JP2007095088A - Slide show system and method using browser - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To project an effective slide show by easily and efficiently displaying the information of a web page by using a WWW browser in presentations, conferences, and lectures or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The slide show system manages URL by adding a sequence number to the URL, and automatically notifies the URL corresponding to the present sequence number with a local side or a remote side browser. The browser performs access to an Internet 27 by using the communicated URL, and displays a corresponding web page 71. The sequence number can be automatically updated, and also updated by operation buttons 72 and 74. Also, BGM or narration is reproduced according to the web page 71. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a slide show system and method for showing a slide show using screen information acquired by a browser in a browser system that refers to an information network such as the WWW (world wide web) that is currently mainstream on the Internet.

  The Internet is realized by connecting a large number of computers through a communication network, and a global information network realized by the Internet is called a WWW system. In recent years, with the increase in information transmission by the WWW system, various multimedia information has been provided on the Internet.

  A WWW page (web page) is a unit of multimedia information provided on the WWW, and includes an HTML (hypertext markup language) document and related data stored in an arbitrary WWW server. The WWW server transmits this web page to the browser on the WWW client according to HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol), and the WWW browser displays the received web page on the screen of the WWW client.

  In general, a web page can provide a user with text information made up of character data, image information made up of graphic data, audio information, video information, and the like by using HTML. For this reason, here, the expression of displaying a web page includes not only output of text information and image information included in the page but also output of audio information, moving image information, and the like.

  In order for a user to access such information, it is necessary to input address information that uniquely represents the server that holds the information and the HTML document to the WWW browser. This address information consists of several character strings and is called a URL (uniform resource locator).

  However, it is difficult to memorize complex URLs of several crosses in the head for a long time, and when it is necessary to refer to a certain page many times, such URLs are Typing is inconvenient and inefficient. Therefore, in order to easily display a web page, a WWW browser generally has a function called a bookmark.

  The bookmark function is a function for registering a user's favorite sites and frequently accessed pages in the browser. The user registers the URL of the page to be displayed as bookmark data in advance, displays a list of pages registered as bookmarks at the time of access, and then selects a desired page by clicking the mouse or the like. As a result, a desired page can be displayed without performing troublesome URL input operations.

  FIG. 26 shows an example of a typical bookmark display screen. As shown in FIG. 26, a set of bookmarks 2 can be stored in the folder 1, and the bookmarks 2 are managed hierarchically.

  For example, in the folder 1 “Lookup”, bookmarks 2 “People” and “Yellow Pages” are registered, and these bookmarks 2 are displayed in a list by clicking the folder “Lookup”. . The user can select a desired page and display it on the screen by double-clicking the row (object) indicating the bookmark 2 such as “People”.

However, the conventional WWW browser described above has the following problems.
In recent years, with the increase in functionality / price of portable personal computers, many presentations and conferences using personal computers have been performed. In such a presentation or conference, information on a web page is often displayed while connected to the Internet.

  However, there are many time restrictions during presentations and meetings, and it is inconvenient and inefficient to type the above URLs each time. For this reason, it is conceivable to use a bookmark function as a method for quickly displaying a web page. However, even in this case, it takes time and effort to display the bookmark list one by one and click the bookmark of the desired page, and a certain operation time is required to display the page on the browser.

  Also, depending on the content of the presentation, the speaker may explain several pages while switching several pages every few minutes. In such a case, every time a page is switched, an operation of typing a URL or selecting a bookmark is required, and there is a high possibility that sufficient time will be taken for the operation and sufficient explanation cannot be performed.

  Also, in education sites and the like, lectures are being conducted in a format where explanations are made with reference to information on a web page using a large number of personal computers connected to the Internet. At this time, in order for each student to refer to the page designated by the teacher, the teacher writes a URL on the blackboard or text, or verbally instructs the student to the URL, and each student sends it to the WWW browser of his personal computer. The procedure of inputting the URL is repeated.

  However, when each student inputs a URL into his / her WWW browser, there is a problem that the input may be wrong or time-consuming, which hinders the smooth progress of the lecture.

  Therefore, it is conceivable to use a bookmark function in order to reduce the time and effort for the student to input the URL directly and to specify the URL easily and reliably. If you need to use a large number of personal computers at once, set the necessary bookmark data for each personal computer in advance, and delete the data to return the personal computer to its original state after use. Work to do. In this case, it takes time and effort to prepare and clean up bookmark data, which is often inconvenient.

  It is an object of the present invention to display information of one or more web pages more easily and efficiently during presentations, meetings, lectures, etc. using a browser system referring to the WWW system, and to display an effective slide show. It is to provide a slide show system and method.

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of a slide show system according to a first aspect of the present invention. The slide show system of FIG. 1 includes browser means 11 and control means 12.
The browser means 11 acquires information using address information defined on the information network, and outputs the acquired information. The control unit 12 notifies the browser unit 11 of address information based on a predetermined output order, and instructs the output of information corresponding to the notified address information.

  The address information defined on the information network corresponds to, for example, a URL defined on the WWW system, and the information acquired using the address information corresponds to, for example, multimedia information on a web page.

  The output order of information is determined in advance by creating a correspondence relationship between one or more pieces of address information and sequence numbers, and the control means 12 corresponds to the current sequence number based on the output order. The address information is notified to the browser means 11. Thereby, the browser means 11 can acquire information using the notified address information, and can output the acquired information.

  When the current sequence number is updated, new address information is notified from the control means 12 to the browser means 11, and new information is output. By repeating such an operation, the information on the output web page is updated one after another, and a slide show using the web page can be shown.

  According to such a slide show system, since the control unit 12 notifies the browser unit 11 of address information based on the output order, the user needs to type a URL or select a bookmark every time the page is switched. There is no. Therefore, the user can concentrate on explaining the displayed information.

  For example, the browser unit 11 in FIG. 1 corresponds to the WWW browser 33, the display device 24, and the speaker 25 in FIG. 2 described later, and the control unit 12 in FIG. 1 corresponds to the slide show processing unit 31 in FIG.

