Page information display method and apparatus, and storage medium for storing program or data for display page

• US 6,741,268 B1
• Filed: 07/26/2000
• Issued: 05/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Hayakawa, Keisuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Application Number:
  US09/625,998
• Time in Patent Office: 1,399 Days
• Field of Search: 345/776, 345/777, 345/779, 345/815, 345/818, 345/817, 345/863, 345/179, 345/853, 345/854, 345/839, 345/856
• US Class Current: 715/777
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor

Abstract

To provide a user interface for viewing the information which is easily understood by all people, irrespective of the computer experiences, the present invention adopts a user interface having a metaphor like a book, newspaper or magazine, and for realizing the metaphor of this book, the electronic information is allowed to view in a unit of page of predetermined size therefore, the electronic information is displayed in a unit of page of predetermined size in an information viewing area of a display portion.

Claims

1. A page information display method for displaying electronic information, using an information viewing device comprising:

a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size; and

a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, the tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area, said method including;

displaying a current page of current display object read from said storage portion in said information viewing area and displaying a tag appended to said current page in said one or the other tag display area;

displaying a tag appended to each page following said current page in one tag display area before or after displaying said current page; and

displaying a tag appended to each page preceding said current page in the other tag display area before or after displaying said current page.

2. The page information display method according to claim 1, further including determining the height or position of a tag appended to said current page in a tag display direction, on the basis of the page number of said current page relative to the total page number of electronic information, subsequently to displaying said current page.

3. The page information display method according to claim 1, further including displaying the page number of the page with the tag appended as the tag content to be displayed within said tag, before or after displaying said current page.

4. The page information display method according to claim 3, further including highlighting the display of the tag appendant to said current page, subsequently to displaying said current page.

5. The page information display method according to claim 1, further including highlighting the display of the tag appendant to said current page, subsequently to displaying said current page.

6. The page information display method according to claim 1, further including changing the color of tag appended to each preceding page or each succeeding page as the absolute value of a difference between said current page and the page number of the page for appending the tag increases, subsequently to displaying said current page.

7. The page information display method according to claim 1, further including changing the shape of tag as the absolute value of a difference between said current page and the page number of the page for appending the tag increases, subsequently to displaying said current page.

8. The page information display method according to claim 1, further including:

defining the tag relation of positioning the tag at lower level, with the tag of said current page or the tag of the previous or next page of said current page at the uppermost level, as the absolute value of a difference between said current page and the page number of the page for appending the tag increases; and

overlaying an upper tag on a lower tag in said one or the other tag display area in accordance with a hierarchy of each page defined in the tag relation, before or after displaying said current page.

9. The page information display method according to claim 1, further including:

defining the relation of each tag belonging to a predefined class, when each of said current page and the previous and next pages belongs to the predefined class; and

displaying a class tag in said tag display area, the class tag indicating the content of class to which the tag of each page to be displayed in said tag display area belongs, subsequently to displaying said current page.

10. An electronic information display device, comprising:

a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size;

a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, the tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area;

a page information display portion for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in said information viewing area, on the basis of the page specifying information input externally;

a current page tag display portion for displaying a current page tag appended to a current page of current display object read from said storage portion in said one or the other tag display area;

a succeeding page tag display portion for displaying a tag appended to each page following said current page at a forward position from the height of said current page tag in said one tag display area; and

a preceding page tag display portion for displaying a tag appended to each page preceding the page number of said current page at a rearward position from the height of said current page tag in said other tag display area.

11. A storage medium for storing a page information display program to display electronic information, using an information viewing device comprising:

a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size;

a display having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, the tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area; and

a display controller for reading electronic information stored in said storage portion, on the basis of the page specifying information input externally, and displaying said electronic information with a predetermined tag appended on said display,

wherein said page information display program comprises, as the commands for operating said display controller;

a current page display command for displaying a current page of current display object read from said storage portion in said information viewing area and displaying a tag appended to said current page in said one or the other tag display area;

a succeeding page tag display command for displaying a tag appended to each page following said current page in said one tag display area, before or after displaying said current page; and

a preceding page tag display command for displaying a tag appended to each page preceding the page number of said current page in said other tag display area, before or after displaying said current page.

12. A page information display method for displaying electronic information, using an information viewing device comprising:

a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size; and

a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, said display portion comprising a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area on both ends of said information viewing area in a page rolling direction to roll the page information in said information viewing area, said method including;

calculating the tag length in a tag display direction of each tag appended to each page, on the basis of the length of said tag display area in the tag display direction which is orthogonal to said page rolling direction and the total page number of electronic information stored in said storage portion;

displaying a tag in said tag display area, on the basis of the length of each tag calculated in calculating said tag length; and

displaying a current page of current display object read in said information viewing area, before or after displaying the tag.

