JP2013033358A - Electronic book binding direction determination device, display device, electronic book binding direction determination method, electronic book binding direction determination program, and computer readable recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic book binding direction determination device which is capable of determining the most suitable binding direction of an electronic book including vertical typesetting and horizontal typesetting of text together.SOLUTION: The electronic book binding direction determination device includes: a typesetting direction information acquisition unit 22 which divides data of an electronic book into a plurality of flows (divided ranges) in accordance with a preliminarily determined rule and acquires typesetting direction information showing that sentences are vertically written or horizontally written in each of the plurality of flows, from data of the electronic book; a sentence amount acquisition unit 24 which acquires the sum total of amounts of vertically written sentences in flows where the typesetting direction is vertical, out of the plurality of flows and acquires the sum total of amounts of horizontally written sentences in flows where the typesetting direction is horizontal, out of the plurality of flows on the basis of typesetting direction information of the plurality of flows acquired by the typesetting direction information acquisition unit 22; and a binding direction determination unit 26 which determines a binding direction of the electronic book on the basis of the sum total of amounts of vertically written sentences and the sum total of amount of horizontally written sentences, which are acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit 24.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic book binding direction determination device, a display device, an electronic book binding direction determination method, an electronic book binding direction determination program, and a computer-readable recording medium.

  Conventionally, an apparatus and software for playing back and browsing an electronic book have been mainly in a form of scrolling and reading the display of the electronic book. For this reason, there are electronic book files that do not have the binding direction of books as a format, and such electronic books are generally sold as paid contents.

  By the way, in recent years, portable devices called smartphones and tablet terminals have been developed and spread. These portable devices can also turn the page by tracing the screen like a paper book, and can show an animation as if turning the page naturally.

  Currently, as these devices become more sophisticated, portable devices that can provide users with an experience similar to real reading are being developed. For example, an electronic book display device in which a binding direction imitating an actual book and a page turning direction are determined according to the text assembling direction is disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-274691). Yes.

  The electronic book display device described in Patent Document 1 is a spread-type device, and has one screen for the right page and one for the left page. As for the display of the text of this electronic book display device, the right side is a young page if it is vertical (sentence is vertical), and the left side is young if it is horizontal (sentence is horizontal). In other words, this electronic book display device has the same page sending direction as an actual book. This electronic display device includes one liquid crystal screen on the outside for use as a cover.

  As a feature of this electronic display device, when the text assembling direction stored in the electronic book is switched from vertical composition to horizontal composition, or when it is switched from horizontal composition to vertical composition, it is displayed on the text display section. The contents are turned upside down and the user is required to move the device up and down.

  If the electronic display device is turned upside down, the LCD screen for the front cover will be on the back of the right page if the text is in vertical composition, while it will be on the back of the left page if the text is in horizontal composition. The front cover is located in the same place as the book.

  As described above, the user can browse the electronic book so that the binding direction is the right if the book is vertically assembled, and can browse the electronic book so that the binding direction is the left if the book is horizontally assembled. .

  Currently, there are electronic books that are generally sold, in which vertical text and horizontal text are mixed in one book. For example, most of the parts are in vertical Japanese, but some of them are used as middle doors, with English originals written in horizontal writing, imprints written in horizontal writing, and diagrams and graphs. There are things that are written horizontally as captions (headings).

  For this reason, since the electronic display device described in Patent Document 1 is not designed in consideration of the fact that vertical writing and horizontal writing are mixed in one electronic book, vertical writing and horizontal writing are used. When reading an electronic book that frequently changes, the user has to frequently change the upper and lower sides of the device, and the user feels uncomfortable in browsing.

  In other words, the electronic display device has a problem in that the forward direction of page turning is not determined for an electronic book in which vertical and horizontal texts are mixed, because the binding direction is not fixed.

JP 2005-274691 A

  As described above, when an electronic book whose binding direction is not recorded is displayed on the electronic book display device, when the operation using the binding direction information is performed because the binding direction is not uniquely determined. Depending on the position of the displayed text, the forward direction of the next page turning may be left or right.

In order to solve the above problems, a binding direction determination device for an electronic book according to the present invention includes:
The electronic book data is divided into a plurality of division ranges according to a predetermined rule, and information on the composition direction indicating whether the character arrangement direction is vertical or horizontal for each of the plurality of division ranges. A composition direction information acquisition unit to acquire from book data;
Based on the information on the composition direction of each of the plurality of division ranges acquired by the composition direction information acquisition unit, the amount of text written vertically for the division range in which the composition direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges. And a sentence amount acquisition unit for acquiring a total amount of horizontally written sentences for a divided range in which the combination direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges;
A binding direction determination unit that determines a binding direction of the electronic book based on a total amount of the vertical writing and a total amount of the horizontal writing acquired by the text amount acquisition unit; .

  According to the above configuration, the composition direction information acquisition unit divides the electronic book data into a plurality of division ranges according to a predetermined rule, and the character arrangement direction is vertical or horizontal for each of the plurality of division ranges. Is obtained from the electronic book data. Here, the “predetermined rule” defines, for example, a method of dividing a cover, table of contents, title, body, etc., and further dividing the body into chapters or paragraphs. Then, based on the information on each of the plurality of division ranges acquired by the combination direction information acquisition unit, the sentence amount acquisition unit includes a division range in which the combination direction of the plurality of division ranges is vertical. A total amount of vertically written text is acquired for a divided range in which the composition direction is horizontal among a plurality of divided ranges. The binding direction determination unit determines the binding direction of the electronic book based on the total of the vertical writing amount and the total of the horizontal writing amount acquired by the writing amount acquisition unit. For example, if the total amount of vertical writing (number of characters) is larger than the total amount of horizontal writing (number of characters), the right side is bound in front view of the cover when the electronic book is regarded as an actual book. State (the binding direction is “right”), and page turning from left to right is defined as the forward direction. In addition, when the total amount of horizontal writing (number of characters) is larger than the total amount of vertical writing (number of characters), the left side is bound in front view of the cover when the electronic book is regarded as an actual book. State (the binding direction is “left”), and page turning from right to left is defined as the forward direction.

  As described above, the electronic book binding direction determination device can determine an optimal binding direction for an electronic book in which vertical writing (sentence is written vertically) and horizontal writing (sentence is written horizontally). Therefore, the electronic book binding direction determination device of the present invention can automatically determine the binding direction of an electronic book in a format for which no binding direction is specified.

Further, in the electronic book binding direction determination device of one embodiment,
The binding direction determination unit
A sentence amount determination unit for determining whether the total amount of the vertically written sentence is greater than or equal to the total amount of the horizontally written sentence;
When the sentence amount determination unit determines that the total amount of the vertically written sentence is greater than or equal to the total amount of the horizontally written sentence, the binding direction of the electronic book is determined to the right, and the page turning direction from left to right is forward. On the other hand, if the sentence amount determination unit determines that the total amount of the vertically written sentence is less than the total amount of the horizontally written sentence, the binding direction of the electronic book is determined to the left and from right to left A page turning direction determining unit that determines the page turning direction of the forward direction.

