JPH11134157A - Information terminal device and information processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To directly select a delectable character string. SOLUTION: A selectable character string extraction part 303 extracts a selectable character string to supply it to a symbol addition means 304 which supplies a single numeral assigned to the extracted character string to a display processing means 306. A URL(uniform resource locator) that is placed before the character string given from the means 303 is stored in a table contained in a microcomputer 301 in relation to the numeral. Then the means 303 omits the tags put before and after the character string and underlines this character string to supply it to the means 306. The means 306 adds a number to the character string and shows them on a display device 307. A user selects the number added to the character string by means of a channel button of a remote controller. When the selected number is matched with the number given from the means 304, a symbol decision means 305 decides that a desired character string has been selected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information terminal device and an information processing method capable of selectively receiving, from received data, another data linked to the data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, interactive services using a telephone line as a communication medium have been actively performed. As the interactive service, online shopping for purchasing a product at home, and personal computer communication for exchanging information using character data are performed.

[0003] In the future, services such as video-on-demand, which provide a selected program individually to recipients when a movie or TV program is requested, are planned.

[0004] It is also possible to join the Internet, which is a worldwide network, from home. E-mail and WWW (WoW) by participating in the Internet
Information exchange using the ld wide web system can be realized on a global scale. WWW system is HTML
(HyperText Markup Language)
e) data written in the language of HTTP (Hyp
erText Transfer Protocol)
To transfer data. The transferred data is WWW
It can be displayed graphically by a browser, the so-called Mosaic. Online shopping, information provision, advertisement, and the like using this WWW system are also implemented.

[0005] Furthermore, teletext multiplex broadcasting, which is an information providing service using TV broadcast waves, is also performed. Two-way services such as text multiplex broadcasting by broadcast waves and data transmission to broadcasting stations via telephone lines are also being implemented.

FIG. 8 shows a conventional example of an interactive service using a server.

[0007] The first station 1004 and the second station 1005
Data communication is performed via the telephone line 1003. The first station 1004 includes a communication terminal device 1001, a modem 10
02, and in the case of data communication, a communication terminal device 1001 and a modem 1002 are used.

Further, the second station 1005
6, a server device 1007 which is a type of information processing device,
An auxiliary storage device 1008 and a network I / F 1009 are provided.

The server device 1007 is a communication terminal device 1
001 is a computer that performs appropriate processing in response to an instruction requested from 001. Also, the network I / F 100
9 is connected to a wide area network, the so-called Internet. The Internet is a world-wide network to which countless computers are connected. The server device 1007 can also extract information held by another computer via the Internet.

Next, the first station 1004 and the second station 1
The data communication between 005 will be described.

The first station 1004 is of a general form, for example, in a case where communication is performed using a personal computer in a general home. The second station 1005 conceptually shows the most basic configuration of a so-called Internet provider.

Generally, the first station 1004 is the second station 1
005 to perform data communication with the second station 1005
In this case, an account for accessing the server device 1007 and the telephone number of the second station 1005 are obtained.

A case where the contracted first station 1004 performs communication will be described with reference to FIG. First, a line connection request is issued to the second station 1005, and connection is made through a telephone line (1101). This is for modems 1002 and 1
006.

Next, a software connection between the communication terminal 1001 and the server 1007 is established. For software connection, PPP (P
For PP, Network Working G
group, author W.W. Simps
on et al., "The Point-to-Poi."
nt Protocol (PPP) ") (1102), so-called TCP / IP (Transmis- sion) as a network layer and a transport layer.
Sion Control Protocol / Int
Internet Protocol (110)
3, 1104).

Thus, the first station 1004 and the second station 10
If a connection is established between the first station 1004 and the first station 1004, information provided on the WWW system, for example, can be obtained.

The protocol for implementing the WWW system is as follows:
http (for http, HTTP Workki
ng Group, INTERNET-DRAFT, S
Author T. Epubber 4, 1995. Be
"Hypertext T" by rners-Lee et al.
transfer Protocol. HTTP / 1.
0 ") and OSI (Open S
systems Interconnection) corresponds to a session layer, a presentation layer, and an application layer of a reference model.

At present, TV receivers capable of realizing the above-described services have been developed. A built-in modem is provided in addition to the conventional TV reception function, and information can be easily extracted by a WWW browser.

