JPH0756935A - Electronic book display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continuously and easily change page-turning speed in an electronic book. CONSTITUTION:A distance calculation part 102 calculating how far a point that a user indicates is from a reference point or a reference line which is previously set, a page-turning speed calculation part 103 calculating page-turning speed based on the distance, a page-turning control part 105, a page information accumulation part 104 and a display part 106 are provided. Thus, the user can freely change page-turning speed without interrupting the work while he reads the electronic book. Thus, the operability of the electronic book is considerably improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information display / retrieval device for displaying information stored in an electronic medium on a display screen, and in particular, it provides information while turning pages as if reading a book. The present invention relates to an electronic book display device for displaying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In conventional electronic books and the like, in order to turn pages, generally, it is possible to move to the next page or the previous page one page at a time by the next page display key and the previous page display key.

In some cases, a method for performing them at high speed or automatically is provided separately. JP 04-04
-039781 has a next page instruction key for instructing the displayed content to be the next page and a previous page instruction key for instructing the display content to return to the previous page, and the display output control is performed according to the key operation. A technique is disclosed in which the unit reads the stored contents of a storage medium and controls the display device to turn the pages of a book so that the pages are displayed.

In addition to the above, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 03-103984 discloses an apparatus technology having an automatic display instruction key for instructing to automatically and continuously display the next page.

In addition to the above, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-103983, when the next page instruction key is pressed for a predetermined time or more, the mode is changed to the fast-forwarding mode, and fast-forwarding is performed for each preset page. The technology is disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 02-309390 discloses a technique capable of moving a screen forward or backward by using two scroll keys.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 01-094382 discloses a technique in which a page feed switch is provided so that the user can go to the next page or page forward, and the user can set the speed for automatically turning pages. The technology is disclosed.

The summary of the above disclosed technology for controlling the page turning speed will be described below.

1) When the page turning (advancing to the next or previous page) button is pressed, the pages are turned page by page.

2) The user can set the speed of automatically turning pages.

3) If the page turning button is pressed for a certain period of time or more, high-speed page turning is performed.

The structures of these devices are shown in block diagrams in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16. The configuration of the device 1) is shown in FIG. The configuration of the device 2) is shown in FIG. The configuration of the device 3) is shown in FIG.

[0013]

In any of the conventional methods, while the user is browsing the electronic book while turning the page, the speed of turning the page is simple without interrupting the page turning operation. Could not be changed to.

The method of pushing the button for advancing to the next page or the previous page described in 1) of the "prior art" cannot change the page turning speed.

In the method described in 2) of "Prior Art" in which the user sets the speed of automatically turning pages,
If you notice that the page turning is too fast while browsing and try to change the page turning speed, you have to interrupt the automatic page turning once, change the setting of the page turning speed, and then perform the automatic page turning again.
The work is very troublesome.

In the method described in 3) of "Prior Art", which is in the high-speed page-turning mode when the page-turning button is pressed for a certain time or longer, the page-turning speed is only "normal" or "high speed". It cannot be changed continuously.

It is also easy to think of a method of detecting the strength of the force with which a button is pressed, and turning the page at high speed when the button is pressed hard and turning at a low speed when the button is pressed weakly. However, even in this case, it is necessary to prepare different buttons for moving the page forward and returning the page forward, and the operation is not so easy.

The present invention solves these problems, and even when the user is browsing the contents of the electronic book while performing the page turning operation, the page turning operation is not interrupted at a free speed. To provide an electronic book display device that can turn pages and can continuously change the speed and that does not require operation such as pressing another button even when changing from a state of advancing a page to a state of returning a page. To aim.

[0019]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The gist of means for solving the problems lies in the following 4 items.