  According to the embodiment, when the sentence amount determination unit of the binding direction determination unit determines that the total amount of vertically written sentences is equal to or greater than the total amount of horizontally written sentences, the page turning direction determination unit of the binding direction determination unit is an electronic book. Is determined to be “right”, and the page turning direction from left to right is determined to be the forward direction. On the other hand, when the sentence amount determination unit of the binding direction determination unit determines that the total amount of vertical writing is less than the total amount of horizontal writing, the page turning direction determination unit of the binding direction determination unit determines the binding direction of the electronic book. Is determined to be “left”, and the page turning direction from right to left is determined to be the forward direction. Thereby, the binding direction determination unit determines the binding direction and the page turning direction of the electronic book, and displays the optimal page turning on the electronic book display device, for example, based on the binding direction and the page turning direction of the electronic book. This makes it possible to provide a user with a comfortable reading service even for electronic books in which vertical writing and horizontal writing are mixed.

Further, in the electronic book binding direction determination device of one embodiment,
The total amount of vertically written text acquired by the text amount acquisition unit is the total number of division ranges in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges,
The total of the horizontal writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of divided ranges in which the assembling direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges.

  According to the above embodiment, as the total amount of vertically written text acquired by the text amount acquisition unit, the total number of division ranges in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges is used and acquired by the text amount acquisition unit. When the total amount of horizontal writing to be used is the total number of division ranges in which the combination direction is horizontal among a plurality of division ranges, the sentence amount can be obtained at high speed, and the data size of the electronic book is large It is particularly useful.

Further, in the electronic book binding direction determination device of one embodiment,
The sum total of the vertically written sentence amount acquired by the sentence amount acquiring unit is the total number of bytes of data in the divided range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of divided ranges,
The total of the horizontal writing amount acquired by the writing amount acquisition unit is the total number of bytes of data in the divided range in which the combination direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges.

  According to the above embodiment, as the total amount of vertically written text acquired by the text amount acquisition unit, the total number of bytes of data in the divided range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of divided ranges is used, and the amount of text By using the total number of bytes of data in the divided range where the set direction is horizontal among a plurality of divided ranges, as the total amount of horizontally written text acquired by the acquisition unit, the total number of divided ranges is set as the amount of sentences , You can get the correct amount of sentences. Here, the total number of bytes of data for each division range of the electronic book is handled by including the number of bytes of supplementary information related to the display of tag information, character size, image position information, ruby, etc. The amount of text can be easily obtained from the data size without performing an operation of cutting out only the text of the electronic book.

Further, in the electronic book binding direction determination device of one embodiment,
The sum total of the vertically written sentence amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of characters in the divided range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of divided ranges,
The total of the horizontal writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of characters in the divided range in which the composition direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges.

  According to the above embodiment, as the total amount of vertically written text acquired by the text amount acquisition unit, the total number of characters in the division range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges is used, and the text amount acquisition unit By using the total number of characters in the divided range whose horizontal direction is the combination direction among multiple divided ranges as the total amount of horizontal writing to be acquired, it is more than the total number of bytes of data in the divided range as the amount of sentences Accurate sentence volume can be obtained.

Further, in the electronic book binding direction determination device of one embodiment,
The total amount of the vertically written sentence acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of pages when the division range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges is displayed on a display device,
The total of the horizontal writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of pages when the divided range in which the assembling direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges is displayed on the display device.

  According to the above-described embodiment, the total number of pages when the division range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges is displayed on the display device as the sum total of the vertical writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit. By using the total number of pages when displaying the divided range in which the composition direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges on the display device as the total amount of horizontal writing acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit, the image Even if sentences of different character sizes are mixed, an accurate amount of sentences can be obtained.

Further, in the electronic book binding direction determination device of one embodiment,
A weighting information acquisition unit that acquires weighting information set in advance for each type of the plurality of division ranges,
The above sentence amount acquisition unit
A divided range sentence amount acquisition unit for acquiring the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount for each of the plurality of divided ranges of the electronic book data;
Based on the weighting information acquired by the weighting information acquisition unit for the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount of each of the plurality of division ranges acquired by the division range sentence amount acquisition unit. A sentence weighting unit for weighting;
Based on the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount of each of the plurality of division ranges weighted by the writing amount weighting unit, the total of the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount are calculated. And a total sentence amount calculation section to be obtained.

  According to the above-described embodiment, the divided range sentence amount acquisition unit of the sentence amount acquisition unit acquires the vertically written sentence amount and the horizontally written sentence amount for each of the plurality of divided ranges of the data of the electronic book. The sentence amount weighting unit of the sentence amount acquisition unit is acquired by the weighting information acquisition unit with respect to the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount of the plurality of divided ranges acquired by the division range sentence amount acquisition unit. Weighting is performed based on the weighting information. Then, based on the vertical writing amount and horizontal writing amount of each of the weighted division ranges, the total writing amount calculation unit of the writing amount acquisition unit calculates the sum of the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount. Find the total amount of text. For example, by setting the imprint and display weight to 0.1 and the text weight to 1.0, it is possible to determine the optimum binding direction that reflects the text amount of the text.

Further, in the electronic book binding direction determination device of one embodiment,
A language information acquisition unit for acquiring language information of the electronic book;
The binding direction determination unit includes the sum of the vertical writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit, the total of the horizontal writing amount, and the language information of the electronic book acquired by the language information acquisition unit. Based on this, the binding direction of the electronic book is determined.

  According to the embodiment, the binding direction is determined based on the total amount of vertical writing and the total amount of horizontal writing acquired by the text amount acquisition unit and the language information of the electronic book acquired by the language information acquisition unit. By determining the binding direction of the electronic book by the unit, for example, after determining the basic binding direction based on the total of the vertical writing amount and the total of the horizontal writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit, It becomes possible to determine the optimum binding direction by combining the binding direction and the binding direction set for each language of the electronic book.

In the display device of the present invention,
The electronic book binding direction determination device;
A display unit capable of displaying vertical and horizontal writing of an electronic book, and capable of displaying page turning from left to right and page turning from right to left with respect to the electronic book;
Based on the binding direction of the electronic book determined by the electronic book binding direction determination device, the display unit is instructed to display the page turning from left to right and the page turning from right to left. And an operation unit.

  According to the above configuration, from the left to the right by the operation unit based on the optimal binding direction of the electronic book determined by the electronic book binding direction determination device with respect to the electronic book in which the vertically and horizontally written sentences are mixed. By instructing the display unit to display page turning and right-to-left page turning, a comfortable reading service can be provided to the user even for an electronic book in which vertical writing and horizontal writing are mixed. For example, the display unit of the display device displays a page turning from left to right and a page turning from right to left using an animation of turning a page or an animation of sliding a card. As the operation unit of the display device, a page turning operation is performed using a cross key or a touch screen.

In the display device of one embodiment,
It is one of a personal computer, a portable information terminal, a mobile phone, and an electronic book reader.

In the electronic book binding direction determination method of the present invention,
The electronic book data is divided into a plurality of division ranges according to a predetermined rule, and information on the combination direction indicating whether the writing is vertical writing or horizontal writing is obtained for each of the plurality of division ranges. Information acquisition step to be acquired by the department;
Based on the information on the composition direction of each of the plurality of division ranges acquired in the information acquisition step, the total amount of vertically written sentences for the division range in which the composition direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges. A sentence amount acquisition step of acquiring, by the sentence amount acquisition unit, a total amount of horizontally written sentences for the divided range in which the combination direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges;
A binding direction determination step of determining a binding direction of the electronic book by a binding direction determination unit based on the total amount of the vertical writing and the total amount of the horizontal writing acquired in the sentence amount acquisition step. It is characterized by that.

