JP2001005818A - Electronic appliance with database displaying function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve reaching speed to desired data in the list display of a database by means of a portable electronic appliance displaying a small number of characters on one picture by defining a group by a group defining means and then selecting individual data belonging to the group. SOLUTION: A crossed cursor pointer 6 is inclined upward/downward/right/left to select a group to display data on the group. At the time of pressing the group-defining switch of a switch at this time, the selection of the group is shifted to the selection of data within the group. At the time of inclining the pointer 6 downward, the focus of a selected row is moved down by one stage. At the time of inclining the pointer 6 left or right at this time, the selection is returned to the original group selecting state. It is possible to improve a reaching speed to data by selecting a list by a large division first and selecting a list in a group after then in an electronic appliance displaying a small number of characters on one picture like this.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of small portable electronic devices for displaying data classified into a plurality of groups such as a database and an address book in a list on a display screen having a small number of display characters on one screen. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the case of displaying a list of data such as a database on a display screen of a portable electronic device having a small display screen area and a small number of display characters on one screen, a list display in which all data are displayed vertically. There was a way. Also, like an address book, "Oh, ka, sa, ta, na,
Also, there is an index such as "Ya, la, wa, other", and if you select "ka" in that index, for example, "ka, ki,
There is a list display method in which "ku, ke, ko" data is displayed vertically.

[0003] By the way, in a portable device or the like in which the number of characters displayed on one screen is small, when the amount of data to be displayed is large,
It's hard to see the data at the bottom of the vertical list. For example, there is a case in which data starting with "ko" is viewed in a list in which the address book data of the row "ka, ki, k, ke, ko" are arranged vertically.

[0004]

An object of the present invention is to increase the speed at which target data is reached in a database list display on a portable electronic device having a small number of display characters on one screen. Be able to display as many lists as possible while selecting a list.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in a portable electronic device according to the present invention, when viewing database data classified into a plurality of groups, a group for selecting a group including desired data is included. Selecting means;
A group determining unit for determining the group, wherein during the group selection by the group selecting unit, the data of the selected group is displayed in a list on the screen, and after the group is determined by the group determining unit, the group belongs to the group. The configuration allows individual data to be selected.

Further, on one screen, there are an index display section for selecting a group and a database list display section for displaying list data for each selected arbitrary group, and the group is selected. Sometimes, only the index display section of the selected group is highlighted, the database list display section is not highlighted, and when the group is determined, the index display section of the selected group and the selected group are displayed. And the list data are displayed in reverse video.

When a group is selected, both the index display section and the database list display section are displayed.
Display means for erasing the index display section and making the entire database list display section on one screen.
Further, when selecting a group, a configuration is provided in which display means is provided for skipping and selecting a group having no data.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the appearance of an electronic device having a database data display function according to the present invention. It is a small watch type. A band 1 is attached to the case 3 so that the band 3 can be worn on a wrist. The circuit module 4 shown in FIG. Case 3 has an LCD display unit 5
Is attached, and various kinds of information are displayed. In addition, a plurality of switches 7, 8, 9, 10 and a cross cursor pointer 6 are attached, and are used by an operator to input control information to the circuit module 4. Further, an external connection terminal 11 is attached to a side surface of the case 3, and an infrared transmission / reception window 2 is attached to an upper portion of the case 3.
Character data and a control program can be externally added or changed using serial cable communication via the LAN 1 or infrared communication via the infrared transmission / reception window 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data file structure of an electronic apparatus having a database data display function according to the present invention.
At the head of the data file, there is a file header 20 in which fixed information of the file is stored, followed by the head address data 21, where the data header of each data group when the database data is classified into a plurality of groups. The start address is stored. The number of groups may be fixed or may be arbitrarily added / deleted. If it is possible to arbitrarily add / delete, a link address to the next group is provided in addition to the head address of each group.