  In the second aspect of the present invention, the slide show system includes control means and interface means. The control means acquires address information defined on the information network based on a predetermined output order. The interface means transmits the acquired address information to the remote side, and instructs output of information corresponding to the transmitted address information.

  According to such a slide show system, a slide show can be simultaneously displayed while an address is transmitted to one or more students' personal computers by a teacher's personal computer at an educational site or the like. Therefore, it is not necessary for each student to input address information, and the lecture can be carried out smoothly.

  For example, the slide show system of the second aspect corresponds to the local computer 82 in FIG. 13 described later, the control means corresponds to the slide show processing unit 31 of the local computer 82, and the interface means corresponds to the local computer 82. This corresponds to the network interface unit 32.

  In the third aspect of the present invention, the slide show system includes browser means, interface means, and control means. The browser means acquires information using address information defined on the information network, and outputs the acquired information. The interface means receives address information transmitted from the local side based on a predetermined output order. The control means notifies the received address information to the browser means, and instructs the output of information corresponding to the notified address information.

  According to such a slide show system, one or more students' personal computers can simultaneously display a slide show while receiving address information from the teacher's personal computer at an educational site or the like. Therefore, it is not necessary for each student to input address information, and the lecture can be carried out smoothly.

  For example, the slide show system of the third aspect corresponds to the remote computer 83 of FIG. 13 described later, and the browser means corresponds to the WWW browser 33 and the display device 24 of the remote computer 83. The interface unit corresponds to the network interface unit 32 of the remote computer 83, and the control unit corresponds to the slide show processing unit 31 of the remote computer 83.

  Another slide show system of the present invention is a slide show system for showing a slide show using information provided on an information network, and includes browser means, storage means, control means, and interface means.

  The browser means acquires information using address information defined on the information network, and outputs the acquired information. The storage means stores a correspondence relationship between a plurality of pieces of address information registered in the browser means by a user who plays the slide show and a sequence number representing a predetermined output order in the slide show. In order to display the slide show, the control means refers to the correspondence relationship, acquires address information notified to the remote computer based on the order number, and also stores the order stored in the storage means based on the user's instruction. Change the number. The interface means transmits the acquired address information to the remote computer and instructs output of information corresponding to the transmitted address information.

  Still another slide show system of the present invention is a slide show system for showing a slide show using information provided on an information network, and includes browser means, interface means, and control means.

  The browser means acquires information using address information defined on the information network, and outputs the acquired information. The interface means transmits from the local computer based on a correspondence relationship between a plurality of address information registered in the browser of the local computer by the user who shows the slide show and a sequence number representing a predetermined output order in the slide show. Address information transmitted from the local computer is received based on the changed order number when the corresponding order number is changed based on a user instruction. The control means notifies the browser means of the received address information in order to show the slide show, and instructs the output of information corresponding to the notified address information.

  According to the present invention, information of one or more web pages can be easily and efficiently displayed while using a WWW browser that refers to WWW information during presentations, meetings, and lectures.

  For example, by providing a slide operation button in the manual mode, web pages can be accessed in order using existing bookmark data. Therefore, the user can continue to explain the web page smoothly without performing the URL type.

  In the automatic mode, a plurality of web pages can be automatically displayed according to a predetermined order and display time. Therefore, the user can concentrate on the description of the web page without being directly involved in the display operation.

  In addition, since BGM and narration can be automatically reproduced, an effective presentation is produced according to a predetermined procedure.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The slide show system of the present embodiment provides the following four functions for presentations using a WWW browser.

Function 1: A function for instructing the display order of URLs registered in bookmarks using a slide operation button (manual mode).
Function 2: A function of automatically displaying a plurality of pages on a browser in a predetermined order and interval using a URL registered in a bookmark (automatic mode).

Function 3: A function for automatically playing back background music (BGM) and narration.
Function 4: A function for downloading a web page to be a slide show and holding it as a local file, and executing the functions 1, 2, and 3 using the local file.

  By providing the manual mode of function 1, the user can make a presentation while switching pages by manual operation like when a slide show is shown. Also, by providing an automatic mode of function 2, pages can be automatically switched without manual operation. Therefore, the user can concentrate on explaining the displayed information.

  In addition, by providing the function 3, it is possible to produce a more effective presentation, and it is possible to substitute the necessary explanation for the narration. Furthermore, the provision of the function 4 eliminates the need for the browser to connect to the Internet on the spot, thereby preventing the presentation from being interrupted due to a connection failure.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the slide show system of the present embodiment. The slide show system of FIG. 2 includes a processing device 21, a data storage device 22, an input device 23, a display device 24, and a speaker 25, and these devices are connected to each other by a bus 26.

  The input device 23 corresponds to, for example, a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a touch panel, and inputs instructions and data from the user to a program executed by the processing device 21. The display device 24 corresponds to, for example, a CRT (cathode ray tube) display, and displays a screen such as an inquiry to the user from the program, a processing result, a web page, and the like.

  The processing device 21 includes a slide show processing unit 31, a network interface unit 32, and a WWW browser 33, and is connected to the Internet 27 via the network interface unit 32. As a connection method, an arbitrary method such as dial-up connection via a public line or dedicated line connection using a dedicated line is used.

  Here, the slide show processing unit 31 of the processing device 21 and the data storage device 22 (portions surrounded by broken lines) mainly execute the functions 1 to 4 of the slide show system described above. The slide show processing unit 31 includes an operation control parameter editing unit 41, a bookmark registration unit 42, a bookmark display control unit 43, an automatic calling unit 44, a web page display control unit 45, a BGM control unit 46, and a narration control unit 47. The storage device 22 stores an operation control parameter file 51, a bookmark data file 52, and a web page data file 53.

  The slide show processing unit 31 corresponds to the software component described by the program, and is incorporated as one function of the WWW browser 33 or provided as inline plug-in software, thereby extending the function of the WWW browser 33.

  The operation control parameter file 51 stores various control parameters necessary for operating the slide show system. The bookmark data file 52 stores information such as the title and URL of a page registered as a bookmark, and a web page. The data file 53 stores information on pages downloaded from a WWW server for use in a slide show.