[1] An electronic book display device in which a user can naturally control the speed of turning a page, which is a page turning instruction section for giving a user an instruction to turn a page, and the page turning instruction section. The distance calculation unit that calculates the distance between the page-turning position designated by the above and the predetermined reference point or the reference line, and the page-turning speed is calculated based on the distance information generated by the distance calculation unit. A page-turning speed calculation unit, a page-information storage unit that stores the contents to be displayed on each page of the electronic book, and the page-information storage at the page-turning speed calculated by the page-turning speed calculation unit A page turning control unit that sequentially outputs the contents stored in the unit, and the display unit that displays the contents output from the page turning control unit. An electronic book display device characterized by:

[2] An electronic book display device in which the user can naturally control the page-turning speed, and a page-turning instruction section for the user to give a page-turning instruction, and the page-turning instruction section. The distance calculation unit that calculates the distance between the page-turning position designated by the above and the predetermined reference point or the reference line, and the page-turning speed is calculated based on the distance information generated by the distance calculation unit. A page-turning speed calculation unit, a video image storage unit that stores a video image of information to be displayed on each page of the electronic book, and the page information at the page-turning speed calculated by the page-turning speed calculation unit. A page turning control unit that sequentially outputs the contents stored in the storage unit,
An electronic book display device comprising: the display unit that displays the content output from the page turning control unit.

[3] An electronic book display device in which the user can naturally control the page-turning speed, and a page-turning instruction section for the user to give an instruction for page-turning, and the page-turning instruction section. The distance calculation unit that calculates the distance between the page-turning position designated by the above and the predetermined reference point or the reference line, and the page-turning speed is calculated based on the distance information generated by the distance calculation unit. A page turning speed calculation unit, a page frame information storage unit that stores information to be displayed as a frame of the page of the electronic book, and an in-page information storage that stores information to be displayed inside the frame A page turning control unit that sequentially outputs the contents stored in the page information storage unit at the page turning speed calculated by the page turning speed calculation unit; An electronic book display device comprising: the display unit that displays the content output from the page turning control unit.

[4] An electronic book display device in which the user can naturally control the page-turning speed, and a page-turning instruction section for the user to instruct the page-turning and the page-turning instruction section. The distance calculation unit that calculates the distance between the page-turning position designated by the above and the predetermined reference point or the reference line, and the page-turning speed is calculated based on the distance information generated by the distance calculation unit. A page turning speed calculation unit, an image storage unit that stores a video image of information to be displayed as a frame of the page of the electronic book, and an in-page information storage that stores information to be overlay-displayed on the video image. And a page turning unit that sequentially outputs the contents stored in the page information storage unit at the page turning speed calculated by the page turning speed calculation unit. An electronic book display device, comprising: a page control section; and the display section that displays the content output from the page turning control section.

[0024]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the device configuration according to claim 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the device configuration according to claim 2, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the apparatus configuration according to claim 3, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the apparatus configuration according to claim 4.

It should be noted that the electronic book referred to here is not necessarily a portable type that displays the image of a book on the entire screen, but also displays a simulated book shape for displaying information on the display screen of a computer. It also includes cases.

The page-turning instruction section 101 is for a user to turn the page of an electronic book.
A keyboard, a mouse, a button, a trackball, a touch panel in a touch panel display, a slide type controller, etc. can be used.

The distance calculation unit 102 calculates how far the point designated by the user by the page turning instruction unit is from a predetermined reference point or reference line, and is a microprocessor for calculating coordinates. , Dedicated processors, etc. are available.

The page turning speed calculation unit 103 is for calculating the page turning speed according to the output of the distance calculation unit 102, and a microprocessor or the like can be used. The page information storage unit 104 is a unit that stores information to be displayed on each page of the electronic book, and may be a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a laser disk, or the like.

The page-turning control unit 105 controls the display of the information stored in the page-information storage unit 104 according to the page-turning speed calculated by the page-turning speed calculation unit 103. It is available. The display unit 106 displays an electronic book, and a display device such as a CRT display or a liquid crystal display can be used.

The image storage unit 201 is a unit for storing all information to be displayed as an electronic book as a video image, and a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a laser disk or the like can be used.

The in-page information storage unit 301 is a unit that stores the contents to be displayed inside the frame of each page of the electronic book, and may be a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a laser disk, or the like.

The page frame information storage unit 302 is a unit for storing information of a portion corresponding to a frame of a book displayed in an electronic book, and a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a laser disk or the like can be used. .

