Terminal apparatus and method for achieving interactive operations by displaying a desired piece of image information at high speed using cache memories, out of a large amount of image information sent in a one-way direction

• US 6,191,782 B1
• Filed: 08/29/1997
• Issued: 02/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Takao, Naoya, Shimoji, Tatsuya, Kozuka, Masayuki, Oashi, Masahiro, Kakiuchi, Takashi, Okamura, Kazuo, Kusumi, Yuki, Miyabe, Yoshiyuki, Hirai, Junichi, Mori, Toshiya, Mimura, Yoshihiro, Minakata, Ikuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Application Number:
  US08/920,992
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.710, H04/N.714, 345/327, 348/12, 348/13, 348/10, 348/6, 455/5.1, 455/3.1, 455/6.1, 455/6.2, 455/6.3
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4351 involving reassembling additional data, e.g. rebuilding an executable program from recovered modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A terminal apparatus is provided for displaying an image by reproducing a piece of image information and for interactively changing the image using navigation information. The image is a moving picture, a still picture, or a mixture of them. The image information and the navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus. The navigation information indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information. The cache unit stores a pair of image information and navigation information. The reproducing unit reproduces the image information. The monitoring unit monitors whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed. The receiving unit, before the operator performs the certain operation, receives a plurality pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed and a plurality pieces of corresponding navigation information based on the navigation information, and stores the plurality pieces of image information and navigation information in the cache unit. The specifying unit specifies a piece of link-target image information based on the certain operation. The identifying unit identifies the piece of link-target image information as a piece of image information.

Claims

1. A terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information, wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus including;

cache means for storing a pair of one out of the m pieces of image information and one out of the n pieces of navigation information;

reproducing means for reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

monitoring means for monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

receiving means for, before the monitoring means determines that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving s pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed and t pieces of navigation information respectively related to the s pieces of image information based on the one out of the n pieces of navigation information stored in the cache means, and storing the s pieces of image information and the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

specifying means for specifying one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring means monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

identifying means for identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means as one out the s pieces of image information stored in the cache means; and

first controlling means for reading the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means and instructing the reproducing means to reproduce the piece of link-target image information, and instructing the receiving means to receive other s pieces of image information and other t pieces of navigation information based on one out of the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means corresponding to the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means.

2. The terminal apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

superimposing means for superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the reproducing means reproduces the one out of the m pieces of image information, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a determination operation detecting unit for detecting a determination operation performed on one out of the plurality of icons, wherein

the identifying means identifies one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting unit.

3. The terminal apparatus of claim 2 further comprising:

default image reproducing means for, when the identifying means fails to identify the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means, reproducing a default image; and

second controlling means for instructing the receiving means to receive the piece of link-target image information specified by the specifying means when the piece of link-target image information is not identified by the identifying means, and to receive a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of link-target image information specified by the specifying means, and storing the received piece of link-target image information and the corresponding piece of navigation information in the cache means, wherein

the superimposing means superimposes a plurality of icons on the image based on the piece of navigation information received by the receiving means.

4. The terminal apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the reproducing means includes:

focus setting means for making one out of the plurality of icons be in focus, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a cursor move operation detecting unit for detecting a cursor move operation; and

a focus changing unit for making another one out of the plurality of icons be in focus based on the cursor move operation detected by the cursor move operation detecting unit, wherein

the determination operation detecting unit detects a determination operation performed on the other one out of the plurality of icons in focus.

5. The terminal apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

rank setting means for setting ranks of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means based on possibility of being displayed; and

cache table registering means for registering identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information and registering identifiers of t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the high ranking s pieces of image information, wherein

the receiving means receives the s pieces of image information whose identifiers are registered by the cache table registering means and receives t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the s pieces of image information.

6. The terminal apparatus of claim 5 further comprising:

weighting means for weighting, with a highest value, the one out of the plurality of icons made to be in focus by the focus setting means, and for weighting, with a second highest value, icons adjacent to the one in focus, wherein

the rank setting means sets ranks of the m pieces of image information based on values weighted by the weighting means.

7. The terminal apparatus of claim 6 further comprising:

deleting means for deleting, out of the identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of image information and pieces of navigation information which have been stored in the cache means.