  The operation control parameter editing unit 41 has a function of setting various control parameters in the operation control parameter file 51 and changing them. The bookmark registration unit 42 stores information on the page displayed by the WWW browser 33 in the bookmark data file 52 when the user instructs registration of a bookmark. The bookmark display control unit 43 displays the registered bookmark on the screen of the display device 24 according to the contents of the bookmark data file 52.

  The automatic calling unit 44 automatically starts the web page display control unit 45, the BGM control unit 46, and the narration control unit 47 in accordance with the contents of the operation control parameter file 51, and is necessary for these control units 45, 46, and 47. Various control parameters.

  The web page display control unit 45 reads the URL of the bookmark registered in the bookmark data file 52 in accordance with an instruction from the automatic calling unit 44 and notifies the WWW browser 33 of it. The WWW browser 33 accesses the Internet 27 through the network interface unit 32 using the notified URL, or accesses the web page data file 53 using the notified URL. And the information of a corresponding page is acquired and the information is displayed on the display device 24.

  The BGM control unit 46 outputs a predetermined BGM music from the speaker 25 according to an instruction from the automatic calling unit 44, and the narration control unit 47 outputs a predetermined narration according to the instruction from the automatic calling unit 44 to the speaker 25. Output from.

  In this slide show system, in addition to the conventional bookmark system as shown in FIG. 26, an image display bookmark system (Japanese Patent Application No. 9-264478) that is easier to use can be used. In this image display bookmark system, a page view of an actual web page is image-captured, and data (image icon) obtained by converting the image into an icon is registered as a bookmark. The user can easily access a desired page by clicking a bookmark displayed as an image icon.

  FIG. 3 shows a bookmark page display screen using such image icons. This screen is displayed when the user performs an operation for displaying a bookmark editing screen from the WWW browser 33 or an operation for simply displaying a bookmark in a pop-up window. The folder display area 61 and the image display area 62 are displayed. Including.

  In the folder display area 61, several folders storing a plurality of registered bookmarks are displayed, and bookmarks belonging to one category are usually stored for each folder. The image display area 62 displays a list of image icons 63 corresponding to the bookmarks in the folder selected by the user. The image icon 63 is created by reducing the image of the web page corresponding to each bookmark.

  In this example, a folder “Default” is selected by the user, and five image icons 63 corresponding to five bookmarks in the folder are displayed. In addition to these five bookmarks, the folder “Default” further includes two folders, “Search” and “Personal Computer Shop”.

  The user can display the bookmark image icons 63 stored in these folders by selecting these folders in the folder display area 61. Also, by selecting the image icon 63 in the image display area 62, the URL page registered in the corresponding bookmark is automatically accessed and displayed on the screen.

  2 uses the operation control parameter file 51, the bookmark data file 52, and the web page data file 53 associated with the bookmark page to select a bookmark instead of the user, and the URL of the selected bookmark. Can be notified to the WWW browser 33.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a slide show screen displayed by the slide show system of FIG. This screen includes a web page 71 displayed by the WWW browser 33, slide operation buttons 72, 73, 74, and an end button 75 (END).

  A bookmark used in the slide show is given a series of playback order numbers. When the user presses the reverse button 72 in the manual mode, the page corresponding to the playback order number one before the currently displayed page is displayed. When the forward button 74 is pressed, a page corresponding to the playback order number that is one after the currently displayed page is displayed. Here, the playback order number represents the order of accessing the WWW server and displaying the results when displaying a plurality of pages. The expression of pressing a button on the screen is an operation of clicking the button with a mouse or the like. Represents.

  The end button 75 is used to end the slide show in the manual mode, and the stop button 73 is used to temporarily stop automatic page switching in the automatic mode.

  Here, the operation buttons 72, 73, 74, and 75 are displayed on the screen, and the user clicks them. However, these operation inputs can be input from any input device by any method. It is. For example, these operation functions can be associated with specific keys on the keyboard.

  In the operation control parameter file 51, for example, data as shown in FIG. 5 is stored. In FIG. 5, AUTO corresponds to a flag indicating whether or not to perform display in the automatic mode. When AUTO = Yes, the automatic mode is activated, and when AUTO = No, the manual mode is activated.

  MAXNUM is a parameter representing the maximum value of a series of playback order numbers, and WAIT (i) is a page corresponding to the playback order number i (i = 1, 2,..., MAXNUM) in the automatic mode. Is a parameter that represents the display time. This display time corresponds to the time interval from the display of the current page to the display of the next page. Here, MAXNUM = 20 and WAIT (i) = 60 (seconds) are set.

  BGM (i) corresponds to a flag indicating whether or not to play the BGM when the page corresponding to the playback order number i is displayed. When BGM (i) = Yes, the BGM is played and the BGM is played. When (i) = No, BGM is not played. BGM_FILE (i) is a parameter representing a file name of a file storing BGM audio data to be played when the page corresponding to the reproduction order number i is displayed. Here, BGM_FILE (i) = song. set to avi.

  NARRATION (i) corresponds to a flag indicating whether or not to reproduce narration when the page corresponding to the reproduction order number i is displayed. When NARRATION (i) = Yes, the narration is reproduced, and NARRATION (I) No narration is played back when No. NARRATION_FILE (i) is a parameter that represents the file name of a file that stores voice data of narration that is reproduced when the page corresponding to the reproduction order number i is displayed. Here, NARRATION_FILE (i) = nal. set to avi.

  In general, as WAIT (i), BGM (i), BGM_FILE (i), NARRATION (i), and NARRATION_FILE (i), different data can be set for each value of the reproduction order number i. The BGM and narration files are stored in, for example, the data storage device 22 of FIG.

  The bookmark data file 52 stores data as shown in FIG. 6, for example. In FIG. 6, each bookmark data includes items of “title”, “URL”, “image file name”, “comment”, “coordinate value”, and “playback order number”.

  The “title” column stores the title data of the web page corresponding to each bookmark data, and the “URL” column stores the URL of the page. Normally, the URL is described using a character string “http:” indicating an access destination on the Internet. When the access destination is data in the web page data file 53, a character string indicating the location of the local file is used. It is described using “file:”.