  According to the above configuration, the composition direction information acquisition unit divides the data of the electronic book into a plurality of division ranges according to a predetermined rule, and determines whether each of the plurality of division ranges is vertical writing or horizontal writing. Get information about the direction of the assembly. Then, based on the information on each of the plurality of division ranges acquired by the combination direction information acquisition unit, the sentence amount acquisition unit includes a division range in which the combination direction of the plurality of division ranges is vertical. A total amount of vertically written text is acquired for a divided range in which the composition direction is horizontal among a plurality of divided ranges. Next, the binding direction of the electronic book is determined by the binding direction determination unit based on the total amount of vertical writing and the total amount of horizontal writing acquired by the text amount acquisition unit. In this way, an optimal binding direction can be determined for an electronic book in which vertical and horizontal texts are mixed.

In the electronic book binding direction determination program of the present invention,
A computer is caused to execute each of the steps of the electronic book binding direction determination method.

  According to the above configuration, by causing the computer to execute the above steps of the electronic book binding direction determination method, an optimal binding direction can be determined for an electronic book in which vertical writing and horizontal writing are mixed.

In the computer-readable recording medium of the present invention,
The electronic book binding direction determination program is recorded.

  According to the above configuration, the electronic book binding direction determination program recorded on the computer-readable recording medium is read into a computer and the electronic book binding direction determination method is executed, whereby vertical composition and horizontal composition are performed. An optimal binding direction can be determined for an electronic book in which sentences are mixed.

  As is clear from the above, according to the electronic book binding direction determination device, display device, electronic book binding direction determination method, electronic book binding direction determination program of the present invention, the computer-readable recording medium can be An optimal binding direction can be determined for an electronic book in which a set of sentences is mixed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic book reader provided with a binding direction determining device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the binding direction determination device. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the assembly direction information acquisition unit of the binding direction determination device. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operations of the sentence amount acquisition unit and the binding direction determination unit of the binding direction determination device. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit of the binding direction determination apparatus. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit that uses the number of flows as the sentence amount. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit using the number of bytes as the sentence amount. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit using the number of characters as the sentence amount. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit that uses the number of pages as the sentence amount. FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a method of determining the combination direction of the currently displayed flow of the electronic book reproducing unit. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the binding direction determination unit. FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content display unit. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a page including an image. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic book reader provided with a binding direction determining apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the first flow, the second flow, and the third flow in which the text of the electronic book is divided into three. FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of an actual book whose binding direction is right. FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of an actual book whose binding direction is left. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the forward direction of page turning of the right-bound book shown in FIG. FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the forward direction of page turning of the left-bound book shown in FIG. FIG. 20 is a front view for explaining the page turning display operation from left to right of the electronic book reader of the first embodiment. FIG. 21 is a front view for explaining the page turning display operation from the right to the left of the electronic book reader.

  The electronic book binding direction determination device, display device, electronic book binding direction determination method, electronic book binding direction determination program, and computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic book reader 1 including a binding direction determining device 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic book reader 1 includes a content data acquisition unit 10, a binding direction determination device 20 as an example of an electronic book binding direction determination device, an operation unit 30, and an electronic book reproduction unit 40. The content display unit 50 is provided. The electronic book reader 1 is a terminal device that can reproduce and display an electronic book. The binding direction determination device 20 includes a combination direction information acquisition unit 22, a text amount acquisition unit 24, and a binding direction determination unit 26.

  In addition, the binding direction determination unit 26 includes a text amount determination unit 26a that determines whether or not the total amount of vertical writing is equal to or greater than the total amount of horizontal writing, and the text amount determination unit 26a determines the total amount of vertical writing. Is determined to be greater than or equal to the total amount of horizontally written text, the binding direction of the electronic book is determined to the right and the page turning direction from left to right is determined to be the forward direction. A page turning direction determining unit 26b that determines the binding direction of the electronic book to the left and the page turning direction from the right to the left in the forward direction. .

  First, an outline of the binding direction determination device 20 will be described. For ease of understanding, the schematic operation of the binding direction determination device 20 will be described first, and then the detailed operation and effects of the electronic book reader 1 incorporating the binding direction determination device 20 will be described.

  Here, in this 1st Embodiment, the binding direction determination apparatus 20 demonstrates as what is incorporated in the electronic book reader 1. FIG. However, the binding direction determination device 20 may be externally attached to the electronic book reader 1, or not the electronic book reader 1 but a personal computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)). ), Or a configuration that is built in or externally attached to a display device such as a mobile phone.

  The data format of the electronic book in the first embodiment will be described. This electronic book data has information on the cover, title, author, and text. The electronic book data is always divided into one or more arbitrary divided ranges, and the name of the divided ranges is called “flow”. The flows are arranged in order from the cover of the electronic book, numbers are set, and the numbers are natural numbers. In addition, each flow is set with any one of three values of “horizontal”, “vertical”, and “unspecified” as the assembly direction. Information other than that described above in the electronic book data includes the default (standard value prepared in advance) composition direction, the composition direction of each flow, and the text amount of each flow.

  For example, in FIG. 15, examples of the first flow, the second flow, and the third flow in which the text of the electronic book is divided into three are shown on the upper side, and the first to third flows are displayed by the content display unit 50. The page structure at the time is shown below. Here, the first flow with a large number of characters is displayed in vertical writing on the first page and the second page, the second flow with a small number of characters is displayed in horizontal writing on the third page, and the third flow with a large number of characters is displayed on the fourth page. Are displayed vertically on the fifth page.

  However, the format of such electronic book data is merely an example. In another embodiment of the present invention, vertical writing or horizontal writing is simply specified by tagging such as HTML (HyperText Markup Language). Data of e-books can be used. Even in this case, since the data of the electronic book can be divided into arbitrary division ranges (flows) according to the composition direction, and the amount of text can also be calculated, the conditions of the composition direction information acquisition unit and the text amount acquisition unit of the present invention are set. Fulfill. Further, the electronic book is created as a flow of a different type according to various types of conditions such as a cover, a table of contents, a title, and a text, and various conditions such as chapters and music in the text.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the schematic operation of the binding direction determination device 20. FIG. 2A illustrates the following electronic device when the binding direction determination device 20 is not incorporated in the electronic book reader 1. An operation when the book data is reproduced is shown.

  That is, this is data of an electronic book in which the default composition direction is “vertical”, there are three flows, and the composition direction is set to “horizontal” in the second flow.

  At this time, the electronic book reproducing unit 40 determines the forward direction of the current page turning according to the composition direction of the currently reproduced flow. According to an actual book, if the assembling direction is “vertical”, the forward direction of page turning is from left to right, and if the assembling direction is “horizontal”, the forward direction of page turning is from right to left. Then, in FIG. 2A, only the second flow has the forward direction of page turning from right to left. For this reason, for example, the user first turns the page from left to right in the first flow, then proceeds to the second flow, and turns the page from left to right in the hope of turning in the same direction as the previous page. In this case, since the left corresponds to the reverse direction in the second flow, the flow returns to the previous first flow. Since such an operation result is contrary to the page turning of an actual book, the user feels uncomfortable with the operation result.