8. The terminal apparatus of claim 7, wherein

the receiving means includes:

a receiving unit for receiving, out of the s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information with corresponding identifies registered in the cache table, a piece of image information with a highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the terminal apparatus includes;

data size judging means for judging whether capacity of a free area in the cache means exceeds a data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank; and

writing means for writing the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information into the free area when the data size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area exceeds the data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information, wherein

the receiving unit receives a piece of image information with a second highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the second highest rank after the writing means writes the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information into the free area.

9. The terminal apparatus of claim 8, wherein

the data size judging means includes:

a frame size judging unit for, when the data size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means does not exceed the data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information, judging whether the capacity of the free area in the cache means exceeds the data size of a frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the writing means includes;

a frame writing unit for writing the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank into the free area when the frame size judging unit judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means exceeds the data size of the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank.

10. The terminal apparatus of claim 9, wherein

the data size judging means further includes:

an oldest image information detecting unit for, out of the image information and the navigation information stored in the cache means, detecting a piece of oldest image information and a piece of oldest navigation information when the frame size judging unit judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means does not exceed the data size of the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the frame writing unit overwrites the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information in an area in which the piece of oldest image information and the piece of oldest navigation information are stored.

11. The terminal apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:

hit pair determining means for determining, as a hit pair, a pair of a piece of image information and a piece of navigation information which are specified by the operator by determining a corresponding icon out of the image information and the navigation information stored in the cache means;

mark assigning means for assigning a mark indicating a hit to the pair of the piece of image information and the piece of navigation information determined as the hit pair by the hit pair determining means; and

area freeing means for freeing areas to which the mark is not assigned by the mark assigning means, out of the image information and the navigation information stored in the cache means.

12. The terminal apparatus of claim 5 further comprising:

statistics value storing means for storing a statistics value for each piece of image information which indicates a number of times the piece of image information has been determined, wherein

the rank setting means sets ranks of the m pieces of image information based on the statistics value for each piece of image information.

13. The terminal apparatus of claim 12, wherein

the monitoring means includes:

an incrementing unit for incrementing, by one, a statistics value for a piece of image information when the piece of image information is determined.

14. The terminal apparatus of claim 13 further comprising:

deleting means for deleting, out of the identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of image information and pieces of navigation information which have been stored in the cache means.

15. The terminal apparatus of claim 14, wherein

the receiving means includes:

a receiving unit for receiving, out of the s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information with corresponding identifies registered in the cache table, a piece of image information with a highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the terminal apparatus includes;

data size judging means for judging whether capacity of a free area in the cache means exceeds a data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank; and

writing means for writing the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information into the free area when the data size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area exceeds the data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information, wherein

the receiving unit receives a piece of image information with a second highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the second highest rank after the writing means writes the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information into the free area.

16. The terminal apparatus of claim 15, wherein

the data size judging means includes:

a frame size judging unit for, when the data size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means does not exceed the data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information, judging whether the capacity of the free area in the cache means exceeds the data size of a frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the writing means includes;

a frame writing unit for writing the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank into the free area when the frame size judging unit judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means exceeds the data size of the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank.

17. The terminal apparatus of claim 16, wherein

the data size judging means further includes:

an oldest image information detecting unit for, out of the image information and the navigation information stored in the cache means, detecting a piece of oldest image information and a piece of oldest navigation information when the frame size judging unit judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means does not exceed the data size of the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the frame writing unit overwrites the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information in an area in which the piece of oldest image information and the piece of oldest navigation information are stored.

18. The terminal apparatus of claim 14 further comprising:

hit pair determining means for determining, as a hit pair, a pair of a piece of image information and a piece of navigation information which arc specified by the operator by a determining a corresponding icon out of the image information and the navigation information stored in the cache means;

mark assigning means for assigning a mark indicating a hit to the pair of the piece of image information and the piece of navigation information determined as the hit pair by the hit pair determining means; and

area freeing means for freeing areas to which the mark is not assigned by the mark assigning means, out of the image information and the navigation information stored in the cache means.

19. The terminal apparatus of claim 5 further comprising;

rank information detecting means for detecting a piece of rank information from the piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information reproduced by the reproducing means, wherein the piece of rank information includes ranks of the plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein

the rank setting means sets ranks of the m pieces of image information based on the piece of rank information.