  In the “image file name” column, the file name of the image icon 63 in FIG. 3 is automatically named and stored so as to be unique within the system, and in the “comment” column, the user can select an appropriate name. Used to write simple comments. The “coordinate value” column stores the coordinate value of the position where the image icon 63 is displayed on the screen of FIG. 3, and the “playback order number” column stores the playback order number designated by the user or the system. Is stored. The user can change the reproduction order number via the bookmark display control unit 43.

  Thus, the bookmark data file 52 stores the correspondence between the URL of each bookmark's web page and the playback order number. Therefore, by referring to the bookmark data file 52, the URL of the web page corresponding to the current reproduction order number can be acquired.

Next, the display operation by the slide show system of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of display control processing by the slide show processing unit 31. First, the automatic calling unit 44 reads the operation control parameter file 51 from the data storage device 22 (step S1), and checks the value of the flag AUTO (step S2). If AUTO = Yes, the automatic mode is activated and automatic processing is performed (step S3). The contents of this automatic processing will be described later.

  If AUTO = No, the manual mode is activated and 0 is set to the control variable i representing the reproduction order number (step S4). Then, it is determined which button in FIG. 4 the user has pressed (step S5). When the user presses the reverse button 72, −1 is set to the variable Index indicating the difference in the reproduction order number (step S6), and when the user presses the forward button 74, 1 is set to the variable Index. (Step S7). Then, the value obtained by adding the index to the reproduction order number i is again set as i (step S8), and the value of i is examined (step S9).

  When i ≦ 0, since there is no reproduction order number corresponding to the value, i = 0 is set (step S10), and the processes after step S5 are repeated. Also, in the case of i> MAXNUM, since there is no reproduction order number corresponding to the value, i = MAXNUM is set (step S11), and the processing after step S5 is repeated.

  If 0 <i ≦ MAXNUM, then the value of the flag BGM (i) corresponding to the reproduction order number i is checked (step S12). If BGM (i) = Yes, the BGM control unit 46 is activated and the file name set in BGM_FILE (i) is passed.

  The BGM control unit 46 reads the BGM file corresponding to the received file name (step S13), reproduces the voice data (step S14), and returns the control to the automatic calling unit 44. And the automatic calling part 44 performs the process after step S15. If BGM (i) = No, the processing from step S15 onward is performed without activating the BGM control unit 46.

  In step S15, the automatic calling unit 44 checks the value of the flag NARRATION (i) corresponding to the reproduction order number i. If NARRATION (i) = Yes, the narration control unit 47 is activated and the file name set in NARRATION_FILE (i) is passed.

  The narration control unit 47 reads the narration file corresponding to the received file name (step S16), reproduces the voice data (step S17), and returns the control to the automatic calling unit 44. And the automatic calling part 44 performs the process after step S18. If NARRATION (i) = No, the narration control unit 47 is not activated, and the processes after step S18 are performed.

  In step S18, the automatic calling unit 44 activates the web page display control unit 45, and instructs to display the web page corresponding to the reproduction order number i. The web page display control unit 45 reads the URL of the bookmark having the reproduction order number i from the bookmark data file 52 (step S18), notifies the URL to the WWW browser 33 (step S19), and returns the control to the automatic calling unit 44. .

Then, the automatic calling unit 44 repeats the processing from step S5 and ends the manual mode processing when the user presses the end button 75 in step S5.
The WWW browser 33 notified of the URL in step S19 in FIG. 7 performs a display process as shown in FIG. First, the WWW browser 33 receives a URL from the web page display control unit 45 (step S21), and accesses a local file in the WWW server or the web page data file 53 that holds the web page (step S22).

  Here, when the URL starts with “http:”, the WWW server on the Internet 27 is accessed, and when the URL starts with “file:”, the web page data file 53 is accessed. When the web page information is acquired, it is displayed on the screen of the display device 24 (step S23), and the process is terminated.

  When the web page display control unit 45 notifies the WWW browser 33 of the URL, for example, an inter-application communication function such as DDE (dynamic data exchange) can be used.

  DDE is a type of inter-process communication, and exchanges data between applications using a shared memory. The sending application software may use DDE for real-time data exchange when performing one-time data transfer or sending updates to the receiving application software when new data is available. it can. Also, DDE is usually automatically executed between applications without any user involvement.

  In step S3 in FIG. 7, the automatic calling unit 44 performs automatic processing as shown in FIG. First, the automatic calling unit 44 sets 0 to the control variable i representing the reproduction order number and 1 to the variable Index representing the difference between the reproduction order numbers (step S31). Next, the value obtained by adding the index to the reproduction order number i is again set to i (step S32), and the processing after step S33 is performed.

  Here, the processes performed in steps S33, S34, S35, S36, S37, S38, S39, and S40 are the same as the processes performed in steps S12, S13, S14, S15, S16, S17, S18, and S19 of FIG. The process performed by the WWW browser 33 notified of the URL in step S40 is the same as the process shown in FIG.

  Next, the automatic calling unit 44 checks the value of the reproduction order number i (step S41). If i <MAXNUM, the automatic calling unit 44 waits for the time set in WAIT (i) (step S42), and the processing after step S32 repeat. When i reaches MAXNUM, since there is no reproduction order number larger than that, automatic processing is terminated.

  Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 9, when the user presses the stop button 73 during execution of the automatic process, the automatic calling unit 44 sets the next page regardless of the time set in WAIT (i). Display operation can be temporarily stopped. In this case, in order to resume the display operation, for example, a forward button 74 is used. When the user presses the end button 75, the automatic calling unit 44 can end the automatic processing.

  As described above, according to the display control process in the automatic mode, even if the user does not press the operation buttons 72 and 74, the reproduction order number is automatically incremented and the slide show is performed. Also, different BGM and narration can be reproduced for each displayed web page, and various slideshow effects can be produced.

  In the embodiment described above, different display intervals, different BGM files, and different narration files are used for each playback order number. However, when performing automatic processing more easily, all playback order numbers are The same display interval, the same BGM file, and the same narration file can also be used.

