Method and apparatus for presenting information

• US 20050010599A1
• Filed: 06/01/2004
• Published: 01/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kake, Tomokazu, Kita, Kensuke, Horie, Hiromasa
• Granted Patent: US 7,587,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Files such as musical pieces are represented in symbols such as a star, and are clustered based on the attribute of each file so as to be allocated in an information space. An impression, such as “refreshing”, on the musical piece corresponding to the file is represented and given in the form of emotion. The initial search for a file is carried out by roughly cutting out a marked-out space. When narrowed down, the file is linearly developed so as to support a user selection.

Claims

1. A method for presenting information, the method including:

representing in symbols a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer and mapping the information elements represented in symbols to an information space; and

limiting the information elements using a marked-out space set in the information space.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said limiting includes:

receiving specification of the marked-out space in the information space; and

specifying information elements that belong to the marked-out space in such a manner as to be distinguishable from information elements that do not belong to the marked-out space.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the information elements are mapped to the information space where attributes of the information elements serve as a space axis.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein a space which includes an information element specified as that belonging to the marked-out space is created as a new marked-out space, the method further including:

receiving specification to further limit the information elements in the new marked-out space.

5. A method according to claim 1, further including developing the information elements in a state represented by the symbols into a form that concretely represents information contents thereof when the number of information elements belonging to the marked-out space becomes small.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the information element is expressed as a semitransparent object, and an overlap of information elements is represented by alpha blending.

7. A method for presenting information, the method including:

representing in symbols a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer and mapping the information elements represented in symbols to a first information space; and

initiating a transition from the first information space to a second information space.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the first information space is a three-dimensional space, and the transition is made to the second information space by causing to move a viewpoint from which the three-dimensional space is viewed.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein the first information space is determined in a manner such that an attribute of the information element serves as a space axis, and wherein the transition to the second information space is carried out by switching the attribute.

10. A method according to claim 7, further including assigning to each cluster of information elements localized in a space a marker indicative of a characteristic thereof when the information element is allocated in at least one of the first information space and the second information space.

11. An information presenting apparatus, including:

a space controller which represents in symbols a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer and which maps the information elements represented in symbols to an information space; and

an information selector which limits the information elements using a marked-out space set in the information space.

12. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said information selector includes:

a marked-out space setting unit which receives specification of a marked-out space in the information space; and

a marked-out space acquiring unit which specifies the marked-out space determined by the specification of a marked-out space and information elements that belong to the determined marked-out space.

13. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said marked-out space setting unit receives specification of position and range of the marked-out space.

14. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 11, further including an information development unit which develops the information elements in a state represented by the symbols into a form that concretely represents information contents thereof when the number of information elements belonging to the marked-out space becomes small.

15. An information presenting apparatus, including:

an element mapping unit which represents in symbols a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer and which maps the information elements represented in symbols to a first information space; and

a space motion instructing unit which initiates a transition from the first information space to a second information space.

16. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said space motion instructing unit instructs a motion of a viewpoint from which the first space is viewed.

17. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the first information space is determined in a manner such that an attribute of the information element serves as a space axis, and wherein said space motion instructing unit instructs switching the attribute of the information element utilized as the space axis at the time of determining the first information space.

18. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said space motion instructing unit instructs the transition from the first information space to the second information space when there is no user action for a predetermined period of time.

19. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, further including a drawing unit which switches between the first information space and the second information space by morphing.

20. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, further including a space selector which acquires at least one of the first information space and the second information space as a space represented by a map.

21. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, further including a space selector which acquires at least one of the first information space and the second information space as a space that symbolizes emotion.

22. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, further including a space selector which acquires at least one of the first information space and the second information space as a space in which information is hierarchized and then stored.

23. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 15, further including an auxiliary information acquiring unit which acquires a content of an information element that exists in an area, indicated by an indicating means in a screen for selecting information elements, or in the vicinity of the area when at least one of the first information space and the second information space is displayed.

24. An information presenting apparatus, including:

a space controller which maps, as symbols, a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer to an information space; and

a drawing unit which draws a plurality of symbols mapped, in an inseparable manner, when the symbols are displayed at an overlapped position.

25. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said drawing unit draws the symbols in a manner such that a plurality of symbols mapped are represented in an inseparable manner by drawing each symbol as an object whose boundary is loosely defined.

26. An information presenting apparatus, including:

a space controller which maps, as symbols, a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer to an information space; and

an information selector which executes a search on the symbols in a manner such that part of the information space is cut out as a lump of volume which is assumed to include a symbol of interest.

27. An information presenting apparatus, including:

a space controller which maps, as symbols, a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer to an information space; and

an information selector which cuts out, as a lump of volume, a space containing the information elements instead of directly specifying the information elements, in the event of selecting the information elements.

28. An information presenting apparatus, including:

a space controller which maps, as symbols, a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer to an information space; and

a drawing unit which draws a plurality of symbols mapped,

wherein said space controller represents the information space as a vast space and said drawing unit represents the symbols as luminous bodies scattered in the vast space.

29. An information presenting apparatus, including:

a space controller which maps, as symbols, a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer to an information space; and

a drawing unit which draws a plurality of symbols mapped,

wherein said drawing unit varies, as appropriate, a viewpoint of drawing so as to redraw the symbols.

30. An information presenting apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said drawing unit redraws the symbols so as to express a state in which a user cruises continuously within the information space.

31. A computer-readable recording medium which stores a program executable by a computer, the program including the functions of:

representing in symbols a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer and mapping the information elements represented in symbols to an information space; and

limiting the information elements using a marked-out space set in the information space.

32. A computer-readable recording medium which stores a program executable by a computer, the program including the functions of:

representing in symbols a plurality of information elements each being separately executable by a computer and mapping the information elements represented in symbols to an information space; and

initiating a transition from the first information space to a second information space.