  On the other hand, FIG. 2B shows an operation when data of the same electronic book is reproduced when the binding direction determining device 20 is incorporated in the electronic book reader 1. The page turning forward direction is changed to the same direction on every page.

  The binding direction determination device 20 acquires a default combination direction specified in advance in the electronic book data, a combination direction of each flow, and a text amount of each flow. Then, calculate the sum of the text amount of the sentences whose composition direction is “vertical” and the sum of the text quantities of the sentences whose composition direction is “horizontal”, and determine the composition direction of the sentence with the larger sum of text amounts as the whole e-book. It is considered as the direction of assembly. If the entire electronic book is set to “vertical”, the binding direction is set to the right, and if the entire electronic book is set to “horizontal”, the binding direction is set to the left. Make things.

  Here, the binding direction in the case of an actual book will be described. 16 shows a schematic diagram of an actual book with the binding direction on the right (the assembly direction is “vertical”), and FIG. 17 shows a schematic diagram of the book with the binding direction on the left (the assembly direction is “horizontal”). Yes. The forward direction of the page turning of the right-bound book shown in FIG. 16 is the direction of turning the page from left to right as shown in FIG. On the other hand, the forward direction of the page turning of the left-bound book shown in FIG. 17 is the direction of turning the page from right to left as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, FIG. 20, FIG. 21 is a figure for demonstrating the display operation of the page turning of the electronic book reader 1 of 1st Embodiment. As shown in FIG. 20, by turning the display screen (touch panel portion of the liquid crystal display) of the content display unit 50 of the electronic book reader 1 from left to right with a fingertip, the page is turned from left to right, and the actual page is displayed. An animation that mimics turning is displayed. Further, as shown in FIG. 21, the page is turned from right to left by tracing the display screen (touch panel portion of the liquid crystal display) of the content display unit 50 of the electronic book reader 1 from the right to the left with a fingertip. Displays an animation that mimics page turning.

  Next, details of each part of the electronic book reader 1 will be described. The determination of the binding direction needs to be processed before performing the page turning operation due to its nature. Therefore, after the electronic book file is newly opened by the electronic book reader 1, the binding direction is determined before the display of the electronic book is started.

  The content data acquisition unit 10 acquires content data including electronic book data that can be reproduced and displayed by a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, or the like. The electronic book data includes information described in the outline operation.

  Here, the concept of a page will be described in order to facilitate understanding. In the electronic book data format in the first embodiment, the electronic book does not hold a sentence in units of pages. The operation by page turning and the display of page turning appear to the user's eyes as if turning a new page as if it were a real book. However, actually, the start position of the text displayed by the electronic book reader 1 is changed and the text is newly displayed from there. There is no unit or concept of page in the electronic book in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the word “page” in page turning refers to a sentence that can be displayed on the content display unit 50 at a time, that is, a page that can be displayed without page turning, or an image displayed on the content display unit 50 itself. Note that the “number of pages in a flow” of an electronic book means the number of pages required to display all of the flow from the beginning to the end. However, the above is an example in the first embodiment, and even if the electronic book holds text, images, and other information in units of pages, as long as the electronic book does not record the binding direction, The binding direction determination device is effective.

  The electronic book reproducing unit 40 determines the text composition direction to be displayed. In addition, it holds the start position of the text to be displayed and updates it whenever a page turning operation is performed. Further, every time the page is turned, the text content of the current page, the previous page, and the next page is drawn to generate an image, which is passed to the content display unit 50.

  A description will be given of how the electronic book reproducing unit 40 determines the combination direction of the currently displayed flow. The flow composition direction and the default composition direction possessed by the data of the electronic book take a value representing one of the three, “unspecified”, “vertical”, and “horizontal”. These values are acquired from the content data acquisition unit 10. The normal assembling direction of the electronic book reproducing unit 40 itself is fixed vertically regardless of the data of the electronic book.

  First, if the composition direction set in the flow to be displayed is not “no specification”, the composition direction is the composition direction of the text to be displayed as it is. If the flow composition direction is “no specification”, then the default composition direction of the electronic book data is read. If this is not “no specification”, the default composition direction of the electronic book data is the composition direction of the displayed text as it is. If “no regulation”, the normal text composition direction of the electronic book reproducing unit 40 itself is the text composition direction to be displayed.

  The operation of the electronic book reproducing unit 40 for determining the text composition direction to be displayed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 10 will be described.

  First, in step S71, the electronic book reproducing unit 40 acquires the i-th flow currently displayed.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S72, and the default value d of the assembling direction is acquired. Next, proceeding to step S73, the value u of the user setting combination direction is acquired. Here, the value u of the “user setting combination direction” is either “vertical” or “horizontal” which is arbitrarily set by the user.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S74, and if it is determined that the composition direction of the i-th flow is “no definition”, the process proceeds to step S75, and if it is determined that the composition direction of the i-th flow is not “no definition”, this process is performed. At the end, the assembly direction of the i-th flow is used.

  In step S75, if it is determined that the default value d of the composition direction is “no specification”, the process proceeds to step S78, where the composition direction of the i-th flow is set to the value u of the user-defined composition direction, and this process is performed. Exit. That is, the value u of “user setting direction” is referred only when there is a book that does not have a default composition direction and there is a flow in which the composition direction of the flow is not set. Is set to either “vertical” or “horizontal” of “user setting assembling direction”.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S75 that the default value d in the assembling direction is not “no specification”, the process proceeds to step S76, and it is determined whether or not the default value d in the assembling direction is “vertical”.

  If it is determined in step S76 that the default value d of the assembling direction is “vertical”, the process proceeds to step S79, where the assembling direction of the i-th flow is set to “vertical”, and this process ends. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S76 that the default value d of the assembling direction is not “vertical”, the process proceeds to step S77, where the assembling direction of the i-th flow is set to “horizontal”, and this process ends.

  The operation unit 30 is a device that actually receives a page turning operation by a human hand, and can instruct the page turning operation by turning from left to right or from right to left.

  In addition, the content display unit 50 acquires an image of the current page, an image of the previous page, and an image of the next page from the electronic book reproduction unit 40. In addition, the content display unit 50 acquires the binding direction from the binding direction determination device 20. Then, when a page turning operation is performed on the operation unit 30, the content display unit 50 is notified from the operation unit 30 whether the page is turned from left to right or the page is turned from right to left. ing. When the operation unit 30 has not received a page turning operation, the content display unit 50 displays the image of the current page as it is. When the page turning operation is notified from the operation unit 30, the content display unit 50, when the page is first turned in the forward direction, displays the current page and the image of the next page combined and displayed. Is expressed visually. If the page is turned in the reverse direction, the current page and the image of the previous page are combined and displayed, and an animation simulating actual page turning is displayed. This animation is a moving image that is displayed so that the page of the book is actually turned. This animation may be changed while sliding from the display of the current page to the display of the next page, or may be another display form that allows the user to recognize that the page is being turned.

  FIG. 12 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of the content display unit 50.

  First, the content display part 50 acquires the binding direction of an electronic book from the electronic book reproduction | regeneration part 40 in step S91.

  In step S92, it is determined whether or not a page turning operation is notified from the operation unit 30. If it is determined in step S92 that a page turning operation has been notified from the operation unit 30, the process proceeds to step S93. On the other hand, if it is determined that a page turning operation has not been notified from the operation unit 30, step S92 is repeated.

