JP2000057078A - Screen display method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly display a screen by reading out the data to display on the screen if the data which are requested from a user of a reading software and which should be displayed on the screen are stored in a cache memory. SOLUTION: If the pre-reading is designated for the element that defines a link to the next screen based on the analysis result of an HTML(hypertext markup language) document, the designated pre-reading position, etc. are recorded. A screen A is displayed on a computer and the screen data to which the in-advance-reading is designated are pre-read in the HTML document while a user is reading the reading software. Then the data are collected and stored in a cache memory of its own computer. When the display of a screen B is designated on the screen A by means of a pointing device such as a mouse, a WWW(world-wide web) browser generates the display data on the screen B from the data, which are stored in the cache memory of its own computer, to display the screen B as a screen display process, and then shows the generated display data on the computer screen.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a method for referring to the WWW (World Wide Web) provided on the Internet, and more particularly to a method for displaying screen display data in a WWW browser.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, W provided on the Internet
It is common practice to display a WW page on a screen of its own computer using software called a WWW browser and browse it.

[0003] WWW pages are written in HTML (Hyper Text M).
arkup Language), which is written and written in a markup language called HTM.
The document of L is interpreted and displayed on the screen. Also, a URL (Uniform Resource) indicating the location of another page is provided on the WWW page.
urce Locator) and link to the page. By specifying this link with a pointing device such as a mouse while browsing the screen, the user of the WWW browser can perform so-called network surfing by switching display screens one after another and moving pages.

When displaying a page screen using a WWW browser, first, a location of a target page is specified by a URL, and an HTML described in HTML is transmitted from the Web site.
HTML files including ML documents, files such as image data, etc. are received, collected by a computer on which a WWW browser is running, analyzed, and displayed on a screen.

[0005] Usually, data necessary for displaying one screen includes data such as image data, audio data, and moving image data in addition to the above-described HTML document including definition information and text information for screen display. That is, it is necessary to collect these data files from a Web site to the own computer via a network before displaying the screen.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a processing flow of screen display by a WWW browser. In a screen display in a general WWW browser, first, a user directly inputs a URL, or a desired page is designated by a URL embedded in the screen by operating a pointing device such as a mouse from another screen. And receives an HTML file from the Web site based on the URL, analyzes the file, sequentially collects other data files required for screen display, and creates display screen data using these data. Display the screen on the screen.

[0007] In FIG. 7, as a flow of a display process of the screen A requested by the user, first, an HTML file of the screen A is read and the HTML document is analyzed.
As a result, if it is found that the display of the screen A requires other data a1, a2, and a3, the WWW browser sequentially collects these data files from the network on its own computer as data collection processing. go. The screen A is displayed on the screen of the computer on which the WWW browser is operating based on the display data generated from these data.

Subsequently, when the user designates the next screen B from the screen A with a pointing device such as a mouse, the screen B is displayed by the URL embedded in the screen A.
Is read into the computer. Screen B from the result of analyzing the HTML document in this file
When it is found that other data b1, b2, and b3 are necessary for the display of the data, the data collection processing and the screen display processing of the data are performed as in the case of the screen A, and the screen is displayed on the computer screen. Screen B is displayed.

[0009]

In FIG. 7, the process for displaying the screen B is started when a request for switching the display from the screen A to the next screen B is made. Therefore, it takes a time t2 required for the analysis processing of the screen B, the data collection processing, and the screen display processing from when the user requests the display of the screen B until the screen B is actually displayed on the computer screen. In particular, in the data collection process, when target data is stored on another computer and collected via a network, it generally takes a lot of time due to restrictions on network capacity and communication overhead.

Therefore, in the conventional screen display method of collecting screen definition information or data in its own computer after requesting display of a screen user screen, it has been difficult to realize prompt screen display.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a screen display method for realizing a quick screen display in view of the above problems.

[0012]

A display device according to the present invention performs a screen display using display information capable of setting link information to another screen in definition information for screen display. On the premise of this, a cache memory, an analysis unit, a prefetch unit and a screen display unit are provided.