The in-page information storage unit 401 is a unit for storing the contents to be overlay-displayed on the video image showing the frame of each page of the electronic book, and includes semiconductor memory, magnetic disk, CD-ROM, laser disk, etc. It is available.

The image storage unit 402 is a unit for storing video images showing the frame of each page of the electronic book, and may be a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a laser disk, or the like. Note that in the block diagrams of FIGS. 2 and 4, the video storage unit 201 and the video storage unit 402.
In both cases, the page-turning control section 105 reads out the accumulated videos and displays them on the display section 106. However, the page-turning control section 10 controls the display section 106.
5, not the video storage unit 201 or the video storage unit 402
, And the video stored in them may be directly displayed on the display unit 106.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for displaying an electronic book in the electronic book page turning apparatus of the present invention.

First, when the user gives an instruction for a page turning operation (step 501), the distance calculation unit determines how far the cursor position and the slider position in the controller at that time are from a preset reference point or reference line. 102 calculates (step 502), then the page turning speed calculation unit 103 calculates the page turning speed based on the distance (step 503), and the page turning control unit 105 displays the page turning according to the page turning speed. Then, this operation continues while the user instructs the page turning operation (step 504), and if the page turning instruction is interrupted, the page turning is interrupted no matter what step is being performed.

In step 503, the distance calculator 10
When calculating the page turning speed according to the output of 2,
It may be based on any mathematical expression, table, description in a programming language, or the like. For example, when the output of the distance calculation unit 102 and the page-turning speed are in direct proportion, the page-turning speed can be obtained by multiplying the output of the distance calculation unit 102 by a constant.

FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8 and FIG.
4 is a flowchart describing in detail the contents of the processing in 4.

FIG. 6 is a process when using the device shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1, FIG. 7 is a process when using the device shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2, and FIG. 8 is a device shown in the block diagram of FIG. FIG. 9 shows the processing when the device shown in the block diagram of FIG. 4 is used.

In FIG. 6, first, when the page turning speed is obtained in step 503, a certain time (the time when one page should be displayed) of the same page of the electronic book has elapsed (step 601). ), The information of the next page is read from the page information storage unit 104 and displayed (step 602).

Thereafter, if the page turning speed is not changed by the user operation (step 603), step 6
The processing after 01 is repeated. When the page turning speed is changed, the process returns to step 502 and the page turning speed is calculated again.

In FIG. 7, when the page-turning speed is obtained in step 503, the page-turning video image is read from the image storage unit 201 according to the instructed speed and displayed on the display unit (step 701).

For example, if the instructed speed is 2 pages per second, and if 30 frames are spent in the video image for turning one page, an image of 60 frames per second is displayed. Alternatively, the original image may be displayed by thinning out every other frame such that 30 frames are displayed every second.

In FIG. 8, when the page turning speed is obtained in step 503, a certain time (the time when one page should be displayed) of the same page of the electronic book has elapsed (step 801). , The information to be displayed inside the frame of the next page
Read out and displayed (step 802).

Thereafter, if the page turning speed is not changed by the user operation (step 803), step 8
The processing after 01 is repeated.

When the page turning speed is changed, the process returns to step 502 and the page turning speed is calculated again.
In this case, the page frame information is read from the page frame information storage unit 302 at the stage of displaying the electronic book on the display unit 106 for display, or the page frame information is displayed when the process of step 802 is performed. Information of is also displayed.

In FIG. 9, when the page turning speed is obtained in step 503, the video accumulating section 4 is operated in accordance with the instructed speed.
A page-turning video image is read from 02 and displayed on the display unit (step 901).

The display method in this case is the same as that in FIG. When a certain time (the time when one page should be displayed) of the same page of the electronic book has elapsed (step 902), the information to be displayed inside the frame of the next page is stored in the page information storage unit. It is read from 401 and displayed (step 903).

Thereafter, if the page turning speed is not changed by the user operation (step 904), step 9
The processing after 01 is repeated. When the page turning speed is changed, the process returns to step 502 and the page turning speed is calculated again.

Next, the processing procedure of the apparatus of the present invention will be shown using a concrete example.

