JP2011197851A - Information display apparatus, information display method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information display apparatus, an information display method and a program having superior information readability.SOLUTION: The information display apparatus includes a display means for displaying information shared with other terminals. The display means has a two-dimensional main display area 13, and displays image objects (14-19), associated with pieces of shared information in the main display area 13. The image objects are designed properly so as to match the respective pieces of shared information and enables knowing the meaning of the shared information at the first glance of the image objects; and thereby the information display apparatus, the information display method and the program that are superior in information readability can be provided.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information display device, an information display method, and a program, and more particularly to an information display device, an information display method, and a program related to an information sharing technique between terminals connected to a network.

  A so-called “bulletin board system” is a typical example of information sharing technology between terminals connected to a network. In short, this system uploads bulletin board information written in one terminal to a server via a network, and enables browsing from other terminals using this server as an intermediary.

  As a prior art regarding such a bulletin board system, for example, there is one described in Patent Document 1 below. In the following Patent Document 1, when a browsing request is made from another terminal, a “list” indicating the serial number and title of the bulletin board information is displayed on the requesting terminal, and the serial number is designated by the user of the terminal In response, the bulletin board information corresponding to the serial number is displayed on the terminal.

JP-A-5-257840

  However, the above-described conventional technique has a problem in that the readability of information at the browsing request source terminal is not good. This is because it is natural to interpret the above “list” as “character information”, and it takes time to read characters. In particular, in the case of a list that covers a large number of lines, it takes a considerable amount of time to grasp (read) the whole, and there is a risk that information will be overlooked without unavoidable mistakes such as reading mistakes or skipping.

  Then, this invention is providing the information display apparatus excellent in the readability of information, the information display method, and a program.

The invention according to claim 1 is an information display device comprising a display means for displaying shared information with other terminals, the display means has a two-dimensional main display area, and the main display area includes: An image object associated with each of the shared information is displayed.
The invention described in claim 1 described above may be as follows.
A plurality of the main display areas are provided (the invention according to claim 2).
The invention described in claim 1 or 2 described above may be as follows.
One side of the main display area corresponds to the time axis, and automatic scroll means for automatically scrolling the main display area in the time axis direction in accordance with the creation time of the shared information displayed in the main display area is provided. 3).
The invention further comprises: manual scroll means for causing one side of the main display area to correspond to the time axis and manually scrolling the main display area in the time axis direction in accordance with a user operation. ).
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising manual scroll means for causing one side of the main display area to correspond to a time axis and manually scrolling the main display area in a past or future direction in accordance with a user operation. invention).
Display in which one side of the main display area corresponds to the time axis, and image objects associated with each piece of shared information displayed in the main display area are displayed in time series along the time axis of the main display area Control means is provided (the invention according to claim 6).
The invention described in any one of claims 1 to 6 may be as follows.
A sub display area for displaying an operation history of the terminal is provided, and image objects associated with each of the operation histories are displayed in the sub display area (the invention according to claim 7).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating an image (the invention according to claim 8).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a moving image (the invention according to claim 9).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating music information (the invention according to claim 10).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating position information of the own terminal, another terminal, or an arbitrary target (the invention according to claim 11).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a location of content on a network (the invention according to claim 12).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a registration location of a user who has registered the shared information (the invention according to claim 13).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating the name of the user who registered the shared information or arbitrary identification information (the invention according to claim 14).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a facial photograph or a portrait or avatar of a user who has registered the shared information (the invention according to claim 15).
The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a registration location of the user who registered the shared information, and is sequentially updated according to the position movement of the user. (Invention of Claim 16).
When the image object associated with each piece of the shared information indicates shared information newly written by another user, the image object is displayed in a different manner from the other object so that the object is conspicuous. (Invention of Claim 17)
The present invention is characterized in that it has a restricting means for restricting the shared information displayed in the main display area to only writing from users belonging to a specific group (the invention according to claim 18).
The shared information and the registered user's mail address or telephone number of the shared information are stored in association with each other, and when one of the image objects associated with each of the shared information is selected, the mail address corresponding to the selected object Alternatively, the telephone number is read out, and mail transmission or telephone call can be executed (the invention according to claim 19).
The main display area is shared with a terminal of another user via a network (the invention according to claim 20).
The image object displayed in the main display area includes a handwritten character or a handwritten figure (the invention according to claim 21).
When the image object displayed in the main display area is a handwritten character, it has handwritten character recognition means for recognizing the handwritten character and converting it into a character code (the invention according to claim 22).
In the case where there is no registration of an image object in the main display area for a predetermined period of time, the display is omitted with a blank period between them (claim 23).
When there is no registration of an image object in the main display area for a predetermined time, there is provided a designation means for designating a user as to whether or not to omit the display as a blank period. 24).
The image object displayed in the main display area is displayed in a simplified manner for those whose registration time is older than a predetermined time (the invention according to claim 25).
The image objects displayed in the main display area are collectively displayed for each type of image object (the invention according to claim 26).
When the image object displayed in the main display area indicates shared information related to a future schedule, an alarm notification unit is provided for setting an alarm notification associated with a future time included in the shared information. (Invention of Claim 27)
At least one of the image objects displayed in the main display area includes an API provided from another network service (the invention according to claim 29).
The invention described in claim 27 may be as follows.
The fact that the alarm notification is set can be displayed in the main display area (the invention according to claim 28).
The invention according to claim 30 displays a two-dimensional main display area on the display means when displaying the shared information with other terminals on the display means, and the shared information is displayed on the main display area. Displaying an image object associated with each of the image objects.
Furthermore, a program for realizing the main functions shown in the first aspect of the present invention is provided to the terminal computer (the third aspect of the present invention).

