Apparatus for file management and manipulation using graphical displays and textual descriptions

• US 6,335,742 B1
• Filed: 07/24/1998
• Issued: 01/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Takemoto, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Joseph, Thomas J
• Application Number:
  US09/121,829
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 345/356, 345/340, 345/345, 345/343, 345/355, 345/781, 345/732, 345/783, 345/803, 345/806, 345/797, 345/796, 345/791, 345/802, 345/848, 345/850, 345/851, 345/852, 345/849, 345/836, 345/782, 345/751, 345/706, 345/853, 345/855, 345/854, 345/841, 345/818, 345/819, 345/820, 345/809, 345/845, 386/117, 386/506
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/54 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• 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

Abstract

A processor-based display processing apparatus, method and user interface allows for easy understanding of the contents of respective files by present a portion of the respective files as a graphics image along with other associated attributes of the respective files. A computer readable recording medium with a program recorded therein is provided for enabling a computer to function as the apparatus and perform the method. In the display processing apparatus, when an operator selects a folder from a folder display area on a browser screen, a processor controls the selected folder to be identified and displayed, and graphics images of image files contained in the selected folder are displayed in a predetermined display area.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a data path;

a display device coupled to said processor;

an interface unit configured to receive an instruction from an external source and provide a corresponding instruction signal to said processor; and

a computer readable medium coupled to said processor via said data path and encoded with processor executable computer readable instructions, said processor executable computer readable instructions, when executed, implementing

a file directory display mechanism configured to display on a display portion of said display a data file indication of a non-directory data file stored in said computer readable medium,

a graphics display mechanism configured to display in a display portion of said data file indication, within a geometric perimeter of said data file indication, at least one graphics image related to data in said data file, and

an additional information display mechanism configured to display, within the geometric perimeter of said data file indication, at least one user-modifiable symbol linked to at least one user-modifiable and searchable data structure including at least one of words, a phrase, and a sentence.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said file directory display mechanism is configured to display a directory tree of said data file relative to other data files.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the external source includes at least one of a keyboard, a mouse, a voice recognition mechanism, a touchscreen and a track ball.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

said computer readable medium is encoded with additional computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processors, implement

a keyword search mechanism that, in response to a keyword query, is configured to identify and display the data file in the display portion, if said data file has associated therewith a keyword corresponding with the query.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a keyword association mechanism, wherein more than one keyword is associated with the data file.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a sound file association mechanism, configured to associate a sound file with said data file, and said indicator of said information display mechanism being configured to provide a sound file indicator if a sound file is present.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a memo association mechanism, configured to associate a memo file with said data file, said additional information display mechanism configured to display a memo indicator indicative of a presence of a memo file corresponding to said data file.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a keyword association mechanism configured to associate the keyword to said data file and display a keyword indicator through said additional information display mechanism indicative of a presence of the keyword associated with said data file.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a drag and drop mechanism configured to respond to an external move signal from said interface by moving said graphics image to an application icon, so as to launch an application associated with said application icon and read said data file into said application.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a camera configured to receive a photographic image and record said photographic image in said computer readable medium as said data file.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a separate camera configured to generate said data file, said separate camera having another computer readable medium in which said separate camera stores said data file, wherein

said another computer readable medium is configured to connect to said interface unit and download said data file to said computer readable medium.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

said another computer readable medium comprises at least one of a semiconductor memory, a magnetic memory, an optical memory, and a ferromagnetic memory.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

said another computer readable medium comprises at least one of a floppy disc, an optical disc, and a memory card.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a digital still camera casing that houses said camera recording mechanism, said processor, said data path, said computer readable medium, said display device, and said interface unit.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a digital video camera casing, that houses said camera recording mechanism, said processor, said data path, said computer readable medium, said display device, and said interface unit.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said camera comprises a camera housing that is separate from another housing that contains at least said computer readable medium.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

said indicator includes a single memo indicator, a single sound file indicator, and a single keyword indicator.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said indicator includes plural memo indicators, plural audio indicators, and plural keyword indicators.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

said graphics image comprises a thumbnail image.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the graphics image based on a rotation command input from the external source.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a brightness and contrast correction mechanism configured to correct at least one of a brightness and a contrast of the graphics image.

43. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data path comprises at least one of an ISDN, a LAN, a WAN, and a telephone line using an internal modem.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein said data path utilizes Windows NT compatible protocols.

45. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said computer readable instructions are part of a browser software application.

46. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said external source is at least one of a remote terminal and a wireless device.

47. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said interface unit is configured to receive said instruction from a digital camera over at least one of an ISDN, a LAN, a WAN, and a telephone line using an internal modem.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein at least a portion of said ISDN, LAN, WAN, and telephone line is the Internet.

49. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein at least a portion of said ISDN, LAN, WAN, and telephone line is the Internet.

18. The apparatus of Clam 1, wherein:

said indicator includes a single memo indicator, a single audio indicator, and plural keyword indicators.

23. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium encoded with computer readable instructions that on computer execution implement

a file directory display mechanism configured to display on a display portion of a display a data file indication of a non-directory data file stored in said computer readable medium,

a graphics display mechanism configured to display on a display portion of said data file indication within a geometric perimeter of said data file indication at least one graphics image related to data in said data file, and

an additional information display mechanism configured to display, within the geometric perimeter of said data file indication, at least one user-modifiable symbol linked to at least one user-modifiable and searchable data structure including at least one of words, a phrase, and a sentence.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein:

said computer readable medium is encoded with additional computer readable instructions that when executed by the processor implement a thumbnail generation mechanism that generates a thumbnail image as said graphics image.

50. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein said file directory display mechanism comprises at least one of an ISDN, a LAN, a WAN, and a telephone line using an internal modem.

51. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein said file directory display mechanism utilizes Windows NT compatible protocols.

52. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein said computer readable instructions are part of a browser software application.

53. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein at least a portion of said ISDN, LAN, WAN, and telephone line is the Internet.

25. A method for presenting a non-directory data file in graphics form on a display, comprising the steps of:

storing the data file in a computer readable medium;

receiving an instruction from an external source;

providing to a processor an instruction signal corresponding to the instruction, said instruction corresponding with an identification of said data file stored in said computer readable medium;

displaying on a display portion of said display a data file indication of the data file stored in a computer readable medium;

displaying on a display portion of said indication within a geometric perimeter of said data file indication at least one graphics image representative of said data in said data file; and

displaying, within the geometric perimeter of said data file indication, at least one user-modifiable symbol linked to at least one user-modifiable and searchable data structure including at least one of words, a phrase, and a sentence.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein:

said step of displaying on a first display portion comprises displaying a directory tree of said data file relative to other data files.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein:

said receiving step comprises receiving said instruction from at least one of a keyboard, a mouse, a voice recognition mechanism, a touchscreen and a track ball.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising steps of:

associating a keyword with said data file;

receiving a search instruction from said external source; and

searching for the data file by identifying candidate data files that have the keyword associated therewith, and displaying said candidate data files.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising a step of:

associating at least one of a sound file and a memo file with said data file.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a move instruction from the external source; and

moving said graphics image to an application icon; and

launching an application associated with said application icon and reading said data file into said application.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein respective of the displaying steps include providing a display image on at least one of a digital camera display and a digital video recorder display.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein:

said step of displaying on an indication displays a thumbnail image as said graphics image.

54. The method of claim 25, wherein said step of storing the data file utilizes at least one of an ISDN, a LAN, a WAN, and a telephone line using an internal modem.

55. The method of claim 25, wherein said step of storing the data file utilizes Windows NT compatible protocols.

56. The method of claim 25, wherein said steps of are part of a browser software application.

57. The method of claim 25, wherein said external source is at least one of a remote terminal and a wireless device.

58. The method of claim 25, wherein said instruction is received from a digital camera over at least one of an ISDN, a LAN, a WAN, and a telephone line using an internal modem.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein at least a portion of said ISDN, LAN, WAN, and telephone line is the Internet.

60. The method of claim 54, wherein at least a portion of said ISDN, LAN, WAN, and telephone line is the Internet.

33. An apparatus for presenting a data file in graphics form on a display, comprising:

means for storing the data file in a computer readable medium;

means for receiving an instruction from an external source and providing a corresponding instruction signal to a processor, said instruction corresponding with an identification of said data file stored in said computer readable medium;

means for displaying on a display portion of said display a data file indication of the data file stored in a computer readable medium;

means for displaying on a display portion of said indication within a geometric perimeter of said indication a graphics image representative of said data in said data file; and

means for displaying, within the geometric perimeter of said data file indication, at least one user-modifiable symbol linked to at least one user-modifiable and searchable data structure including at least one of words, a phrase, and a sentence.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein:

said means for displaying on a display portion comprises means for displaying a directory tree of said data file relative to other data files.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein:

said means for receiving comprises means for receiving said instruction from at least one of a keyboard, a mouse, a voice recognition mechanism, a touchscreen and a track ball.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for associating a keyword with said data file;

means for receiving a search instruction from said external source;

means for searching for the data file by identifying candidate data files that have the keyword associated therewith, and displaying said candidate data files.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising:

means for associating at least one of a sound file and a memo file with said data file.

38. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for receiving a move instruction from the external source;

means for moving said graphics image to an application icon; and

means for launching an application associated with said application icon and reading said data file into said application.

39. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein:

respective of the means for displaying includes means for providing a display image on at least one of a digital camera display and a digital video recorder display.

40. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein:

said means for displaying on an indication includes means for displaying a thumbnail image as said graphics image.

41. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising;

means for rotating the graphics image based on a rotation command input from the external source.

42. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for correcting a brightness and contrast of the graphics image.