A case where the appearance of the electronic book display device is as shown in FIG. 10 and a case where it is as shown in FIG. 11 will be described. FIG. 10 shows a case where the two-page spread is displayed in one screen, and FIG. 11 shows a case where only one page is displayed in the one screen.

First, a case where this is realized by the device shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 will be described. In FIG. 10, the user uses the page turning instruction unit 101 to make a point 10
It is assumed that 01 is instructed to turn pages (step 501).

This is to point the point 1001 with a finger or a pen on an input / output integrated display such as a touch panel, or to press the mouse button when the mouse cursor is at the point 1001. Next, the distance calculation unit 10
2 calculates how far the point 1001 designated by the user is from the reference line 1002 for distance calculation (step 502).

In this case, the length L shown in FIG. 10 is the distance. Next, the page turning speed calculation unit 103 calculates the page turning speed based on the distance calculated in step 502 (step 503).

For example, when the distance is L centimeters, the page turning speed is L / 10 sheets per second (fractions below the decimal point are rounded down), and when the left side of the display screen from the center line 1002 is instructed, the page turning to the left side and display are performed. It can be decided that when the right side of the screen is instructed, the page is turned to the right side.

Next, the page turning control unit 105 turns the page according to the speed calculated in step 503. Note that if the electronic book display device has the appearance as shown in FIG. 11 and the page turning is controlled by moving the slider 1102 with a slider type controller 1101, the position of the slider 1102 is set in advance, for example. The page-turning speed can be calculated with the distance from the center point 1103 set as the distance.

The page turning display method is slightly different depending on which configuration of the electronic book display device according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

First, FIG. 1 shows a case where information for each page is sequentially read and displayed. In this case, the page turning control unit 105 reads the information of the two-page spread in FIG. 10, for example, from the page information storage unit 104 and displays it.

FIG. 2 shows a case where all the images in the state of turning pages of the electronic book are also accumulated as video images. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, if a page turning scene of a book is recorded in the video storage unit 201 in frames f1 to f30 of the video video,
Displaying f1 to f30 corresponds to turning one page.

When the page-turning speed is calculated to be 2 pages per second, 60 pre-stored video images may be displayed per second, or every other video may be displayed at 30 per second.

When the electronic book display device has the structure shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, the portion corresponding to the frame of the page and the portion corresponding to the content of the page are separately stored. Here, the page frame corresponds to, for example, the part indicated by the frame 1301 in the display of the electronic book shown in FIG. 13, and the part corresponding to the page content is the dotted line 1
This is the inside of the portion indicated by 302.

Since the display of the page frame portion hardly changes, it is read from the page frame information storage unit 302 of FIG. 3 or the video storage unit 402 of FIG. 4 and displayed. Since the contents in the page differ from page to page, they are read from the in-page information storage unit 301 in FIG. 3 or the in-page information storage unit 401 in FIG. 4 and displayed.

In the case of FIG. 4, only the image of turning over a blank book in the image as shown in FIG. 12 is displayed as a page frame, and the contents of the page are displayed in overlay only in the case of frame f1 or f30. There is a method.

[0064]

As described in the section of the prior art, in the conventional electronic book display device, whether the page turning speed is fixed, whether the user temporarily changes the page turning operation and changes it, I could only swap between fast page turning and fast page turning. This means that the user could not change the page turning speed without interrupting the page turning operation. According to the electronic book display device of the present invention, for example, when the device as shown in FIG. 10 is used, the user can move the designated position to the right or left on the display screen to move to the position. In response, the page is turned to the right or left, and the speed of turning the page continuously changes depending on the distance from the reference line at the position indicated at that time. Figure 1
When the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is used, if the user moves the slider to the right or left, the page turning speed continuously changes accordingly.

As described above, being able to continuously change the page-turning speed without temporarily suspending the page-turning operation is a great merit for a person reading a document on an electronic book.

This is because, when reading a physically existing book, a person freely changes the speed of turning the page, and slowly reads the easy part when reading the difficult part. This is because it is possible to turn over at times, and the convenience of an electronic book can be realized by using the device of the present invention.