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information display apparatus excellent in the readability of information, the information display method, and a program can be provided.

1 is a conceptual overall configuration diagram of an embodiment. 3 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a terminal 4. FIG. (A) is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the terminal 4, (b) is a conceptual diagram of the main display area 13. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of an image object. It is a figure which shows the example of a two-dimensional distributed display of an icon. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the registration method of shared information. 3 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a server 3. FIG. It is a figure which shows the storage table of shared information. It is a figure which shows the time run of "registration" and "browsing". FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation flow of the server 3. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement flow of the terminals 4-6. It is a figure which shows the countermeasure concept of a non-registration period. It is a figure which shows the example of an icon arrangement. It is a conceptual diagram of mashup.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the information sharing system 1 includes a server 3 and terminals 4 to 6 connected to a network 2. The network 2 is a communication path for transmitting data exchanged between the server 3 and the terminals 4 to 6. For example, a packet communication method, that is, data is subdivided into units called packets, and each packet is divided. It is possible to adopt a method of communicating by attaching addresses of a transmission source and a transmission destination. The network 2 may be an aggregate of various networks. In this case, a data distribution device called a router for distributing the above-described packets by address may be provided at a connection location (node) of each network. . Since the representative of the network 2 in such an aggregate format is the Internet today, the network 2 is also treated as the Internet in this embodiment.

  The server 3 provides a predetermined service to the terminals 4 to 6 connected to the network 2. The predetermined service in this embodiment is mainly “information sharing”. That is, the server 3 organizes and stores information appropriately uploaded from the terminals 4 to 6 and stores information stored in the requesting terminal in response to a browsing request from any of the terminals 4 to 6. Or is simultaneously distributed to each of the terminals 4 to 6 at regular time intervals. In this way, information is shared among all the terminals 4 to 6.

  Here, the illustrated terminals 4 to 6 represent some of a large number of terminals connected to the network 2. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the terminal 4 at the left end is referred to as “own terminal” owned by the own user, and the other terminals 5 and 6 are referred to as “other terminals” owned by other users. In this case, the user of the own terminal 4 can check the information uploaded from the other terminals 5 and 6 to the server 3 as well as the information uploaded from the own terminal 4 to the server 3. . The same applies to the other terminals 5 and 6, and the information uploaded from the terminals 4 to 6 can be confirmed on one other terminal 5, and the information uploaded from the terminals 4 to 6 can be confirmed on the second other terminal 6. It can be confirmed.

  The terminals 4 to 6 may be configured to access the server 3 via the network 2 and receive the above service (information sharing). For example, an information terminal such as a personal computer or a mobile phone with a data communication function may be used, but at least a display unit that can graphically display the shared information needs to be provided. It is desirable that the display unit be capable of multi-tone display and color display and capable of touch input with a pen tip or a fingertip (for example, a color liquid crystal panel with a touch panel).

  FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of the terminal 4. In addition, since the structure of the other terminals 5 and 6 is the same as that of this terminal 4, when referring to the structure of the other terminals 5 and 6, it shall refer to this figure. The terminal 4 includes at least a communication unit 7 that performs data communication with the network 2, a control unit 8 that performs overall control of the overall operation of the terminal 4, for example, a program control system configured by a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits, A display unit 9 having a display size of preferably a color liquid crystal panel, a touch panel 10 disposed so as to cover the display screen of the display unit 9, and a memory comprising a mass storage device such as a semiconductor memory or a magnetic disk And a position detection unit 12 such as a GPS (Global Positioning System).

