JP2003345332A - Method and device for browsing electronic contents - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic content browsing device which enables a user to efficiently browse contents having link relations by allowing the user to efficiently browse among contents in the feeling of peeping into link destinations. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic content browsing device is constituted of a content designation control part 10 for designating contents to be displayed on a picture, a content acquisition control part 11 for acquiring the contents from a content storage part 19 to send it to a master content holding part 12 or a slave content holding part 13, the master content holding part 12 for storing the holding master contents, the slave contents holding part 13 for storing and holding slave contents, a superposition display image generation and output part 14 for generating a display image having master contents and slave contents superposed, a transmittance/mixture rate setting part 15 for determining a transmittance and a mixture rate of the superposition display image, and an image display device 18 for displaying an image outputted from the superposition display image synthesizing and output part 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to browsing of electronic contents, and more particularly, to an electronic contents browsing apparatus capable of presenting a plurality of contents having a reference relationship (link relationship) with each other in an easy-to-understand and efficient manner. And, regarding the browsing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As represented by HTML documents, electronic documents called hyperlinks have been developed which can describe individual information and reference relationships (LINK relationships) between pages.
Software (browser) for viewing those documents
Have been provided. Typical examples of the browser software include Netscape Navigator of Netscape and Internet Explorer of Microsoft.

In these browser software,
Generally, it is designed assuming that only one document (content page) is displayed, and the user specifies a pointer (link point) set on the content to jump to a reference destination, or Pages are switched by pressing the icon button etc. for moving between pages. When displaying multiple documents or pages at the same time, manage the documents in screen display units called windows, present multiple windows as necessary, and arrange them on the same plane in the display. A method of virtually overlapping the layers is used.

In addition to the above-mentioned typical browser software, various browsing devices and browsing methods for electronic contents have been proposed.

For example, in the personal electronic book system described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-501214, a table of contents is displayed, and the user can directly jump to any page by touching the options listed in the table of contents. Is configured.

In addition, in the document browsing software typified by Acrobat Reader of Adobe Systems Incorporated, the body of the content page is displayed, and at the same time, the document structure is displayed as a thumbnail screen called thumbnails and a table of contents structure as a hierarchical list. It has a function to do.

[0007] The concept of superimposed display is based on a map browsing device and CAD.
There are some examples of usage in devices. For example, there is one in which a whole image display layer and a magnified image display layer are stacked and arranged, and the transparency of the magnified image display layer of information is manipulated and at the same time the size of the magnified image display layer is controlled.

In the "multi-window display method" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-210700, it is possible to input characters, figures, etc. in consideration of the proportion of the entire screen while looking at the reduced display window.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-099232, "W
In the eb page multiplex simultaneous display browsing method, the transparency of a plurality of web pages arranged vertically is arbitrarily changed by enlarging / reducing or rotating the web pages at a magnification of the impression, and the web pages are hidden by overlapping. The visible part is visible.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-172248, "Electronic Information Display Method and Electronic Information Browsing Device", an electronic document having a hypertext structure is arranged in a three-dimensional virtual space, and reference relationships are vertically overlapped. Display control such as enlargement / reduction and semi-transparent display is performed for the document in.

[0011]

However, the above-described conventional electronic content browsing apparatus and browsing method have the following problems.

The first problem is that the browsing function provided by a conventional general browser can browse only one content page at a time. Moreover, in the conventional method,
Since the previously displayed content is replaced and the next (linked) content is displayed, it is necessary to switch the display again when trying to view the previous page again.

The second problem is that a large display display area is required when a plurality of pages are displayed side by side in order to view a plurality of content pages at the same time. In order to solve this, it is necessary to use a large display, but in an environment where a large display cannot be used, such as a portable terminal,
In order to display multiple content pages in parallel, they must be displayed in reduced size as an image with a smaller number of pixels,
There is a problem that it becomes difficult to determine the content.

The third problem is that a typical user interface for browsing a plurality of content pages at the same time, a multi-window method, or a method of graphically displaying content pages in a two-dimensional display When implemented on a device, the depth of overlap cannot be obtained sufficiently, so it is difficult to determine the virtual top-bottom relationship, and it is difficult to access content that is completely overlapped behind (behind the scenes hidden behind). When a lot of content is displayed at once, the screen tends to become cluttered and the entire content becomes difficult to read. is there.

The fourth problem is that, in the conventional method of superimposing and displaying a plurality of contents, most of the methods are to superimpose and display a bird's eye view and a detailed display of the entire content. It was intended to improve the accessibility of information in. Therefore, with these methods, it is not possible to superimpose and display documents having a reference relationship and improve the operability when browsing the content while following the link structure of the documents.

The fifth problem is that magazine contents and Web
When browsing content, there is a demand to view the overview of linked pages quickly and sequentially, so it is necessary to display the page overview efficiently, but the operability of content switching for superimposed display is excellent. There was nothing.

A sixth problem is that when content data is acquired from a server by communication and is displayed, it takes time from when a content data acquisition request is issued until the content data is actually acquired. Percent communication was completed, communication speed, etc.), and there was no one with the property of displaying the superimposition ratio in association with the superimposition display.

The seventh problem is that when the data size of the content is large or the communication speed is slow, the time required to acquire the content of the reference destination is long and the operability at the time of browsing is deteriorated. As described above, in the case of the purpose of searching for a target child content while successively acquiring the child contents, if the method of transmitting all the contents of the child content is adopted, the operability is significantly reduced.

The invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-099232 that aims to solve a problem similar to the present invention employs a display form similar to a multi-window, and the third problem to be solved by the present invention is. Can not be solved.

Similarly, in the "electronic information display method and electronic information browsing device" described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-172248, a virtual three-dimensional environment is assumed and the vertical relationship of documents in the virtual three-dimensional environment is expressed. Method, and the present invention is essentially a multi-window concept, and cannot solve the third problem that the present invention is trying to solve. Further, when using a three-dimensional expression as in the same invention, it is necessary to perform a three-dimensional operation on a sentence arranged in a virtual space, which makes the operation complicated and difficult. A large number of input devices will be required.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3 of the publication, it becomes necessary to provide a plurality of dedicated buttons for moving the visual field.
Such a three-dimensional operation becomes closer to the feeling of walking through in the virtual space, and becomes a factor that reduces interest in the content itself. Regarding document management and browsing methods assuming these three-dimensional virtual spaces, improvement of operability can be expected by using a three-dimensional display, but for example, it is widely known that binocular stereoscopic vision is easily tired, Providing a 3D display using these methods for viewing documents increases the physical burden on the user.
Not preferable. Therefore, it is desirable to present the document content using a normal two-dimensional display device.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic content browsing apparatus and a browsing method capable of browsing content having a link relationship efficiently and by a simple operation.
In other words, with a simple operation, you can browse content one after another as if you peek at the link destination, reduce trial and error to get to the target content, and quickly search and present desired information. Thus, an electronic content browsing device and a browsing method that improve the overall operability are provided.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic content browsing apparatus and browsing method capable of browsing and browsing content efficiently and easily on a general flat display or a small screen. Especially.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic content browsing apparatus and a browsing method for realizing a user interface and a content browsing environment which are easy to understand, easy to read and easy to operate even when contents are displayed in a superimposed manner. To provide.