As in the prior art, page turning can be performed only at a predetermined speed in an electronic book, or page turning can only be performed at speeds at which discontinuous values such as normal speed and high speed page turning are taken. Doing this is a heavy burden on the reader of the e-book.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a configuration of an electronic book display device according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration of the electronic book display device according to claim 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration of the electronic book display device according to claim 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration of the electronic book display device according to claim 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control method when displaying page turning of an electronic book using the device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure when the process of step 504 in FIG. 5 is performed by the electronic book display device according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure when the processing of step 504 in FIG. 5 is performed by the electronic book display device according to claim 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure when the process of step 504 in FIG. 5 is performed by the electronic book display device according to claim 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a detailed procedure when the process of step 504 in FIG. 5 is performed by the electronic book display device according to claim 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a point that is instructed by a user, which is a basis of page turning speed calculation in the electronic book display device of the present invention;
It is a figure explaining the Example of the distance with the reference line of distance calculation.

FIG. 11 is a user's instruction point which is the basis of page turning speed calculation in the electronic book display device of the present invention;
It is a figure explaining the Example of the distance with the reference point of distance calculation.

12 is a diagram showing an example of video images stored in the image storage unit 201 or the image storage unit 402 and used in the electronic book display device of the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a distinction between a page frame portion and in-page information in an electronic book.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a page turning method in a conventional electronic book.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a method for allowing a user to set a page turning speed in a conventional electronic book.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a method that enables high-speed page turning in a conventional electronic book.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electronic book display device in which a user can naturally control the page-turning speed, the page-turning instruction section for the user to give an instruction to turn the page, and the page-turning instruction section. A distance calculator that calculates the distance between the designated page-turning position and a predetermined reference point or reference line, and a page-turning speed based on the distance information generated by the distance calculator. A page-turning speed calculation unit, a page-information storage unit that stores contents to be displayed on each page of the electronic book, and the page-information storage unit at the page-turning speed calculated by the page-turning speed calculation unit And a display unit for displaying the content output from the page-turning control unit. An electronic book display device characterized by: 2. An electronic book display device in which a user can naturally control page turning speed, the page turning instructing section for allowing the user to instruct page turning, and the page turning instructing section. A distance calculator that calculates the distance between the designated page-turning position and a predetermined reference point or reference line, and a page-turning speed based on the distance information generated by the distance calculator. A page turning speed calculation unit, a video image storage unit that stores a video image of information to be displayed on each page of the electronic book, and the page information storage at the page turning speed calculated by the page turning speed calculation unit From the page turning control unit that sequentially outputs the contents accumulated in the unit, and the display unit that displays the contents output from the page turning control unit An electronic book display device characterized by being formed. 3. An electronic book display device in which a user can naturally control page turning speed, the page turning instructing section for allowing the user to instruct page turning, and the page turning instructing section. A distance calculator that calculates the distance between the designated page-turning position and a predetermined reference point or reference line, and a page-turning speed based on the distance information generated by the distance calculator. A page turning speed calculation unit, a page frame information storage unit that stores information to be displayed as a frame of the page of the electronic book, and an in-page information storage unit that stores information to be displayed inside the frame A page turning control unit that sequentially outputs the contents stored in the page information storage unit at the page turning speed calculated by the page turning speed calculation unit; Electronic book display apparatus characterized by comprising a said display unit to display the content to be outputted from the over-di turning controller. 4. An electronic book display device which allows a user to naturally control the speed of turning a page, wherein the page turning instruction section allows the user to give an instruction to turn the page, and the page turning instruction section. A distance calculator that calculates the distance between the designated page-turning position and a predetermined reference point or reference line, and a page-turning speed based on the distance information generated by the distance calculator. A page turning speed calculation unit, an image storage unit that stores a video image of information to be displayed as a frame of the page of the electronic book, and an in-page information storage that stores information for overlay display on the video image And a page turning unit that sequentially outputs the contents stored in the page information storage unit at the page turning speed calculated by the page turning speed calculation unit. An electronic book display device, comprising: a page control section; and the display section that displays the content output from the page turning control section.