Data processing apparatus for facilitating data selection and data processing in at television environment with reusable menu structures

• US 6,314,570 B1
• Filed: 02/10/1997
• Issued: 11/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/1996
• 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: Okamura, Kazuo, Yamanaka, Kiyokazu, Hirai, Junichi, Tanigawa, Hidekazu
• Primary Examiner(s): Chaki, Kakali
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROSSI, JEFFREY A
• Application Number:
  US08/798,478
• Time in Patent Office: 1,730 Days
• Field of Search: 348/13, 345/352, 345/353, 345/357, 725/40, 725/39, 725/43, 725/52, 725/61
• US Class Current: 725/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/433 Content storage operation, e.g. storage operation in response to a pause request, caching operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4348 Demultiplexing of additional data and video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords

Abstract

A data processing apparatus which displays a set of document data on a display unit together with an operation menu which has operation items related to the set of document data. In the apparatus, the document data storage unit stores a plurality of sets of document data of different contents which are indicated by sets of content information. The operation menu information storage unit stores a plurality of sets of operation menu information which each contain operation items that correspond to a content of document data. The first indication operation unit indicates a display of a set of document data. The second indication operation unit indicates an addition of a display of an operation menu to a display of document data. The operation menu generation unit receives an indication from the second indication operation unit, obtains the content information of the displayed data from the document data storage unit, extracts a corresponding set of operation menu information from the operation menu information storage unit, and generates an operation menu with the extracted operation items as menu items. The display control unit reads a set of document data from the document data storage unit, has the data displayed on the display unit in accordance with an indication from the first indication operation unit, and has the operation menu generated by the operation menu generation unit displayed in a window provided on the display unit.

Claims

1. A data processing apparatus which displays a set of document data on a display means together with an operation menu which has operation items for operation executions related to said set of document data, said data processing apparatus comprising:

document data storage means for storing a plurality of sets of document data which are to be displayed by the display means, wherein each set of document data has a different data content and is stored together with a set of content information which identifies said data content;

operation menu information storage means for storing a plurality of sets of operation menu information which are each made up of a set of operation items which correspond to one of a plurality of types of document data;

first indication operation means for indicating a display of a set of document data, in accordance with a user operation;

second indication operation means for indicating an addition of a display of an operation menu to the displayed set of document data, in accordance with a user operation;

operation menu generation means for receiving an indication from said second indication operation means, for obtaining the content information of the displayed set of document data from said document data storage means, for extracting the set of operation menu information which corresponds to the obtained content information from said operation menu information storage means, and for generating an operation menu which has the operation items in the extracted set of operation menu information as menu items after the set of document data has been displayed and a user operation has indicated to add the display of an operation menu to the displayed set of document data; and

display control means for reading a set of document data from said document data storage means and having the set of document data displayed on the display means in accordance with an indication from said first indication operation means, and for having the operation menu generated by said operation menu generation means displayed on the display means.

2. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

menu item focusing/deciding operation means for focusing on a menu item in the operation menu displayed on the display means in accordance with a user operation and for deciding on the focused menu item in accordance with a user operation; and

operation execution means for executing an operation program of the operation item which is the menu item decided on by said menu item focusing/deciding operation means.

3. The data processing apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

obtaining a set of document data that is broadcast means for text-multiplexed broadcast transmitted by a television station and obtaining a set of document data by separating text data from the received text-multiplexed broadcast; and

document data writing means for writing the set of document data received by said document data obtaining means into said document data storage means.

4. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising data section display control means for having data sections included in the set of data being displayed on the display means displayed in a new window.