  FIG. 10 shows data of the operation control parameter file 51 used for such automatic processing. In FIG. 10, the flag AUTO and the parameter MAXNUM are the same as those in the operation control parameter file 51 in FIG.

  The parameter WAIT represents the display time of a page common to all the reproduction order numbers in the automatic mode, the flag BGM represents whether or not to play the BGM common to all the reproduction order numbers, and the parameter BGM_FILE represents that Represents the file name of the file storing the BGM audio data. The flag NARRATION indicates whether or not to reproduce a narration common to all reproduction order numbers, and the parameter NARRATION_FILE represents a file name of a file storing the voice data of the narration.

  When such an operation control parameter file 51 is used, in step S3 of FIG. 7, the automatic calling unit 44 performs automatic processing as shown in FIG. First, the automatic calling unit 44 sets 0 to the control variable i representing the reproduction order number, sets 1 to the variable Index representing the difference between the reproduction order numbers (step S51), and checks the value of the flag BGM (step S51). S52). If BGM = Yes, the BGM control unit 46 is activated and the file name set in BGM_FILE is passed.

  The BGM control unit 46 reads the BGM file corresponding to the received file name (step S53), reproduces the voice data (step S54), and returns the control to the automatic calling unit 44. And the automatic calling part 44 performs the process after step S55. If BGM = No, the processing from step S55 onward is performed without activating the BGM control unit 46.

  In step S55, the automatic calling unit 44 checks the value of the flag NARRATION. If NARRATION = Yes, the narration control unit 47 is activated and the file name set in NARRATION_FILE is passed.

  The narration control unit 47 reads the narration file corresponding to the received file name (step S56), reproduces the voice data (step S57), and returns the control to the automatic calling unit 44. And the automatic calling part 44 performs the process after step S58. If NARRATION = No, the narration control unit 47 is not activated, and the processes in and after step S58 are performed.

  In step S58, the automatic calling unit 44 sets the value obtained by adding the index to the reproduction order number i as i, and performs the processes in and after step S59. Here, the processing performed in steps S59, S60, and S61 is the same as the processing performed in steps S39, S40, and S41 of FIG. 9, and the processing performed by the WWW browser 33 notified of the URL in step S60 is as shown in FIG. This is the same as the processing shown in FIG.

  If i <MAXNUM in step S61, the process waits for the time set in WAIT (step S62) and repeats the processes in and after step S58. In step S61, when i reaches MAXNUM, since there is no larger playback order number, the automatic processing is terminated.

  According to such a display control process, during the slide show, BGM and narration are reproduced without being switched, and only the information on the web page is switched. Therefore, it is not necessary to prepare a BGM file and a narration file for each displayed web page.

  By the way, when a slide show is to be shown on a large number of personal computers at the same time in an educational setting or the like, a mechanism for remotely notifying a URL to the WWW browser of each personal computer is required. In the remote slide show system having such a mechanism, the following three functions are provided for simultaneous reference of designated pages using a WWW browser.

  Function 5: A function of providing a window for inputting a URL on the local computer, notifying one or a plurality of remote computers of the specified URL, and displaying the corresponding page on the browser.

  Function 6: A function that, when a bookmark to be referred to is selected from bookmarks registered in the local computer, notifies the selected URL to one or a plurality of remote computers and causes the corresponding page to be displayed on the browser.

  Function 7: A function for notifying one or a plurality of remote computers of URLs registered in the bookmark of the local computer and registering them in the bookmark of the remote computer.

  For example, the local computer corresponds to a teacher personal computer, and the remote computer corresponds to a student personal computer. By providing the function 5 and the function 6, the teacher can give instructions to the student's computer from the computer at hand and can open the web page all at once, easily and reliably.

  Further, the provision of the function 7 facilitates the delivery of bookmark data from the local side to the remote side. Therefore, the teacher can save the trouble of setting bookmark data in each computer one by one using a medium such as a floppy disk.

Further, this remote slide show system provides the following three functions with respect to a slide show performed simultaneously.
Function 8: The display order of the URL registered in the bookmark is instructed by the slide operation button of the local computer, the URL is notified to one or a plurality of remote computers in the instructed order, and the corresponding page is browsed Function to be displayed in (manual mode).

  Function 9: Using a URL registered in a bookmark of a local computer, a plurality of URLs are automatically notified to one or a plurality of remote computers in a predetermined order and interval, and a plurality of corresponding URLs are notified. Function to automatically display the page in the browser (automatic mode).

  Function 10: One or a plurality of remote computers download a web page to be a slide show and hold it as a local file, and execute the functions 5, 6, 8, and 9 using the local file. function.

By providing the function 8 manual mode, the teacher can perform a lecture while switching the page displayed on the remote computer by manual operation.
Further, by providing an automatic mode of function 9, pages can be automatically switched without manual operation. Therefore, a necessary page can be easily and reliably displayed on the remote computer, and there is no need to prepare bookmark data in advance on the remote computer.

Also, by providing the function 10, it is not necessary for the browser to connect to the Internet on the spot, and the interruption of the lecture due to connection failure can be prevented.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram of such a remote slide show system. The remote slide show system of FIG. 12 includes the Internet 27, a WWW server 81, a local computer 82, one or more remote computers 83, a LAN (local area network) 84, and an Internet connection device 85.

  The local computer 82 and the remote computer 83 are connected to each other via a LAN 84 and access a WWW server 81 on the Internet 27 via a connection device 85. As the connection device 85, for example, a router is used.

  Each computer holds the operation control parameter file 51, the bookmark data file 52, and the web page data file 53, and displays the web page 71 and the bookmark menu 76. Each computer holds an IP address table 54 that stores IP (internet protocol) addresses, and controls the transmission and reception of page display notifications and bookmark data registration notifications while referring to the contents thereof.

  FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of the local computer 82 and the remote computer 83 of FIG. Each computer includes a processing device 21, a data storage device 22, an input device 23, and a display device 24, as in the system of FIG. 2, and these devices are connected to each other by a bus 26.

