level so that the icons in a higher hierarchy level are displayed and scrolled when the time interval has become shorter than a predetermined time.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the display control means controls:

means for setting one of an icon representing a content being displayed and an icon representing a group as a base icon;

means for causing the base icon to shift in a scroll direction every time when the display is changed by scroll; and

means for, when switching the hierarchy level being scrolled so as to display and scroll the group icons in a higher hierarchy level, performing a switch so that the base icon at that time, a content represented by an icon disposed next to the base icon, or a group icon of a content group in a higher hierarchy level to which data group belongs is displayed as the base icon.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the scroll speed is changed by the scroll speed changing means to a speed equal to or lower than a predetermined speed while the icons in the hierarchy level to which the icons commanded to be scrolled belong are scrolled and displayed, the switching means switches the hierarchy level so that icons in a level lower to the level being scrolled in the hierarchy is displayed and scrolled.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control means controls, when a deceleration command is made by the scroll speed changing means while the icons in the hierarchy level to which the icons commanded to be scrolled belong are scrolled and displayed,

means for extending time interval for displaying the icons on a display device;

and

means for, when the time interval for the display has become longer than a predetermined time, performing a switch so that the icons in a hierarchy level lower to the hierarchy level being scrolled are displayed and scrolled.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switching means controls, when a command for stopping the scroll is made by the control means, means for holding for a predetermined period of time the display of the icons in the hierarchy level in which the scroll was carried out;

and means for switching the display after an elapse of a predetermined time, to a content represented by the base icon when stopped, a content in a lower hierarchy level belonging to a content group, or an icon of the content group.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switching means switches, when a command for stopping the scroll is made, the icon displayed to the icon in each level sequentially up to the lowest hierarchy level.

11. A content display apparatus that displays a plurality of contents according to the order of metadata added to each of the plurality of contents, the apparatus comprising:

forming means for arranging the plurality of contents hierarchically by a group of the metadata, and forming an array of the plurality of contents arranged hierarchically;

display control means for displaying icons representing contents on a display device according to the order of the array of the plurality of contents formed by the forming means; and

indicator display means for selecting a hierarchy level of metadata arranged hierarchically by group based on the scroll speed when a scroll command is made for icons displayed by the display control means, and displaying the metadata of the selected hierarchy level as an indicator.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the indicator display means displays, when the speed of the scroll increased, metadata of a higher hierarchy level arranged hierarchically as an indicator.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the indicator display means displays, when the speed of the scroll decreased, metadata of a lower level of hierarchy arranged hierarchically as an indicator.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising detection means for detecting the speed of the scroll, and determining as to whether the speed of the scroll increased or decreased based on the speed detected by the detection means.

15. A display method of a content display apparatus that displays a plurality of contents according to the order of metadata added to each of the plurality of contents, the method comprising:

a forming step of forming an array of the plurality of contents in which the plurality of contents are arranged hierarchically by the metadata and a group of the metadata;

a displaying step of displaying icons representing contents or displaying an icon representing a group on a display device according to the order of the array of plurality of contents formed in the forming step;

a scroll control step of scroll displaying, when a scroll command is made for icons displayed in the display control step, an icon in the hierarchy level to which the icon belongs;

a scroll speed change control step of changing the scroll speed; and

a switching step of switching the hierarchy level so that icons in a different hierarchy level are displayed and scrolled based on the scroll speed changed by the scroll speed change control step.

17. A program, which has been stored on a computer-readable storage medium, for causing a computer to execute the display method of the content display apparatus according to claim 15.

19. A computer-readable storage medium storing the program for causing a computer to execute the display method of the content display apparatus according to claim 15.

16. A display method of a content display apparatus that displays a plurality of contents according to the order of metadata added to each of the plurality of the contents, the method comprising:

a forming step of arranging the plurality of contents hierarchically by a group of the metadata, and forming an array of the plurality of contents arranged hierarchically;

a display control step of displaying icons representing contents on a display device according to the order of the array of plurality of contents formed in the forming step; and

an indicator displaying step of selecting a hierarchy level of metadata arranged hierarchically by the group based on the scroll speed when a scroll command is made for icons displayed in the display control step, and displaying the metadata of the selected hierarchy level as an indicator.

18. A program, which has been stored on a computer-readable storage medium, for causing a computer to execute the display method of the content display apparatus according to claim 16.

20. A computer-readable storage medium storing the program for causing a computer to execute a display method of the content display apparatus according to claim 16.