JP2010079728A - Data browsing device and method for controlling data browsing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To comprehend the position of a data group or data selected in a hierarchy before switching in a list display of a switched hierarchy in switching the hierarchy to be displayed. <P>SOLUTION: A data browsing device groups a plurality of pieces of data into a plurality of data groups on the basis of additional information of each data, forms a hierarchical structure by grouping the plurality of data groups on the basis of additional information of data constituting each group, and arranges and displays icons of data or groups belonging to a designated hierarchy according to the additional information. Although the data browsing device switches hierarchies to be displayed in accordance with an operation input, in switching to an upper hierarchy, the data browsing device generates icons so as to make the place of attentional icons in the arrangement in the unswitched hierarchy explicit in icons showing a group to which data or a group corresponding to the unswitched attentional icons belong among groups in the switched hierarchy. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a data browsing device for arranging and displaying contents, additional information, thumbnails, and the like, and scrolling them to reach a desired content, and a control method therefor.

  In recent years, as a device for storing content, in addition to a personal computer and a dedicated storage device, there are a camera having a storage function for photographed content, a disk recorder for storing broadcast content, and the like. There is a display device that displays a list of contents stored in such a device. In this type of display device, there is a display device that displays a list of all contents as text such as content names. Also, in recent years, a list display that explicitly displays an outline of content as an image or video, such as a thumbnail of content and partial reproduction of a characteristic part, is also performed. In such a list display, a display method for displaying contents in various orders such as date order or file name order is used. Such a display method is effective in making the outline of the content easy to understand and searching for the content. A display method is also known in which content is organized and grouped to make it easier to find content, and there is also a method of displaying a grouped content group (referred to as a data group) with one icon or the like. At this time, an icon of a data group (referred to as a group icon) is often created from an image of representative content in the data group, or an image of part or all of the content.

  Under such circumstances, when displaying a list of contents, there is a method in which various metadata are added to the contents, the order is determined according to the metadata, and the contents are arranged in order to make it easy to find the contents. Examples of how to arrange such contents include date order, 50-note order of metadata, or alphabetical order. Furthermore, a device has been devised that makes it easier to search for content by managing these metadata in a hierarchical manner. For example, the date is divided into year, month, and day hierarchies, each of which is grouped, and the user switches the display by moving up and down the hierarchies. With such a display, the user can select a desired location from his / her memory and search for content.

  In addition, when a user tries to find a desired content while browsing the content, the user has a desire to move between the content as soon as possible to reach the content. In such a visual search of content such as searching for the target content while browsing the content by scrolling, high speed of scrolling is also important.

  In addition, there is an increasing need to view content on a TV screen, etc., and there is a demand for operation with an arrow key or a remote control that has only limited keys rather than an operation unit that can be freely operated such as a keyboard and a mouse. . Therefore, when browsing contents while scrolling, it is also important to be able to operate easily with few keys.

  Under these circumstances, Patent Document 1 manages data in a hierarchical structure of date and date, displays representative images in each hierarchy, and switches to the lower hierarchy sequentially by selecting the representative image. It is described to display. In Patent Document 1, a representative image is selected and displayed from any one in a group, and is sequentially switched and displayed according to time. Further, the size of the group is clearly indicated by displaying the number of images in the group.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes that for document data managed in a hierarchical structure, the inclusion relationship between hierarchies is displayed, and the structural unit is expressed by the size of the group in the lower hierarchy. Further, Patent Document 3 describes that an indicator can determine which part of the entire display target position.
JP 2004-297176 A JP-A-7-225765 JP 2006-285471 A

  However, the above conventional techniques have the following problems.

  (1) In a certain hierarchy, when scrolling is performed beyond the boundary of the upper hierarchy group, when switching to the upper hierarchy to grasp its own position, it is possible to display over a wider range. However, from the group icon, it was not known which part (range) of the group I was checking. For this reason, although the position of the target content can be grasped with the group icon of the upper hierarchy, the sense of distance from the target content cannot be grasped. That is, when the location (range) confirmed in the lower hierarchy is switched to the upper hierarchy, it is not known which location is indicated. In addition, it is impossible to recognize how far the location (range) confirmed in the lower hierarchy and the location of the target content displayed when switching to the upper hierarchy are separated.

  (2) The number of contents included in the group increases as a matter of course as it goes to the upper hierarchy. For this reason, it is difficult to grasp the confirmed position and the position of the target content as it goes to the upper hierarchy.

  (3) When the hierarchy is switched in order according to the hierarchy order and displayed, it takes time to switch the position when it is desired to confirm the position in a higher hierarchy.

  (4) When switching is performed by skipping a hierarchy, it is not known from which hierarchy it has been switched, and it becomes difficult to return to the original position of the original hierarchy.

  (5) When an indicator is displayed, a display area is taken, and the number of content images displayed is reduced accordingly. Also, when performing a visual search by scrolling, attention is paid to the content portion being scrolled, and there are few opportunities to see the indicator, which is rather confusing.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when the hierarchy to be displayed is switched, the data group or data position selected in the hierarchy before switching is grasped in the list display of the switched hierarchy. It is possible to improve the operability.

In order to achieve the above object, a data browsing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,
A plurality of data is grouped into a plurality of data groups based on additional information of each data, and a plurality of data groups are grouped based on the additional information of data constituting each group to form a hierarchical structure, A data browsing device that displays an icon of each data or each group according to a hierarchical structure,
Display means for arranging and displaying icons of data or groups belonging to a specified hierarchy in the hierarchical structure according to the additional information;
One of the icons displayed on the display means is a notice icon, and a change means for changing the notice icon according to the order of the arrangement according to an operation input;
Switching means for switching the hierarchy displayed on the display means in response to an operation input;
A group to which data or a group corresponding to the icon of interest belongs among the groups of the hierarchy after switching the location in the array of the icon of interest in the hierarchy before switching when the switching means switches to a higher hierarchy. Generating means for generating an icon so as to be clearly shown in the icon indicating.