  In step S93, if it is determined that the page turning operation notified from the operation unit 30 is page turning from left to right, the process proceeds to step S95, while the page turning operation notified from the operation unit 30 is left. If it is determined that the page is not turned from right to right, the process proceeds to step S94.

  If it is determined in step S95 that the binding direction of the electronic book is right, the process proceeds to step S97, where the page turning display in the forward direction is performed, and this process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the binding direction of the electronic book is not right, the process proceeds to step S96, where the page turning display in the reverse direction is performed, and this process ends.

  In step S94, if it is determined that the binding direction of the electronic book is left, the process proceeds to step S97. On the other hand, if it is determined that the binding direction of the electronic book is not left, the process proceeds to step S96.

  The binding direction determination device 20 acquires the default composition direction, the composition direction of each flow, and the text amount of each flow from the content data acquisition unit 10, and the default composition direction, the composition direction of each flow, and each flow The binding direction of the electronic book is determined based on the text amount of the flow. Then, the binding direction determination device 20 passes the determined binding direction to the content display unit 50.

  In the first embodiment, the content display unit 50 adopts an animation that can simulate an actual page turning, and instructs the operation unit 30 to turn pages from left to right or from right to left. However, when carrying out the present invention, it is sufficient if either one of the following conditions (1) and (2) is satisfied.

  (1) The content display unit 50 visually represents whether the page is turned from right to left or whether the page is turned from left to right.

  (2) The operation unit 30 instructs the page turning direction from left to right or right to left, not the forward direction or the reverse direction.

  For example, as long as the condition (1) is satisfied, the operation unit 30 may be a simple switch mechanism that instructs only the forward direction or the reverse direction. Further, as long as the condition (2) is satisfied, the condition (1) may be that the display from the current page image is instantaneously switched to the next page image. Because, if both of the above conditions (1) and (2) are not satisfied, the e-book reader does not have the function of expressing page turning and is uncomfortable as explained in Fig. 2 (a). This is because the user is not allowed to experience the operation.

  Next, the actual operation of the binding direction determination device 20 will be described.

<Acquisition of assembly direction information>
The composition direction information acquisition unit 22 illustrated in FIG. 1 acquires the default composition direction and the composition direction of each flow from the content data acquisition unit 10. From the default composition direction and the composition direction of each flow, it is finally determined whether the text of each flow is displayed in the composition direction of “vertical” or “horizontal”. If the flow composition direction is “vertical” or “horizontal”, it is regarded as the flow composition direction as it is, and if it is “not specified”, the default composition direction is regarded as the flow composition direction. Further, if the default composition direction is also “no specification”, the composition direction of the flow is “user setting composition direction”.

  FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of the assembly direction information acquisition unit 22 of the binding direction determination device 20.

  First, the assembly direction information acquisition unit 22 acquires a default value d of the assembly direction in step S1. Next, proceeding to step S2, the value u of the user setting combination direction is acquired.

  Next, it progresses to step S3 and the total number n of flows is acquired.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S4, and if it is determined that the composition direction of the i-th flow is “no definition”, the process proceeds to step S5, whereas if it is determined that the composition direction of the i-th flow is not “no definition”, the i-th flow If the i-th flow is less than n, the process returns to step S4. If the i-th flow is n, the process ends.

  In step S5, if it is determined that the default value d of the composition direction is “no regulation”, the process proceeds to step S8, where the composition direction of the i-th flow is set to the value u of the user-set composition direction, and After incrementing the flow, if the i-th flow is less than n, the process returns to step S4, and if the i-th flow is n, the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S5 that the default value d in the assembling direction is not “no specification”, the process proceeds to step S6, and it is determined whether or not the default value d in the assembling direction is “vertical”.

  If it is determined in step S6 that the default value d of the composition direction is “vertical”, the process proceeds to step S9, the composition direction of the i-th flow is set to “vertical”, the i-th flow is incremented, If the i-flow is less than n, the process returns to step S4, and if the i-th flow is n, the process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the default value d of the composition direction is not “vertical”, the process proceeds to step S7, the composition direction of the i-th flow is set to “horizontal”, and the i-th flow is incremented. If the i-th flow is n, the process is terminated.

<Acquisition of text amount>
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operations of the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 and the binding direction determination unit 26. As shown in FIG. 4, in step S11, the vertical writing amount nr_down and the horizontal writing amount nr_right are shown. Are set to 0 respectively. Next, it progresses to step S12 and the text amount acquisition part 24 calculates a text amount. More specifically, the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 acquires the composition direction of each flow from the composition direction information acquisition unit 22 and calculates the sum of the vertical writing amount and the sum of the horizontal writing amount. At this time, the number of vertical writing flows and the number of horizontal writing flows are calculated from the composition direction information acquisition unit 22, and the total amount of vertical writing and the horizontal writing flow are calculated as they are. Consider the total amount of text.

  In step S13, the binding direction determination unit 26 determines the binding direction.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 of the binding direction determination device 20. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 using the number of flows as the sentence amount. In both FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the vertical writing amount is represented by a variable nr_down, and the horizontal writing amount is represented by a variable nr_right (initial value 0). 5, the steps S21 to S24 are repeated for the i-th flow of 0, 1, 2,..., N (n is the total number of flows acquired by the assembly direction information acquisition unit 22).

  First, as shown in FIG. 5, the text amount acquisition unit 24 acquires the text amount nr_text of the i-th flow in step S21. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the text amount nr_text of the i-th flow is 1.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S22, and if it is determined that the composition direction of the i-th flow is “vertical”, the process proceeds to step S24, and the sentence amount nr_text is added to the vertically written sentence amount nr_down. Then, after incrementing the i-th flow, if the i-th flow is less than n, the process returns to step S21, and if the i-th flow is n, the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, if the flow proceeds to step S22 and it is determined that the composition direction of the i-th flow is not “vertical”, the flow proceeds to step S23, and the sentence amount nr_text is added to the horizontally written sentence amount nr_right. Then, after incrementing the i-th flow, if the i-th flow is less than n, the process returns to step S21, and if the i-th flow is n, the process is terminated.

  Thereby, the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 acquires the total amount of vertically written sentences (nr_down) and the total amount of horizontally written sentences (nr_right) represented by the number of flows.

  Although the number of flows is used as the amount of text, the number of bytes may be used as the amount of text as shown in FIG. FIG. 7 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 using the number of bytes as the sentence amount.

  In step S21 shown in FIG. 5, when the text amount acquisition unit 24 acquires the text amount nr_text of the i-th flow, the text amount acquisition unit 24 selects the size s on the i-th flow file in step S41 shown in FIG. To get.

  In step S42, the text amount nr_text of the i-th flow is set to s.

  Here, the unit of the size s may be the number of characters or the number of bytes of data, and may be anything as long as the amount of text can be compared centrally. In FIG. 7, the sentence is divided into units (blocks) that take a size on a memory below a certain level, and this is used as a unit of sentence amount.

  In the first embodiment, the number of blocks of each flow is directly recorded in the electronic book file. However, as another embodiment using the present invention, the amount of text is directly recorded in the electronic book file. It does n’t matter if you do n’t. This is because as long as the division range is recorded in the electronic book file, the amount of text in each division range can be calculated.