Still another object of the present invention is to make it possible to efficiently display the outline of contents and to switch the contents quickly and easily.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic content browsing device and a browsing method that respond to a request for sequentially and quickly looking at an outline of information of link destinations when browsing eb contents and the like.

Still another object of the present invention is to easily access contents even when the contents data is obtained from a server via a communication means, the contents data size is large, or the communication speed is slow. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic content browsing device and a browsing method.

[0027]

The present invention for achieving the above object is an electronic content browsing apparatus for displaying and browsing content, which is associated with a reference source content and a reference position of the reference source content. It is characterized in that the reference content displayed by designating the reference position is superimposed and displayed with different transmittances or mixture rates.

With this superimposition display, the user can superimpose the child content, which is the content of the link destination, at the same time as the parent content by superimposing the link point on the parent content. Further, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to display the contents side by side as in the conventional multi-window, and it is effective for implementation on a small screen display. In addition, since the present invention does not require a three-dimensional display or a three-dimensional representation, it can be performed by a normal two-dimensional display, and since three-dimensional processing is unnecessary, it can be performed by using a low-spec CPU. It will be possible.

When the user wants to browse another link destination, he / she can point to another link point displayed on the parent content, so that he / she can select a desired child content as in the conventional browsing technique. You often switch between displaying parent and child content to find it,
Operations such as switching between windows by displaying parent content and child content in multiple windows are not required.

According to another aspect of the electronic content browsing apparatus of the present invention, a superimposition setting unit that sets the transmissivity or the mixing ratio between the reference source content and the reference destination content, and the superimposition setting unit based on the set transmissivity or the mixing ratio. And a superimposition display image generation output unit that generates a superimposition display image of the reference source content and the reference destination content, and an image display device that displays the image output by the superimposition display image composition output unit. And

According to another aspect of the electronic content browsing apparatus of the present invention, a content designation control unit for designating a reference source content displayed on the screen and a reference destination content displayed on the screen, and the content. A content acquisition control unit that acquires the reference source content and the reference destination content under the control of the designation control unit, a parent content holding unit that stores and holds the acquired parent content, and a child content holding unit that stores and holds the acquired child content. It is characterized by including.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 4, the superimposition setting unit includes a transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit for designating a transmittance or a mixing ratio, and the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit. Is composed of a hardware button having a pressure sensing function or a software button capable of simulating the designation of the pressing strength, and based on the operation of the hardware button or the software button, the transmittance and the mixing ratio of the superimposed display can be adjusted. It is characterized by adjusting and specifying.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 5, the superimposition setting unit includes a transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit for designating the transmittance or the mixing ratio, and the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit. Is configured by a touch panel device having a pressure sensing function, and by operating the touch panel device, the transmittance and the mixing rate of the superimposed display are adjusted and designated.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 6, the superimposition setting unit includes a transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit for designating the transmittance or the mixing ratio, and the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit. However, it is characterized in that it is constituted by a gesture operation detecting means using a pointing device, and the transmittance and the mixing rate of the superimposed display are adjusted and designated by the gesture operation.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 7, the superimposition setting unit includes a transmissivity / mixing ratio designating unit for designating a transmissivity or a mixing ratio, and the superimposition setting unit is configured to transmit the transparency. It is characterized in that the transmittance / mixing rate of superimposed display is automatically adjusted according to the dwell time of the operation at a specific position on the content by the rate / mixing rate designating means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic content browsing apparatus having a function of monitoring a content acquisition status, wherein the superimposition setting section refers to the content acquisition control section according to the content acquisition status monitored by the content acquisition control section. It is characterized in that the transparency and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the original content and the referenced content are determined. This makes it possible to reduce the operational burden on the user.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 9, there is provided a content analysis section for analyzing content information and generating content analysis information, wherein the superimposition setting section determines a reference source content according to the content analysis information. It is characterized in that the transmittance and the mixing ratio of the superimposed display of the referred content are determined. This makes it possible to reduce the operational burden on the user.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the content information to be analyzed is the image characteristic of the content, the content of the content, or the update time of the content.

The electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 11 is characterized in that it has a function of changing the reference destination content being displayed to the reference source content. As a result, when browsing information and documents having a reference relationship one after another, the child content can be easily switched to the parent content without any discomfort, and the operability at the time of browsing can be improved.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 12, when the transmissivity or the mixing rate of the superimposition display of the reference source content and the reference destination content exceeds a preset threshold value, the reference destination content is referred to the next. It is characterized by changing to the original content. As a result, when browsing information or documents having a reference relationship one after another, the child content can be automatically switched to the parent content easily and comfortably, and the operability at the time of browsing can be improved.

The electronic content browsing apparatus of the present invention according to claim 13 is characterized in that the reference content is changed to the reference content when a predetermined time has elapsed since the reference content was displayed. As a result, when browsing information or documents having a reference relationship one after another, the child content can be automatically switched to the parent content easily and comfortably, and the operability at the time of browsing can be improved.

In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention of claim 14, the reference destination content holding unit stores data representing a part of the reference destination content body or an outline of the reference destination content, and the reference destination content is used as the reference source. When changing to content, the data of the reference destination content body is acquired and changed to the reference source content.
This can shorten the access time when browsing,
The operability when browsing can be improved. In particular, in the case of an application in which child contents are acquired one after another and a target child content is searched for, which is an object of the present invention, general data representing the content of the child content is first sent, and after determining Access time can be greatly reduced by controlling sending large size data.

The present invention according to claim 15 is an electronic content browsing method for displaying and browsing content, which is associated with a reference source content and a reference position of the reference source content, and by designating the reference position. It is characterized in that the displayed reference destination content is displayed in an overlapping manner with different transmittances or mixture rates.

In the electronic content browsing method of the present invention according to claim 16, a transmissivity or a mixing rate of the reference source content and the reference destination content is set, and the reference is performed based on the set transmissivity or the mixing rate. A superimposed display image of the original content and the referenced content is generated, and the generated superimposed display image is displayed on the image display device.

According to the electronic content browsing method of the present invention of claim 17, the transmittance and the mixing rate of the superimposed display are automatically adjusted according to the dwell time of the operation at the specific position on the content by the pointing device. To do.

According to the electronic content browsing method of the present invention of claim 18, it has a function of monitoring the acquisition status of the content, and according to the acquisition status of the content monitored by the content acquisition control unit, the reference source content and the reference destination content. It is characterized in that the transmittance and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of are determined.

According to the electronic content browsing method of the present invention of claim 19, content information is analyzed to generate content analysis information, and according to the content analysis information, the transmittance of the superimposed display of the reference source content and the reference destination content, It is characterized by determining the mixing ratio.

In the electronic content browsing method of the present invention of claim 20, the content information to be analyzed is the image characteristic of the content, the content of the content, or the update time of the content.

According to the electronic content browsing method of the present invention of claim 21, when the transmissivity or the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the reference source content and the reference destination content exceeds a preset threshold value, the reference destination content is referred to next. It is characterized by changing to the original content.