Next, the data 22 for each group are arranged, and the head address is stored in the head address data 21. In the data 22 for each group, data belonging to the group is stored in order. Each data has a group to which the data belongs and a link address to the next data, and there is no particular limitation on the number of data.
Also, the data belonging to the group does not need to be arranged in order, but has a link address to the next data, so by following the link address, it can read whatever location on the memory there is the next data be able to.

With the above data structure, it is easy to search for the head address for each group, and it is possible to sequentially read data in the group. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic device with a database data display function according to the present invention. A central processing unit (CPU) 31, a read-only memory (ROM) 32, and a readable / writable memory (RAM) 33 connected thereto are provided. RA
In M33, database data to be displayed on the LCD display unit 34 is stored. The ROM 32 contains a control program for displaying database data stored in the RAM 33.
, And the database data is converted into character information according to the control program of the ROM 32.
It is displayed on the D display unit 34.

The LCD display section 34 has a resolution of 102 horizontal dots × 64 vertical dots, and has a resolution of 12 horizontal dots × 1 vertical dot.
It is possible to display full width characters of 2 dots size, 8 horizontal characters × 5 vertical columns, and about 40 full width characters per screen.
However, the screen resolution and the character font size can be changed according to the specifications. An external interface 36 is connected to the CPU 31, and the external interface 36 can rewrite and add database data stored in the RAM 33 by connecting to and communicating with a personal computer 37. This facilitates data entry that small portable electronic devices are not good at.

The communication connection method with the personal computer 37 includes a serial cable communication connection connected to the RS232C terminal of the personal computer 37 and an infrared communication connection using an infrared element of the personal computer 37. Of course, the form of the electronic device for realizing the present invention does not need to be a wristwatch type, and may be any small portable electronic device such as a PDA, a mobile phone, a pager, and the like.

The location where the control program for displaying the database data is stored is not limited to the ROM 32,
It may be on a readable / writable memory such as the RAM 33. Thereby, the control program can be changed. The readable / writable memory may be a flash memory, an E2PROM, or the like. The device connected to the external interface 36 is not limited to the personal computer 37, and database data and programs may be received as needed from the watch-type electronic devices, the PDA, and any other small portable electronic devices. Further, database data may be received from a mobile phone or a pager from a radio signal.

The switch 35 is not limited to a mechanical switch such as a push switch or a cross cursor pointer switch, but may be any switch capable of controlling a display operation, such as a touch panel or a voice input. (1) First Embodiment An electronic device with a database data display function according to the present invention, a first embodiment of the present invention, will be described based on the drawings with reference to the external view of FIG.

FIG. 4 shows database classified into groups classified by prefecture and cities and telephone numbers belonging to the groups. Furthermore, the prefecture names of the group are nationwide in Hokkaido Tohoku, Kanto, Tokai, Koshinetsu Hokuriku, Kinki,
It is classified into the Chugoku region, the Shikoku region, and the Kyushu-Okinawa region. When these data are displayed on the LCD display unit 5 of FIG. 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the display of the group 1 is displayed as the list data 50 of Hokkaido.

Here, when the cross cursor pointer 6 in FIG. 1 is tilted in the left-right direction, the transition is made for each group. In addition, when tilted in the vertical direction, the transition is made for each large group. For example, while displaying the data of Hokkaido which is group 1, the cross cursor pointer 6 is tilted to the right. Then, a transition is made to the display of the list data 51 of the next group 2, Aomori Prefecture. Conversely, cross cursor pointer 6
To the left. Then, the display transits to the display of the list data 52 of Okinawa, which is the previous group 47.

When the cross cursor pointer 6 is tilted downward,
The display transits to the display of the list data 53 of Ibaraki prefecture which is the first group 8 of the next large group Kanto region. Then, when the cross cursor pointer 6 is tilted upward, a transition is made to the display of the list data 54 of Fukuoka prefecture, which is the leading group 40 of the previous large group Kyushu Okinawa area. When displaying the list data of each group, if the number of data of each group is smaller than the maximum number of data display stages of one screen, the data of the next group can be displayed continuously.