  For example, when the number of flows is 100 or more, the number of flows may be used as the amount of text, and the speed may be increased by omitting acquisition and calculation of the exact number of characters or bytes of the text amount. The threshold value at this time is not limited to the number of flows 100, and an appropriate value may be freely determined according to the embodiment. If the processing capability of the binding direction determination device 20 is sufficiently high, it is not necessary to use the flow number as it is as the amount of text (FIG. 6). May be calculated. In this case, the threshold for the number of flows is not necessary.

<Determination of the binding direction>
Finally, the binding direction determination unit 26 compares the total amount of vertical writing and the total amount of horizontal writing, and determines the binding direction from the larger assembling direction. In other words, the binding direction is “right” when the number of flows in which the assembling direction is vertical is large, and the binding direction is “left” when the number of flows in which the assembling direction is horizontal is large.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the binding direction determination unit 26. In step S81, the binding direction determination unit 26 determines that the total amount of vertically written text (nr_down) is less than the total amount of horizontal writing (nr_right). If it is determined that, the process proceeds to step S83, the binding direction is set to “left”, and this process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S81 that the total amount of vertically written text (nr_down) is greater than or equal to the total amount of horizontally written text (nr_right), the process proceeds to step S82, the binding direction is set to “right”, and this processing is terminated. .

  For ease of understanding, the process of determining the optimum binding direction by using the number of blocks as the text amount is confirmed by the binding direction determination device 20 by taking specific electronic book data next.

  That is, the default assembling direction of the electronic book is vertical and the number of flows is 4. The first flow has a sentence amount of one block, represents a cover, and the composition direction for each flow is not specified. In the second flow, the sentence amount is one block, and the composition direction for each flow is horizontal in order to represent the English original theme. In addition, the third flow has a sentence amount of 50 blocks, represents the body, and the composition direction for each flow is unspecified. In the fourth flow, the text amount is 1 block, and the composition direction for each flow is horizontal to represent the imprint.

  First, in the binding direction determination device 20, the composition direction information acquisition unit 22 acquires information on the composition direction of each flow from the data of the electronic book. At this time, the assembling direction of the i-th flow is stored in the variable baseline [i−1] of 4 arrays whose length is equal to the flow number i (= 1, 2, 3, 4). Here, the type of each element of the array may be anything as long as it can represent three types of values: “no specification”, “horizontal”, and “vertical”.

  Now, the assembly direction of each flow is determined according to the flowchart of FIG. Since the composition direction baseline [0] set in the first flow is “no specification”, the default composition direction is substituted for baseline [0]. That is, the composition direction baseline [0] of the first flow is “vertical”.

  Next, since a value other than “no specification” has already been set as the assembly direction for the second flow, no processing is performed, and the assembly direction baseline [1] of the second flow is “horizontal”. The third flow is the same as the first flow, and the assembly direction baseline [2] of the third flow is “vertical”. The fourth flow is the same as the second flow, and the assembly direction baseline [3] of the fourth flow is “horizontal”.

  Next, the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 performs the control shown in FIG. Initially, a variable representing the total amount of vertically written text is nr_down = 0, and a variable representing the total amount of horizontally written text is nr_right = 0.

  Next, the respective text amounts of the first flow to the fourth flow are acquired, and nr_down and nr_right are calculated based on the already acquired combination direction baseline. The first flow is baseline [0] = vertical and the amount of text is 1 block, so nr_down = 1, the second flow is baseline [1] = horizontal, and the amount of text is 1 block, so nr_right = 1, and the third flow is Since baseline [2] = vertical and the amount of text is 50 blocks, nr_down = 51. In the fourth flow, baseline [3] = horizontal and the amount of text is 1 block, so nr_right = 2.

  Therefore, the final result is nr_right = 2 and nr_down = 51.

  Finally, the binding direction determination unit 26 compares the values of the variables nr_right = 2 and nr_down = 51, and since the value of nr_down is large, the main assembling direction of this electronic book is regarded as “vertical”, and the binding direction is determined. Decide “right”. This value is passed to the content display unit 50, and the forward direction of page turning is fixed from left to right.

  Specific examples other than those using the number of blocks as the amount of text are shown in Tables 1 to 4 below.

  In Table 1 above, the number of flows is the amount of text, the number of flows in the horizontal direction is 2, and the number of flows in the vertical direction is 1, so the binding direction is “left”. In this case, as compared with Tables 2 to 4, high-speed processing is possible and it is suitable for an electronic book with a large amount of text.

  In Table 2 above, the number of bytes is the text amount, the total number of bytes in the horizontal direction is 626 bytes, and the total number of vertical bytes in the direction is 160 bytes, so the binding direction is “left”. It becomes. As shown in Table 1, when the number of flows is set as the amount of text, if there is a large bias in the actual amount of text due to the flow, it becomes difficult to accurately determine the amount of text, but in Table 2, there is a bias in the amount of text due to the flow. Even if it is large, the amount of sentences can be judged accurately. In this case, the total number of bytes of data for each flow is handled by including the number of bytes of supplementary information related to the display of tag information, character size, image position information, ruby, etc. The amount of text can be easily obtained from the data size without performing the operation of extracting only the text.

  In Table 3 above, the number of characters is the amount of text, the total number of characters in the horizontal direction is 266 characters, and the total number of vertical characters is 72 characters, so the binding direction is “left”. As shown in Table 2, if the number of bytes is used as the amount of text, it will be difficult to determine the correct amount of text if it contains a lot of tag information, etc. The amount of sentences can be judged accurately.

  The flowchart in FIG. 8 shows the operation of step S21 in FIG. 5 of the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 when the number of characters is used as the sentence amount. As shown in FIG. 8, first, the text of the i-th flow is acquired from the content data acquisition unit 10 in step S51.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S52, where the number of characters char_count in the body from which the tag information is removed by parsing the body of the i-th flow is calculated.

  Next, proceeding to step S53, the number of characters char_count is substituted for the sentence amount nr_text, and this process ends.

  In Table 4 above, the number of pages is the amount of text, the total number of characters in the horizontal direction is 146 characters, the total number of vertical characters is 160 characters, but the total number of pages in the horizontal direction is 4 and the number of pages in which the assembling direction is vertical is 3. That is, since the amount of horizontal text is larger, the binding direction is “left”. Compared to Tables 1 to 3, the amount of text is determined by the number of pages displayed, so even if the image contains many images or the character size varies greatly depending on the flow, the amount of text can be determined accurately. it can. For example, even if the number of characters is the same, the amount of sentences may not be accurate with just the number of characters so that the number of pages is 2 when a cat image as shown in FIG. 13 is included. By determining the above, it is possible to make an appropriate determination corresponding to the actual page turning.

  Thus, the number of pages actually displayed on the content display unit 50 is a sentence amount corresponding to the thickness (number of sheets) as a book. In this case, the sentence amount acquisition unit 24 performs the page turning process when the data of the electronic book is actually displayed on the content display unit 50 without displaying, and the total number of pages in which the composition direction is horizontal and the composition direction are determined. Get the total number of vertical pages. Therefore, even if images and sentences of different character sizes are mixed, an accurate sentence amount can be obtained.

  The flowchart of FIG. 9 shows the operation of step S21 in FIG. 5 of the sentence amount acquisition unit 26 when the number of pages is used as the sentence amount. As shown in FIG. 9, first, the text of the i-th flow is acquired from the content data acquisition unit 10 in step S61.

  Next, proceeding to step S62, 0 is substituted into the text amount nr_text.

  In step S63, the text of the i-th flow is parsed to calculate the number of characters other than tag information char_count.