The electronic content browsing method of the present invention according to claim 22 is characterized in that the reference content is changed to the reference content when a predetermined time has elapsed after the reference content was displayed.

According to the electronic content browsing method of the present invention of claim 23, the reference destination content holding section stores data representing a part of the reference destination content body or an outline of the reference destination content, and the reference destination content is used as a reference source. When changing to content, the data of the reference destination content body is acquired and changed to the reference source content.

[0052]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the following description, still images and two-dimensional data such as Web contents, electronic documents, and electronic books will be described as an example of contents, but link relationships can be formed and superimposed display on the screen. The present invention can be applied to any content that can be used. For example, moving images with links and three-dimensional CG
It can also be applied to Further, even if a plurality of types of media are combined, such as text, still images, and moving images, the same applies as long as links are formed and superimposed display is possible.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an electronic content browsing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present embodiment superimposes and displays two or more types of content associated with each other as a reference source content (hereinafter, parent content) and a reference destination content (hereinafter, child content) with different transmissivities and mixing rates. In addition, when the user specifies a reference position (link point) on the parent content, the browsing device is capable of browsing the electronic content while selecting the child content to be superimposed and switching the display. From the content designation control unit 10 for designating the parent content to be displayed above and the child content to be displayed on the screen, and from the network destination or the content storage unit 19 in this device under the control of the content designation control unit 10. A component that acquires the content and sends it to the parent content holding unit 12 or the child content holding unit 13. And Ntsu acquisition control unit 11, a parent content holding unit 12 for storing and holding the parent content obtained, and memory retention child content holding section 13 the child content obtained,
A superimposition display image generation output unit 14 that generates a superimposition display image of the parent content and the child content, and a transmissivity / mixing that determines the transmissivity or the mixing ratio of the contents when the superposition display image generation output unit 14 generates the superposition display image. Rate setting unit 15
And an image display device 18 that displays the image output by the superimposed display image synthesis output unit 14. In addition,
In FIG. 1, only the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment is described, and the description of other general configurations is omitted.

The transmittance / mixing ratio setting unit 15 receives the input to the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit 16 for allowing the user to specify the transmittance and mixing ratio, and the input to the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit 16. The transmittance / mixing rate determining unit 17 determines the transmittance and the mixing rate of the superimposed display.

An example of a display state of electronic contents using the electronic contents browsing apparatus of the present invention will be described. The electronic content browsing device superimposes and displays two or more types of electronic content and presents it to the user. That is, the layer of another content in which at least one of the transmittance and the mixture rate is set is displayed on the layer displaying one content in an overlapping manner.

FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 are views for explaining the manner of superimposed display. 4 and 5 show examples in which the parent content and the child content are displayed in the normal state. Here, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the child content of FIG. 5 is superimposed and displayed with a transparency of 25% on the parent content of FIG. 4, and the child content of FIG. Figure 7 shows an example of superimposed display
8 shows an example in which the child content of FIG. 5 is superimposed and displayed on the parent content of FIG. 4 with a transparency of 75%.

As described above, the electronic content browsing apparatus is to superimpose and display the parent content and the child content in accordance with a user's designation or automatically according to a certain transmittance and a mixture ratio.

In blending the images of the parent content and the child content (superimposing display composition), the child content is virtually arranged on the lower surface (lower layer), and the parent content is arranged on the upper surface (upper layer). Then, the transparency of the parent content is changed to blend the images to obtain a superimposed display. Besides, there is also a method of changing only the transmittance of the image virtually arranged on the uppermost surface.

Further, in order to obtain the same effect, the transmittances of the images on both the uppermost surface and the lower surface side may be changed and combined. By changing the transmissivities of both sides, more various superimposing displays can be realized, which is advantageous when performing a display suitable for the characteristics of the content and the surrounding environment for browsing. For example, if the contrast of one of the images is high and the superimposed display of the other image becomes unclear, the contrast of the other image is lowered by increasing the transmittance of the content on the high contrast side. You will be able to make adjustments such as making it easier to see.

A method of managing and controlling composition of a plurality of contents as a mixture rate instead of the transparency rate may be used. The mixing ratio in this case represents the degree of contribution of each content to the image to be newly synthesized. An example of the case where the mixing ratio is used is a method of performing blending by multiplying each content image by the mixing ratio and performing an operation such as addition, multiplication or logical operation.

Next, the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

In order for the user to specify the reference position (link point) on the parent content, it is necessary to have some kind of specifying means. The content designation control unit 10 includes a designation unit for designating a link point of this parent content. The link point can be specified by pressing a letter key or command input using a keyboard, moving the focus on the screen for the link point in sequence using the cursor keys attached to the keyboard or operating tablet, and a mouse. For example, a pointing device such as a pen device or the like can be used to move a cursor on the screen to perform a selection operation such as clicking or tapping.

Further, the content designation control section 10 has a function of associating the link point designation means with the actual link point on the parent content. For example, from the selection operation by the pointing device of the user, the correspondence between the coordinate value of the device at the time of pointing and the position on the parent content is calculated, and what the specified link point is (link address information etc. (Link information), and sends the link information to the content acquisition control unit 11. As another method of associating the link point designating means with the actual link point on the parent content, a method of exchanging not the coordinate value but list information of the link point or symbol information representing the link point may be used.

In FIG. 1, the parent content holding section 12 sends the parent content or information about the parent content (such as information about the link point) so that the link point can be specified.

FIG. 2 shows designation of link points and transmittance /
The structural example of the pointing device 20 for operating the mixing ratio setting part 15 is shown. The user operates the pointing device 20 to specify the link point of the content, and at the same time, the transmittance / mixture ratio setting unit 1
It is possible to make an input to the transmittance / mixing ratio designating means 16 of No. 5. In this way, the pointing device 2
In addition to the case where 0 is shared by the content designation control unit 10 and the transmittance / mixing ratio setting unit 15, the content designation control unit 10
It is also possible that the transmission rate / mixing rate setting section 15 is provided with an input means such as a pointing device, respectively.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when a dedicated pointing device 20b for inputting the transmissivity to the transmissivity / mixing ratio designating means 16 is prepared separately from the pointing device 20a for designating the content, etc. Corresponds to this. It is also possible that the transmittance / mixing ratio designating means 16 itself is provided with a pointing device, and the output thereof is distributed and sent to the content designation control unit 15.

Under the control of the content designation control unit 10, the content acquisition control unit 11 acquires the content from the network destination or the content storage unit 19 in this apparatus and sends it to the parent content holding unit 12 or the child content holding unit 13. . The content storage unit 19 can be implemented both in a remote location via a network or communication means and in a local disk inside the apparatus or inside the apparatus. In concrete implementation, the content acquisition control unit 11 is configured to include a communication control unit and an interface unit for communication, or an interface unit with a peripheral device and a data input / output control unit. Further, an interface unit for exchanging data with the control unit for analyzing and determining the control from the content designation control unit 10, a parent content holding unit and a child content holding unit, and a control unit for exchanging content. It is configured with.

