Menu display apparatus, menu display method and program

• US 8,918,738 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2010
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yoshitomi, Kosuke, Nakata, Daisuke, Tsukamoto, Takeo, Hyodo, Katsuya, Sakata, Junichirou, Moriya, Shoichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): PHANTANA ANGKOOL, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US13/263,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20120036475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,798 Days
• Field of Search: 715/810, 715/812, 715/764
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Provided is a menu display apparatus that displays a menu of a plurality of applications, including an acquisition unit that acquires display data of content information representing content to be displayed in the menu of the content managed by each application from each application and a display controller that controls a display of the content information in each area according to setting conditions for the area provided for each of the applications in the menu and the display information of the content information acquired from each application. Accordingly, the display of the content information to be displayed in the menu in each area is controlled according to setting conditions for the area provided for each application in the menu and display data of the content information acquired from each application.

Claims

1. A menu display apparatus that displays a menu of a plurality of applications, comprising:

an acquisition unit that acquires display data of content information representing content to be displayed in the menu of the content managed by each of the applications from each of the applications; and

a display controller that controls a display of the content information in each area according to setting conditions for the area provided for each of the applications in the menu and the display data of the content information acquired from each of the applications,

wherein the display controller controls the display of the content information in each area of the menu according to setting conditions for the respective area provided for each respective one of the applications in the menu and the display data of the content information acquired from each of the applications.

2. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the acquisition unit acquires the display data of the content information of the content set by each of the applications based on at least one of a usage date/time, an update date/time, or a usage frequency of the content or information specified by a user about the content of the content managed by each of the applications.

3. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the acquisition unit acquires an image of the content information, an arrangement, a size, and a rotation angle of the content information in the area as the display data of the content information.

4. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when a state of the application is updated, the display controller controls an update display of the content information in the area of the application whose state has been updated.

5. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein an arrangement, a size, and a rotation angle of the area in the menu are held as the setting conditions for the area.

6. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an editing unit that performs layout edit processing of the area in the menu,

wherein the setting conditions decided based on a result of the layout edit processing are held as the setting conditions for the area.

7. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a rearrangement unit that performs rearrangement processing of the area so that overlapping of the areas in the menu is reduced,

wherein the setting conditions decided based on a result of the rearrangement processing are held as the setting conditions for the area.

8. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a registration unit that performs registration processing of the application with the menu,

wherein the setting conditions for the area added for the application registered by the registration processing are held.

16. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the content information of the content managed by each of the applications comprises data content generated through execution of respective applications.

17. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the content information comprises at least one of a screen shot image of a Web page browsed by a user of the apparatus, a jacket photo of a music album listened to by the user, a video title image or screen shot image of playback video of a video viewed by the user, and a thumbnail image of photos viewed by the user.

18. The menu display apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the displaying of the content information comprises a displaying of an image corresponding to an executed process of a corresponding application.

9. A menu display apparatus that displays a menu of a plurality of applications, comprising:

an acquisition unit that acquires display data of content information representing content to be displayed in the menu of the content managed by each of the applications from each of the applications;

a display controller that controls a display of the content information in each area according to setting conditions for the area provided for each of the applications in the menu and the display data of the content information acquired from each of the applications; and

an operation unit for operating the menu,

wherein when the area caused to be focused in the menu via the operation unit is selected, the display controller controls the display of a sub-menu of the application corresponding to the selected area and the display of the content information in the sub-menu of the content managed by the application.

10. The menu display apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising:

an execution preparation unit that makes preparations for execution of the application,

wherein when the content information is selected from the sub-menu via the operation unit, the execution preparation unit provides activation parameters of the content corresponding to the selected content information to the application that processes the content.

11. The menu display apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein when a focus for the area is moved in the menu via the operation unit, the display controller controls a rotation display of a menu region so that a rotation angle of the area caused to be focused becomes 0°

in accordance with the area caused to be focused by the focus moved in a spiral fashion with a center of the menu region set as a reference.

12. The menu display apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein when the area caused to be focused in the menu via the operation unit is selected, the display controller controls a zoom-in display of the sub-menu of the application corresponding to the selected area.

13. The menu display apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein when a return to the menu is instructed in the sub-menu via the operation unit, the display controller controls a zoom-out display from the sub-menu to the menu.

14. A menu display method of displaying a menu of a plurality of applications, comprising:

acquiring display data of content information representing content to be displayed in the menu of the content managed by each of the applications from each of the applications; and

controlling a display of the content information in each area according to setting conditions for the area provided for each of the applications in the menu and the display data of the content information acquired from each of the applications,

wherein the display of the content information in each area of the menu is controlled according to setting conditions for the respective area provided for each respective one of the applications in the menu and the display data of the content information acquired from each of the applications.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a program, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to execute a menu display method of displaying a menu of a plurality of applications, the menu display method comprising:

acquiring display data of content information representing content to be displayed in the menu of the content managed by each of the applications from each of the applications; and

controlling a display of the content information in each area according to setting conditions for the area provided for each of the applications in the menu and the display data of the content information acquired from each of the applications,

wherein the display of the content information in each area of the menu is controlled according to setting conditions for the respective area provided for each respective one of the applications in the menu and the display data of the content information acquired from each of the applications.