Tilt the cross cursor pointer 6 up, down, left and right to select a group and display data for group 12 in Chiba Prefecture. At this time, the group decision switch of the switch 8 in FIG. 1 is pressed. Then, the top line on the screen is highlighted as shown in FIG. 6-60. In addition, in the inverted blinking display of the index, the blinking is stopped and the inverted display is performed. This indicates that control has shifted from selecting a group to selecting data in the group.

In this state, the cross cursor pointer 6
To the bottom. Then, the focus of the selected line moves down one step. The focus is moved several times, and after the focus reaches the bottom row, the cross cursor pointer 6 is further tilted downward. Then, the list data hidden below as shown in FIG. 6-61 is read, scrolled and displayed. If there is no data in the same group below, the data of the next group is read and displayed.

Here, when the cross cursor pointer 6 is tilted to the left or right, the state returns to the original group selection state, and the operation of group selection is started again. As described above, in an electronic device in which the number of characters displayed on one screen is small, first, a list is selected according to a large classification. Then, the user selects a list in the group. By doing so, the arrival speed to the data can be remarkably increased as compared with the case where all the lists are read in order from the top.

In the first embodiment, the method of selecting data does not need to be a control method of tilting the cursor pointer up, down, left and right, but may be control by push buttons, panel switches, or the like, or control means by voice input or the like. Absent. There are no particular restrictions on how to divide the groups and how to classify large groups, and when the number of groups is small in advance, there is no need to divide into large classes.

(2) Second Embodiment An electronic apparatus having a database data display function according to the present invention, and a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the external view of FIG. FIG. 7 shows the address book data in L of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram when the image is displayed on the CD display unit 5. At the bottom, there is an index display section 71 for selecting a group of the address book classified by reading. There is a list display section 72 on which data of names and telephone numbers of up to four persons can be displayed.

The group of furigana is "A, ka, sa,
Tana, na, ha, ya, la, wa, et al. " In each group, for example, if “A”, “I, U, E, O” is included. FIG. 7-81 is a diagram in which data starting with the reading “A” is displayed. The “A” portion of the index display section 71 is displayed in reverse blinking. At this time, there is no inverted area on the list display of names and telephone numbers.

Here, the cross cursor pointer 6 shown in FIG. 1 is tilted left and right. Then, the transition of the index between the large groups can be performed. Also, the cross cursor pointer 6 is tilted up and down. Then, transition between the indexes in the group can be performed. For example, the cross cursor pointer 6 is moved to the right. Then, a transition is made to the index “KA” of the next group. Then, as shown in FIG. 7-82, the reading data starting with "?" Is displayed. Move the cross cursor pointer 6 to the left. Then, the state transits to the index “other” of the previous group. Then, as shown in FIG. 7-83, data starting with a reading that does not belong to the other is displayed.

Move the cross cursor pointer 6 downward. Then, a transition is made to the next index “i” after “a”. Then, as shown in FIG. 7-84, the reading data starting with “i” is displayed. Move the cross cursor pointer 6 upward. Then, transition is made to the index “O” before “A”. Then, as shown in FIG. 7-85, the reading data starting with “O” is displayed.

When the list data of each index is displayed, if the number of data of each index is smaller than the maximum number of data display stages of one screen, the data of the next index can be displayed continuously. With the reading index selected, for example, with the index “O” selected, the index selection confirmation switch of the switch 8 in FIG. 1 is pressed. Then, the top line on the screen is highlighted as shown in FIG. Here, the cross cursor pointer 6 is moved downward. Then, the selected line moves to the next person, and the second row is highlighted. Then, the cross cursor pointer 6 is moved upward. Then, the selected line returns to the previous person,
The first row is highlighted. Similarly, the selected line can be freely moved back and forth using the cross cursor pointer 6.

While the fourth row of data at the bottom of the list is selected, the cross cursor pointer 6 is moved downward. Then, the fourth and subsequent data can be viewed by line scrolling. If the data in the same index is not below, the data after the next index is read and displayed. Further, there is a case where data such as an address and a company name is included in the address book data as personal data. When the data list is selected, the switch 8 is pressed again. Then, detailed data such as an address and a company name can be displayed.