Further, by adding the function of outputting the content information in the child content storage unit 13 and the parent content storage unit 12 to the outside, the content acquisition control unit 11 can be provided.
It becomes possible to exchange contents between a plurality of browsing devices.

The parent content holding unit 12 has a function of storing and holding the parent content acquired by the content acquisition control unit 11. Further, it is provided with a function of transmitting the stored and held parent content, or information in which the parent content is imaged by a rendering process or the like to the superimposed display image generation output unit 14.

The child content holding unit 13 has a function of storing and holding the child content acquired by the content acquisition control unit 11. Further, it has a function of transmitting the stored and held child content, or information in which the child content is imaged by a rendering process or the like to the superimposed display image generation output unit 14.

The parent content holding unit 12 and the child content holding unit 13 will be described in more detail. The parent content holding unit 12 and the child content holding unit 13 are means for exchanging content information and control information with the content acquisition control unit 11 and the superimposed display image generation output unit 14, and
It is composed of means for storing and holding contents. The means for storing and holding the content can be implemented by a medium or device such as a semiconductor memory, a dielectric memory, a magnetic storage medium, or a magneto-optical storage medium that can be used as a storage medium in an information processing apparatus. Parent content holding unit 1
The 2 and the child content holding unit 13 can be implemented as individual media or devices, or can be implemented by managing and controlling their memory areas with respect to a storage medium having a continuous address space. Specifically, a method of storing parent content and child content in different areas of one memory space so as not to overlap each other, and storing and managing each pointer (start address of data) and data length Can be realized by

The superimposed display image generation / output unit 14 for generating the superimposed display image of the parent content and the child content superimposes the parent content and the child content on the basis of the information sent from the parent content holding unit 12 and the child content holding unit 13. A display image is generated and output to the image display device 18.

The information sent from the parent content holding unit 12 and the child content holding unit 13 is image information and content information of the content. When the content information is sent, the superimposed display image generation / output unit 14 interprets the content information and performs a rendering process or the like to generate an image of the content. In the generation of the superimposed display, the parent content and the child content are managed by layers, and the pixels of both layers are combined by operations such as addition and multiplication, logical sum and logical product, and exclusive logical sum. When performing the calculation, blending is controlled by reflecting the transmittance and the mixing rate set by the transmittance / mixing rate setting unit 15.

In the configuration of the present invention, since the parent content and the child content are stored in the parent content holding unit 12 and the child content holding unit 13, respectively, these play the role of layer management of the image, and therefore the superimposed image If the generation is performed at each timing when the content or the transmittance changes, it is not necessary to manage the image memory in the superimposed display image generation output unit 14 as a plurality of layers, and the video memory required for image generation is not required. Can be saved.

Inside the superimposed display image generating section 14,
In the configuration in which the images of the parent content and the child content are managed and held as layers, it is not necessary to render the image each time the transmittance or the mixing ratio changes, so that the processing time can be shortened. . In that case,
Only the compositing operation of layers considering the change in transmittance is sequentially performed.

The transmissivity / mixing ratio setting unit 15 determines the transmissivity and the mixing ratio of the contents when the superimposed display image is generated by the superimposed display image generation / output unit 14. Further transmittance /
The mixing ratio setting unit 15 receives the input to the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit 16 and the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit 16 for the user to specify the transmittance and the mixing ratio, and the transmittance and mixing of the superimposed display. It is composed of a transmittance / mixing rate determination unit 17 that determines the rate. The transmittance / mixing ratio designating means 16 directly determines the transmittance,
It can be implemented by means of inputting numerically, for example, numerical keys. It can also be implemented by a device or software button that specifies a binary value such as ON or OFF. Furthermore, it can be implemented by a device or software button that can specify a continuous or discrete amount. The information generated by the transmissivity / mixing ratio designating means 16 is analyzed or converted by the transmissivity / mixing ratio determining unit 17 and sent to the superimposed display image generation / output unit 14 as the transmissivity or the mixing ratio.

The image display device 18 displays the image output by the superimposed display image synthesis output unit 14. It is also possible to provide a device attached to the pointing device, such as a touch panel device or a light pen. As the display device, a device that can display raster image data, such as a CRT, a liquid crystal panel, a plasma display, an EL device, an LED device, a projector, or electronic paper, or a device that draws as vector data can be used.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, the child content holding unit 13
The child content held in the parent content and the parent content held in the parent content holding unit 12,
Displays a superimposed composite image on the image display device 18 in accordance with the transmittance set by the transmittance / mixing ratio setting unit 15.

In the present embodiment, this superimposing synthesis processing is performed when the user points the link point on the parent content (step 904 in FIG. 9) and when the user inputs the transparency (step 909 in FIG. 9). Is triggered.

First, the content designation control section 10 determines the parent content according to the designation from the user (step 9
01), issues a content acquisition instruction to the content acquisition control unit 11. The content acquisition control unit 11 that has received the instruction acquires the parent content from the content storage unit 19 of the network destination or the local disk and sends it to the parent content holding unit 12 (step 90).
2). Then, the parent content held in the parent content holding unit 12 is displayed on the image display device 18 (step 903).

Then, the user sets the pointing device 20.
When the link point on the parent content is pointed by the pen pointing device 61 in the embodiment of FIG. 6 (step 904 in FIG. 9), the content designation control unit 10 links from the information of the link point of the parent content. Determine the child content that is the destination (step 90)
5) Issue a content acquisition instruction to the content acquisition control unit 11.

The content acquisition control unit 11 that has received the instruction
Acquires the child content from the content storage unit 19 of the network destination or the local disk, sends it to the child content holding unit 13, and holds it (step 906).

Next, the superimposed image generation / output unit 14 designates the child content stored in the child content holding unit 13 and the parent content stored in the parent content holding unit 12 by the transparency / mixing ratio setting unit 15. The superimposed images are combined according to the transmittance or the mixture ratio (step 907), and the obtained superimposed combined image is displayed on the image display device 18 (step 908).

On the other hand, the user selects the transmittance / mixing ratio designating means 1
6 (transmittance control button 62 in the embodiment of FIG. 6)
When the transmittance is controlled by (Step 90
9), the transmittance / mixing rate determination unit 17 calculates the transmittance according to the input from the transmittance / mixing rate designating unit 16 and outputs the calculated value to the superimposed image generation output unit 14 (step 9).
10).

In the superimposed image generation / output unit 14, the transparency / mixing ratio setting unit 15 specifies the child content stored in the child content holding unit 12 and the parent content stored in the parent content holding unit 13 at that time. The superimposed images are combined according to the transmittance thus obtained (step 907), and the image display device 18 is displayed.
The superimposed composite image is sent to and displayed (step 908).

Next, an example of the electronic content browsing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 10.

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment in which the electronic content browsing device of the present invention is realized as a terminal device. In FIG. 10, reference numeral 60 is a terminal housing, and 61 is a pen pointing device 61 which is an example of realizing the pointing device 20 of FIG.
In this example, the display 63 has a touch panel, and these are combined to realize the pointing function. Reference numeral 62 denotes a transmittance control button 62 that embodies the transmittance / mixing ratio designating means 16, and the transmittance is increased by pressing the upward button and decreased by pressing the downward button. The display 63 also corresponds to the image display device 18 of FIG.