13. The page information display method according to claim 12, wherein said calculating the tag length includes creating the semantic display for setting the length of tag appended to each page preceding and succeeding said current page to be shorter as the page increases or decreases from said current page, with the length of tag appended to said current page as the maximum length.

14. The page information display method according to claim 13, wherein said creating the semantic display includes creating the line tag display for displaying the presence or absence of page in a predetermined range close to the start page and the end page of electronic information at a part of the tag outline, when the total page number of electronic information is too large to be within the length of tag display area in said tag display direction.

15. The page information display method according to claim 14, wherein said creating the line tag display includes inserting the interval display outline of tag having a different color or thickness at every predetermined page interval.

16. The page information display method according to claim 13, further including displaying the tag content such as a page number for the tag having a length greater than or equal to a predetermined length in accordance with the length of each tag to be displayed in displaying said tag, before or after displaying the tag.

17. The page information display method according to claim 12, further including displaying the tag content such as a page number for the tag having a length greater than or equal to a predetermined length in accordance with the length of each tag to be displayed in displaying said tag, before or after displaying the tag.

18. A page information display device, comprising:

a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size;

a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page; and

a page information display portion for reading electronic information stored in said storage portion on the basis of the page specifying information input externally, and for displaying said electronic information in said information viewing area, wherein;

said display portion comprises a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area on either end of said information viewing area in a page rolling direction to roll the page information in said information viewing area;

said page information display device further comprises a tag shape calculation portion for calculating the length of each tag appended to each page in a tag display direction, on the basis of the length of tag display area in the tag display direction which is orthogonal to said page rolling direction and the total page number of electronic information stored in said storage portion, and a tag display portion for displaying the tag in said tag display area, on the basis of the length of each tag calculated in said tag length calculation portion.

19. A storage medium for storing a page information display program to display electronic information, using an information viewing device comprising:

a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size;

a display having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of page, the tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area; and

a display controller for reading electronic information stored in said storage portion, on the basis of page specifying information input externally, and displaying said electronic information with a predetermined tag appended on said display,

wherein said page information display program comprises, as the commands for operating said display controller;

a tag length calculation command for calculating the length of each tag appended to each page in a tag display direction, on the basis of the length of tag display area in said tag display direction which is orthogonal to a page rolling direction to roll the page of said page information in said information viewing area and the total page number of electronic information stored in said storage portion; and

a tag display command for displaying the tag in said tag display area, on the basis of the length of each tag calculated in accordance with said tag length calculation command.

20. A page information display method for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, in which said display portion has a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area on either end in a page rolling direction to roll the page of said page information in said information viewing area, said method including:

acquiring the physical length information of said display portion in the page rolling direction;

calculating the minimum tag reference width at a resolution of said display portion, on the basis of the physical length information acquired in acquiring said physical length and the minimum tag reference width in the page rolling direction which is predetermined as the physical length;

determining a width of said tag display area, on the basis of the minimum reference width calculated in calculating said minimum tag width and depending on said display portion and the quantity of said electronic information; and

displaying the tag having the width determined in determining said tag display area width in said tag display area.

21. A page information display method for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, in which said display portion has a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area on both ends in a page rolling direction to roll the page of said page information in said information viewing area, said method including:

acquiring the physical length information of said display portion in a tag display direction which is orthogonal to the page rolling direction;

calculating the minimum tag reference length at a resolution of said display portion, on the basis of the physical length information acquired in acquiring said physical length and the minimum tag reference length in the tag display direction which is predetermined as the physical length; and

setting the current page tag length of a tag appended to said current page to be currently displayed to said minimum reference length, when the tag length per unit tag which is equal to the length of said display portion in said tag display direction divided by the total page number of electronic information is shorter than said minimum reference length.

22. A page information display device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area on both ends in a page rolling direction to roll the page of said page information in said information viewing area,

wherein said page information display device further comprises a minimum reference shape storage portion for storing the minimum reference width of tag in the page rolling direction and the minimum reference length of tag in a tag display direction, which are predetermined on the basis of the size of said display portion, a tag display area width determining portion for determining the tag display area width on the basis of the minimum reference width of said tag and the size of said electronic information in the page rolling direction, a current page tag length setting portion for setting the current page tag length to a tag length per unit tag which is equal to the length of said display portion in said tag display direction divided by the total page number of electronic information, and setting the length of current page tag appended to a current page to be currently displayed to said minimum reference length, when said tag length is shorter than the minimum reference length of said tag, and a tag display portion for displaying the tag having a width determined by said tag display area width determining portion and a length set by said current page tag length setting portion in said tag display area.