  Next, steps S64 to S67 are repeated until j becomes 1 from char_count.

  In step S64, the electronic book reproducing unit 40 designates the starting position j of the i-th flow and reproduces the i-th flow.

  In step S65, the end position end_index is acquired from the electronic book reproducing unit 40. Here, the end position end_index represents the number of characters (or the number of bytes) from the first character in the i-th flow of the character or data displayed at the end of the page when displayed on the content display unit 50 of the i-th flow. .

  Next, proceeding to step S66, 1 is added to the end position end_index and substituted for j. This j indicates the position of the first character of the page to be displayed next on the content display unit 50.

  Next, it progresses to step S67, and after incrementing text amount nr_text, when j is less than char_count, step S64-S67 are repeated. When j is char_count, this process ends.

  According to the configuration of the binding direction determination device 20 of the first embodiment, it is optimal for an electronic book in which sentences in a vertical composition (character arrangement direction is vertical) and horizontal composition (character arrangement direction is horizontal) are mixed. The binding direction can be determined. Therefore, the electronic book binding direction determination device of the present invention can automatically determine the binding direction of an electronic book in a format for which no binding direction is specified.

  Therefore, as long as the format of the electronic book file is in a format that can specify the assembling direction in an arbitrary part of the text, the binding direction determination device can work effectively, and the binding direction of the electronic book is automatically set. Can be determined. Therefore, if the binding direction determination device 20 is incorporated in the electronic book reader 1, the page turning direction of the electronic book can be made constant, and the user can be provided with a page turning operation experience that is close to reality.

  In the binding direction determination unit 26, when the text amount determination unit 26a determines that the total amount of vertical writing is equal to or greater than the total amount of horizontal writing, the page turning direction determination unit 26b of the binding direction determination unit 26 The binding direction of the book is determined as “right”, and the page turning direction from left to right is determined as the forward direction. On the other hand, when the sentence amount determination unit 26a determines that the total amount of vertically written sentences is less than the total amount of horizontally written sentences, the page turning direction determination unit 26b determines the binding direction of the electronic book to be “left”, The page turning direction from right to left is determined as the forward direction. As a result, the binding direction determination unit can determine the binding direction and the page turning direction of the electronic book, and can display the optimal page turning based on the binding direction and the page turning direction of the electronic book. Even an electronic book in which writing and horizontal writing are mixed can provide a comfortable reading service to the user.

  Further, the binding direction determination device 20 may be used for any of a personal computer, a portable information terminal, a mobile phone, and an electronic book reader. The binding direction determination device 20 can be suitably applied when the display device to which the binding direction determination device 20 is connected is a personal computer, a portable information terminal, a mobile phone, and an electronic book reader. The binding direction determination device 20 can also be applied to a device for setting a binding direction for data of an electronic book provided as content.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic book reader 101 provided with a binding direction determining device 120 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The electronic book reader 101 of the second embodiment has the same configuration as the electronic book reader 1 of the first embodiment except for the binding direction determination device 120, and the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components. Description is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the electronic book reader 101 of the second embodiment includes a content data acquisition unit 10, a binding direction determination device 120 as an example of an electronic book binding direction determination device, an operation unit 30, and an electronic device. A book reproducing unit 40 and a content display unit 50 are provided. The electronic book reader 101 is a terminal device that can reproduce and display an electronic book. The binding direction determination device 120 includes a combination direction information acquisition unit 122, a sentence amount acquisition unit 124, a binding direction determination unit 126, a weighting information acquisition unit 127, and a language information acquisition unit 128.

  The weighting information acquisition unit 127 acquires weighting information set in advance for each type of a plurality of flows (division ranges). The weighting information may be stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the binding direction determination device 120, or the weighting information is set to the data of the electronic book acquired by the content data acquisition unit 10, and the weighting is performed. The information may be acquired from the content data acquisition unit 10 by the information acquisition unit 127.

  The sentence amount acquisition unit 124 is a flow sentence amount acquisition unit 124a as an example of a divided range sentence amount acquisition unit that acquires a vertical writing amount and a horizontal writing amount for each of a plurality of flows of electronic book data. And a sentence that performs weighting based on the weighting information acquired by the weighting information acquisition unit 127 with respect to the vertical writing amount and horizontal writing amount of each of the plurality of flows acquired by the flow sentence amount acquisition unit 124a. Based on the amount of vertical writing and the amount of horizontal writing of each of the plurality of flows weighted by the amount weighting unit 124b and the amount of text weighting unit 124b, the total amount of vertical writing and the total amount of horizontal writing are calculated. And a total sentence amount calculation unit 124c to be obtained.

  The language information acquisition unit 128 acquires language information of the electronic book from the content data acquisition unit 10.

  Further, the binding direction determination unit 126 is based on the total amount of vertical writing and the total amount of horizontal writing acquired by the text amount acquisition unit 124 and the language information of the electronic book acquired by the language information acquisition unit 128. The binding direction of the electronic book is determined.

  According to the binding direction determination device 120, the flow text amount acquisition unit 124a of the text amount acquisition unit 124 calculates the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount for each of a plurality of flows (division ranges) of the electronic book data. get. The sentence amount weighting unit 124b of the sentence amount acquiring unit 124 acquires the weighted information acquiring unit 124 for the vertically written sentence amount and the horizontally written sentence amount of the plurality of flows acquired by the flow sentence amount acquiring unit 124a. Weighting is performed based on the weighted information. Then, based on the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount of each of the plurality of weighted flows, the total writing amount calculation unit 124c of the writing amount acquisition unit 124 calculates the sum of the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount. Find the total amount of sentences. For example, by setting the weight of the imprint or cover to 0.1 and the weight of the text to 1.0, the optimum binding direction reflecting the text amount of the text can be determined. Note that the text may be divided into a text (for example, weight 2.0) for which the composition direction is set and a text (weight 0.5) for which the composition direction is not set.

  The binding direction determination unit 126 is based on the total amount of vertical writing and the total amount of horizontal writing acquired by the text amount acquisition unit 124 and the language information of the electronic book acquired by the language information acquisition unit 128. By determining the binding direction of the electronic book by the above method, for example, after determining the basic binding direction based on the sum of the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit 124, the basic binding direction is determined. It becomes possible to determine the optimum binding direction by combining the binding direction and the binding direction set for each language of the electronic book. For example, if the language information of the electronic book is Japanese, the amount of vertical writing is small compared to the amount of horizontal writing, but if the difference is small, the binding direction is “right”. If the language information is English, the amount of vertical writing is slightly larger than the amount of horizontal writing, but if the difference is small, the binding direction is set to “left”. The process is performed.

  Finally, each block of the binding direction determination devices 20 and 120, particularly the combination direction information acquisition units 22 and 122, the sentence amount acquisition units 24 and 124, and the binding direction determination units 26 and 126 may be configured by hardware logic. Alternatively, it may be realized by software using a CPU as follows.

  That is, the binding direction determining device 20 includes a CPU (central processing unit) that executes instructions of a control program (electronic book binding direction determining program) that realizes each function, a ROM (read only memory) that stores the program, A RAM (random access memory) for expanding the program, a storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the program and various data, and the like are provided. An object of the present invention is to record a program code (including an execution format program, an intermediate code program, a source program, etc.) of a control program of the binding direction determination device 20 that is software that realizes the above-described functions so that it can be read by a computer. This can also be achieved by supplying the recorded recording medium to the binding direction determining device 20 and having the computer (or CPU or MPU) read and execute the program code recorded on the recording medium.

