Data processing apparatus for facilitating data selection and data processing

• US 6,557,016 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2001
• Issued: 04/29/2003
• 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): Hong, Stephen S.
• Application Number:
  US09/877,547
• Publication Number:
  US 20010029609A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 725/40, 725/47, 345/841, 345/814, 707/501.1
• US Class Current: 715/246
• 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 including display means, the data processing apparatus comprising:

data storage means for storing a plurality of sets of data which include data sections, together with links which each connect a data section in an arbitrary set of data to another set of data;

data display indication operation means for indicating a set of data to be displayed, in accordance with a user operation;

first display control means for reading a set of data stored in the data storage means in accordance with an indication from the data display indication operation means and having the read set of data displayed on the display means;

menu display indication operation means for indicating a display of a menu related to sets of data which are linked to a data section included in the set of data displayed on the display means, in accordance with a user operation;

first menu generation means for generating a menu based on sets of data which are directly linked to a data section included in the set of data displayed on the display means, in accordance with the indication by the menu display indication operation means; and

second display control means for having the menu generated by the first menu generation means displayed in addition to the set of data displayed by the display means,

wherein said first menu generation means includes;

a first menu item obtaining unit for obtaining a part of each set of data directly linked to a data section, wherein there is a plurality of sets of data directly linked to the data section; and

a first menu generating unit for generating a menu which has the parts of each set of data obtained by said first menu item obtaining unit as menu items.

2. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein each set of data stored in said data storage means includes a title, and wherein said first menu item obtaining unit obtains the title included in each linked set of data.

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

menu item selection operation means for selecting a menu item in a menu displayed by said display means, in accordance with a user operation;

second menu generation means for reading data sections included in a set of data which includes a title which is the menu item selected by said menu item selection operation means from the data storage means, and for generating an additional menu which has the read data sections as menu items; and

third display control means for having the additional menu generated by said second menu generation means added to a display of the menu on said display means as a submenu.

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

additional menu item selection operation means for selecting a menu item in an additional menu displayed on said display means, in accordance with a user operation;

third menu generation means for reading parts of sets of data which are directly linked to a data section which is the menu item selected by said additional menu item selection operation means from the data storage means, and for generating a new additional menu which has the read parts of sets of data as menu items; and

fourth display control means for having the new additional menu generated by said third menu generation means added to a display of the menu and the additional menu on said display means as a lower-level submenu.

5. The data processing apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

data display updating indication operation means for indicating an updating of data display, in accordance with a user operation; and

data updating control means for reading a set of data which includes a selected menu item in a latest new additional menu to be displayed on the display means from said data storage means in accordance with an indication from said data display updating indication operation means, and for having the read set of data displayed by said display means in place of the set of data which said first display control means had displayed.

6. A data processing apparatus including display means, the data processing apparatus comprising:

data storage means for storing a plurality of sets of data which include data sections, together with links which each connect a data section in an arbitrary set of data to another set of data;

data display indication operation means for indicating a set of data to be displayed, in accordance with a user operation;

first display control means for reading a set of data stored in the data storage means in accordance with an indication from the data display indication operation means and having the read set of data displayed on the display means;

menu display indication operation means for indicating a display of a menu related to sets of data which are linked to a data section included in the set of data displayed on the display means, in accordance with a user operation;

first menu generation means for generating a menu based on sets of data which are directly linked to a data section included in the set of data displayed on the display means, in accordance with the indication by the menu indication operation means; and

second display control means for having the menu generated by the first menu generation means displayed in addition to the set of data displayed by the display means,

wherein the first menu generation includes;

a first menu item obtaining unit for obtaining data sections in set of data directly linked to a data section, wherein there is only one set of data directly linked to the data section in said storage means; and

a first menu generating unit for generating a menu which has the data sections obtained by said first menu item obtaining unit as menu items.

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

menu item selection operation means for selecting a menu item in a menu displayed by said display means, in accordance with a user operation;

second menu generation means for reading a part of each set of data directly linked to the data section which is the menu item selected by said menu item selection operation means from the data storage means, and for generating an additional menu which has the read parts of sets of data as menu items; and

third display control means for having the additional menu generated by said second menu generation means added to a display of the menu on said display means as a submenu.

8. The data processing apparatus of claim 7, wherein each set of data stored in said data storage means includes a title, and wherein said second menu generation means obtains the title included in each linked set of data.

9. The data processing apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

data display updating indication operation means f or indicating an updating of data display, in accordance with a user operation; and

data updating control means for reading a set of data which includes a selected menu item in the latest additional menu to be displayed on the display means from said data storage means in accordance with an indication from said data display updating indication operation means, and for having the read set of data displayed by said display means in place of the set of data which said first display control means had displayed.

10. A data processing apparatus including display means, the data processing apparatus comprising:

data storage means for storing a plurality of sets of data which include data sections, together with links which each connect a data section in an arbitrary set of data to another set of data;

data display indication operation means for indicating a set of data to be displayed, in accordance with a user operation;

first display control means for reading a set of data stored in the data storage means in accordance with an indication from the data display indication operation means and having the read set of data displayed on the display means;

data section display control means for having all data sections included in the set of data being displayed on the display means displayed together collectively in a new window;

menu display indication operation means for indicating a display of a menu related to sets of data which are linked to a set of data displayed on the display means, in accordance with a user operation;

first menu generation means for generating a menu in accordance with the indication by the menu display indication operation means according to a set of data that is directly linked to the data sections; and

second display control means for having the menu generated by the first menu generation means displayed in addition to the set of data displayed by the display means.

11. 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 receiving unit for receiving a digital broadcast signal;

a separating unit for separating character data signals in the digital broadcast signal and converting the character data to a set of document data while sending the image signals to the display unit for display;

a 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, 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 unit, wherein each set of document data includes key words specifically associated with that set of document data;

an 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 a type of key word;

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

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

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

said input operation unit further provided for selecting a key word in said set of document data displayed by the display unit and providing a corresponding signal, 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 indicated from said input signal reception unit, in said set of document data displayed in the display unit displayed in focus;

said input operation unit further provided for requesting a display of an operation menu for the key word in focus and providing a corresponding signal, in accordance with a user operation;

operation menu generation means for receiving an indication from said input signal reception unit, 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 unit from said operation menu information storage unit, 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 unit.

12. 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 receiving unit for receiving a digital broadcast;

a separating unit for separating character data signals in the digital broadcast signal 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 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 terms 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 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 the display unit.