The user uses the pen pointing device 61 to select the child content to be displayed by pointing the link point of the parent content displayed on the display. Also, by operating the transmittance control button 62, the transmittance of the superimposed display displayed on the display unit 63 is instructed.

In the device example of FIG. 10, the pen pointing device 61 is used as the pointing device 20, but
The input device is not limited to the pen input device as long as it is an input device capable of instructing a point on the display, and a cursor movement instructing method using a mouse or cursor keys on the keyboard can be used.

The transmittance control button 62 is not limited to the button as long as the transmittance value can be directly specified or the numerical value can be increased or decreased. For example, by using a touch panel with a pressure sensing function to change the transmittance in response to pressure, the user can control the transmittance of the superimposed display by pressing the touch panel strongly or weakly. Is also good. Further, the button itself may be provided with a pressure sensing function so that a change in pressure when the button is pressed can be associated with a change in transmittance. In addition to the pressure, the transmittance can be specified by using a device capable of inputting an analog amount using a potentiometer or the like. By using a device that can input these analog amounts, it becomes possible to intuitively, continuously, and easily specify the transmittance, and the operability is improved.

As another method, the transmissivity of the superimposed display may be controlled by gesture input (double-click operation, specific symbol gesture input, etc.) using a pointing device. For example, a triple click increases the transmittance and a double click decreases the transmittance, or a pen pointing device draws a clockwise circle to increase the transmittance and draw a counterclockwise circle. It is also possible to specify the transmittance by associating the number of times of drawing a circle with the increase / decrease amount of the transmittance as the transmittance decreases.

Alternatively, an arrow is written, the method of increasing or decreasing the transmittance is specified in that direction, and the amount of increase or decrease is specified by the length of the arrow.
Alternatively, specify the transparency by inputting a command or sign and numerical value indicating the increase or decrease in transparency such as plus or minus by handwriting and recognizing the character, or input a symbol or symbol expressing the increase or decrease in transparency. It is also possible to specify the transmittance by associating the size of the symbol with the increase / decrease amount.

Next, a further embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the case where the pointing device 20 can control the change of the transmittance in addition to the instruction of the child content, for example, the pointing device 20
The transmittance can be controlled by measuring the dwell time.

More specifically, the pointing device 20
When the link point on the parent content is pointed to by, the superimposed content is switched to the reference content and continues to point, or the pointer is stopped at the link point for a certain period of time. There is a method of changing the transmittance of the superimposed display after the passage of.

FIG. 11 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between the dwell time of pointing and the transmittance. When you point to a link point with a pointer (stop time: t
= 0), the parent content and the child content are superimposed and displayed with the value of the transmittance α _base that is the initial transmittance (minimum transmittance). If the pointer remains at the same link point as it is, the transmittance starts to change when t = T1. If the vehicle is stopped as it is, the transmittance continues to change until the maximum transmittance α _max is reached at t = T2. Further, even if it is stopped as it is, the transmittance remains α _max . When another link point is newly pointed on the way, t = 0 is reset, and the new child content is superimposed and displayed with the value of the transmittance α _base .

Although the change in transmittance is linear in FIG. 11, it may be non-linear. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the transmittance returns to α _base when another link point is pointed to, that is, the transmittance does not return until another link point is pointed. However, as another method, for example, if the pointer is released from the link point that was continued or stopped until then and was pointing, the transmittance is continuously α
It is also effective to set to return to the _base. Next, the second embodiment and examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The second embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the transmittance / mixing ratio setting unit 15 automatically determines the transmittance according to the content acquisition status.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. The electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present invention has, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
The content acquisition control unit 11 monitors the situation of acquiring the content, generates the content access information 80, and sends it to the transmittance / mixing rate determining unit 17 of the transmittance / mixing rate setting unit 15, and the transmittance / mixing rate determination unit. 17 is configured according to the content access information 80 by adding a feature for determining the transmissivity and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the parent content and the child content. Note that FIG. 12 shows only the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment, and omits the description of other general configurations.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart for explaining the operation in the second embodiment. The difference from FIG. 9 is that
This is the point where the content acquisition control unit 11 acquires the content access information (step 921) and the point where the transmittance / mixing ratio setting unit 15 automatically determines the transmittance according to the content access information 80 (step 922). Other operations are the same as in the case of FIG.

The status of acquiring contents is, for example,
This refers to information indicating the progress of download of contents at the network destination, the congestion level of the network, the data transfer rate, the degree of concentration of access to the server, and the like.
In the following, an example is shown in which the transmittance of the superimposed display is changed while monitoring the data transfer status of the child content.

As a method of reducing the psychological waiting time of the user when transferring the image data on the network,
There is a transmission method using resolution progressive. The resolution progressive is a method in which low-resolution data of the entire image is first sent, and then the image is increased in resolution and gradually displayed in detail. With the normal method of transferring all data at once, the image will not be displayed until all the data has been transferred, but with resolution progressive, the low resolution image is displayed first and gradually becomes the high resolution, The psychological burden on the user due to the waiting time can be reduced. Image formats that support this progressive resolution include MPEG, JPEG, and JPEG.
There are 2000 and so on.

In the present embodiment, when the child content is displayed, this resolution progressive can be used in combination with the superimposed display shown in the previous embodiments. Superimposition display is performed by correlating the communication status of image data (ratio of communicated data) or the displayable resolution with the transmittance of superimposition display. This allows the user to more intuitively understand the communication status.

As a method of correlating the communication status (ratio of communicated data) and the transmittance of the superimposed display, the transmittance is calculated by, for example, the formula of the correlation between the data communication amount and the transmittance as shown in FIG. The transparency / mixing rate determining unit 17 has a function of determining, and determines the transparency according to the communication status (data transfer rate) indicated by the content access information 80.

Content access information 80 in this case
Represents the data transfer rate. More specifically, the correspondence may be set such that the transmittance is also set to 30% when the data communication status ends at 30%. Although FIG. 14 shows an example of the relationship between the communication status and the transmittance, a non-linear correspondence relationship can be implemented in addition to the linear correspondence shown in this figure. For example, it is known that human visual characteristics are logarithmic, and when a change in transmittance is matched with human visual characteristics, a non-linear correspondence is obtained.

Further, in the case of acquiring contents at different resolutions in a stepwise manner as resolution progressive, the acquired resolution may be associated with the transmittance. FIG. 15 shows this correspondence in the form of a table, and such a table is stored in the transmissivity / mixing ratio determination unit 17, and the transmissivity is determined according to the content access information 80. The content access information in this case is the acquired resolution.

The third embodiment and examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The third embodiment is characterized in that the transmittance / mixing ratio setting unit 15 automatically determines the transmittance according to the analysis result of the content.