[0013] The analysis means analyzes the link information in the display information that is displayed on the screen. The look-ahead means
As a result of the analysis, if a prefetch instruction is specified for a screen on which a link in the display information is set, data necessary for displaying the screen is collected and stored in the cache memory.

The screen display means reads out the data required for displaying the screen requested by the user from the cache memory if the data is stored in the cache memory and displays the screen.

The present invention can also be configured as a computer-readable storage medium storing a screen display method using a viewing software or a computer program.

According to the present invention, if a prefetch instruction is specified for a screen to which a link is set, data necessary to display the screen is stored in the cache memory. As a result, when this screen is displayed, necessary data is read from the cache memory, and the time from the display request to the display can be shortened.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the screen display method in the conventional WWW browser, collection of screen display data is started when a user requests a screen display. On the other hand, in the screen display method according to the present embodiment, the screen creator specifies a prefetch instruction of data in the definition information of the screen, and
For a screen for which this instruction is given at the time of analysis of the definition information, the data necessary for the display is read into the cache memory in advance while the user is browsing the screen, and a request to display the screen is received from the operator. If there is, the screen switching speed is improved by performing the screen display using the data stored in the cache memory in advance.

The cache memory is a storage area having a certain capacity provided in the computer by the WWW browser when the WWW browser is activated or by the OS when the computer is activated. The cache memory is a temporary storage area for data that requires a shorter access time than the access destination for the screen display by the WWW browser such as a network. The WWW browser reads out screen definition information or image data necessary for the screen display from the network or the like. And these are stored sequentially. At the time of screen display, if necessary data is read from the cache memory in a lump, the access time is shorter than reading data from a network or the like.

The cache memory can be configured as either a main storage device such as a RAM in a computer or an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk. When configuring the cache memory, either the capacity or the access speed is determined. The area is secured with greater emphasis or in consideration of the resources of the computer on which the WWW is running. If the cache memory has a fixed size and there is no space for storing new data in the cache memory, the LRU (Least Recently Used) algorithm discards unused data sequentially from the oldest one. The new data is stored in the empty area.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a display screen of a WWW browser and its definition information. FIG.
(B) shows the definition information. In an HTML document, <B
In the part sandwiched between ODY> and </ BODY>,
A mechanism for displaying a text (text information) or an image to be displayed on the screen on the screen is described using elements defined in HTML. In FIG. 1, for example, when the data a1 of the screen A is image data, as the definition information of the data a1, information such as the file name of the data a1 is defined in the tag using an IMG element.

A link to another screen provided in the screen is also defined using this element. For example, in the screen A of FIG. 1, a link to the screen B is embedded, which is defined using an A (anchor) element in the definition information of the screen A. In the present embodiment, the screen creator specifies a prefetch instruction in an A element defining a link for a link to a screen that is likely to be requested by a person who has viewed the screen next. Keep it.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a description method of designating the prefetch instruction. In FIG. 2, in the tag of the A element,
A parameter called FWD is defined. The WWW browser interprets that if "YES" is set in this parameter FWD, it is specified that prefetching is to be performed, and if "NO" is set, it is interpreted that prefetching is not performed. Further, in principle, prefetching is performed for a link destination, so that the prefetching process may not be performed only for a parameter for which “NO” is set in the parameter FWD.

Generally, such a setting of the prefetch designation is set to 1
The screen creator sets the link of one or more screens which are likely to be viewed next by the screen viewer among the plurality of links in one screen when the screen display data is created. .

Next, a screen display process performed by the WWW browser according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow of screen display on a WWW browser in the present embodiment in comparison with a conventional processing flow. The following explanation is based on the HTM of the screen requested by the user.
It is described that the L file and other data are mainly in a file of another computer via a network. However, the application of the present invention is not limited to such a case. For example, a CD-RO mounted on a disk device of a computer on which a WWW browser is running
If the data required to display the screen is in a place where it takes a long time to read from the cache memory, such as when it is in the M or in the hard disk when the cache memory is configured on the RAM, Can be applied.