  The processing device 21 includes the slide show processing unit 31, the network interface unit 32, and the WWW browser 33 described above. Here, mainly, the slide show processing unit 31 and the data storage device 22 (portion surrounded by a broken line) of the processing device 21 execute the functions 5 to 10 of the remote slide show system described above.

  The slide show processing unit 31 includes an IP address table editing unit 48 in addition to the operation control parameter editing unit 41, the bookmark registration unit 42, the bookmark display control unit 43, the automatic calling unit 44, and the web page display control unit 45 described above. The data storage device 22 stores an operation control parameter file 51, a bookmark data file 52, a web page data file 53, and an IP address table 54.

The IP address table editing unit 48 has a function of setting the IP address and various flags of the communication partner computer in the IP address table 54 and changing them.
The slide show processing unit 31 on the local side uses the operation control parameter file 51, the bookmark data file 52, the web page data file 53, and the IP address table 54 to select a bookmark instead of the teacher, and sets the URL of the selected bookmark. Notification to the remote WWW browser 33 is possible. Operation buttons as shown in FIG. 4 are displayed on the screen of the display device 24 on the local side, and these buttons are operated by the teacher.

  In the operation control parameter file 51, for example, data as shown in FIG. 14 is stored. In FIG. 14, S_PUSH corresponds to a flag indicating whether a display instruction can be issued from the local side to the remote side (Yes) or not (No), and S_ACCEPT accepts a display instruction from the local side on the remote side (Yes). This corresponds to a flag indicating whether or not (No).

  B_PUSH corresponds to a flag indicating whether or not a bookmark data registration instruction can be issued from the local side to the remote side (Yes) or not (No), and B_ACCEPT indicates a bookmark data registration instruction from the local side on the remote side. This corresponds to a flag indicating whether it is accepted (Yes) or not (No). AUTO, MAXNUM, and WAIT (i) are the same as those in FIG.

  The bookmark data file 52 stores, for example, data as shown in FIG. Here, the reproduction order number in FIG. 6 corresponds to the notification order of URLs notified from the local side to the remote side in the automatic mode.

  The IP address table 54 stores data as shown in FIG. 15, for example. In FIG. 15, the IP address is address information of each computer in the system. For the local computer 82 that instructs the processing, the IP address of the student machine represents the IP address of the partner to be processed, and for the remote computer 83 that receives the instruction, the IP address of the teacher machine is the instruction address. Represents the IP address of the other party that is the sender of

  S_FLAG_S corresponds to a flag indicating whether the computer performs page display notification (ON) or not (OFF), and S_FLAG_R indicates whether the computer accepts page display notification (ON) (OFF). Corresponds to a flag indicating

  B_FLAG_S corresponds to a flag indicating whether or not the computer makes a bookmark data registration notification (ON) or not (OFF), and B_FLAG_R indicates whether or not the computer accepts a bookmark data registration notification (ON) ( Corresponds to a flag indicating whether or not. The comment is a comment sentence or the like related to the computer, and is added to make the IP address easy to understand.

  Here, as for the IP address of the local computer 82 which is a teacher machine, S_FLAG_S = OFF, S_FLAG_R = ON, B_FLAG_S = OFF and B_FLAG_R = ON are set, and the IP address of the remote computer 83 which is a student machine Are set such that S_FLAG_S = ON, S_FLAG_R = OFF, B_FLAG_S = ON, and B_FLAG_R = OFF.

Basically, the same information is registered in the IP address table 54 of each computer, but it is also possible to selectively register only the IP address of the necessary communication partner computer.
Next, a display operation and a registration operation by the remote slide show system of FIG. 13 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart of the display control process performed by the slide show processing unit 31 on the local side. First, the slide show processing unit 31 performs an initialization process as shown in FIG. 17 (step S71). Here, the automatic calling unit 44 reads the operation control parameter file 51 from the data storage device 22 (step S81), reads the IP address table 54 (step S82), and reads the bookmark data file 52 (step S83).

  Next, the automatic calling unit 44 checks the value of the flag AUTO in the operation control parameter file 51 (step S72). If AUTO = No, the manual mode is started, manual processing is performed (step S73), and the processing is terminated. If AUTO = Yes, the automatic mode is activated, automatic processing is performed (step S74), and the processing is terminated.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart of manual processing in step S73 of FIG. In the manual process, the automatic calling unit 44 first checks the value of the flag S_PUSH in the operation control parameter file 51 (step S91), and ends the process if S_PUSH = No.

  If S_PUSH = Yes, the URL input method by the teacher is determined (step S92). When the URL is selected from the bookmark menu 76 of FIG. 12 (step S93), the URL of the selected bookmark is acquired (step S95), and when the URL is directly input (step S94), the input URL Is acquired (step S95). In step S94, for example, an input window as shown in FIG. 19 is displayed. When the teacher inputs a URL in the box 91 and presses the button 92, the input URL is acquired.

  Next, one line sentence data is extracted from the IP address table 54 (step S96), and it is checked whether or not it represents the end of the IP address table 54 (step S97). If the extracted data does not represent the end, then the value of the flag S_FLAG_S included in the data is checked (step S98).

  If S_FLAG_S = ON, the network interface unit 32 is instructed to notify the acquired URL to the corresponding IP address (step S99). In response to this, the network interface unit 32 notifies the URL to the IP address. And the automatic calling part 44 repeats the process after step S96.

  If S FLAG S = OFF in step S98, the process from step S96 is repeated without notifying the URL. In step S97, if the extracted data represents the end of the IP address table 54, the process ends.

  For example, in the IP address table of FIG. 15, the IP address in the first line corresponds to the local computer 82, and S_FLAG_S = OFF. Therefore, the notification of the URL is skipped and the data on the second line is extracted. The IP address on the second line corresponds to the remote computer 83, and S_FLAG_S = ON. Therefore, the URL is notified to this IP address. Similar processing is performed for the data in the third and subsequent rows.

  When the bookmark URL is selected in step S93, the operation buttons shown in FIG. 4 can be used. The URL selection / acquisition processing in this case is the same as the processing in steps S4 to S11 and S18 in FIG.