With the data list selected, the cross cursor pointer 6 is tilted to the right or left. Then, the state returns to the group index selection state. By the display operation described above, selection and operation of the selection of the group index and the selection of the data list can be switched, and the display is distinguished. With this data selection means, it is possible to first select a large group, and then select data in the group index.

In the case of using the conventional selecting means, for example, "E"
If there is data in the group index of, it is necessary to search for data in order from "a". It took a long time to reach "e" when there was a lot of data. However, if the present selecting means is used, it is possible to make a transition to the head of “e” by selecting a group, so that the speed of reaching the target data is significantly increased.

When the index selection confirmation switch of the switch 8 in FIG. 1 is pressed during the index selection, the state transits to the data selection state. At this time, the index at the bottom of the screen as shown in FIG. 9 can be deleted.
In this case, the number of levels of the list that can be displayed on one screen can be increased by one from four to five. As a result, as much data as possible can be displayed when selecting data, and the speed of reaching the target data can be further increased as compared with the case where the data is displayed in four stages.

If there is no data in the transitioned index during the index selection, the index is skipped and the transition is made to the next index.
For example, when displaying the data list of the index “i”, the cross cursor pointer 6 is moved downward. Then, although the data list of “U” should be displayed originally, if there is no data in “U”, the data is skipped and the data of “E” is displayed. If there is no data in “e”, the transition is made in order, such as a transition to the next “o”.

The same applies to the case where the cross cursor pointer 6 is tilted upward or left and right. If there is no data in the transitioned index, the data of the next index is searched for and displayed in order. In the second embodiment, the method of selecting data does not need to be a control method of tilting the cursor pointer up, down, left and right, but may be control by a push button, a panel switch, or the like, or control means by voice input or the like.

The number of rows of the list displayed on one screen is
Any number can be changed depending on the screen size and font size. In the present embodiment, the database has described the data of the address book. However, the content of the data of the database is not limited to the address book, and may be anything. There is no regulation on how to classify the groups, and if the number of groups is small, there is no need to provide a particularly large classification.

(3) Third Embodiment An electronic apparatus having a database data display function according to the present invention, and a third operation embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 10 is a diagram when address book data is displayed on the LCD display unit 5 of FIG. At the bottom, an index display unit 130 for selecting an address book group classified by reading.
There is.

On top of this, there is a list display section 131 on which data of up to four names and telephone numbers can be displayed. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the index display unit 130. The group in the address book is "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
、, 、, etc. are classified into 11 items. The index display section 130 has an index mark 140 indicating 11 groups and a group name display section 141 indicating the contents of the selected group.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, the group with the index "A" is selected. In the group of "A", the data whose readings start with "A, I, U, E, O" are classified. In the index mark 140 of the index display unit 130, the mark of the selected group “A” is displayed in black. Then, the group name “aiueo” is displayed on the group name display section 141.

The list display unit 131 displays the selected "A"
Group data is displayed. If you want to view database data broken down into many groups,
In some cases, all the group names to be selected cannot be displayed on one screen. In such a case, as in the present invention, the same number of marks as the number of groups are provided on the screen. Then, only the selected group name is displayed. By doing so, the number of the entire group and the approximate position can be notified in a small space.

Further, the display area of the group name can be made relatively large. Therefore, there is a merit that it is easy to understand what group data is displayed. In the third embodiment, the shape of the index mark 140 indicating a group may be any shape and can be set freely. Any display method may be used to indicate that a selection has been made, such as a black display method, a blinking display method, or a floating display method as in this embodiment.

Further, the display location of the group name display section 141 indicating the content of the group, the size of the display area, and the like can be arbitrarily set.