In FIG. 3, as a flow of the display processing of the screen A requested by the user, first, the HTML file of the screen A is read, and the HTML document is analyzed.
As a result, if it is found that other data a1, a2 and a3 are necessary for the display of the screen A, the WWW browser collects these data files sequentially from the network to its own computer as data collection processing. go. The screen A is displayed on the screen of the computer on which the WWW browser is operating based on the display data generated from these data.

As a result of the analysis of the HTML document, if any of the elements defining the link to the next screen has a designation of prefetching, the position of the element is recorded or extracted, and the processing is performed. Record it.

A screen A is displayed on the screen of the computer, and while the user is browsing the screen A, the data of the screen designated to be read is read ahead in the HTML document, and these data are read. Collect and drop it in cache memory in your computer. The time t4 required for these processes is generally sufficiently smaller than the browsing time t2 of the user, so that the processes are completed before the browsing ends. If the user makes a display request for the self-screen before the pre-reading process is completely completed, the WWW browser interrupts the pre-reading process and displays the screen requested by the user. Is performed. In this case, if the screen requested to be displayed is the same as the screen of the prefetching process that was interrupted, the data that was dropped into the cache memory before the interruption was read out from the cache memory. Even in this case, the time from when the screen display request is made to when the screen is actually displayed is shorter than in the conventional method.

The user finishes browsing the screen A, and then the screen A
Screen B using a pointing device such as a mouse from above
Is specified, the WWW browser performs the screen display process as screen B in the cache memory of its own computer.
(HTML file of screen B,
The display data of the screen B is generated from the data b1, b2, and b3), and the screen B is displayed on the screen of the computer from the data.

The time t5 from when the user makes a display request for screen B to when the screen B is actually displayed on the computer screen is almost zero because the time for calling data from the cache memory is almost zero. This is only the time required for the display processing. This time t5 is very small and negligible as compared with the time t3 required from the display request in the conventional method to the actual display, and is hardly noticeable even when viewed as the bodily speed of the user. Is the size of

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a display process in a WWW browser which performs a display method according to the present embodiment. When the user makes a screen display request by specifying the location where the screen is located by URL, WW is performed based on this specification.
In step S1, the W browser executes a process in another computer,
Or HTML in the computer on which it is running
The data (HTML document) in the file is taken into its own work area on the main memory and the cache memory provided in its own computer.

Next, at step S2, the WWW browser analyzes the screen definition information in the HTML document and, based on the analysis result, stores data such as images necessary for displaying the requested screen in the file of its own computer. Or from a file of another computer by communication (step S3), and stores it in the cache memory of the own computer. Then, the WWW browser proceeds to step S4
Then, display data of the screen requested to be displayed is generated based on the collected data, and the screen is displayed based on this data.

While the user is browsing the screen displayed in step S4, the WWW browser performs a process for browsing the screen of the user in step S5. This process includes, for example, a process of receiving and executing a request from the user for scrolling the display screen or searching for the display screen.

Further, in parallel with the processing in step S5, the WWW browser analyzes a link to another screen defined in the screen definition information of the currently displayed screen (step S6). As a result, if the prefetching is specified for this link, the HTML file necessary for displaying the corresponding screen and the data specified in the HTML file are collected and stored in the cache memory of the own computer. (Step S7).

The processing in step S5 is almost in a state of waiting for an input from the user for the computer, and thus the load on the CPU is small. Therefore, the process for viewing the screen of the user in step S5 and step S5
Even if the processes for pre-reading in steps 6 and 7 are performed in parallel, the processing in steps S6 and 7 is the processing speed of step S5 at which the interrupt processing is performed when an instruction is input from the user at the processing speed. Hardly affected.

When there is a display request for the next screen from the screen on which the user is displayed using a pointing device such as a mouse (step S8, Yes), display processing of the next screen is performed. If there is no request to display the next screen in step S8 (step S8, no), the display process is terminated.