  In FIG. 2, illustration of portions not directly related to the invention is omitted. For example, when the terminal 4 is an information terminal such as a personal computer, it includes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse in addition to the above units, or includes a voice communication unit and the like in the case of a mobile phone with a data communication function. Of course, in the case of the portable terminal 4, it is natural to include a battery for power supply.

  FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of the terminal 4. FIG. 3A shows a state in which the terminal 4 having a rectangular outer shape is placed with its longitudinal direction directed to the left and right of the drawing. Hereinafter, this state is assumed to be a facing direction with respect to the user. In the facing direction, various types of information are displayed on the display unit 9 as necessary. One piece of information is information shared with the other terminals 5 and 6. In order to display this shared information, a two-dimensional display area (hereinafter, main display area 13) is secured in the display unit 9. Here, the two-dimensional display area refers to a rectangular area having a predetermined height Y and a predetermined width X on the display screen of the display unit 9.

  In FIG. 3A, the height Y of the main display area 13 is slightly smaller than the size of the display unit 4 in the vertical direction (vertical direction toward the drawing), and the width X is the horizontal direction of the display unit 4 (toward the drawing). Left and right direction) is almost the same as the size, but is not limited to this. In short, a rectangular shape having a two-dimensional area of “Y × X” may be used, and the height Y is matched with the vertical size of the display unit 4 or the width X is set in the width direction of the display unit 4. It may be made slightly smaller.

  FIG. 3B is a conceptual diagram of the main display area 13. 3B, the main display area 13 includes not only a display portion 13a (a portion surrounded by a broken line / corresponding to a hatched portion in FIG. 3A) on the display unit 9, but also its front-rear direction (in the drawing). Also including non-display portions 13b and 13c extending in the left-right direction), all parts of the main display area 13 can be displayed on the display unit 4 by scrolling the display portion 13a left and right.

  As described above, the main display area 13 is used to display shared information with the other terminals 5 and 6. Shared information includes, for example, text information, image information such as photographs (including still images, multi-frame animations, and other arbitrary forms, the same applies hereinafter), video information, sound source information such as music, position information, Alternatively, link information to an arbitrary content on the network 2 or the like, but the “main body” of the shared information is not displayed in the main display area 13. Instead, the point is that an image object such as an appropriately designed icon indicating each piece of shared information is displayed.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image object. In FIG. 4, six icons 14 to 19 are displayed in the main display area 13 as examples of some image objects. For example, the icon 14 at the left end has an alphabet “T” character in a rectangular figure, and since this “T” is an initial of text, it may be an image object indicating character information. Intuitive. Also, since the second icon 15 from the left has a stylized mountain, it can be intuitively understood that the icon 15 is an image object indicating image information such as a photograph. Similarly, the third icon 16 from the left is a sound source information such as music because a musical note is arranged, and the central icon 17 is a moving picture information because a stylized moving film is arranged. The second icon 18 from the right is a position information because a stylized flag is arranged, and the icon 19 on the right end is a link to an arbitrary content on the network 2 because a character “URL” is arranged. It turns out that it is information (that is, an abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator). In FIG. 4, image information and audio information are displayed by icons 15 and 16, respectively. However, for example, thumbnail images obtained by reducing image images such as photographs and CD jackets may be displayed.

  As described above, in this embodiment, various types of shared information are converted into icons, and these icons are distributedly displayed in the two-dimensional main display area 13, so that a large amount of information is shared and displayed. Readability can be greatly improved. That is, in the prior art described at the beginning, only a list display using character strings is performed, and thus errors such as reading mistakes and skipping cannot be denied. On the other hand, in the technique of this embodiment, such an error can be eliminated by appropriately designing the icon. This is because it is not necessary to “read” information one by one, and it is possible to intuitively grasp the types of shared information associated with these icons by simply looking at the icons.

Next, two-dimensional distributed display of icons will be described.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of two-dimensional distributed display of icons. In FIG. 5, the X-axis (axis in the horizontal direction in the drawing) of the longitudinal direction of the main display area 13 is a time axis. For example, the left direction in the drawing is the time in the past direction, and the right direction in the drawing is the time in the future direction. can do. In this case, “past” and “future” are before and after the home position (arbitrary position on the time axis) corresponding to the current time. Therefore, for example, if the home position is set to the middle of the main display area 13, the left half of the main display area 13 is the past and the right half is the future, or if the home position is the right end of the main display area 13, the main display is displayed. All of the area 13 becomes the past. If the home position is at the left end of the main display area 13, the entire main display area 13 becomes the future. The home position can be specified, for example, by touching an arbitrary place (but a place other than an icon) in the main display area 13.

  The time axis (X axis) can correspond to the registration date and time of the icon. For example, the display position of the icon indicating the shared information registered at a certain date and time can be set as the date and time position on the time axis (X axis). The display position in this case is exclusively the current date / time or the date / time position that goes back in the past. If the shared information includes a future scheduled date / time, the future date / time (X axis) ) May be displayed.