FIG. 16 shows a block diagram of an electronic content browsing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In addition to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the third embodiment further analyzes the content to be acquired or the content that has been acquired, and generates content analysis information 111. Content analysis unit 110
Equipped with. This content analysis information 111 is sent to the transmissivity / mixing rate setting unit 15, and the transmissivity / mixing rate setting unit 15 determines the transmissivity and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the parent content and the child content according to this content analysis information 111. It is characterized by doing. It should be noted that FIG. 16 shows only the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment and omits the description of other general configurations.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the third embodiment. The difference from FIG. 9 is that
It is the point where the content analysis unit 110 analyzes the content (step 931) and the point where the transmittance / mixture ratio setting unit 15 automatically determines the transmittance according to the content analysis information 111 (step 932). Other operations are the same as in the case of FIG.

An example of automatically controlling the transmittance according to the content analysis information 111 will be described. Content analysis unit 11
The content information analyzed by 0 includes content type, image characteristics, content content, content capacity, frequency of access to content, and popularity.

Here, the type of content is, for example,
Whether it is text, images or graphics, etc. Generally, an image or graphics data can understand the outline of the image even if the image is not clearly visible, but the content of the text cannot be understood unless the characters can be read, so the content side where the text is displayed is clearly displayed. So that the transmittance is automatically adjusted. The image characteristics of the content include the number of pixels, resolution, color tone, brightness,
Examples include contrast and histogram. These image characteristics, when performing a superimposed display, when adjusting the transmittance so as not to damage the necessary information, or when prioritizing the display of either the parent content or the child content,
When adjusting the appearance, it can be used as basic information for determining the transmissivity and the mixing rate when performing superimposed display composition. For example, if the brightness or contrast on the sub-display side is higher than the content on the side to be preferentially displayed, the transmittance on the sub-display side may be lowered or the transmittance on the priority display side may be increased. It is effective to do.

As an example of controlling the transmittance according to the contents, the contents are preset with some weighting or priority, and the transmittance is changed according to the priority. To be
For example, the transparency may be adjusted so that the content that the user is more interested in can be seen clearly, and the content that is less interested in the user can be seen thinly.
In addition to those related to the context, the content includes layout information and the like. Specifically, the content type such as form, letter or book, and the position of the headline or figure. There are coordinate values such as, and layout information as object attributes. Also, when adjusting the transparency according to the amount of data in the content, the user can intuitively understand the time required for downloading and the volume of the content before downloading all the data, improving operability. To do.

When analyzing the access frequency or popularity of the content, the server may either embed data relating to the access frequency or the popularity in the content, or add data in parallel with the access to the content. Or a mechanism that allows the content to immediately refer to information regarding the access frequency and popularity from the content. By controlling the transparency of the superimposed display according to the access and popularity of these contents, it becomes possible to browse information with social filtering elements such as popularity and importance to the contents, and the information required by the user. Helps to quickly access.

As another embodiment for automatically controlling the transmittance according to the content analysis information, the content analysis unit 110
There is a case where the information of the content analyzed in step 1 is information such as the creation date / time, the update date / time, and the access date / time of the content, and the transparency is automatically changed according to these information. For example, old content is displayed lighter and newer content is displayed more clearly, previously viewed content is displayed lighter and content that has never been seen is displayed more clearly.
Such control is possible. By such display control, the user can intuitively judge that the lightly displayed content is old and need not be viewed, and the freshness of the content can be quickly determined.

The fourth embodiment and examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The fourth embodiment is characterized by switching between parent content and child content.

FIG. 18 shows a block diagram of an electronic content browsing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In the electronic content browsing apparatus according to the present embodiment, when changing the parent content, the user inputs an instruction to change the parent content from parent content change instruction means 120.

In FIG. 18, the parent content change instruction unit 120 is connected to the content instruction control unit 10, but the content acquisition control unit 11 and the holding unit control unit 12 are connected.
A configuration of connecting to 1 is also possible.

In FIG. 18, the content designation control unit 1
According to the change instruction sent from the parent content change instruction unit 120, 0 sends control information for switching the parent content to the holding unit control unit 121. In this case, FIG.
In the configuration, the content designation control unit 10 directly sends the control information to the holding unit control unit 121, but the content instruction control unit 10 sends the control information to the holding unit control unit 121 via the content acquisition control unit 11. Is also possible. Further, the content acquisition control unit 11 may include the function of the holding unit control unit 121.

The holding unit control unit 121 sends the new parent content to the parent content holding unit 12 according to the control information sent from the content designation control unit 10, and changes the parent content. At this time, at the same time, the child content holding unit 1
It is also possible to perform control such that the child content is erased or new child content is sent, etc.

As shown in FIG. 18, when the content has a function of caching, the holding unit control unit 121
Is the parent content holding unit 12 or the child content holding unit 13
Exchanges data with the cache 125,
Content can be exchanged between each data holding unit. When the parent content change and the transparency of the superimposed display are linked, information is exchanged between the parent content change instruction unit 120 and the transparency / mixing rate setting unit 15, or the holding unit control unit 121 and the transparency are exchanged. This can be realized by exchanging information with the rate / mixing rate setting unit 15 and performing synchronization control.

The parent content may be changed directly by the user or automatically when the preset parent content change condition is satisfied. The parent content change instruction means 120 is stored inside the parent content change instruction means 120, and the parent content change instruction means 120 also has a function of comparing whether or not the condition is satisfied and monitoring the situation. To do.
In addition, the parent content change condition can be stored in any one of the content designation control unit 10, the content acquisition control unit 11, and the transparency / mixing ratio setting unit 15 and executed.
In that case, a monitoring function and a comparison function may be added to those storage destinations.

When the parent content change condition is satisfied,
The parent content change instruction means 120 starts control for changing the parent content. In the example of FIG. 16, the change instruction information is output to the content designation control unit 10.

The parent content change instructing means 120 can also be implemented by an input device that receives an input from the user and a parent content change decision unit that decides whether to change the parent content according to the input information. A specific example of this configuration is to equip a "parent content change button". This may be a hardware button or may be displayed on the screen as software. The user can explicitly instruct to change the parent content by pressing the parent content change button.

The change of the parent content will be described more specifically. To change the parent content, there are a method of setting a content different from the child content as the parent content and a method of upgrading the child content to the parent content.

When a content different from the child content is set as the parent content, when the link is reversed, or when a completely new content having no reference relationship is set as the parent content, some content is set as the parent content. Examples include initial settings. In these cases, the method of holding the content list and selecting the one that becomes the parent content from among them, or caching the parent content when changing and discarding the parent content, and if necessary, from the cache There is a method of returning to the content holding unit 12. The cache 125 can be configured inside the parent content holding unit.

Next, a method for upgrading the currently displayed child content to the parent content will be described. The parent content change instruction unit 120 issues an instruction to change the parent content to the content designation control unit 10 when the instruction from the user or the parent content change condition is satisfied. Upon receiving this instruction, the content designation control unit 10
The parent content holding unit 12 is different from the holding unit control unit 121.
Discards the content held by and sends the content data held by the child content holding unit 13 to the parent content as a new parent content. In the case of this example, the description will be made assuming that the transfer between the memories is performed, but as another method, the pointer on the memory indicating the parent content and the child content, which does not actually perform the data transfer between the memories,
It is also possible to change the address.