However, in such a TV receiver, unlike a personal computer, there are many devices to which a pointing device, that is, a so-called mouse cannot be connected. For this reason, when a user makes a selection, the selectable character string is sequentially moved using a cursor key of an attached remote controller, and a selection button is pressed at a desired place. Similarly, when accessing another data on the WWW browser, the cursor key is used.

[0019]

As described above, the operation of a device in which the Internet function is added to the conventional TV receiver is very complicated because there is no mouse device.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information terminal device and an information processing method that allow a selectable character string to be directly selected.

[0021]

In an information processing terminal device capable of selectively receiving another data linked to the data from the received data, a character string selectable by a user is extracted from the received data. And a selectable character string extracting means for performing predetermined processing on the character string and outputting the selected character string; a symbol adding means for allocating and outputting a predetermined symbol to the extracted selectable character string; and extracting the selectable character string. In addition to the processed character string from the means, a display means for additionally displaying a corresponding symbol from the symbol adding means, a symbol input means for inputting a symbol, and a symbol from the input means and the symbol adding means. And a symbol judging means for judging that the desired first-half character string has been selected when the first-half symbol matches.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an essential part of an information terminal device and an information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The information processing apparatus 101 includes a microcomputer 301,
It comprises a transmission / reception unit 302, a selectable character string extraction unit 303, a symbol addition unit 304, a symbol determination unit 305, a display processing unit 306, a display device 307, a remote control reception device 308, an auxiliary storage device 309, and a keyboard 311.

The microcomputer 301 is basically controlled by an OS (operating system) stored in the auxiliary storage device 303.

First, the WWW button 40 of the remote controller shown in FIG.
6 is pressed, and a predetermined URL (Uniform Reso
source Locator) is input from the keyboard 311 to the microcomputer 301. Note that the keyboard 311 is omitted, and a predetermined URL is stored in the microcomputer 301.
May be stored. At this time, the WWW button 406
Is pressed, the remote control transmission / reception device 308 receives the selection of the WWW mode, reads the URL stored in the microcomputer 301, and transmits the data of the URL to the external server device via the transmission / reception means 302. Request to do so. The external server supplies the URL data to the transmission / reception means 302 via the telephone line 103 and the modem 102.

The transmitting / receiving means 302 receives data in accordance with an instruction from the microcomputer 302 and selects the character string extracting means 3
03.

The selectable character string extracting means 303 extracts a character string that can be selected by the user from the data received from the external server device.

For example, in HTML, <A HREF
= ”...”> means that the character string of ○ × □ △ in ○ × □ △ <// A> links another data, and the user is linked to that character string. Another data can be selectively received from the external server device. Therefore, the selectable character string extracting means 303 extracts the character string ○ ×× and supplies it to the symbol adding means 304.

The selectable character string extracting means 303
The URL located before the character string of × □ △ is extracted and supplied to the microcomputer 301. The microcomputer 301 stores the URL in the table of FIG.

The symbol adding means 304 assigns an arbitrary symbol to a character string of ○ × □ △. For example, the symbols to be assigned are several characters such as numbers 1, 2, 3, and so on. The symbol adding unit 304 supplies the assigned symbols to the display processing unit 306 and the microcomputer 301. Microcomputer 301
Stores the symbol in the symbol storage unit at the same address as the URL placed before the character string of × in the table shown in FIG.

The selectable character string extracting means 303 further includes
<A HREF = ”... before the character string of × □ △
・ Although omitting ">" and </A> after it, it is transformed into data in which the character string of ○ × □ △ is underlined.
It is supplied to the display processing means 306.

The display processing means 306 converts the character string of
Are displayed on the display device 307 in a state where the symbols assigned in the above are added so that the user can easily see them.

Display device 307 is generally a TV monitor. This allows the user to recognize the received signal as an image.

The signal input from the remote control receiving means 308 is replaced by the microcomputer 301 with a symbol, and the symbol is input to the symbol determining means 305. The symbol input from the microcomputer 301 and the symbol adding means 304
Judge whether the symbols from are the same. If they match, it is determined that the character string has been selected.
02 is set to the transmission / reception state.

The symbol judging means 305 supplies the symbol whose input is identical to the symbol to the microcomputer 301. Microcomputer 301
Reads the URL corresponding to the input symbol from the table shown in FIG. 7 and requests the external server device to transmit another data corresponding to the URL via the transmission / reception means 302. Thereby, another data of the selected character string is returned to the information processing device 101 from the external server device.