20. The terminal apparatus of claim 19 further comprising:

deleting means for deleting, out of the identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of image information and pieces of navigation information which have been stored in the cache means.

21. The terminal apparatus of claim 20, wherein

the receiving means includes:

a receiving unit for receiving, out of the s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information with corresponding identifies registered in the cache table, a piece of image information with a highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the terminal apparatus includes;

data size judging means for judging whether capacity of a free area in the cache means exceeds a data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank; and

writing means for writing the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information into the free area when the data a size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area is exceeds the data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information, wherein

the receiving unit receives a piece of image information with a second highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the second highest rank after the writing means writes the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information into the free area.

22. The terminal apparatus of claim 21, wherein

the data size judging means includes:

a frame size judging unit for, when the data size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means does not exceed the data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information, judging whether the capacity of the free area in the cache means exceeds the data size of a frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the writing means includes;

a frame writing unit for writing the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank into the free area when the frame size judging unit judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means exceeds the data size of the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with the highest rank.

23. The terminal apparatus of claim 22, wherein

the data size judging means further includes:

an oldest image information detecting unit for, out of the image information and the navigation information stored in the cache means, detecting a piece of oldest image information and a piece of oldest navigation information when the frame size judging unit judges that the capacity of the free area in the cache means does not exceed the data size of the frame of the piece of image information with the highest rank and the piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of image information with than highest rank, wherein

the frame writing unit overwrites the frame of the piece or image information with the highest rank and the corresponding piece of navigation information in an area in which the piece of oldest image information and the piece of oldest navigation information are stored.

24. The terminal apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

rank information detecting means for detecting a piece of rank information from the piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information reproduced by the reproducing means, wherein the piece of rank information includes ranks of the plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein

the rank setting means sets ranks of the m pieces of image information based on the piece of rank information.

25. A terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus comprising;

reproducing means for reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information;

cache means for storing one out of the n pieces of navigation information which corresponds to the one out of the m pieces of image information;

monitoring means, for monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

first receiving means for, before the monitoring means determines that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving, based on the piece of navigation information stored in the cache means, t pieces of navigation information which are respectively related to a pieces of image information having possibility of being displayed, and storing the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

specifying means for specifying one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring means monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

identifying means for identifying a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means as one out of the t pieces or navigation information stored in the cache means; and

second receiving means for receiving the piece of link-target image information based on the piece of navigation information in the cache means corresponding to the piece of link-target image information specified by the specifying means, and storing the piece of link-target image information in the cache means, wherein

the reproducing means reproduces the piece or link-target image information received by the second receiving means.

26. The terminal apparatus of claim 25 further comprising:

superimposing means for superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the reproducing means reproduces the one out of the m pieces of image information, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a determination operation detecting unit for detecting a determination operation performed on one out of the plurality of icons, wherein

the identifying means identifies one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting unit.

27. The terminal apparatus of claim 26 further comprising:

default image reproducing means for, when the identifying means fails to identify the piece of navigation information in the cache means, reproducing a default image; and

controlling means for instructing the first receiving means to receive the piece of navigation information when the piece of navigation information is not identified by the identifying means.

28. The terminal apparatus of claim 27, wherein

the reproducing means includes:

focus setting means for making one out of the plurality of icons be in focus, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a cursor move operation detecting unit for detecting a cursor move operation; and

a focus changing unit for making another one out of the plurality of icons be in focus baaed on the cursor move operation detected by the cursor move operation detecting unit, wherein

determination operation detecting unit detects a determination operation performed on the other one out of the plurality of icons in focus.

29. The terminal apparatus of claim 26 further comprising:

rank settling means for setting ranks of the n pieces of navigation information based on possibility of being displayed; and

cache table registering means for registering identifiers of high ranking t pieces of navigation information in a cache table, out of the n pieces of navigation information, wherein

the receiving means receives the t pieces of navigation information specified by the identifiers registered in the cache table.

30. The terminal apparatus of claim 25 further comprising:

weighting means for weighting, with a highest value, the one out of the plurality of icons made to be in focus by the focus setting means, and for weighting, with a second highest value, icons adjacent to the one in focus, wherein

the rank setting means sets ranks of the n pieces of navigation information based on values weighted by the weighting means.

