Display apparatus, display method and program

• US 9,223,468 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2012
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Morinaga, Yasuo, Tsukamoto, Masakatsu, Ota, Manabu
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US13/879,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20130239034A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,307 Days
• Field of Search: 715763-765, 715/810, 715/840, 715/740
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34

Abstract

A display apparatus communicatively connected to a distribution apparatus. The display apparatus storing one or more information contents of external information distributed from the distribution apparatus and/or internal information of the display apparatus, an icon associated with each of the information contents, a placement area for placing the icon, and one or more templates having one or more placement areas for placing icons; determining which of the information contents and the icons are to be displayed; selecting a template where the determined information contents and icons are displayable; and generating and displaying an image to be displayed by embedding the determined icon in a placement area of the selected template corresponding to a placement area associated with the determined icon.

Claims

1. A display apparatus communicatively connected to a distribution apparatus, comprising:

circuitry configured to

store one or more information contents of external information distributed from the distribution apparatus and/or internal information of the display apparatus, an icon associated with each of the information contents and a placement area for placing the icon;

store one or more templates having one or more placement areas for placing icons;

determine which of the information contents and the icons are to be displayed by pluralization and/or aggregation of icons associated with to-be-displayed information contents such that a number of the to-be-displayed information contents falls within a predefined range and select a template where the determined information contents and icons are displayable; and

generate and display an image to be displayed by embedding the determined icon in a placement area of the selected template corresponding to a placement area associated with the determined icon.

2. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein if multiple icons associated with the different information contents to be displayed have a common placement area, the circuitry aggregates the multiple icons into one icon, and embeds the aggregated icon in a placement area of the selected template corresponding to the placement area associated with the aggregated icon.

3. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuitry selects a template among the one or more templates, the template at least including placement areas required to represent the determined icons and having the least placement areas.

4. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuitry compares a number of icons to be displayed with a predefined number of information items recognizable to a user on a screen of the display apparatus and aggregates the multiple icons into one icon until the number of icons reaches the predefined recognizable number of information items.

5. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuitry compares a number of icons to be displayed with a predefined minimum number of icons and if the number of icons is less than the predefined minimum number of icons, determines multiple icons associated with the information contents to be displayed as the icons to be displayed.

6. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuitry compares a number of icons to be displayed with a predefined number of information items recognizable to a user on a screen of the display apparatus and deletes an icon associated with the information content having a lower display priority from the information contents to be displayed until the number of icons is less than or equal to the predefined recognizable number of information items.

7. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuitry evaluates visibility indicative of complexity of the generated image and if the evaluated visibility is lower than a predefined threshold, determines a further information content and a further icon to be further displayed.

8. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the circuitry receives a predefined number of combinations of icons to be displayed and selected templates, generates an image for each of the combinations and selects an image having the highest visibility in the generated images as the image to be displayed.

9. A method executed by a display apparatus communicatively connected to a distribution apparatus, the method comprising:

acquiring one or more information contents of external information distributed from the distribution apparatus and/or internal information of the display apparatus and storing an icon associated with each of the information contents and a placement area for placing the icon;

determining which of the information contents and the icons are to be displayed by pluralization and/or aggregation of icons associated with to-be-displayed information contents such that a number of the to-be-displayed information contents falls within a predefined range and selecting a template, where the determined information contents and icons are displayable, from one or more templates having one or more placement areas for placing the icons; and

generating and displaying an image to be displayed by embedding the determined icon in a placement area of the selected template corresponding to a placement area associated with the determined icon.

10. A storage device for storing a program executed by a processor in a display apparatus communicatively connected to a distribution apparatus, the program causing the processor to:

acquire one or more information contents of external information distributed from the distribution apparatus and/or internal information of the display apparatus and store an icon associated with each of the information contents and a placement area for placing the icon;

determine which of the information contents and the icons are to be displayed by pluralization and/or aggregation of icons associated with to-be-displayed information contents such that a number of the to-be-displayed information contents falls within a predefined range and select a template where the determined information contents and icons are displayable from one or more templates having one or more placement areas for placing the icons; and

generate and display an image to be displayed by embedding the determined icon in a placement area of the selected template corresponding to a placement area associated with the determined icon.