SERVER APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC BOOK PROVIDING SYSTEM, ELECTRONIC BOOK PROVIDING METHOD, ELECTRONIC BOOK DISPLAYING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20120036431A1
• Filed: 04/20/2010
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ito, Akihiko, Kawamura, Daisuke, Fukuda, Kazuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,693 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/00 Digital computers in general details G06F1/00 – G06F13/00; Data processing equipment in general
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking

Abstract

[Object] To lead a user to various types of information easily with an electronic book as a starting point. [Solving Means] A server apparatus includes a storage, a communication section, and a controller. The storage stores an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book having at least one page in which at least one information item is represented, and associated information that is associated with the information item. The communication section communicates with an external electronic apparatus. The controller generates, when the electronic book is displayed by the external electronic apparatus and the information item of the electronic book is designated, an electronic book unit by adding first metadata to the information item so that display processing of the associated information is executed on the external electronic apparatus, and controls the communication section to transmit the generated electronic book unit to the external electronic apparatus.

Claims

1. A server apparatus, comprising:

a storage to store an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book having at least one page in which at least one information item is represented, and associated information that is associated with the information item;

a communication section to communicate with an external electronic apparatus; and

a controller to generate, when the electronic book is displayed by the external electronic apparatus and the information item of the electronic book is designated, an electronic book unit by adding first metadata to the information item so that display processing of the associated information is executed on the external electronic apparatus, and control the communication section to transmit the generated electronic book unit to the external electronic apparatus.

2. The server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the communication section receives designation information that indicates designation of the information item from the external electronic apparatus, and

wherein the controller extracts the associated information from the storage based on the first metadata corresponding to the designated information item that is indicated by the received designation information, and controls the communication section to transmit the extracted associated information to the external electronic apparatus.

3. The server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the information item exists plurally in one page of the electronic book, and

wherein the controller adds the first metadata to each of points at which out of the plurality of information items, a first information item and a second information item that have a predetermined association are represented, so that a display area of the electronic book unit is movable with the points as a reference in the external electronic apparatus.

4. The server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the electronic book includes a plurality of page groups each including at least one page, and

wherein the controller adds second metadata indicating information on a page group to the electronic book so that when a first operation is input in the external electronic apparatus, a page displayed in the electronic book unit moves to a next page to be displayed, and when a second operation is input in the external electronic apparatus, the page displayed in the electronic book unit moves to another page of a page group that is different from a page group to which the page belongs, and is then displayed.

5. The server apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the electronic book includes a plurality of pages,

wherein the storage stores a plurality of pairs of the electronic book and the first metadata in association with each other, and

wherein the controller adds the first metadata to each of the information items in the plurality of pages of the plurality of electronic books, and generates the electronic book unit so that the plurality of pages of the plurality of electronic books are displayed in an order based on a predetermined rule at predetermined time intervals, irrespective of an order of the plurality of pages.

6. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

a storage to store an electronic book unit including an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book having at least one page in which at least one information item is represented and first metadata that is set for the information item;

a display to display the electronic book unit;

a detector to detect an operation of designating the information item, the operation being made by a user on the displayed electronic book unit; and

a controller to control the display to display, when the operation of designating the information item is detected, associated information that is associated with the information item based on the first metadata set for the information item.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the information item exists plurally in one page of the electronic book,

wherein the display includes a predetermined display area,

wherein the first metadata is added to each of points at which out of the plurality of information items of the electronic book unit, a first information item and a second information item that have a predetermined association are represented, and

wherein the controller controls the display so that one of the first information item and the second information item is displayed with each of the points as a center of the display area, and the first information item and the second information item out of the plurality of information items are successively displayed with the points as a reference.

8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the electronic book includes a plurality of page groups each including at least one page,

wherein the electronic book unit is added with second metadata indicating information on the page groups, and

wherein the controller controls, based on the second metadata, the display so that when a first operation of a user is detected by the detector, a page displayed in the electronic book unit moves to a next page to be displayed, and when a second operation of the user is detected by the detector, the page displayed in the electronic book unit moves to another page of a page group that is different from a page group to which the page belongs, and is then displayed.

9. The electronic apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the second operation includes a third operation and a fourth operation,

wherein the storage plurally stores the electronic book unit including the first metadata and the second metadata,

wherein the controller controls the display so that when the third operation is input in the electronic apparatus, the page displayed in the electronic book unit moves to a first page of a page group subsequent to the page group to which the page belongs, and is then displayed, and

wherein when the fourth operation is input in the electronic apparatus, the controller controls the display so that the page displayed in the electronic book unit moves to a first page of one of another page group of the electronic book unit and a page group of another electronic book unit stored in the storage, the page groups being associated with the first metadata added to the information item of the displayed page, and is then displayed.

10. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the electronic book includes a plurality of pages,

wherein the storage stores condition information of a case where the plurality of pages of the electronic book unit are displayed as a list, and

wherein the controller controls the display to display the plurality of pages as a list so that out of the plurality of pages of the electronic book unit, a page matching the condition information is distinguishable from the other pages.

11. The electronic apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the storage plurally stores the electronic book unit and a display history of the page of the electronic book unit, and

wherein the controller generates a bookshelf image so that book images respectively indicating the plurality of electronic book units are arranged to be selectable by the user based on the display histories, and out of the pages of the electronic book units, pages that have been displayed and the other pages that have not been displayed are visually distinguishable within the book images, and controls the display to display the bookshelf image.

12. The electronic apparatus according to claim 11,

wherein each of the plurality of electronic book units is added with second metadata indicating an attribute of each of the pages of the electronic book units, and

wherein the controller generates the bookshelf image so that the attribute of the page that has been displayed is visually distinguishable within the book images in the bookshelf image based on the second metadata.

13. The electronic apparatus according to claim 11,

wherein each of the plurality of electronic book units is added with second metadata indicating location information on a location associated with each of the electronic book units,

wherein the storage stores map information of a predetermined area, and

wherein the controller generates the bookshelf image so that the book images are arranged in accordance with the second metadata on the map information.

14. The electronic apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a communication section to communicate with an external server apparatus,

wherein the controller controls the communication section to transmit information on the plurality of electronic book units stored in the storage to the external server apparatus and receive, from the external server apparatus, another electronic book unit associated with the plurality of stored electronic book units, and

wherein the controller updates the bookshelf image so that a book image indicating the received electronic book unit is arranged to be distinguishable from the book images included in the displayed bookshelf image.

15. The electronic apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a communication section to communicate with an external electronic apparatus,

wherein the controller controls the communication section to perform one of a reception of a bookshelf image of an electronic book unit stored in the external electronic apparatus from the external electronic apparatus, and a transmission of the bookshelf image of the plurality of electronic book units stored in the storage to the external electronic apparatus, and controls the display to display the received bookshelf image.

16. An electronic book providing system, comprising:

a server apparatus including

a first storage to store an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book constituted of at least one page in which at least one information item is represented, and associated information that is associated with the information item,

a first communication section, and

a first controller to generate an electronic book unit by adding first metadata to the information item and control the first communication section to transmit the generated electronic book unit; and

an electronic apparatus including

a second communication section to receive the transmitted electronic book unit,

a second storage to store the received electronic book unit,

a display to display the stored electronic book unit,

a detector to detect an operation of designating the information item,

the operation being made by a user on the displayed electronic book unit, and

a second controller to control, when the operation of designating the information item is detected, the display to display the associated information that is associated with the information item, based on the first metadata added to the information item.

17. An electronic book providing method, comprising:

storing an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book having at least one page in which at least one information item is represented, and associated information that is associated with the information item;

generating, when the electronic book is displayed by an external electronic apparatus and the information item of the electronic book is designated, an electronic book unit by adding metadata to the information item so that display processing of the associated information is executed on the external electronic apparatus; and

transmitting the generated electronic book unit to the external electronic apparatus.

18. An electronic book displaying method, comprising:

storing an electronic book unit including an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book having at least one page in which at least one information item is represented and first metadata added to the information item;

displaying the electronic book unit;

detecting an operation of designating the information item, the operation being made by a user on the displayed electronic book unit; and

displaying, when the operation of designating the information item is detected, associated information that is associated with the information item, based on the first metadata added to the information item.

19. A program causing a server apparatus capable of communicating with an external electronic apparatus to execute:

a step of storing an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book having at least one page in which at least one information item is represented, and associated information that is associated with the information item;

a step of generating, when the electronic book is displayed by the external electronic apparatus and the information item of the electronic book is designated, an electronic book unit by adding metadata to the information item so that display processing of the associated information is executed on the external electronic apparatus; and

a step of transmitting the generated electronic book unit to the external electronic apparatus.

20. A program causing an electronic apparatus to execute:

a step of storing an electronic book unit including an electronic book obtained by digitizing a book having at least one page in which at least one information item is represented and first metadata added to the information item;

a step of displaying the electronic book unit;

a step of detecting an operation of designating the information item, the operation being made by a user on the displayed electronic book unit; and

a step of displaying, when the operation of designating the information item is detected, associated information that is associated with the information item, based on the first metadata added to the information item.