5. A data processing apparatus which displays a plurality of sets of document data including key words on a display means together with an operation menu which has operation items for operation executions related to at least one of said plurality of sets of document data, said data processing apparatus comprising:

document data storage means for storing a plurality of sets of document data, including key words contained in each set of document data and a list of types of key words which are used to classify the content of key words, which are to be displayed by the display means, wherein each set of document data includes key words specifically associated with that set of document data;

operation menu information storage means for storing a plurality of sets of operation menu information which are each made up of a set of operation items which correspond to a type of keyword;

first indication operation means for indicating a display of a set of document data in accordance with a user operation;

first display control means for receiving an indication from said first indication operation means, for reading a set of document data from said document data storage means, and for having said read set of document data displayed by the display means;

key word selection means for selecting a key word in said set of document data displayed by the display means, in accordance with a user operation;

second display control means for having a key word, which is indicated as one of a default and a selection by said key word selecting operation means, in said set of document data displayed on the display means displayed in focus;

second indication operation means for indicating a display of an operation menu for the key word in focus, in accordance with a user operation;

operation menu generation means for receiving an indication from said second indication operation means, for determining the type of the key word in focus, for reading the set of operation menu information which corresponds to the type of the key word in focus on the display means from said operation menu information storage means, and for generating an operation menu which has the operation items in the read set of operation menu information as menu items; and

third display control means for having the operation menu generated by said operation menu generation means displayed on the display means.

6. The data processing apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

menu item focusing/deciding operation means for focusing on a menu item in the operation menu displayed on the display means in accordance with a user operation and for deciding on the focused menu item in accordance with a user operation; and

operation execution means for executing an operation program of the operation item which is the menu item decided on by said menu item focusing/deciding operation means.

7. The data processing apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

obtaining a set of document data that is broadcast means for text-multiplexed broadcast transmitted by a television station and obtaining a set of document data and a table of types of key words by separating said received text-multiplexed broadcast; and

writing means for writing the set of document data and the table of types of key words obtained by said document data obtaining means into said document data storage means;

wherein the operation menu generation means reads a type of the key word in focus from the table in said document data storage means, and reads the set of operation menu information corresponding to the read type from said operation menu information storage means.

8. In a television receiving system for receiving television signals and displaying image signals on a display unit, the improvement of a data processing apparatus comprising:

a separating unit for determining if the television signal is a text multiplexed broadcast signal and if so, separating character data signals from image signals and converting the character data to a set of document data while sending the image signals to the display unit for display;

document data storage unit for storing each set of document data converted by the separating unit to provide a plurality of sets of document data which are displayable by the display unit, wherein each set of document data has a different data content and is stored together with a set of content information which corresponds to said data content;

operation menu information storage unit for storing a plurality of sets of operation menu information which are each made up of a set of operation items which correspond to one of a plurality of types of document data;

an input operation unit, including a wireless remote controller having input members for requesting a document display and a menu display and providing corresponding signals, in accordance with a user operation;

an input signal reception unit for receiving user signals from the input operation unit;

operation menu generation means for receiving an indication from said input signal reception unit for displaying a set of document data, for obtaining the content information of the displayed set of document data from said document data storage unit, for extracting the set of operation menu information which corresponds to the obtained content information from said operation menu information storage unit, and for generating an operation menu which has the operation items in the extracted set of operation menu information as menu items after the set of document data has been displayed and a user operation has indicated to add the display of an operation menu to the displayed set of document data; and

display control means for reading a set of document data from said document data storage unit and having the set of document data displayed on the display unit in accordance with a signal from said input operation unit, and for having a corresponding operation menu, generated by said operation menu generation means, displayed on th e display unit.

9. The data processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the operation menu generation means determines from the document data storage unit whether a text item in the displayed set of document data is linked to a plurality of sets of document data and if so linked, generates a menu with a title of each linked set of document data as a menu item.

10. The data processing apparatus of claim 9, further including means for providing a focus indicator on a displayed menu item and upon a lapse of a predetermined time period automatically moving the focus indicator to another menu item.

11. The data processing apparatus of claim 10, further including means for generating and displaying a channel number adjacent a menu item that corresponds to an input member on the wireless remote controller whereby the user can display a set of document data corresponding to the menu item by activating the input member.