23. A storage medium for storing page information display data which is read into an electronic information display device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area on both ends in a page rolling direction to roll the page of said page information in said information viewing area, and a tag shape calculation portion for calculating the width of said tag display area and the size of tag to be displayed in said tag display area, on the basis of the predetermined page information display data,

wherein said page information display data comprises the display dot number data of said display portion in each of the page rolling direction and a tag display direction, the total page number data of electronic information stored in said storage portion, the dot number data per unit tag which is equal to the number of dots in said dot number data divided by the total page number in said total page number data, and the minimum reference data having the minimum reference width of tag which is predetermined for the tag length in said page rolling direction and the minimum reference length of tag which is predetermined for the tag length in said tag display area, as compared with the number of dots per unit tag.

24. A page information display method for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, said tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area, said method including:

calculating the height of current page tag appended to a current page of current display object which is read from said storage portion, on the basis of the ratio of the current page number to the total page number;

displaying the current page read from said storage portion in said information viewing area and displaying a tag appended to said current page in said one or other tag display area with a current page tag height calculated in calculating said current page tag height;

displaying a succeeding page tag appended to each page following said current page in one tag display area with a height smaller than said current page tag height before or after displaying said current page;

displaying a preceding page tag appended to each page preceding the page number of said current page in said other tag display area with a height larger than said current page tag height before or after displaying said current page; and

redisplaying a same height tag by moving the displayed tag in one or other tag display area while maintaining the height of said tag in rolling the page for said current page.

25. A page information display method for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, said tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area, said method including:

calculating the height of current page tag appended to a current page of current display object which is read from said storage portion, on the basis of the ratio of the current page number to the total page number of said electronic information;

displaying the current page read from said storage portion in said information viewing area and displaying the tag appended to said current page in said one or other tag display area with a current page tag height calculated in calculating said current page tag height;

displaying a succeeding page tag appended to each page following said current page in one tag display area with a height smaller than said current page tag height before or after displaying said current page;

displaying a preceding page tag appended to each page preceding the page number of said current page in said other tag display area with a height larger than said current page tag height before or after displaying said current page; and

redisplaying a same ratio height tag by moving the displayed tag in one or other tag display area while calculating the current page tag height on the basis of the ratio of the page number of a new current page to the total page number in rolling the roll of said current page.

26. The page information display method according to claim 25, further including expanding the tab length of tag in the neighborhood of a predetermined pointer event, if said pointer event occurs in said one or other tag display area, before or after redisplaying said same ratio height tag.

27. A storage medium for storing a page information display program for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, a display having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, said tag display area being provided on either side of said information viewing area, and a display controller for controlling electronic information stored in said storage portion to be read on the basis of the page specifying information externally input, and displayed with a predetermined tag appended on said display,

wherein said page information display program comprises the commands for operating said display controller including a tab expanding command for resetting the length of said displayed tag on the basis of the relation between the tag displayed in said tag display area and the pointer coordinates or pressure, and a tag length restore command for restoring the length of said reset tag to its original length after the elapse of a certain time since said pointer coordinates or pressure gets back to a steady state.

28. An electronic information display device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area, said tag display area being on either end of said information viewing area in a page rolling direction to roll the page of said page information in said information viewing area,

wherein said electronic information display device further comprises a tag display mode selecting portion for selecting a normal display in which the length of tag to be displayed in said tag display area is constant, when the total page number of electronic information is less than or equal to a predetermined number, and selecting a semantic display in which the tag length is decreased stepwise from the current page tag, when the total page number exceeds the predetermined number.

29. A storage medium for storing a page information display program for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a memory for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, a display having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, said tag display area being provided on either side of said information viewing area, and a display controller for controlling electronic information stored in said storage portion to be read on the basis of the page specifying information externally input, and displayed with a predetermined tag appended on said display,

wherein said page information display program comprises the commands for operating said display controller including a tag length calculation command for calculating the tag length per tag on the basis of the total page number information of said electronic information and the length of said tag display area, a normal display command for setting said calculated tag length to a display tag length when the calculated tag length is above a predetermined tag length, a semantic display command for setting said predetermined tag length to the tag length of said current page when said calculated tag length is below the predetermined length and setting the length of tag appended to each page preceding and succeeding said current page to a shorter length stepwise, with the tag length of said current page at the uppermost level, and a tag height control command for redisplaying the tag with the constant height of each tag during said normal display or calculating the tag height on the basis of the page number of a new current page during the semantic display in rolling the current page displayed in said information viewing area.