31. The terminal apparatus of claim 30 further comprising:

deleting means for deleting, out of the identifiers of high ranking t pieces of navigation information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of navigation information which have been stored in the cache means.

32. The terminal apparatus of claim 31, wherein

the first receiving means includes:

a receiving unit for receiving, out of the t pieces of navigation information with corresponding identifies registered in the cache table, a piece of navigation information with a highest rank, wherein

the terminal apparatus includes;

data size judging means for judging whether capacity of a free area in the cache means exceeds a data size of the piece at navigation information with the highest rank; and

writing means for writing the piece of navigation information with the highest rank into the free area when the data size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area exceeds the data size of the piece of navigation information with the highest rank, wherein

the receiving unit receives a piece of navigation information with a second highest rank after the writing means writes the piece of navigation information with the highest rank into the free area.

33. A terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus comprising;

cache means for storing one out of the m pieces of image information;

reproducing means for reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

monitoring means for monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

first receiving means for, before the monitoring means determines that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information, s pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed, and storing the s pieces of image information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m;

specifying means for specifying one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring means monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

identifying means for identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means as one out of the s pieces of image information stored in the cache means; and

second receiving means for receiving the one out of the s pieces of image information from the cache means, wherein

the reproducing means reproduces the one out of the s pieces of image information received by the second receiving means.

34. The terminal apparatus of claim 33 further comprising:

superimposing means for superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the reproducing means reproduces the one out of the m pieces of image information, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a determination operation detecting unit for detecting a determination operation performed on one out of the plurality of icons, wherein

the identifying means identifies one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting unit.

35. The terminal apparatus of claim 34 further comprising:

default image reproducing means for, when the identifying means fails to identify the piece of image information in the cache means, reproducing a default image; and

controlling means for instructing the first receiving means to receive the piece of image information when the piece of image information is not identified by the identifying means.

36. The terminal apparatus of claim 35, wherein

the reproducing means includes:

focus setting means for making one out of the plurality of icons be in focus, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a cursor move operation detecting unit for detecting a cursor move operation; and

a focus changing unit for making another one out of the plurality of icons be in focus based on the cursor move operation detected by the cursor move operation detecting unit, wherein

the determination operation detecting unit detects a determination operation performed on the other one out of the plurality of icons in focus.

37. The terminal apparatus of claim 34 further comprising:

rank setting means for setting ranks of the m pieces of image information based on possibility of being displayed; and

cache table registering means for registering identifiers of high ranking a pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information, wherein

the receiving means receives the s pieces of image information specified by the identifiers registered in the cache table.

38. The terminal apparatus of claim 33 further comprising:

weighting means for weighting, with a highest value, the one out of the plurality of icons made to be in focus by the focus setting means, and for weighting, with a second highest value, icons adjacent to the one in focus, wherein

the rank setting means sets ranks of the m pieces of image information based on values weighted by the weighting means.

39. The terminal apparatus of claim 38 further comprising:

deleting means for deleting, out of the identifiers or high ranking s pieces of image information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of image information which have been stored in the cache means.

40. The terminal apparatus of claim 39, wherein

the first receiving means includes:

a receiving unit for receiving, out or the s pieces of image information with corresponding identifies registered in the cache table, a piece of image information with a highest rank, wherein

the terminal apparatus includes;

a data size judging means for judging whether capacity of a tree area in the cache means exceeds a data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank; and

writing means for writing the piece or image information with the highest rank into the free area when the data size judging means judges that the capacity of the free area exceeds the data size of the piece of image information with the highest rank, wherein

the receiving unit receives a piece of image information with a second highest rank after the writing means writes the piece of image information with the highest rank into the free area.

41. A terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information, wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus including;

cache means for storing a pair of one out of the m pieces of image information and one out of the n pieces of navigation information;

reproducing means for reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

monitoring means for monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

receiving means for, before the monitoring means determines that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving s pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed and t pieces of navigation information respectively related to the s pieces of image information based on the one out of the n pieces of navigation information stored in the cache means, and storing the s pieces of image information and the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

specifying means for specifying one out of the plurality pieces or link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring means monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

identifying means for identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means as one out the s pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

first controlling means for reading the piece of link-target image information identified by tie identifying means and instructing the reproducing means to reproduce the piece of link-target image information, and instructing the receiving means to receive other s pieces of image information and other t pieces of navigation information based on one out of the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means corresponding to the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means;

rank setting means for setting ranks of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means based on possibility of being displayed; and

cache table registering means for registering identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information and registering identifiers of t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the high ranking s pieces of image information, wherein

the receiving means receives the s pieces of image information whose identifiers are registered by the cache table registering means and receives t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the s pieces of image information.