The display processing of the next screen is performed by first checking whether the data of the screen requested to be displayed hits the cache.
That is, it is determined whether or not the data is previously stored in the cache memory in the process of step S7. If the data has been read in advance in the cache memory, data is collected from the cache memory.
Collect from network based on RL (step S
9). Then, display data of the screen requested to be displayed is generated based on these data, and displayed on the screen of the computer (step S10). Then, returning to the processing of steps S5 and S6, while the user is browsing the display screen, in parallel with the processing for browsing the display screen, a link to another screen defined in the screen definition information of the screen is displayed. Analysis is performed, and prefetch processing is performed on the data of the screen for which prefetch is specified.

Thereafter, the request for displaying the next screen is stopped from the user, and the processing of steps S5 to S10 is repeated until the user finishes using the WWW browser. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an environment of an information processing system in which a WWW browser operates according to the present embodiment.

This information processing system uses a CP as shown in FIG.
U11, main storage device 12, hard disk device 13, input / output device (I / O) 1 such as display and keyboard
4, a network connection device 15 such as a modem, and a medium reading device 16 for reading stored contents from a portable storage medium such as a disk or a magnetic tape.
8 is provided.

In the information processing system shown in FIG. 5, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, a CD
Reading out a program and data stored in a storage medium 17 such as a ROM and an MO, and downloading them to the main storage device 12 or the hard disk 13; Each process according to the present embodiment can be realized by software by the CPU 11 executing the program or data.

In this information processing system, application software may be exchanged using a storage medium 17 such as a floppy disk. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the screen display system, and may be configured as a computer-readable storage medium 17 for causing a computer to perform the functions of the above-described embodiments of the present invention when used by the computer. it can.

In this case, the “storage medium” includes, for example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the data is transmitted via a removable storage medium 26 such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk (or an MO, a DVD, or a removable hard disk) or a removable storage medium 26 or a network line 23. A storage means (database or the like) 22 in an external device (a server or the like) to be performed, or a storage device (RAM or a hard disk or the like) 25 in a main body 24 of the information processing apparatus 21 is included. The program stored in the portable storage medium 26 or the storage means (database or the like) 22 is loaded into a memory (RAM or hard disk or the like) 25 in the main body 24 and executed.

[0042]

According to the present invention, it is possible to shorten the time from when a screen display request is made to when it is actually displayed on a computer screen. Therefore, the user can quickly switch the display screen, and can obtain comfortable screen display and screen operation.

When browsing information on the network, it is possible to move each screen while browsing the screen without waiting for the switching of the screen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a display screen of a WWW browser and definition information thereof.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a description example of designation of a prefetch instruction.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow of screen display by a WWW browser.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a display process on a WWW browser.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an environment of an information processing system in which a WWW browser operates.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a storage medium.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a processing flow of screen display by a WWW browser.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 CPU 12 Main storage device 13 Hard disk device 14 Input / output device 15 Network connection device 16 Storage medium reading device 17 Storage medium 18 Bus

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A display method using browsing software for performing screen display using display information capable of setting link information to another screen in definition information for screen display, wherein the browsing is performed. Set a cache memory on the computer on which the software is running, analyze the link information in the display information that is displaying the screen, and specify the pre-read instruction on the screen on which the analysis result and the link are set If there is, the data necessary to display the screen is collected and stored in the cache memory, and the data required to display the screen requested to be displayed by the user of the browsing software is stored in the cache. If the data is stored in the memory, the data is read from the cache memory and a screen display is performed. 2. A cache memory is set on a storage device of a computer, link information in an HTML document displayed on a screen is analyzed, and the analysis result indicates that a prefetch instruction is specified on a screen on which a link is set. If so, data necessary to display the screen is collected and stored in the cache memory, and data necessary to display the screen requested to be displayed by the user is stored in the cache memory. If so, a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing the computer to read the data from the cache memory and display the screen.