When the transfer from the child content holding section 13 to the parent content holding section 12 is completed, the content displayed as the child content is replaced with the parent content, and the user gives a pointing instruction to the new parent content. Will be able to do. Thereby, new content data linked to the new parent content can be displayed as new child content. By repeating this content replacement control, the user can sequentially browse new content by following the content links.

An example of the parent content change condition will be described. As a change condition of the parent content, for example, when the transmissivity of superimposing and combining the child content with respect to the parent content exceeds 90% (that is, when the child content is displayed sufficiently dark with respect to the parent content) Suppose you set it to change to. Here, the numerical value of the transmittance is not limited to 90%.

When this parent content change condition is used,
When the user changes the transmissivity with the transmissivity / mixing ratio designating means 16 and displays the child content with a certain density or more, the content that was the child content up to that point is replaced with the parent content, and the new parent content is displayed. The link operation for the upper link point becomes possible. This makes it possible to follow links sequentially.

An embodiment of another parent content change condition will be described. A method of replacing the child content as the next parent content when a certain time has elapsed after the child content is displayed is also effective in improving the operability when browsing the content.

[0131] Such automatic switching can save the labor of explicitly controlling the change from the child content to the parent content, so that the operation cost of the user can be reduced and the operability can be improved. The operation interface for switching to the parent content can be omitted, which is useful for reducing the number of operation buttons on a small terminal, the reduction of icons, command menus, and soft buttons on the operation screen.

Still another embodiment regarding the change of the parent content will be described. In the present invention, what is stored in the child content holding unit 13 is data representing a part of the child content body or an outline of the child content, and when changing the child content to the parent content, the data of the child content body is acquired. Then, the access time at the time of browsing can be shortened and the operability at the time of browsing can be improved. In particular, in the case of an application in which child contents are acquired one after another and a target child content is searched for, which is an object of the present invention, general data representing the content of the child content is first sent, and after determining Access time can be greatly reduced by controlling sending large size data.

For example, a content body and thumbnail display data showing an outline are prepared on the content storage side, and when the thumbnail display data having a small data size is downloaded as a child content and the content body is switched to the parent content, the content body is downloaded. One way is to download the data. In addition, JPEG20
When a data format that enables progressive data transmission such as 00 is used, the content storage side has a multi-structured content body for progressive transmission, and the content data has child content as a child content. It is possible to perform control such that a small amount of data such as low resolution is read out when reading, and data of higher resolution is read out when switching to the parent content. In JPEG2000, in addition to resolution progressive, various progressive transmissions such as stepwise improvement of image quality and stepwise transmission of screen parts by tiles can be performed, and the present invention can be implemented for any of these.

The function realized by the fourth embodiment is further combined with the second embodiment shown in FIG. 12 or the third embodiment shown in FIG. 16 to combine child contents with progressive data. Automatically downloads while sending, controls the transparency so that it becomes clearer, and reads the final target data when switching to the parent content, or when the download is completed up to a certain threshold data amount It can be extended so that control such as switching from child content to parent content can be performed.

Further specific examples of the present embodiment will be shown. It is also effective to explicitly indicate to the user which one of the two contents is the parent content (content that accepts user input). A method of displaying contents in color and displaying child contents in gray is effective.

Further, parent content display instruction means 120
May be provided by a hardware button, a software button, or the like, and when the parent content is lost, it is possible to display only the parent content by pressing the button. A specific pen gesture or the like can be assigned as the parent content display instruction means 120.

The parent content display instructing means 120 can cause the transmittance / mixing ratio setting unit 15 to realize its function, and is also connected to the superimposed display image generation / output unit 14 so that the parent content display instruction unit 120 can be used for blending the superimposed display image. You may control directly so that only content may be output. It is also possible to use the pointing device 20 as the parent content display instruction means 120, which is realized by distributing or separating the information and signals of the pointing device 20 and connecting to the same place as the parent content display instruction means 120 described above. it can.

In the above description, the display of the content having the link relationship has been described, but FIG. 19 shows the electronic book 13.
It is a screen of the electronic content browsing device for 0.
Here, the table of contents page of the book is displayed as the parent content of the superimposed display. A table of contents item is a link point, and a link to a page as child content is provided for each item of the table of contents. When the user points to each index item while browsing the index items, the associated page 132 is displayed in a superimposed manner. In this way, by displaying the table of contents and the page contents at the same time by the superimposed display, it is possible to browse the electronic book more efficiently. At this time, the operability is improved by providing the table-of-contents display instruction unit 131, which is the parent-content change instruction unit, so that the user can return to the table of contents (parent content) at any time while browsing each page (child content). In the example of FIG. 17, the table-of-contents display instructing means 131 is displayed as a software button, but it can be assigned as a hardware button or a gesture input using a pointing device.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments and examples, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above-described embodiments and examples, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea. It can be modified and implemented.

[0140]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects can be obtained.

The first effect is that it becomes possible to simultaneously browse a plurality of contents having a link relationship, which cannot be realized by the browsing function provided by the conventional general browser. This allows you to view the content you are browsing while viewing the content you are currently browsing, so I tried displaying the next content when following a link, which was a problem with conventional browsers. However, it is possible to reduce the trial and error that the content is not the intended one, the user returns to the previous content and then follows another link. According to the invention,
It is possible to browse contents efficiently as if the user were peeping at the link destination, and to efficiently browse contents having a link relationship.

The second effect is that in the present invention, since a plurality of contents are displayed in a superimposed manner, it is not necessary to display the contents side by side or to reduce the contents for that purpose, and a sufficient number of display pixels can be secured even in a small screen display. As a result, the contents can be easily discriminated and effective content browsing becomes possible.

The third effect is that the multi-window method, which is a typical user interface for browsing a plurality of content pages at the same time, and the method of displaying content pages in a graphical manner have a problem. It is difficult to determine the hierarchical relationship of the contents, or it is difficult to access the contents on the back side that completely overlap, or if many contents are displayed at once, the screen tends to become messy and the entire contents are read. It is possible to avoid the problem that it becomes difficult. Moreover, since it can be implemented using a general two-dimensional display device instead of a stereoscopic display, it can be realized at low cost.

The fourth effect is the operability when displaying the documents having the reference relationship in a superimposed manner and browsing the contents while following the link structure of the documents, which was difficult with the conventional method of displaying a plurality of contents in a superimposed manner. Can be improved. By explicitly controlling the transparency or switching the child content up to that point to the parent content, the user can efficiently browse content having a hyperlink structure.

The fifth effect is that the outline of the page can be efficiently displayed, and the contents of the superimposed display can be switched quickly and easily. Therefore, the outline of the linked page, such as browsing magazine contents or Web contents, can be obtained. It is possible to meet the demand for quick and sequential viewing.

A sixth effect is that when content data is acquired from a server by communication and is displayed, the communication status (how much communication is completed, communication speed, etc.) and the superimposition display superimposition display are associated with each other. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the psychological burden and stress on the user's data transfer waiting time from when the content data acquisition request is issued to when the content data acquisition request is actually completed.