Note that the selectable character string extracting means 303
Instead of the character string “× □ △”, the URL arranged before the character string may be extracted and supplied to the symbol adding unit 304.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the remote controller 400. As shown in this figure, a remote controller 400 for operating the information processing apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment
Indicates a power ON / OFF button 401 and a volume control button 4
02 and 403, a number display button 40 for manually determining whether or not to display the symbol added by the symbol adding means 304.
4, a channel selection button 405 for directly selecting a channel, cursor keys 411, 412, 413, 414 for moving a cursor up, down, left and right, and an enter key 415, and a WWW button 406 for selecting a WWW mode. I have.

Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus 101 configured as described above will be described with reference to the display screen 501 of FIG.

When the user presses the WWW button 406, the browser of the WWW system, for example, Mosaic developed at the University of Illinois in the United States is executed. The information processing device 101 reads the browser application stored in the auxiliary storage device 309 and displays the browser application on the display device 307.

Next, in order to use the keyboard 311 to obtain desired information on the Internet, a URL (Uniform) which is an address for identifying information on the Internet is used.
Resource Locator). When there is no keyboard 311, a predetermined URL stored in the auxiliary storage device 309 is selected.

The information processing apparatus 101 makes a request to the server apparatus 1007 of FIG. 8 to read the information of the specified URL.

The server device 1007 stores the designated UR
L from the network, and retrieves the information
Return to 01. Information obtained from the server device 1007 has a hyperlink structure, that is, HTML (HTML).
About HTML Working Group,
INTERNET-DRAFT, August 8, 1
Author T. 995. "HyperText Markup Lang," Berner-Lee et al.
uage... HTML / 2.0 ".) The information in the HTML format is Mosai operating on the information terminal apparatus 101 as described above.
c and displayed on the display device 307 as graphical data.

An example displayed on the display device 307 is shown in FIG.
It is a WW browser 501. The WWW browser 501 includes a URL input area 502 for the user or the microcomputer 301 to specify a URL, a vertical scroll bar 503 for vertically scrolling the screen, a horizontal scroll bar 504 for horizontally scrolling the screen, and a display area 505.

In the display area 505, the data obtained by shaping the received data is displayed. If the displayed string is underlined, it is linked to another data. HTM
L is represented by the following character string. In the following example, the linked data is “http: // WW
W. toshiba. co. jp / whatnew. h
tml ".

For example, <A HREF = “http: //
/ WWW. toshiba. co. jp / whatne
w. html "> latest information </A> In the above example, the selectable character string extracting unit 303 extracts a character string called the latest information and transmits the extracted character string to the symbol adding unit 304. Outputs the symbol (number 1) to be assigned to the column.The character string of the latest information is underlined, and the symbol (number 1) is added and displayed for the user to see easily (506, 507).

As described above, the selectable character string extracting means 303 uses the URL instead of the character string of the latest information.
Http: // WWW. toshiba. co.
jp / whatnew. html may be extracted and supplied to the symbol adding means 304.

The user wants to receive the latest information 506 as data. By pressing the number 1 button in the channel button 405 of the remote controller 400 which is the same as the number displayed in the display area 505, the symbol determination means 305 determines that the latest information has been selected.

Next, when the directional key 413 of the remote controller is pressed, the vertical scroll bar 503 is moved and displayed as shown in FIG. Here, it is a case where the page is scrolled by half a page, and the data before scrolling remains.

For this reason, the symbols (numbers) are reassigned for newly appearing data, while keeping the numbers before scrolling. The character string (506) of the latest information that can be selected, the new wide-screen TV (508), and the added symbols (507 and 509) disappear from the display area 505, and the microcomputer 301 reads the table shown in FIG. , URLs and symbols corresponding to them are also deleted.

FIG. 5 is similar to the above scroll example, but the symbols (numbers) assigned to the data before scrolling are also reassigned and displayed. Therefore, the symbol (number of 1) 70 is added to the character string 510 of the computer.
1. Symbol (number 2) for character string 512 of mobile phone
702 has been reassigned. In this display method, a lower number is always displayed at the top of the screen. It should be noted that, with the reassignment of this symbol, FIG.
Are stored again in the symbol storage unit of the table shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing display timings of symbols (numbers) 507, 509, 511, and 513 displayed in the display area 505. Here, two methods are shown. One is that display and non-display are periodically repeated in time. First, a non-display 802 is set for 5 seconds 801. After 5 seconds, the number display 804 is performed for 3 seconds. Next, non-display and display are repeated at the intervals.