  In addition, the short axis Y axis (the vertical axis in the drawing) of the main display area 13 can be used as the distance axis. This distance can be a distance from the own terminal to the terminal that has registered the shared information. That is, when displaying an icon of shared information registered by another terminal located at a certain distance from the own terminal, the display position of the shared information on the Y axis can be set to a position corresponding to the distance. . In this way, even when information is registered simultaneously from a plurality of terminals at the same date and time, overlapping of icons can be eliminated or overlapping can be prevented to prevent display confusion. When the Y axis is used as the distance axis, the position of the own terminal may be near the lower end of the Y axis, and the distance to the terminal that has registered the shared information may be displayed with the vicinity of the lower end as a reference. That is, “the lower end of the Y axis → near, the upper end of the Y axis → far” may be used.

Next, how to register shared information will be described.
As described above, the main display area 13 is used for displaying shared information with the other terminals 5 and 6. Further, when the shared information is registered, the main display area 13 is operated using the main display area 13. It may be possible to improve the sex.

  FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a shared information registration method. In FIG. 6, a sub display area 20 is displayed on the screen of the display unit 9 along with the main display area 13. The sub display area 20 is for displaying an operation history of the terminal 4 and shows a history of creating various history icons, for example, character information (text information such as memos and emails) performed in the past. When the icon 21 or the terminal 4 is a camera-equipped terminal, icons 22 indicating the creation history of photographs (image information) taken with the camera are arranged in history order (time order).

  In this embodiment, when character information in the history is newly registered as shared information, for example, an icon 21 indicating the character information may be dragged and dropped onto the main display area 13. That is, the icon 21 may be selected with a fingertip or the like, and shifted on the screen as it is to the main display area 13. With such a configuration, it is not necessary to select menus and the like, and shared information can be registered with a single touch, improving operability.

<Server configuration>
FIG. 7 is a conceptual configuration diagram of the server 3. As shown in FIG. 7, the server 3 is a stationary general-purpose computer. The main configuration of the server 3 includes a communication unit 23 that performs data communication with the network 2, a program control system control unit 25 that is configured by a microcomputer and its peripheral circuits, and controls the overall operation of the server 3. A program storage unit 24 that stores basic programs executed by the control unit 25, application programs for servers, and the like, and a data storage unit 26 that stores shared information appropriately registered from the terminals 4-6. In addition, it includes an operation unit 27 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a display 28, and the like, which are standard equipment of a general-purpose computer. Here, the server 3 is configured as a stationary general-purpose computer, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be configured with a highly durable server dedicated machine, or may be configured with a distributed computer system.

<Data structure of server>
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a storage table of shared information in the server 3. In FIG. 8, the storage table 29 is stored in the data storage unit 26, and contents changing operations (operations such as data addition, rewriting, and deletion) are performed from the control unit 25 as necessary. Is. The storage table 29 is a so-called database format table composed of “rows” and “columns”. For example, the storage table 29 stores one shared information for each row, and each row includes a plurality of fields. For example, it is divided into an ID field 29a, a data type field 29b, a registrant field 29c, a registration date / time field 29d, a position field 29e, and a data field 29f.

  Here, unique information for uniquely identifying shared information is stored in the ID field 29a, and the type of shared information (character information, image information, sound source information,...) Is stored in the data type field 29b. Is stored. Further, the registrant field 29c stores information on the registrant of the shared information (for example, name, nickname, etc.), and the registration date / time field 29d stores the registration date / time of the shared information. Further, the location field 29e stores location information at the time of registration of the terminal that registered the shared information (detected by the location detection unit 12, for example, latitude and longitude), and the data field 29f stores the main body of the shared information. Is stored. In addition to the above-mentioned fields, for example, a registrant's face photo or portrait or avatar (Avatar is a character that appears on the screen as a registrant's alternation. May have a field for storing a virtual person or celebrity other than the person in many cases.

<Timeline for registration and browsing>
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a time run of “registration” and “browsing” performed between the terminals 4 to 6 and the server 3. Here, “registration” indicates that the shared information is registered in the server 3. “Browsing” indicates that the server 3 is requested to browse the registered shared information.

