Document display apparatus for displaying a plurality of multimedia documents

• US 6,289,361 B1
• Filed: 02/04/1998
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Uchida, Shinichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US09/018,392
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• Field of Search: 707/501, 707/513, 707/500, 707/526, 707/517, 707/520, 345/302, 345/327, 345/328, 345/339-346, 345/472
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

It is an object of the invention to provide a document display apparatus capable of displaying a plurality of documents which are related to each other in high visibility as a whole without displaying the plurality of documents on single display means at the same time. When a document selecting area is displayed on a display screen of a display section and a single area is selected among a -plurality of areas in the document selecting area, document data corresponding to that selected single area is displayed within a document displaying area on the display screen. Accordingly, the relationship among a plurality of documents, e.g. the positional relationship, may be perceived by the positional relationship of each area in the document selecting area and specific document data may be perceived by displaying within the document displaying area. Accordingly, the plurality of documents can be displayed in high visibility as a whole without displaying the plurality of documents on the single display at the same time.

Claims

1. A document display apparatus comprising:

a memory for storing document data of a multimedia document containing pictures and letters, the document data containing data indicative of whether or not the document data is related to document data of one or more other multimedia documents each to be displayed at the same time together with, and at a particular position relative to, the multimedia document;

a display having a document displaying area for displaying the multimedia document; and

a display control circuit for determining if the document data for the displayed multimedia document is related to document data of any other multimedia documents and, if so, for causing the display to display a document selecting area composed of a plurality of areas, each area corresponding to one multimedia document from a group of multimedia documents including the displayed multimedia document and the multimedia documents related thereto,

wherein, when a single area is selected from the plurality of areas of the document selecting area, said display control circuit causes the display to display in the document displaying area the multimedia document corresponding to the selected single area, and

wherein the areas of the document selecting area provide a single-screen view that visually depicts two-dimensional positional relationships among the multimedia document displayed in the document displaying area and the multimedia documents related thereto so that the relationships among the multimedia document displayed in the document displaying area and all of the multimedia documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole in the document selecting area.

2. The document display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display control circuit causes the display to display the document selecting area only when the display control circuit determines that the document data for the multimedia document displayed in the document display area is related to document data of other multimedia documents.

3. The document display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the document selecting area is movably displayed on the display, the document display apparatus further comprising moving means for moving the document selecting area.

4. The document display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the document selecting area is erasably displayed on the display, the document display apparatus further comprising designating means for designating whether the document selecting area should be displayed or erased.

5. The document display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display control circuit converts the document data of the displayed multimedia document and the multimedia documents related thereto under a predetermined converting condition to cause the converted document data to be displayed within a corresponding area of the document selecting area.

6. The document display apparatus of claim 1, the document display apparatus further comprising a reading device for reading document data from an original which is a multi-media document or a receiving device for receiving document data from an external terminal apparatus, wherein the memory stores the document data obtained by the reading device or the receiving device.

7. The document display apparatus of claim 6, wherein the display control circuit causes the display to display that the reading device or the receiving device is in the midst of obtaining the document data.

8. The document display apparatus of claim 6, wherein the memory stores not only the document data corresponding to a single area when the single area is selected from the plurality of areas in the document selecting area but also the document data corresponding to the remaining areas not selected.

9. The document display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the document data is document data described in the HTML language for which execution of a frame function for displaying the document data together with document data of other documents or non-execution of the frame function can be designated, and the display control circuit causes the display to display the document selecting area when the execution of the frame function Is designated.

10. The document display apparatus of claim 9, wherein the display control circuit causes the document data described in the HTML language to be displayed within the document displaying area when non-execution of the frame function is designated for said document data.

11. The document display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

12. The document display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein each area of the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

13. The document display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia document and all of the multimedia documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole in the document selecting area without displaying the concrete contents thereof.

14. A document display apparatus comprising:

a memory for storing document data of a multimedia document containing pictures and letters, the document data containing data indicative of whether or not the document data is related to document data of one or more other multimedia documents each to be displayed at the same time together with, and at a particular position relative to, the multimedia document;

a display having a document displaying area for displaying the multimedia document;

a designating device for designating display on the display of a document selecting area composed of a plurality of areas each corresponding to one multimedia document from a group of multimedia documents including the displayed multimedia document and any multimedia documents related thereto; and

a display control circuit for causing the display to display the document selecting area instead of the document displaying area on the basis of instructions from the designating device, and, when a single area is selected from the plurality of areas of the document selecting area, for causing the display to display the document displaying area instead of the document selecting area and to display the multimedia document corresponding to the selected area in the document selecting area,

wherein the areas of the document selecting area provide a single-screen view that visually depicts two-dimensional positional relationships among the multimedia document displayed in the document displaying area and any multimedia documents related thereto so that the relationships among the multimedia document displayed in the document displaying area and all of the multimedia documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole in the document selecting area.

15. The document display apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

16. The document display apparatus according to claim 15, wherein each area of the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

17. The document display apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the multimedia document and all of the multimedia documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole in the document selecting area without displaying the concrete contents thereof.

18. A document display apparatus for displaying multimedia documents, comprising:

a display;

a display control circuit for controlling the display to provide a document selecting area and a document display area; and

an input device operable to select a multimedia document for display in the document display area,

wherein said display control circuit is configured to determine whether the selected multimedia document is related to one or more other multimedia documents each to be displayed at the same time together with, and at a particular position relative to, the selected document, and, if so, to provide on the display a document selecting area that includes areas each of which respectively corresponds to one multimedia document from a group of multimedia documents including the selected multimedia document and the multimedia documents related thereto, the areas being arranged to provide a single-screen view that visually depicts two-dimensional positional relationships among the selected multimedia document and the multimedia documents related thereto so that the relationships among the selected multimedia document and all of the multimedia documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole in the document selecting area.

19. The document display apparatus of claim 18, wherein no document selecting area is displayed if the display control circuit determines that the selected multimedia document is not related to any other multimedia documents.

20. The document display apparatus of claim 18, wherein the input device is further operable to receive inputs for changing a position of the document selecting area on the display, and the display control circuit is responsive to the position changing inputs to change the position of the document selecting area on the display.

21. The document display apparatus of claim 18, wherein the input device is further operable to receive inputs for erasing the document selecting area from the display, and the display control circuit is responsive to the erasing inputs for erasing the document selecting area from the display.

22. The document display apparatus of claim 18, wherein the displayed multimedia document is an HTML document.

23. The document display apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

24. The document display apparatus according to claim 23, wherein each area of the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

25. The document display apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the multimedia document and all of the multimedia documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole in the document selecting area without displaying the concrete contents thereof.

26. A portable document display apparatus for displaying HTML documents, comprising:

a liquid crystal display;

a display control circuit for controlling the liquid crystal display to provide a document selecting area and a document display area; and

an input device operable to select an HTML document for display in the document display area,

wherein said display control circuit is configured to determine whether the selected HTML document is related to one or more other HTML documents each to be displayed at the same time together with, and at a particular position relative to, the selected HTML document, and, if so, to provide on the display a document selecting area that includes areas each of which respectively corresponds to one HTML document from a group of HTML documents including the selected HTML document and the HTML documents related thereto, the areas being arranged to provide a single-screen view that visually depicts two-dimensional positional relationships among the selected HTML document and the HTML documents related thereto so that the relationships among the HTML document and all of the HTML documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole in the document selecting area.

27. The document display apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

28. The document display apparatus according to claim 27, wherein each area of the document selecting area is non-scrollable.

29. The document display apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the HTML document and all of the HTML documents related thereto can be visually perceived at the same time as a whole without displaying the concrete contents thereof.