30. A storage medium for storing the page information display data which is read into an electronic information display device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area on both ends of said information viewing area in a page rolling direction to roll the page of the page information in said information viewing area, and a tab shape calculation portion for calculating the width of said tag display area and the size of tag to be displayed in said tag display area on the basis of the predetermined page information display data,

wherein said page information display data has the dot number data per unit tag which is determined in accordance with the total page number of said electronic information and the length of said tag display area, the minimum reference data having the minimum reference width of tag which is predetermined for the tag length in said page rolling direction and the minimum reference length of tag which is predetermined for the tag length in said tag display area, as compared with the dot number per unit tag, and the tag ratio data which is referenced when the dot number data per unit tag is below said minimum reference data, in which the tag ratio data is a ratio of the tag length varied consecutively from the current page of said electronic information to the end page or start page relative to the tag length with said minimum reference data.

31. A page information display method for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, said tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area, said method including:

rolling the page to move a current page in a page rolling direction when an operation is applied on the tag displayed in said tag display area and to display the page in said information viewing area on the operation of said tag; and

moving a tab appended to said current page in the page rolling direction between said one and other tag display areas at the same time when the current page is moved in rolling the page.

32. A page information display method for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, said tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area, said method including:

displaying a tag appended to each page following a current page in said one tag display area, and displaying a tag preceding the current page in said other tag display area, on the basis of the page number of current page to be currently displayed which is read from said storage portion; and

event driven display control process in said information viewing area to be changed in accordance with the kind of event, when there is a pointer event of pointing to the tag displayed in displaying said tag.

33. The page information display method according to claim 32, wherein said event driven display control process includes moving said page in accordance with the motion of drag when the tag appended to said each page is dragged.

34. The page information display method according to claim 33, further including displaying a next page in a space in the information viewing area provided in moving the current page, into which said tag is dragged, subsequently to said event driven display control process.

35. The page information display method according to claim 32, wherein said event driven display control process includes displaying electronic information of a page indicated by a tag, when the tag in said tag display area is clicked.

36. The page information display method according to claim 32, wherein said event driven display control process includes displaying successively each page in a tag slot when the tag slot displayed in said tag display area is dragged.

37. The page information display method according to claim 32, wherein said event driven display control process includes rolling a number of pages corresponding to the pressure or elapse time of pointer down for the tag of said current page.

38. An electronic information display device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, and a display portion having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page and a tag display area provided along with said information viewing area, said tag display area being provided on either end of said information viewing area in a page rolling direction to roll the page information in said information viewing area,

wherein said electronic information display device further comprises a tag display portion for displaying a tag appended to each page following a current page in said one tag display area, and displaying a tag appended to each page preceding the current page in said other tag display area, on the basis of the page number of current page to be currently displayed which is read from said storage portion, and an event driven display control portion for event driven display control process in said information viewing area to be changed in accordance with the kind of event, when there is a pointer event of pointing to the tag displayed in displaying said tag.

39. A storage medium for storing a page information display program for displaying electronic information using an information viewing device comprising a storage portion for storing electronic information having a plurality of pages in a unit of page of predetermined size, a display having an information viewing area for displaying electronic information stored in said storage portion in a unit of said page, and a tag display area for displaying a tag indicating the content of said page, said tag display area being provided on either side of said information viewing area, and a display controller for controlling electronic information stored in said storage portion to be read on the basis of the page specifying information externally input, and displayed with a predetermined tag appended on said display,

wherein said page information display program comprises the commands for operating said display controller including a tab display command for displaying a tag appended to each page following a current page in said one tag display area and displaying a tag appended to each page preceding the current page in said other tag display area, on the basis of the page number of the current page to be currently displayed which is read from said storage portion, an event driven display control command for event driven display control process in said information viewing area to be changed in accordance with the kind of event, when there is a pointer event of pointing to the tag displayed in accordance with said tag display command, and a tag movement command for moving the current page in accordance with the motion of drag, when the tag appended to said current page is drugged.

40. The storage medium for storing the page information display program according to claim 39, wherein said event driven display control command comprises a command for displaying electronic information of a page indicated by a tag clicked, when the tag displayed in said tag display area is clicked.

41. The storage medium for storing the page information display program according to claim 39, wherein said event driven display control command comprises a command for displaying successively each page in a tag slot, when the tag slot displayed in said tag display area is dragged.

42. The storage medium for storing the page information display program according to claim 39, wherein said event driven display control process comprises a time dependent rolling command for rolling a number of pages corresponding to the elapse time of pointer down for the tag of said current page.

43. The storage medium for storing the page information display program according to claim 39, wherein said event driven display control process comprises a time dependent rolling command for rolling a number of pages corresponding to the pressure of pointer down for the tag of said current page.