The seventh effect is that, even when the data size of the content is large or the communication speed is slow, even if the intended content is searched while acquiring the child content one after another, the content of the reference destination can be obtained. The time required for acquisition can be shortened and the operability at the time of browsing can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic content browsing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a pointing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the pointing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of parent content.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of child contents.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of superimposed display of parent content and child content according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of superimposed display of parent content and child content according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of superimposed display of parent content and child content according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the electronic content browsing device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which the electronic content browsing device of the present invention is applied to a terminal device.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a correlation between pointer dwell time and transmittance.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic content browsing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the electronic content browsing device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence relationship between a communication status and a transmittance.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a table showing the correspondence relationship between the child content acquisition resolution and the transmittance.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic content browsing device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the electronic content browsing device according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic content browsing device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a specific example in which a table of contents of a book and a content page are displayed in a superimposed manner.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Content designation control unit 11 Content acquisition control unit 12 Parent content holding unit 13 Child content holding unit 14 Superimposition display image generation output unit 15 Transmittance / mixing rate setting section 16 Transmittance / mixing rate designating means 17 Transmittance / mixing rate determination unit 18 Image display device 19 Content storage 20 pointing device 60 terminal housing 61 Pen pointing device 62 Transparency control button 63 display 80 Content access information 110 Content analysis unit 111 Content analysis information 120 Parent content change instruction means 121 holding unit control unit 125 cache 130 e-books 131 Contents display instruction means

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G09G 5/377 G09G 5/36 520M F term (reference) 5B050 AA08 BA06 CA08 EA19 FA02 5C082 AA01 AA36 AA37 BA02 BA12 BB25 BB26 CA02 CA11 CA57 CB05 DA51 DA86 MM09 MM10 5E501 AB15 BA05 CB03 CB05 EB16 FB29

Claims (23)

[Claims] 1. An electronic content browsing device for displaying and browsing content, wherein a reference source content and a reference destination content associated with a reference position of the reference source content and displayed by designating the reference position. An electronic content browsing device, wherein the and are displayed in a superimposed manner with different transmittances or mixture rates. 2. A superimposition setting unit that sets a transmissivity or a mixing ratio between the reference source content and the reference destination content, and the reference source content and the reference destination content based on the set transmissivity or the mixing ratio. The electronic content browsing according to claim 1, further comprising: a superimposed display image generation output unit that generates the superimposed display image of 1. and an image display device that displays the image output by the superimposed display image synthesis output unit. apparatus. 3. A content designation control unit for designating a reference source content displayed on the screen and a reference destination content displayed on the screen, and the reference source content and the reference content controlled by the content designation control unit. The content acquisition control unit for acquiring the referenced content, the parent content holding unit for storing and holding the acquired parent content, and the child content holding unit for storing and holding the acquired child content. Electronic content browsing device described. 4. The superimposition setting unit includes a transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit for designating a transmittance or a mixing ratio, and the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit is a hardware button having a pressure sensing function, Alternatively, it is configured by a software button capable of simulating the designation of the pressing strength, and based on the operation of the hardware button or the software button, the transmittance and the mixing rate of the superimposed display are adjusted and designated. Item 2. The electronic content browsing device according to item 2. 5. The superimposition setting unit includes a transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit for designating a transmittance or a mixing ratio, and the transmittance / mixing ratio designating unit is a touch panel device having a pressure sensing function. The electronic content browsing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the touch panel device is operated to adjust and specify the transmittance and the mixing ratio of the superimposed display. 6. The superimposition setting unit includes a transmissivity / mixing ratio designating unit for designating a transmissivity or a mixing ratio, and the transmissivity / mixing ratio designating unit detects a gesture operation using a pointing device. The electronic content browsing device according to claim 2, wherein the electronic content browsing device is configured by means, and adjusts and specifies the transmittance and the mixing ratio of the superimposed display by a gesture operation. 7. The superimposition setting unit includes a transmissivity / mixing ratio designating unit for designating a transmissivity or a mixing ratio, and the superimposing setting unit specifies the content by the transmissivity / mixing ratio designating unit. The electronic content browsing device according to claim 2, wherein the transmittance and the mixture ratio of the superimposed display are automatically adjusted according to the stop time of the operation at the position. 8. A function for monitoring a content acquisition status, wherein the superimposition setting unit is configured to, in accordance with a content acquisition status monitored by the content acquisition control unit,
8. The electronic content browsing device according to claim 2, wherein the transparency and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the reference source content and the reference destination content are determined. 9. A content analysis unit that analyzes content information and generates content analysis information, wherein the superimposition setting unit follows the content analysis information.
9. The electronic content browsing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transparency and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the reference source content and the reference destination content are determined. 10. The electronic content browsing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the content information to be analyzed is the image characteristics of the content, the content of the content, or the update time of the content. 11. The electronic content browsing device according to claim 1, further comprising a function of changing a reference destination content being displayed to a reference source content. 12. The reference destination content is changed to the next reference source content when the transmissivity or the mixing ratio of the superimposed display of the reference source content and the reference destination content exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Item 11. The electronic content browsing device according to item 11. 13. The electronic content browsing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the reference destination content is changed to the reference source content when a predetermined time has elapsed after the reference destination content is displayed. . 14. The referenced content holding unit stores a part of the referenced content body or data representing an outline of the referenced content, and the referenced content body is changed when the referenced content is changed to the referenced content. 14. The electronic content browsing device according to claim 11, wherein the electronic content browsing device acquires the data of the above item and changes it to the reference source content. 15. An electronic content browsing method for displaying and browsing content, comprising a reference source content and a reference destination content associated with a reference position of the reference source content and displayed by designating the reference position. And an electronic content browsing method, wherein the and are displayed in a superimposed manner with different transmittances or mixture rates. 16. A superimposed display image of the reference source content and the reference destination content is set based on the set transparency or mixing rate of the reference source content and the reference destination content. 16. The electronic content browsing method according to claim 15, further comprising: generating an image and displaying the generated superimposed display image on an image display device. 17. The electronic content browsing method according to claim 16, wherein the transmittance and the mixture rate of the superimposed display are automatically adjusted according to the dwell time of the operation at a specific position on the content by the pointing device. . 18. A content monitoring function is provided, and the transparency and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the reference source content and the reference destination content are determined according to the content acquisition state monitored by the content acquisition control unit. The electronic content browsing method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that. 19. The content analysis information is generated by analyzing the information of the content, and the transmissivity and the mixing rate of the superimposed display of the reference source content and the reference destination content are determined according to the content analysis information. Item 15
19. The electronic content browsing method according to claim 18. 20. The electronic content browsing method according to claim 19, wherein the content information to be analyzed is the image characteristics of the content, the content of the content, or the update time of the content. 21. The reference content is changed to the next reference content when the transmissivity or the mixing ratio of the superimposed display of the reference content and the reference content exceeds a threshold value specified in advance. The electronic content browsing method according to any one of claims 15 to 20. 22. The electronic content browsing method according to claim 15, wherein the reference content is changed to the reference content when a predetermined time has elapsed after the reference content is displayed. . 23. The reference content holding section stores data representing a part of the reference content body or an outline of the reference content, and the reference content body is changed when the reference content is changed to the reference content. 23. The electronic content browsing method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that the data of (1) is acquired and changed to the reference source content.