  As a result, when the electronic book binding direction determination program of the present invention is incorporated in software for browsing electronic books, the page turning order is determined by determining the binding direction using the present invention when the electronic book file is opened. The direction is constant and the user can enjoy a comfortable reading experience.

  Examples of the recording medium include a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and a compact disk-ROM / MO (photomagnetic) / MD (mini disk) / digital video. A disk system including an optical disk such as a disk / compact disk-R, a card system such as an IC card (including a memory card) / optical card, or a semiconductor memory system such as a mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM, etc. it can.

  The computer may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN (Local Area Network), ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network), VAN ( Value Added Network (CAT), CATV (Cable Television) communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication network, etc. can be used. . The transmission medium constituting the communication network is not particularly limited. For example, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394, USB (Universal Serial Bus), power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL (Asymmetric (Asymmetric)) Digital Subscriber Line (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) Even with a wired line such as an IrDA (Infrared Data Association) or remote control, infrared, Bluetooth (registered trademark), 802.11 wireless, HDR (High Data Rate: High Data Rate) Rate), mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network, and the like. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. In other words, embodiments obtained by combining technical means appropriately changed within the scope of the present invention are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  The present invention can automatically determine the optimal binding direction of an electronic book to the left or right, and is particularly suitable for a display device (such as an electronic book reader) that performs operations and displays that mimic actual page turning. can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,101 ... Electronic book reader 10 ... Content data acquisition part 20,120 ... Binding direction determination apparatus 22,122 ... Assembly direction information acquisition part 24,124 ... Text amount acquisition part 26,126 ... Binding direction determination part 26a ... Text amount Determination unit 26b ... Page turning direction determination unit 127 ... Weighting information acquisition unit 128 ... Language information acquisition unit 30 ... Operation unit 40 ... Electronic book playback unit 50 ... Content display unit 124a ... Flow text amount acquisition unit 124b ... Text amount weighting unit 124c ... Sentence calculation section

Claims (13)

The electronic book data is divided into a plurality of division ranges according to a predetermined rule, and information on the composition direction indicating whether the character arrangement direction is vertical or horizontal for each of the plurality of division ranges. A composition direction information acquisition unit to acquire from book data;
Based on the information on the composition direction of each of the plurality of division ranges acquired by the composition direction information acquisition unit, the amount of text written vertically for the division range in which the composition direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges. And a sentence amount acquisition unit for acquiring a total amount of horizontally written sentences for a divided range in which the combination direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges;
A binding direction determination unit that determines a binding direction of the electronic book based on a total amount of the vertical writing and a total amount of the horizontal writing acquired by the text amount acquisition unit; Electronic book binding direction determination device. In the electronic book binding direction determination device according to claim 1,
The binding direction determination unit
A sentence amount determination unit for determining whether the total amount of the vertically written sentence is greater than or equal to the total amount of the horizontally written sentence;
When the sentence amount determination unit determines that the total amount of the vertically written sentence is greater than or equal to the total amount of the horizontally written sentence, the binding direction of the electronic book is determined to the right, and the page turning direction from left to right is forward. On the other hand, if the sentence amount determination unit determines that the total amount of the vertically written sentence is less than the total amount of the horizontally written sentence, the binding direction of the electronic book is determined to the left and from right to left And a page turning direction determining unit that determines the page turning direction of the electronic book as a forward direction. In the electronic book binding direction determination device according to claim 1 or 2,
The total amount of vertically written text acquired by the text amount acquisition unit is the total number of division ranges in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges,
The total amount of the horizontally written sentence acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is a total number of divided ranges in which the assembling direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges. . In the electronic book binding direction determination device according to claim 1 or 2,
The sum total of the vertically written sentence amount acquired by the sentence amount acquiring unit is the total number of bytes of data in the divided range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of divided ranges,
The total amount of the horizontally written sentence acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of bytes of data in the divided range in which the assembling direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges. Binding direction determination device. In the electronic book binding direction determination device according to claim 1 or 2,
The sum total of the vertically written sentence amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of characters in the divided range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of divided ranges,
The binding amount determination for the electronic book, wherein the total amount of the horizontally written sentence acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of characters in the divided range in which the assembling direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges. apparatus. In the electronic book binding direction determination device according to claim 1 or 2,
The total amount of the vertically written sentence acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of pages when the division range in which the combination direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges is displayed on a display device,
The total of the horizontal writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit is the total number of pages when the division range in which the combination direction is horizontal among the plurality of division ranges is displayed on the display device. An electronic book binding direction determination device. In the binding direction determination apparatus for electronic books as described in any one of Claim 1-6,
A weighting information acquisition unit that acquires weighting information set in advance for each type of the plurality of division ranges,
The above sentence amount acquisition unit
A divided range sentence amount acquisition unit for acquiring the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount for each of the plurality of divided ranges of the electronic book data;
Based on the weighting information acquired by the weighting information acquisition unit for the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount of each of the plurality of division ranges acquired by the division range sentence amount acquisition unit. A sentence weighting unit for weighting;
Based on the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount of each of the plurality of division ranges weighted by the writing amount weighting unit, the total of the vertical writing amount and the horizontal writing amount are calculated. A binding direction determination device for an electronic book, comprising: a total sentence amount calculation unit to be calculated. In the binding direction determination apparatus for electronic books as described in any one of Claim 1-7,
A language information acquisition unit for acquiring language information of the electronic book;
The binding direction determination unit includes the sum of the vertical writing amount acquired by the sentence amount acquisition unit, the total of the horizontal writing amount, and the language information of the electronic book acquired by the language information acquisition unit. An electronic book binding direction determining device, wherein the electronic book binding direction is determined based on the electronic book. An electronic book binding direction determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
A display unit capable of displaying vertical and horizontal writing of an electronic book, and capable of displaying page turning from left to right and page turning from right to left with respect to the electronic book;
Based on the binding direction of the electronic book determined by the electronic book binding direction determination device, the display unit is instructed to display the page turning from left to right and the page turning from right to left. A display device comprising an operation unit. The display device according to claim 9,
A display device comprising any one of a personal computer, a portable information terminal, a mobile phone, and an electronic book reader. The electronic book data is divided into a plurality of division ranges according to a predetermined rule, and information on the combination direction indicating whether the writing is vertical writing or horizontal writing is obtained for each of the plurality of division ranges. Information acquisition step to be acquired by the department;
Based on the information on the composition direction of each of the plurality of division ranges acquired in the information acquisition step, the total amount of vertically written sentences for the division range in which the composition direction is vertical among the plurality of division ranges. A sentence amount acquisition step of acquiring, by the sentence amount acquisition unit, a total amount of horizontally written sentences for the divided range in which the combination direction is horizontal among the plurality of divided ranges;
A binding direction determination step of determining a binding direction of the electronic book by a binding direction determination unit based on the total amount of the vertical writing and the total amount of the horizontal writing acquired in the sentence amount acquisition step. A method for determining a binding direction for an electronic book.   An electronic book binding direction determination program that causes a computer to execute each of the steps of the electronic book binding direction determination method according to claim 11.   13. A computer-readable recording medium on which the electronic book binding direction determination program according to claim 12 is recorded.

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