42. A terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information, wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus including;

cache means for storing a pair of one out of the m pieces of image information and one out of the n pieces of navigation information;

reproducing means for reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

monitoring means for monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

receiving means for, before the monitoring means determines that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving a pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed and t pieces of navigation information respectively related to the s pieces of image information based on the one out of the n pieces of navigation information stored in the cache means, and storing the s pieces of image information and the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

specifying means for specifying one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring means monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

identifying means for identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means as one out the s pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

first controlling means for reading the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means and instructing the reproducing means to reproduce the piece of link-target image information, and instructing the receiving means to receive other s pieces of image information and other t pieces of navigation information based on one out of the t pieces of navigation information in the cache moans corresponding to the piece or link-target image information identified by the identifying means;

superimposing means for superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the reproducing means reproduces the one out of the m pieces of image information;

rank setting means for setting ranks or the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means based on possibility of being displayed;

cache table registering means for registering identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information and registering identifiers of t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the high ranking s pieces of image information; and

weighting means for weighting, with a highest value, the one out of the plurality of icons made to be in focus by the focus setting means, and for weighting, with a second highest value, icons adjacent to the one in focus, wherein

the reproducing means includes;

focus setting means for making one oust of the plurality of icons be in focus, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a determination operation detecting unit for detecting a determination operation performed on one out of the plurality of icons;

a cursor move operation detecting unit for detecting a cursor move operation; and

a focus changing unit for making another one out of the plurality of icons be in focus based on the cursor move operation detected by the cursor move operation detecting unit, wherein

the identifying means identifies one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting unit, wherein

the determination operation detecting unit detects a determination operation performed on the other one out of the plurality of icons in focus, wherein

the receiving means receives the s pieces of image information whose identifiers are registered by the cache table registering means and receives t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the s pieces of image information, and wherein

 

the rank setting means sets ranks of the m pieces of image information based on values weighted by the weighting means.

43. A terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information, wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still a picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus including;

cache means for storing a pair of one out of the m pieces of image information and one out of the n pieces of navigation information;

reproducing means for reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

monitoring means for monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

receiving means for, before the monitoring means determines that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving s pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed and t pieces of navigation information respectively related to the s pieces of image information based on the one out of the n pieces of navigation information stored in the cache means, and storing the s pieces of image information and the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

specifying means for specifying one out of the plurality pieces or link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring means monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

identifying means for identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means as one out the s pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

first controlling means for reading the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means and instructing the reproducing means to reproduce the piece of link-target image information, and instructing the receiving means to receive other s pieces of image information and other t pieces of navigation information based on one out of the t pieces or navigation information in the cache means corresponding to the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means;

superimposing means for superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the reproducing means reproduces the one out of the m pieces of image information;

rank setting means for setting ranks of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means based on possibility of being displayed;

cache table registering means for registering identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information and registering identifiers of t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the high ranking s pieces of image information; and

deleting means for deleting, out or the identifiers of high ranking a pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of image information and pieces of navigation information which have been stored in the cache means, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a determination operation detecting unit for detecting a determination operation performed on one out of the plurality of icons, wherein

the identifying means identifies one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting unit, wherein

the receiving means receives the s pieces of image information whose identifiers are registered by the cache table registering means and receives t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the s pieces of image information.