Another method is a method in which a user manually selects display / non-display of a number. First hidden 81
When the user presses the number display button 404 of the remote controller next (811), the microcomputer 301 controls the display processing means 306 to display the number (81).
2). When the number display button 404 is pressed again (813),
The microcomputer 301 controls the display processing unit 306 to change the number to the non-display state 814.

(Supplementary note) (1) The information terminal device according to claim 6, wherein the display of the different form on the display means is repeated display and non-display at a fixed time interval.

(2) The information terminal device according to any one of claims 1, 3, and 4, wherein the display means receives an instruction from a user and displays the symbol.

(3) The information terminal according to any one of claims 1, 3, and 4, wherein the symbol input by the symbol input means is shared with a symbol of a channel button for selecting a channel. apparatus.

[0056]

According to the present invention, a selectable character string can be directly selected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a main configuration of an information terminal apparatus and an information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an appearance of a remote controller.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example by the information terminal device and the information processing method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a first display example when scrolling is performed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second display example when scrolling is performed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the timing of display / non-display of symbols (numbers).

FIG. 7 is a table showing the relationship between URLs and symbols stored in the microcomputer 301 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional communication method.

FIG. 9 shows a conventional communication terminal device 1001 and server device 1
007 is a diagram illustrating software connection between 007. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

103: telephone line, 102: modem, 101
..Information processing device, 301 ... microcomputer, 302 ...
Transmission / reception means 303: selectable character string extraction means
Reference numeral 304 denotes a symbol adding unit, 305 denotes a symbol determination unit, 306 denotes a display processing unit, 307 denotes a display device, 308 denotes a remote control receiving device, 309 denotes an auxiliary storage device, and 311 ... ·keyboard.

Claims (8)

[Claims] An information processing terminal device capable of selectively receiving another data linked to the data from the received data, wherein a character string selectable by a user is extracted from the received data, and Selectable character string extracting means for performing predetermined processing on a column and outputting the selected character string; symbol adding means for assigning and outputting a predetermined symbol to the extracted selectable character string; and processing from the selectable character string extracting means. Display means for adding and displaying a corresponding symbol from the symbol addition means in addition to the character string thus set; symbol input means for inputting a symbol; and a symbol from the input means and a preceding symbol from the symbol addition means. An information terminal device, comprising: symbol determination means for determining that a desired previous character string has been selected when they match. 2. An information processing method capable of selectively receiving, from received data, another data linked to the data, wherein a character string selectable by a user is extracted from the received data, and the character string is extracted. A first means for performing a predetermined process on the extracted character string, a second means for assigning a predetermined symbol to the extracted selectable character string, and the character string processed by the first means. Second
A third means for adding and displaying the symbol assigned by the symbol adding means, a fourth means for inputting a symbol, and the symbol input by the fourth means and the first symbol assigned by the second means match. And a fifth means for judging that a desired character string has been selected in the event that the character string has been selected. 3. The information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the symbols are serial numbers in a display order. 4. The information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein, when the received data is scrolled, the symbol adding unit reassigns the symbol to the character string. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the received data is scrolled, the symbol adding means does not reassign the symbol if there is the symbol allocated before scrolling. The information terminal device according to any one of the above. 6. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the symbol in a form different from the character string.
3. The information terminal device according to any one of items 3 and 4. 7. A selectable character string extracting means for extracting a character string that can be selected by the user from the received data, performing predetermined processing on the character string, and outputting the extracted character string. Symbol addition means for allocating and outputting a predetermined symbol to a character string, and display means for adding and displaying a corresponding symbol from the symbol addition means, in addition to the processed character string from the selectable character string extraction means, A symbol input unit for inputting a symbol; and a symbol determination unit for determining that a desired previous character string has been selected when the symbol from the input unit matches the previous symbol from the symbol adding unit. An information terminal device characterized by the above-mentioned. 8. A first means for extracting a character string that can be selected by the user from the received data, performing predetermined processing on the character string, and outputting the extracted character string; A second means for assigning a predetermined symbol; and the second character string processed by the first means,
A third means for adding and displaying the symbol assigned by the symbol adding means, a fourth means for inputting a symbol, and the symbol input by the fourth means and the first symbol assigned by the second means match. And a fifth means for judging that a desired character string has been selected in the event that the character string has been selected.