[0041]

As described above, in the electronic device with a database data display function of the present invention, when viewing database data classified into a plurality of groups, a group selecting means for selecting a group including desired data. When,
First, by the group confirmation means to decide the group,
After selecting and confirming a group, data in the group is selected. On one screen, an index display section for selecting a group and list data for each selected group are displayed. When there is a database list display section and a group is selected, only the index display section of the selected group is highlighted and the database list display section is not highlighted, and a group is determined. In
Display means for inverting both the index display section of the selected group and the database list display section are provided. When a group is selected, the index display section and the database list display section If both are displayed and the group is confirmed,
Display means to turn off the index display section and make the database list display section all on one screen, and when selecting a group, by providing a display means for skipping and selecting a group with no data, The speed of reaching the target data can be increased, and as many lists as possible can be displayed while the list is selected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an electronic device with a database data display function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data file structure of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic device with a database data display function according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing database data for explaining a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a screen display transition during group selection for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a screen display transition during selection of list data for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a screen display transition during group selection for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen display during list data selection for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention, showing a screen display during selection of list data when an index is deleted.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen display for explaining a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a third embodiment of the present invention.
0 is an enlarged view of an index display section.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Band part 2 Infrared transmitting / receiving window 3 Case 5 LCD display part 6 Cross cursor pointer 7, 8, 9, 10 Switch 11 External connection terminal 20 File header 21 Start address data 22 Data for each group 31 CPU 32 ROM 33 RAM 34 LCD Display unit 35 Switch 36 Interface circuit 37 Personal computer 50 List data of Hokkaido explaining the first embodiment 51 List data of Aomori prefecture explaining the first embodiment 52 List data of Okinawa prefecture explaining the first embodiment 53 List data of Fukuoka prefecture for explaining the first embodiment 60 List data with the first stage inverted for explaining the first embodiment 61 List data for which the display for explaining the first embodiment is data scrolled 71 Second Index display section 72 for describing an embodiment List data display section 81 to be described 81 List data of index "a" for explaining the second embodiment 82 List data of index "ka" for explaining the second embodiment 83 Index "other" for explaining the second embodiment 84 List data 84 of the index “I” describing the second embodiment 85 List data of the index “O” describing the second embodiment 130 Index display section 131 describing the third embodiment 131 List display section 140 for explaining the third embodiment 140 Index mark provided on index display section for explaining the third embodiment 141 Group name display section provided for index display section for explaining the third embodiment

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Koyama 1-8-1, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Inside Seiko Instruments Inc. (72) Inventor Yuka Kubota 1-8-8, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Inside (72) Inventor Atsushi Hirotomi 1-8 Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba F-term (reference) in Seiko Instruments Inc. 5B075 KK38 PQ02 PQ67 UU08 5B082 GC01 GC06 5E501 AA04 AC23 AC33 BA01 BA05 FA23 FA48

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. Database data classified into a plurality of groups, storage means for storing the database data, a display screen for displaying data stored in the storage means, and database data stored by the storage means A group selection unit for selecting a group including data to be viewed from among the group, and a group determination unit for determining a group. During the group selection by the group selection unit, the data of the selected group is displayed on the screen. After the list is displayed and the group is determined by the group determination means,
An electronic device with a database display function, wherein individual data belonging to the group can be selected. 2. On one screen, there are an index display section for selecting a group and a database list display section for displaying list data for each selected arbitrary group, and the group is selected. Sometimes, only the index display section of the selected group is highlighted and the list data is not highlighted, and when the group is determined, the index display section of the selected group is selected and displayed. 2. The electronic device with a database display function according to claim 1, wherein both the list data and the list data are displayed in reverse video. 3. On one screen, there are an index display section for selecting a group and a database list display section for displaying list data for each selected arbitrary group. Displaying both the index display section and the database list display section, and when a group is determined, the index display section is turned off, and the entire area on one screen is used as the database list display section. The electronic device with a database display function according to claim 1. 4. An index display section displays marks as many as the number of groups, a mark highlighting means for indicating where the selected group is located in the whole, and contents of the selected group. The electronic device with a database display function according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a selection group display unit that indicates the selected group. 5. The electronic apparatus with a database display function according to claim 1, wherein when selecting a group, a group having no data is skipped and selected. 6. The electronic device with a database display function according to claim 1, wherein the database data is address book data, and the groups are classified by Yomigana.