  Consider a case where there is a request for browsing shared information in the order of the terminal 4, the terminal 5, and the terminal 6 after the registration of the shared information is sequentially performed from each of the terminals 4 to 6. In this case, the server 3 first receives registration of shared information from the terminal 4, the terminal 5, and the terminal 6, and stores and saves the shared information in the data storage unit 26 (the storage table 29 thereof). Thereafter, the server 3 first receives shared information (in this case, all shared information registered from the terminals 4 to 6) from the data storage unit 26 (the storage table 29) in response to the browsing request from the terminal 4. The shared information is read and transmitted to the requesting terminal 4. Next, in response to a browsing request from the terminal 5, the same shared information is read from the data storage unit 26, and the shared information is transmitted to the requesting terminal 4. Further, the same shared information is read from the data storage unit 26 in response to the browsing request from the terminal 6, and the shared information is transmitted to the requesting terminal 4.

  In this way, since the same shared information can be transmitted to all the terminals 4 to 6, the information can be shared among the terminals 4 to 6 connected to the network 2.

<Server operation>
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of the server 3. In FIG. 10, the server 3 first determines whether or not shared information is registered from the terminals 4 to 6 (step S11). If it is determined in step S11 that “registration is present”, the shared information is received from the terminal (step S12), registered and saved in the data storage unit 26 (storage table 29 thereof), and then “registration is present”. In the same manner as in the case where it is not determined, the presence / absence of a browsing request from the terminals 4 to 6 is determined (step S14).
If it is determined in step S14 that “browsing request exists”, the shared information is read from the data storage unit 26 (the storage table 29) (step S15), and the common information method is transmitted to the requesting terminal (step S16). After that, the process returns to step S11 again.

<Terminal operation>
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of the terminals 4 to 6. As shown in FIG. 11, the terminals 4 to 6 first determine whether or not a shared information registration event (for example, an icon drop event from the sub display area 20 to the main display area 13 in FIG. 6) has been detected. (Step S21). If a registration event is detected in step S21, the shared information is transmitted to the server 3 (step S22), and the process returns to step S21.

  On the other hand, if a registration event is not detected in step S21, then whether a browsing request event to the server 3 (for example, an event that occurs regularly or an event that occurs irregularly by a user operation) is detected. It is determined whether or not (step S23). If no browsing request event is detected in step S23, the process returns to step S21. If a browsing request event is detected, a sharing information browsing request is issued to the server 3 (step S24). Then, the reception of the shared information from the server 3 is awaited. When the reception of the shared information is completed (step 25), the shared information display process (step S26) in the main display area 13 is executed, and then the process returns to step S21. Return.

  Here, in the display process of step S26, for example, an icon as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. In the display example of FIG. 4, a character information icon 14, a photo icon 15, a music icon 16, a moving image icon 17, a point icon 18, and a URL icon 19 are arranged in order from the left of the main display area 13. As described above, if the horizontal direction of the main display area 13 is the time axis (see FIG. 5), this arrangement order represents the order of registration date and time. Therefore, it is possible to grasp the time-series relationship of each piece of shared information in an instant only by glancing at the arrangement of the icons 14 to 19 in the main display area 13.

  In addition, if the vertical position of each icon 14-19 in the drawing corresponds to the distance (see FIG. 5), it is possible to intuitively grasp the perspective distance based on the own terminal, and to grasp the registration date and time described above. Together, it is possible to estimate the current position of the terminal that has registered the shared information. For example, in the display example of FIG. 4, the URL icon 19 is at the right end (that is, the latest date and time position on the time axis) and is close to the own terminal. It can be estimated that the terminal in which the information is registered is near the terminal. At this time, if the latest date and time is the same as or almost the same as the current date and time, the terminal has not moved so much, so the estimated position may be accurate.

  As described above, according to the display process in step S26, it is possible to quickly know the types of shared information associated with the icons 14 to 19 just by glancing at the icons 14 to 19 in the main display area 13. In addition, the registration date and time can be quickly known from the horizontal arrangement positions of the icons 14 to 19, and the distance from the terminal can be quickly known from the vertical arrangement positions of the icons 14 to 19.

  As described above, according to the information sharing system 1 of the embodiment of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained in comparison with the first prior art.

(1) Improvement of information readability:
In the prior art, shared information is managed using a “list”, but since this list is text information, mistakes such as reading mistakes cannot be denied. On the other hand, in the information sharing system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, instead of the list, image objects (icons 14 to 19) associated with each piece of shared information are used, and the icons 14 to 19 are used. Are distributed and displayed in the two-dimensional display area (main display area 13), so that readability can be improved and errors such as misreading can be eliminated.

(2) Intuitive grasp of registration date:
In the case of a “list” as in the prior art, even if there is an item of registration date / time in the list, it will not change to text information, so it takes a lot of time and effort to compare the old and new times. I cannot deny mistakes. On the other hand, in the information sharing system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the horizontal axis of the main display area 13 is the time axis, and the icons 14 to 19 are arranged in the order of registration date and time on the time axis. , You can intuitively compare the time of the old and new, and not mistaken.