  Next, FIG. 20 is a flowchart of display control processing by the slide show processing unit 31 on the remote side. First, the web page display control unit 45 performs the initialization process shown in FIG. 17 (step S101), and checks the value of the flag S_ACCEPT in the operation control parameter file 51 (step S102). If S_ACCEPT = No, the process ends.

  If S_ACCEPT = Yes, it is determined whether the network interface unit 32 has received a URL from the local computer 82 (step S103). If the URL is not received, the determination is repeated. If the URL is received, the IP address of the other party is confirmed (step S104). Then, the flag S_FLAG_R corresponding to the IP address is extracted from the IP address table 54, and the value is checked (step S105).

  If S_FLAG_R = OFF, the processing after step S103 is repeated, and if S_FLAG_R = ON, the received URL is notified to the WWW browser 33 (step S106), and the processing after step S103 is repeated. The processing of the WWW browser 33 is the same as that in FIG.

  For example, in the case of the IP address table of FIG. 15, S_FLAG_R = ON is set for the IP address of the local computer 82 (teacher machine). Accordingly, URLs received from the local side are notified to the WWW browser 33 in order, and a page corresponding to the URL is displayed.

  Next, FIG. 21 is a flowchart of automatic processing in step S74 of FIG. In the automatic processing, the automatic calling unit 44 first checks the value of the flag S_PUSH in the operation control parameter file 51 (step S111), and ends the processing if S_PUSH = No.

  If S_PUSH = Yes, 0 is set to the control variable i representing the reproduction order number, and 1 is set to the variable Index representing the difference between the reproduction order numbers (step S112). Next, a value obtained by adding Index to the reproduction order number i is set to i again (step S113), and the URL of the bookmark of the reproduction order number i is taken out from the bookmark data file 52 (step S114).

  The processes performed in the next steps S115, S116, S117, and S118 are the same as the processes performed in steps S96, S97, S98, and S99 in FIG. 18, and the remote slide show processing unit notified of the URL in step S118. The processing performed by 31 is the same as the processing shown in FIG.

  In step S116, if the extracted data represents the end of the IP address table 54, then the value of the reproduction order number i is checked (step S119). If i <MAXNUM, the process waits for the time set in WAIT (i) (step S120) and repeats the processes in and after step S113. When i reaches MAXNUM, since there is no reproduction order number larger than that, automatic processing is terminated.

  Next, FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a registration process by the slide show processing unit 31 on the local side. First, the automatic calling unit 44 performs the initialization process shown in FIG. 17 (step S131), and checks the value of the flag B_PUSH in the operation control parameter file 51 (step S132). If B_PUSH = No, the process ends.

  If B_PUSH = Yes, the bookmark data selected by the teacher is acquired from the bookmark data file 52 (step S133). Next, the data of one line sentence is taken out from the IP address table 54 (step S134), and it is checked whether or not it represents the end of the IP address table 54 (step S135). If the extracted data does not represent the end, then the value of the flag B_FLAG_S included in the data is examined (step S136).

  If B_FLAG_S = ON, the network interface unit 32 is instructed to notify the acquired bookmark data to the corresponding IP address (step S137). In response to this, the network interface unit 32 notifies the bookmark data to the IP address as registered data. And the automatic calling part 44 repeats the process after step S134.

  In step S136, if B_FLAG_S = OFF, the bookmark data is not notified, and the processes after step S134 are repeated. In step S135, if the extracted data represents the end of the IP address table 54, the process ends.

  For example, in the IP address table of FIG. 15, the IP address in the first row corresponds to the local computer 82 and B_FLAG_S = OFF. Therefore, the notification of the bookmark data is skipped and the data on the second line is extracted. The IP address on the second line corresponds to the remote computer 83 and B_FLAG_S = ON. Therefore, bookmark data is notified to this IP address. Similar processing is performed for the data in the third and subsequent rows.

  Next, FIG. 23 is a flowchart of registration processing by the slide show processing unit 31 on the remote side. First, the bookmark registration unit 42 performs the initialization process shown in FIG. 17 (step S141), and checks the value of the flag B_ACCEPT in the operation control parameter file 51 (step S142). If B ACCEPT = No, the process is terminated.

  If B_ACCEPT = Yes, it is determined whether the network interface unit 32 has received bookmark data from the local computer 82 (step S143). If the bookmark data is not received, the determination is repeated, and if the bookmark data is received, the IP address of the other party is confirmed (step S144). Then, the flag B_FLAG_R corresponding to the IP address is extracted from the IP address table 54, and the value is checked (step S145).

  If B_FLAG_R = OFF, the process after step S143 is repeated, and if B_FLAG_R = ON, the received bookmark data is registered in the bookmark data file 52 (step S146), and the process after step S143 is repeated.

  For example, in the case of the IP address table of FIG. 15, B_FLAG_R = ON for the IP address of the local computer 82 (teacher machine). Therefore, the bookmark data received from the local side is registered in the bookmark data file 52.

According to such a registration process, the designated bookmark data can be registered in the remote computer 83 based on an instruction from the local computer 82.
Further, the remote computer 83 can download the web page to be the target of the slide show using the notified bookmark data and store it in the web page data file 53 as a local file. In this case, the local computer 82 notifies the remote computer 83 of the URL of the local file and causes the slide show to be executed.

  In the remote slide show system of FIG. 12 described above, the LAN 84 is used for the connection between the local computer 82 and the remote computer 83, but the same applies when another network such as a WAN (wide area network) is used. A remote slide show can be realized.

  By the way, an information processing apparatus (computer) as shown in FIG. 24 can be used as the slide show system of FIG. 2 and the computers 82 and 83 of FIG. The information processing apparatus in FIG. 24 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 101, a memory 102, an input device 103, an output device 104, an external storage device 105, a medium driving device 106, and a network connection device 107. Are connected to each other.

  The memory 102 includes, for example, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and the like, and stores programs and data used for processing. The CPU 101 performs necessary processing by executing a program using the memory 102.