44. A terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information, wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus including;

cache means for storing a pair of one out of the m pieces of image information and one out of the n pieces of navigation information;

reproducing means for reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

monitoring means for monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

receiving means for, before the monitoring means determines that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving s pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed and t pieces of navigation information respectively related to the s pieces of image information based on the one out of the n pieces of navigation information stored in the cache means, and storing the s pieces of image information and the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

specifying means for specifying one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring means monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

identifying means for identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified by the specifying means as one out the s pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

first controlling means for reading the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means and instructing the reproducing means to reproduce the piece of link-target image information, and instructing the receiving means to receive other s pieces of image information and other t pieces of navigation information based on one out of the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means corresponding to the piece of link-target image information identified by the identifying means;

superimposing means for superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the reproducing means reproduces the one out of the m pieces of image information;

rank setting means for setting ranks of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means based on possibility of being displayed;

cache table registering means for registering identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information and registering identifiers of t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the high ranking s pieces of image information; and

rank information from the piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information reproduced by the reproducing means, wherein the piece of rank information includes ranks of the plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein

the monitoring means includes;

a determination operation detecting unit for detecting a determination operation performed on one out of the plurality of icons, wherein

the identifying means identifies one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting unit, wherein

the receiving means receives the s pieces of image information whose identifiers are registered by the cache table registering means and receives t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the s pieces of image information, and wherein

 

the rank setting means sets ranks of the m pieces of image information booed on the piece of rank information.

45. A reproduction method used in a terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture or a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information a together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus comprising;

cache means for storing a pair of one out of the m pieces of image information and one out of the n pieces of navigation information, wherein

the reproduction method comprising;

a reproducing step of reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

a monitoring step of monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

a receiving step of, before it is determined in the monitoring step that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving s pieces of image information which have possibility of being displayed and t pieces of navigation information respectively related to the s pieces of image information based on the one out of the n pieces of navigation information stored in the cache means, and storing the s pieces of image information and the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

a specifying step of specifying one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring step monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

an identifying step of identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified in the specifying step as one out the s pieces of image information stored in the cache means; and

a first controlling step of reading the piece or link-target image information identified in the identifying step and instructing the reproducing step to reproduce the piece of link-target image information, and instructing the receiving step to receive other s pieces of image information and other t pieces of navigation information based on one out of the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means corresponding to the piece of link-target image information identified in the identifying step.

46. The reproduction method of claim 45 further comprising:

a superimposing step of superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the one out of the m pieces of image information is reproduced in the reproducing step, wherein

the monitoring step includes;

a determination operation detecting sub step of detecting a determination operation performed on one out of the plurality of icons, wherein

in the identifying step, one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting Unit is identified.

47. The reproduction method of claim 46 further comprising:

a default image reproducing step of, when the identifying step fails to identify the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified in the specifying step, reproducing a default image; and

a second controlling step of instructing the receiving step to receive the piece of link-target image information a specified in the specifying step when the piece of link-target image information is not identified in the identifying step, and to receive a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of link target image information specified in the specifying step, and storing the received piece of link-target image information and the corresponding piece of navigation information in the cache means, wherein

in the superimposing step, a plurality of icons are superimposed on the image based on the piece of navigation information received in the receiving step.

48. The reproduction method of claim 46, wherein

the reproducing step includes:

a focus setting step of making one out of the plurality of icons be in focus, wherein

the monitoring step includes;

a cursor move operation detecting sub-step of detecting a cursor move operation; and

a focus changing sub-step of making another one out of the plurality of icons be in focus based on the cursor move operation detected in the cursor move operation detecting sub-step, wherein

in the determination operation detecting sub-step, a determination operation performed on the other one out of the plurality of icons in focus is detected.

49. The reproduction method of claim 45 further comprising;

a rank setting step of setting ranks of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means based on possibility of being displayed; and

a cache table registering step of registering identifiers or high ranking s pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information and registering identifiers of t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the high ranking s pieces of image information, wherein

in the receiving step, the s pieces of image information whose identifiers are registered in the cache table registering step are received and t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the s pieces of image information are received.

50. The reproduction method of claim 49 further comprising:

a weighting step of weighting, with a highest value, the one out of the plurality of icons made to be in focus in the focus setting step, and for weighting, with a second highest value, icons adjacent to the one in focus, wherein

in the rank setting step, ranks of the m pieces of image information are set based on values weighted in the weighting step.

51. The reproduction method of claim 50 further comprising:

a deleting step of deleting, out of the identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of image information and pieces of navigation information which have been stored in the cache means.