(3) Intuitive grasp of terminal location:
The same applies to the terminal position. In other words, even if an item of registration position (position at the time of registration of the terminal that registered the shared information) is created in the “list” of the prior art, the position information is also text information, so the position grasped due to misreading I cannot deny the misunderstanding. On the other hand, in the information sharing system 1 of the embodiment of the present invention, the vertical axis of the main display area 13 is a distance axis, and the icons 14 to 19 are arranged in the order of registration positions on the distance axis. The position can be grasped intuitively as well, and no misidentification is caused.

  The configuration, operation, and effect of the information sharing system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention are as described above, but are not limited thereto. For example, the following modifications may be made.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, one main display area 13 is displayed on the display unit 9, but this is only an example, and two or more main display areas 13 are displayed on the display unit 9. May be displayed. For example, when n main display areas 13 are displayed on the display unit 9, the first main display area 13 is for the first user group,..., The (n-1) th main display area 13 is the n-1th user. It may be for a group. In this case, for example, the first user group may be a work-related user group, the n-1th user group may be a friend-related user group, and the like. Alternatively, the first main display area 13... N-1 main display area 13 may be selectively used for each type of shared information.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the main display area 13 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes not only the display portion 13a (the portion surrounded by the broken line / corresponding to the hatched portion of (a)) to the display unit 9. In addition, non-display portions 13b and 13c extending in front and rear thereof are also included. Then, by scrolling the display part 13a to the left and right, all parts of the main display area 13 can be displayed on the display unit 9. The “scroll” in this case is a kind of standard control of a general-purpose operating system such as a known slider control [Windows (registered trademark)], and is generally arranged at the right end or the lower end of a computer screen. The screen scrolls up and down or left and right by sliding the control knob. ] May be used manually, or may be automated. For example, when an icon is newly displayed, the icon is associated with the newly registered shared information and is the latest registered information. Therefore, the icon is displayed in an appropriate position (for example, the main display area 13). The main display area 13 may be automatically scrolled from the right to the left by an appropriate amount so as to be displayed at the right end.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, not only the icon indicating the type of shared information is displayed in the main display area 13, but also the name or nickname of the registrant of the shared information is displayed together with the icon. Good. By performing such display, it is possible to know who created the icon.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, a face photograph, a portrait or an avatar of a registrant of the shared information may be displayed in the main display area 13 together with an icon. By performing such display, mistakes can be reduced as compared with the case of using names and nicknames.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the position of the terminal 4 may be sequentially acquired in the main display area 13 and the registration information of the server 3 may be updated each time the position is moved. In this case, it is desirable that the server 3 promptly notifies the other terminals of the updated position information without waiting for a request from the other terminals. In this way, the position tracking of other terminals in each terminal can be performed in real time.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, icons displayed in the main display area 13 may be limited. For example, only icons of shared information registered by a specific registrant or a registrant belonging to a specific group may be displayed in a limited manner. In this way, the display of the main display area 13 can be refreshed, and there is no confusion.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the contact information (phone number or mail address) of the registrant of the shared information may be linked to the icon displayed in the main display area 13. In this way, you can make a call or send an email just by selecting an icon.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, not only icons are displayed in the main display area 13 but also, for example, handwritten characters and handwritten figures may be input, and these handwritten information can be registered in the server 3 as shared information. It may be. In this way, for example, simple sentences and figures can be handwritten and shared with other users, and smooth communication can be achieved.

  The handwritten character may be “character recognized” to be converted into a character code, and the character code may be converted into a character font and displayed in the main display area 13 and registered in the server 3. It becomes possible to perform a search by a character string, and it becomes possible to easily find target information from a large amount of shared information.

  By the way, the registration of the shared information from the terminals 4 to 6 is not always performed frequently. Therefore, as described above, when the horizontal axis of the main display area 13 is a time axis and the icons 14 to 19 are displayed in the order of the registration date and time along the time axis, the main display area 13 is displayed in the main display area 13 for the non-registration period. There is an inconvenience of creating a blank. Of course, even in this case, it is possible to skip the blank period by scrolling the main display area 13 in the time axis direction, but it is unavoidable that the operation is troublesome.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a countermeasure concept of the non-registration period. In FIG. 12, it is assumed that several icons 30 to 35 are now displayed in the main display area 13 with the horizontal axis as the time axis, as shown in FIG. These icons 30 to 35 correspond to the icons 14 to 19 (see FIG. 4), and are shared from the terminals 4 to 6 at the respective dates and times on the time axis. It is associated with information. Now, it can be seen from FIG. 12A that a blank period 36 occurs between the icon 31 and the icon 32. The blank period 36 is a period in which no shared information is registered from any of the terminals 4 to 6, and is a simple blank display period (a period of only the background) that does not include any information.