  Here, the slide show processing unit 31, the operation control parameter editing unit 41, the bookmark registration unit 42, the bookmark display control unit 43, the automatic call unit 44, the web page display control unit 45, the BGM control unit 46, the narration in FIGS. The control unit 47, the IP address table editing unit 48, and the like correspond to software components described by the program, and are stored in specific program code segments in the memory 102, respectively.

  The input device 103 corresponds to the input device 23 in FIGS. 2 and 13 and is used for inputting instructions and information from the user. The output device 104 includes the display device 24 and the speaker 25 shown in FIGS. 2 and 13 and is used to output inquiries to the user, web page information, BGM, narration, and the like.

  The external storage device 105 is, for example, a magnetic disk device, an optical disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, or the like. The user can store the above-described program and data in the external storage device 105 and load them into the memory 102 for use as necessary. The external storage device 105 can also be used as the data storage device 22 in FIGS.

  The medium driving device 106 drives a portable recording medium 109 and accesses the recorded contents. As the portable recording medium 109, any computer-readable recording medium such as a memory card, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM (compact disk read only memory), an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like is used. The user can store the above-described program and data in the portable recording medium 109 and load them into the memory 102 for use as necessary.

  The network connection device 107 is controlled by the network interface unit 32 of FIGS. 2 and 13 and is connected to the Internet 27 via an arbitrary network (line) such as a LAN 84 to perform data conversion accompanying communication. The information processing apparatus can receive the above-described program and data from an external apparatus via the network connection apparatus 107 and use them by loading them into the memory 102 as necessary.

  FIG. 25 shows a computer-readable recording medium capable of supplying a program and data to the information processing apparatus of FIG. Programs and data stored in the portable recording medium 109 or the external database 110 are loaded into the memory 102. Then, the CPU 101 executes the program using the data and performs necessary processing.

1 is a principle diagram of a slide show system of the present invention. It is a block diagram of a slide show system. It is a figure which shows a bookmark page. It is a figure which shows a slide show screen. It is a figure which shows the 1st operation control parameter file. It is a figure which shows a bookmark data file. It is a flowchart of a display control process. It is a flowchart of a process of a browser. It is a flowchart of the 1st automatic processing. It is a figure which shows the 2nd operation control parameter file. It is a flowchart of the 2nd automatic processing. It is a block diagram of a remote slide show system. It is a block diagram of a local computer and a remote computer. It is a figure which shows the 3rd operation control parameter file. It is a figure which shows an IP address table. It is a flowchart of a local side display control process. It is a flowchart of an initialization process. It is a flowchart of manual processing on the local side. It is a figure which shows the input screen of URL. It is a flowchart of a display control process on the remote side. It is a flowchart of the local side automatic processing. It is a flowchart of a registration process on the local side. It is a flowchart of a registration process on the remote side. It is a block diagram of information processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows a recording medium. It is a figure which shows the conventional bookmark.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Folder 2 Bookmark 11 Browser means 12 Control means 21 Processing device 22 Data storage device 23 Input device 24 Output device 25 Speaker 26, 88 Bus 27 Internet 31 Slide show processing part 32 Network interface part 33 WWW browser 41 Operation control parameter edit part 42 Bookmark Registration unit 43 Bookmark display control unit 44 Automatic call unit 45 Web page display control unit 46 BGM control unit 47 Narration control unit 48 IP address table editing unit 51 Operation control parameter file 52 Bookmark data file 53 Web page data file 54 IP address table 61 Folder display area 62 Image display area 63 Image icon 71 Web page 72 Reverse feed button 73 Stop button 74 Forward button 75 End button 76 Bookmark menu 81 WWW server 82 Local computer 83 Remote computer 84 LAN
85 Connection equipment 91 Input box 92 Button 101 CPU
103 Input Device 104 Output Device 105 External Storage Device 106 Medium Drive Device 107 Network Connection Device 109 Portable Recording Medium 110 Database

Claims (4)

A slide show system for showing a slide show using information provided on an information network,
Browser means for acquiring information using address information defined on the information network and outputting the acquired information;
Storage means for storing a correspondence relationship between a plurality of address information registered in the browser means by a user who plays the slide show and a sequence number representing a predetermined output order in the slide show;
In order to display the slide show, the address information notified to the remote computer based on the sequence number is obtained with reference to the correspondence relationship, and the sequence stored in the storage unit based on the user instruction Control means for changing the number;
A slide show system comprising: interface means for transmitting the acquired address information to the remote computer and instructing output of information corresponding to the transmitted address information. A slide show system for showing a slide show using information provided on an information network,
Browser means for acquiring information using address information defined on the information network and outputting the acquired information;
Based on the correspondence between a plurality of address information registered in the browser of the local computer by the user who shows the slide show and a sequence number representing a predetermined output order in the slide show, the information is transmitted from the local computer. An interface for receiving address information transmitted from the local computer based on the changed sequence number when the sequence number of the correspondence relationship is changed based on an instruction from the user Means,
A slide show system comprising: control means for notifying the browser means of received address information and instructing output of information corresponding to the notified address information in order to show the slide show. A recording medium recording a program used by a computer for showing a slide show using information provided on an information network,
Referring to a correspondence relationship between a plurality of address information defined in the information network and registered in a browser by a user who plays the slideshow, and a sequence number representing a predetermined output order in the slideshow;
Transmitting the plurality of pieces of address information to a remote computer based on the sequence number in order to display the slide show, and instructing output of information corresponding to the transmitted address information;
A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing the computer to execute a process including a step of changing the order number of the correspondence relationship based on an instruction from the user. A recording medium recording a program used by a computer for showing a slide show using information provided on an information network,
Based on a correspondence relationship between a plurality of address information defined in the information network and registered in a browser of a local computer by a user who shows the slide show, and a sequence number representing a predetermined output order in the slide show When the address information transmitted from the local computer is received and the sequence number of the correspondence relationship is changed based on the user's instruction, the address information is transmitted from the local computer based on the changed sequence number. Receiving address information, and
In order to display the slide show, a computer-readable program recording a program for causing the computer to execute processing including notifying a browser of received address information and instructing output of information corresponding to the notified address information Possible recording media.

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