Information display apparatus and information display method

• US 7,908,319 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2004
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Aratani, Shuntaro, Ohno, Tomoyuki, Fukuda, Tetsu
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain; Farrukh
• Application Number:
  US11/003,496
• Publication Number:
  US 20050138561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,290 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 709/207, 709/250, 382/235, 382/276, 382/312, 715/700, 715/733
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00129 with a display device, e.g. CRT or LCD monitor with a television apparatus H04N1/00283; arrangements for control of display devices G09G
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0035 User-machine interface; Control console input or output arrangements for computers G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00453 arranged in a two dimensional array
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00458 Sequential viewing of a plurality of images, e.g. browsing or scrolling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0039 Connection via a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0049 By wire, cable or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3212 of data relating to a job, e.g. communication, capture or filing of an image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3219 of a job status, e.g. successful execution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission

Abstract

When the same image is pleasantly viewed by information display apparatuses connected to each other through a network, each of the information display apparatuses has a unit for acquiring display format information of an image displayed by a destination information display apparatus, so that information representing a display format of the image displayed by the destination information display apparatus is displayed on the displayed image in a multiplex mode to make it possible know a viewing state of the destination information display apparatus.

Claims

1. A display system including a first information display apparatus and a second information display apparatus, each of which are connected to a network and receives images from a server, and displays the received images,

said first information display apparatus comprising:

a first screen;

a first display control unit which displays, on the first screen, one or more images received from the server through the network; and

a transmitting unit which transmits, to said second information display apparatus through the network, image identification information and display format information of one or more images being displayed on the first screen,

wherein the display format information includes a display format of a slide show in which a plurality of images are sequentially displayed and switched with time, and

said second information display apparatus comprising;

a second screen;

a second display control unit which displays on the second screen a plurality of images received from the server through the network, in a display format in which the plurality of images are arranged and displayed on the second screen together; and

an acquiring unit which acquires the image identification information and the display format information transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus,

wherein, the second display control unit displays an icon representing the display format information transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus, overlapped on a partial area of an image, from among the plurality of images displayed on the second screen, which is a same image as the image being displayed on the first screen of said first information display apparatus, based on the image identification information and the display format information acquired by the acquiring unit, and

wherein, when the display format information, which has been transmitted from the transmitting unit of the first information display apparatus and acquired by the acquiring unit, shows a display format of a slide show, the second display control unit changes a display position on the second screen of the icon representing the display format of the slide show, according to progress of the slide show in the first information display apparatus, and

wherein, when a first image is displayed on the first screen of the first information display apparatus as part of the slide show, the position of the icon representing the display format of the slide show is displayed on the corresponding first image among the plurality of images simultaneously being displayed on the second screen of the second information display apparatus, and when the slide show being displayed on the first screen progresses to a second image, the position of the icon representing the display format of the slide show displayed on the second screen changes its location from the first image to the corresponding second image among the plurality of images simultaneously being displayed on the second screen.

2. The display system according to claim 1, wherein, the image identification information is a Uniform Resource Locator indicating a location of the image on the network.

3. A display system including a first information display apparatus and a second information display apparatus, each of which are connected to a network and receives images from the server, and displays the received images,

said first information display apparatus comprising:

a first screen;

a first display control unit which displays on the first screen one or more images received from the server through the network; and

a video camera unit which photographs a moving image of the user of the first information display apparatus;

a transmitting unit which transmits, to said second information display apparatus through the network, image identification information of one or more images being displayed on the first screen and the moving image of the user of the first information display apparatus, and

said second information display apparatus comprising;

a second screen

a second display control unit which displays on the second screen a plurality of images received from the server through the network, in a display format in which the plurality of images are arranged and displayed on the second screen together; and

an acquiring unit which acquires the image identification information and the moving image transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus,

wherein, the second display control unit displays the moving image of the user of the first information display apparatus and an icon, representing that an image with this icon is the same as an image being displayed on the first information display apparatus, overlapped on a partial area of an image from among the plurality of images displayed on the second screen which is the same image as the image being displayed on the first screen of said first information display apparatus, based on the image identification information transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus and acquired by the acquiring unit.

4. A control method of a display system including a first information display apparatus having a first screen, a first display control unit and a transmitting unit, and a second information display apparatus having a second screen, a second display control unit and an acquiring unit, where each of the first and second information display apparatuses are connected to a network and receives images from a server, and displays the received images, the method comprising:

in the first information display apparatus;

a first display step in which the first display control unit displays on the first screen one or more images received from the server through the network; and

a transmitting step in which the transmitting unit transmits to said second information display apparatus through the network, image identification information and display format information of one or more images being displayed on the first screen, wherein the display format information includes a display format of a slide show in which a plurality of image are sequentially displayed and switched with time; and

in the second information display apparatus;

a second display step in which the second display control unit displays on the second screen a plurality of images received from the server through the network, in a display format in which the plurality of images are arranged and displayed on the second screen together; and

an acquiring step in which the acquiring unit acquires the image identification information and the display format information transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus in the transmitting step,

wherein, the second display step displays an icon, representing the display format information transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus in the transmitting step, overlapped on a partial area of an image from among the plurality of images displayed on the second screen, which is a same image as the image being displayed on the first screen of said first information display apparatus in the first display step, based on the image identification information and the display format information acquired by the acquiring step,

wherein, when the display format information, which has been transmitted in the transmitting step and acquired in the acquiring step, shows a display format of a slide show, the second display control unit changes a display position on the second screen of the icon representing the display format of the slide show, according to progress of the slide show in the first information display apparatus, and

wherein, when a first image is displayed on the first screen of the first information display apparatus as part of the slide show, the position of the icon representing the display format of the slide show is displayed on the corresponding first image among the plurality of image simultaneously being displayed on the second screen of the second information display apparatus, and when the slide show being displayed on the first screen progresses to a second image, the position of the icon representing the display format of the slide show displayed on the second screen changes its location from the first image to the corresponding second image among the plurality of images simultaneously being displayed on the second screen.

5. A control method of a display system including a first information display apparatus having a first screen, a first display control unit, a video camera unit which photographs a moving image of the user of the first information display apparatus, and a transmitting unit, and a second information display apparatus having a second screen, a second display control unit and an acquiring unit, where each of the first and second information display apparatuses are connected to a network and receives images from a server, and displays the received images, the method comprising:

in the first information display apparatus;

a first display step in which the first display control unit displays on the first screen one or more images received from the server through the network; and

a transmitting step in which the transmitting unit transmits to said second information display apparatus through the network, image identification information of one or more images being displayed on the first screen and the moving image of the user of the first information display apparatus; and

in the second information display apparatus;

a second display step in which the second display control unit displays on the second screen a plurality of images received from the server through the network, in a display format in which the plurality of images are arranged and displayed on the second screen together; and

an acquiring step in which the acquiring unit acquires the image identification information and the moving image transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus in the transmitting step,

wherein, the second display step displays the moving image of the user of the first information display apparatus and an icon, representing that an image with this icon is the same as an image being displayed on the first information display apparatus, overlapped on a partial area of an image from among the plurality of images displayed on the second screen which is the same image as the image being displayed on the first screen of said first information display apparatus, based on the image identification information transmitted from the transmitting unit of said first information display apparatus in the transmitting step and acquired by the acquiring step.