  When the main display area 13 including such a blank period 36 is displayed on the display unit 9, it is naturally possible to display only the screen size of the display unit 9. For this reason, when the blank period 36 is long (the length in the time axis direction is large), “blank” occupies most of the display unit 9. Although this “blank” can be skipped by the scroll operation as described above, the operability is inevitably deteriorated. Therefore, a countermeasure as shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 12B, a vertical broken line 37 drawn between the icon 31 and the icon 32 indicates a state in which the left and right ends of the blank period 36 shown in FIG. That is, the vertical broken line 37 indicates a joining line obtained by removing the blank period 36 from the main display area 13 in FIG. Thus, by displaying the main display area 13 from which the blank period 36 is removed on the display unit 9, the above inconvenience can be solved, and the operability can be improved by eliminating the scroll operation. Incidentally, whether or not it is the blank period 36 to be deleted can be determined based on the length of the blank period 36 (length in the time axis direction). If it is longer than the predetermined amount, it is deleted, and if it is less than the predetermined amount, it can be displayed as it is. The “predetermined amount” in this case may be a fixed value, or may be a variable value that can be arbitrarily set by the user.

  Note that the existence of the blank period 36 is not generally useless. For example, there is a case where it is desired to find some meaning from the time difference between the icon 31 and the icon 32. However, if the blank period 36 is uniformly deleted, such a case cannot be dealt with. Therefore, it can be said that it is desirable to leave the determination as to whether or not to delete the blank period 36 to the user. In order to leave the determination to the user, for example, a touch operation on the blank period 36 on the screen may be detected, and the display and non-display of the blank period 36 may be toggled in response to the touch operation. . In this case, it is desirable to be able to arbitrarily set as a system setting value whether to display or not display the blank period 36 as a default value.

  By the way, as the number of icons displayed in the main display area 13 increases, it becomes more difficult to see the screen, and a complicated scroll operation is required. For this reason, it is desirable to organize icons by some method.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement example of icons displayed in the main display area 13. In FIG. 13, a large number of icons 38 to 44 are displayed in the main display area 13. The difference from the icons 14 to 19 and the icons 30 to 35 described above is that the icons with the older registration date and time are smaller in size. In other words, the large icons 41 to 44 that emphasize readability are displayed until a certain point in time on the time axis, but for the icons 38 to 40 older than that, “simple display” that places importance on organizing the icons is displayed. It has become. That is, the point is that the icon is displayed with a reduced size as the date and time of registration of the icon becomes older. In this way, the display occupied area of the old icons 38 to 40 (thus, icons with low reference frequency) is reduced, so that many icons can be displayed densely in a small area. As a result, the visibility of the screen can be improved, and the operability can be improved by reducing the scroll operation.

  Note that the above description shows one example of “simple display” for organizing icons, and the present invention is not limited to this. Other simple displays may be used, for example, an old icon may be put in a folder and an icon of the folder may be displayed, or an old display may be hidden and some alternative display indicating its presence (for example, , Arrow symbol display) may be performed.

  Further, the shared information displayed in the main display area 13 may be displayed collectively for each type. For example, if the type of shared information is character information, image information, sound source information, link information, create a folder with the same date or a folder with the same date for each type, and set the icon for each folder, You may arrange in order of those dates or time zones. Even in this case, since the number of displayed icons can be reduced, it is possible to improve the visibility and operability of the screen.

  Alternatively, the shared information registered at the own terminal and the shared information registered at the other terminal may be visually identified. Here, “visually distinguishable” means that both, that is, the shared information registered at the own terminal and the shared information registered at the other terminal can be visually distinguished. For example, it shows changing the color and tone of both, changing the background, or blinking one, but it is not limited to these, and it is a display mode that can distinguish both by appearance It only has to be.

  In addition, when the horizontal axis of the main display area 13 is a time axis and an icon is displayed at a future date and time on the time axis, an alarm notification may be performed in association with the icon located in the future. . In this case, for example, when the icon relates to a meeting held at a predetermined date and time, the user can be notified of the conference by, for example, issuing a warning sound when the date and time are reached. The alarm notification is not limited to sound, and may be notification by vibration or mail, for example. In addition, it is desirable that the user can set whether to enable or disable the alarm notification, or it is preferable that the user can be set as to how many minutes before the schedule the notification is to be made. .

  In addition, since various web services are provided on the Internet today, it is desirable to use the web services in cooperation (so-called mashup). In this respect, many of known web services have all or part of their functions disclosed in the form of API (Application Program Interface), and mashup is possible by incorporating this API.

  FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram of mashup. In FIG. 14, several icons 45 to 47 are displayed in the main display area 13 in the same manner as described above. In addition, a mashup object incorporating an API of a predetermined Web service is added. 48 is displayed. The actual function of the mashup object 48 varies depending on the target Web service. For example, when an API of a video distribution site such as YouTube (registered trademark) is used, the opening screen of the video distribution site or the user The selected video distribution screen can be displayed.

  In this way, the user uses the other service (in this case, the video distribution service) without knowing it while receiving the service of the information sharing system 1. Not only the service of the shared system 1) but also various other services can be used seamlessly, and the convenience can be further improved.

4 terminal (information display device)
5, 6 terminal 8 control unit (automatic scroll means, manual scroll means, display control means, restriction means, character recognition means, designation means, alarm notification means)
9 Display section (display means)
13 Main display area 14-19 Icon (image object)
20 Sub display area 21, 22 Icon (image object)
30-35 icon (image object)
38-44 icon (image object)
48 Mashup object (image object)

Claims (31)

In an information display device comprising display means for displaying shared information with other terminals,
The display means includes
Has a two-dimensional main display area,
An information display device, wherein an image object associated with each of the shared information is displayed in the main display area.   The information display device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the main display areas are provided.   One side of the main display area corresponds to the time axis, and automatic scroll means for automatically scrolling the main display area in the time axis direction according to the creation time of the shared information displayed in the main display area is provided. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the information display device is a display device.   3. A manual scroll means for causing one side of the main display area to correspond to a time axis and manually scrolling the main display area in the time axis direction in accordance with a user operation. The information display apparatus in any one.   The manual display device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: manual scroll means for causing one side of the main display area to correspond to a time axis and manually scrolling the main display area in a past or future direction in accordance with a user operation. 2. The information display device according to any one of the above.   A display in which one side of the main display area is associated with a time axis, and image objects associated with each piece of shared information displayed in the main display area are displayed in time series along the time axis of the main display area The information display device according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit. It has a sub display area for displaying the operation history of the terminal,
7. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein an image object associated with each of the operation histories is displayed in the sub display area.   The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object associated with each of the shared information is an object indicating an image.   The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a moving image.   The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating music information.   7. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object associated with each of the shared information is an object indicating position information of the own terminal, another terminal, or an arbitrary target. .   7. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a location of content on a network.   7. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a registration location of a user who has registered the shared information.   7. The information according to claim 1, wherein the image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a name or arbitrary identification information of a user who has registered the shared information. Display device.   The information according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a facial photograph, a portrait or an avatar of a user who has registered the shared information. Display device.   The image object associated with each piece of the shared information is an object indicating a registration location of the user who registered the shared information, and is sequentially updated according to the position movement of the user. The information display device according to claim 1.   When the image object associated with each piece of the shared information indicates shared information newly written by another user, the image object is displayed in a different manner from the other object so that the object is conspicuous. The information display device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.   7. The information display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a restricting unit that restricts the shared information displayed in the main display area to only writing from a user belonging to a specific group.   The shared information and the registered user's mail address or telephone number of the shared information are stored in association with each other, and when one of the image objects associated with each of the shared information is selected, the mail address corresponding to the selected object The information display device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a telephone number is read to enable mail transmission or telephone call.   The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the main display area is shared with a terminal of another user via a network.   The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object displayed in the main display area includes a handwritten character or a handwritten graphic.   The handwritten character recognition means for recognizing the handwritten character and converting it into a character code when the image object displayed in the main display area is a handwritten character. The information display device described in 1.   The information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when there is no registration of an image object in the main display area for a predetermined time, the display is omitted with a period between the image objects being blank.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: designation means for designating a user as to whether or not to omit the display when the image object has not been registered in the main display area for a predetermined time period. The information display device according to claim 6.   The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image object displayed in the main display area is simply displayed for a registration time older than a predetermined time.   The information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information display apparatuses collectively display the image objects displayed in the main display area for each type.   When the image object displayed in the main display area indicates shared information related to a future schedule, an alarm notification unit is provided for setting an alarm notification associated with a future time included in the shared information. The information display device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.   28. The information display device according to claim 27, wherein the fact that the alarm notification has been set can be displayed in the main display area.   7. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the image objects displayed in the main display area includes an API provided from another network service. When displaying shared information with other devices on the display means,
In the display means,
While displaying the two-dimensional main display area,
An information display method comprising a step of displaying an image object associated with each of the shared information in the main display area. On the terminal computer,
A program for realizing a function as a display means for displaying shared information with other terminals,
The display means includes
Has a two-dimensional main display area,
A program for displaying an image object associated with each of the shared information in the main display area.

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