52. A record medium in which a reproduction program is recorded, the reproduction program being used in a terminal apparatus for displaying an image by reproducing one out of m pieces of image information and for interactively changing the image using n pieces of navigation information wherein the image is one of a moving picture, a still picture, and a mixture of a moving picture and a still picture, wherein the m pieces of image information and the n pieces of navigation information together are broadcast by a broadcasting station to the terminal apparatus, wherein each piece of navigation information is related to an origin piece of image information and indicates a plurality pieces of link-target image information, wherein m and n are each an integer either of being equal to and larger than “

1,”

the terminal apparatus comprising;

is cache means for storing a pair of one out of the m pieces of image information and one out of the n pieces of navigation information, wherein

the reproduction program comprising;

a reproducing step of reproducing the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means;

a monitoring step of monitoring whether an operator has performed a certain operation responding to the image displayed;

a receiving step of, before it is determined in the monitoring step that the operator has performed the certain operation, receiving s pieces of image information which have possibility or being displayed and t pieces of navigation information respectively related to the s pieces of image information based on the one out of the n pieces of navigation information stored in the cache means, and storing the s pieces of image information and the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means, wherein s is an integer satisfying 1≦

s<

m, and t is an integer satisfying 1≦

t<

n;

a specifying step of specifying one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information based on the certain operation when the monitoring step monitors that the operator has performed the certain operation;

an identifying step of identifying the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified in the specifying step as one out the X pieces of image information stored in the cache means; and

a first controlling step of reading the piece of link-target image information identified in the identifying step and instructing the reproducing step to reproduce the piece of link-target image information, and instructing the receiving, step to receive other s pieces of image information and other t pieces of navigation information based on one out of the t pieces of navigation information in the cache means corresponding to the piece of link-target image information identified in the identifying step.

53. The record medium of claim 52, wherein

the reproduction program further comprises:

a superimposing step of superimposing, based on a piece of navigation information corresponding to the one out of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means, a plurality of icons on the image which is displayed when the one out of the m pieces of image information is reproduced in the reproducing step, wherein

the monitoring step includes;

a determination operation detecting sub-step of detecting a determination operation performed on one out or the plurality of icons, wherein

in the identifying step, one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information detected by the determination operation detecting unit is identified.

54. The record medium of claim 53, wherein

the reproduction program further comprises:

a default image reproducing step of, when the identifying step fails to identify the one out of the plurality pieces of link-target image information specified in the specifying step, reproducing a default image; and

a second controlling step of instructing the receiving step to receive the piece of link-target image information specified in the specifying step when the piece of link-target image information is not identified in the identifying step, and to receive a piece of navigation information corresponding to the piece of link-target image information specified in the specifying step, and storing the received piece of link-target image information and the corresponding piece of navigation information in the cache means, wherein

in the superimposing step, a plurality or icons are superimposed on the image based on the piece of navigation information received in the receiving step.

55. The record medium of claim 53, wherein

the reproducing step includes:

a focus setting step of making one out of the plurality of icons be in focus, wherein

the monitoring step includes;

a cursor move operation detecting sub-step of detecting a cursor move operation; and

a focus changing sub-step of making another one out of the plurality of icons be in focus based on the cursor move operation detected in the cursor move operation detecting sub-step, wherein

in the determination operation detecting sub-step, a determination operation performed on the other one out of the plurality of icons in focus is detected.

56. The record medium of claim 52, wherein

the reproduction program further comprises:

a rank setting step of setting ranks of the m pieces of image information stored in the cache means based on possibility of being displayed; and

a cache table registering step of registering identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information in a cache table, out of the m pieces of image information and registering identifiers of t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the high ranking s pieces of image information, wherein

in the receiving step, the s pieces of image information whose identifiers are registered in the cache table registering step are received and t pieces of navigation information corresponding to the s pieces of image information are received.

57. The record medium of claim 56, wherein

the reproduction program further comprises:

a weighting step of weighting, with a highest value, the one out of the plurality of icons made to be in focus in the focus setting step, and for weighting, with a second highest value, icons adjacent to the one in focus, wherein

in the rank setting step, ranks of the m pieces of image information are set based on values weighted in the weighting step.

58. The record medium of claim 57, wherein

the reproduction program further comprises:

a deleting step or deleting, out of the identifiers of high ranking s pieces of image information and t pieces of navigation information in the cache table, identifiers of pieces of image information and pieces of navigation information which have been stored in the cache means.