In addition, the data browsing method for achieving the above object includes a method of grouping a plurality of data into a plurality of data groups based on the additional information of each data, and the plurality of data groups being the additional information of the data constituting each group. A data browsing apparatus control method for forming a hierarchical structure by grouping based on, and displaying each data or an icon of each group according to the hierarchical structure,
A display step of arranging and displaying icons of data or groups belonging to a specified hierarchy in the hierarchical structure according to the additional information;
One of the icons displayed in the display step is a notice icon, and a change step of changing the notice icon according to the order of the arrangement according to an operation input,
A switching step of switching the hierarchy to be displayed in the display step according to an operation input,
When switching to a higher hierarchy in the switching step, the data or group corresponding to the attention icon belongs to the group of the hierarchy after switching the location in the array of the attention icon in the hierarchy before switching. A generation step of generating an icon so as to be clearly shown in the icon indicating the group.

  According to the present invention, when the hierarchy to be displayed is switched, it becomes possible to grasp the data group or data position selected in the hierarchy before switching in the display after switching, and the operability is improved. .

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  In this embodiment, a plurality of image contents are arranged in the order of metadata grouped in a certain hierarchical structure, scrolled while switching the display in each hierarchy, and described with a content browsing apparatus that reaches the target content . First, the overall system configuration will be described. Hereinafter, content may be referred to as data. An icon corresponding to content (data) is referred to as a data icon. As described above, the grouped content group is referred to as a data group, and the data group icon is referred to as a group icon.

(System configuration)
A configuration example of a system assumed in this embodiment is shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a content browsing device that holds data icons and group icons, forms a data icon or group icon array, arranges them, and outputs them to the display device 102. Reference numeral 102 denotes a display device such as a display having a function of displaying data icon and group icon images output from the content browsing device 101. Reference numeral 103 denotes an operation remote controller having an operation input function such as content selection and display switching.

  FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a hardware configuration example of the content browsing apparatus 101 and the display apparatus 102.

  In FIG. 2, 201 in the content browsing apparatus 101 is a central control unit (CPU), 202 is a ROM, and 203 is a RAM. An operation input unit 204 receives an operation command from the operation remote controller 103. Reference numeral 205 denotes a content storage unit that stores content to be displayed. A content management unit 206 manages the content held in the content storage unit 205. Reference numeral 207 denotes a content metadata management unit that manages metadata added to the content stored in the content storage unit 205. A scroll control unit 208 arranges contents according to additional information such as metadata, sequentially displays the contents, and sequentially changes the icon of interest according to a scroll operation.

  Reference numeral 209 denotes a display control unit that creates operation screen data for switching display of data icons or group icons. A data icon creation unit 210 creates a data icon such as a reduced image from content stored in the content storage unit 205. A group icon creation unit 211 creates a group icon by combining the data icons created by the data icon creation unit 210 in accordance with the group managed by the data group management unit 212. A data group management unit 212 creates and manages data groups in which content managed by the content management unit 206 is grouped by added metadata and the group is further grouped in a higher hierarchy. . That is, the data group management unit 212 groups a plurality of data into a plurality of data groups based on the additional information of each data, and groups the plurality of data groups based on the additional information of the data constituting each group. To form a hierarchical structure. Reference numeral 213 denotes a display output unit that outputs content, its icon, operation screen data created by the display control unit 209, and the like to the display device 102. Reference numeral 214 denotes a data hierarchy management unit that supplies the data for switching the display for each hierarchy, with the group created by the data group management unit 212 having a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 215 denotes an internal bus.

  In the display device 102, reference numeral 221 denotes a central control unit (CPU), 222 denotes a ROM, and 223 denotes a RAM. Reference numeral 224 denotes a display unit that displays the display image data generated by the display control unit 209 of the content browsing apparatus 101 and output from the display output unit 213. Reference numeral 225 denotes an internal bus.

  FIG. 3 shows the appearance of the operation remote controller 103. In FIG. 3, 301 is a key for instructing upward, 302 is a key for instructing downward, 303 is a key for instructing right, and 304 is a key for instructing left, and performs an operation of scrolling the data icon in a predetermined direction. . Reference numeral 305 denotes a confirmation key, which is used to determine selection and operation. Reference numerals 306 to 309 are hierarchy designation keys for switching the display hierarchy. The hierarchy designation key 306 is a group level 1, the hierarchy designation key 307 is a group level 2, the hierarchy designation key 308 is a group level 3, and the hierarchy designation key 309 is an instruction to switch the display to the content level. Hereinafter, the content level and the group level will be described.

  FIG. 4 shows a display example of the content level. In FIG. 4, data icons 410 to 430 created by the data icon creation unit 210 are displayed in order for each metadata. In FIG. 4, a plurality of contents can be displayed on the screen, and the data icon 424 is the attention icon. The attention icon is displayed large, indicating that the data icon is the attention icon. In the present embodiment, data icons near the icon of interest are also displayed in a larger size. When scrolling is instructed with the left and right instruction keys 303 to 304 of the operation remote controller 103, the data icon moves in the direction opposite to the instructed direction according to the arrangement order, and the content of interest shifts to the content in the instructed direction. . When the confirmation key 305 is pressed, the content of interest at that time is displayed. Note that the arrangement order of the contents is determined by arranging the additional information of the contents under a predetermined order condition. In the present embodiment, the time additional information is arranged in order of time.

  FIG. 5 shows a display example of the group level of the “day” hierarchy. In FIG. 5, group icons 501-1 to 501-4 are arranged and displayed in order for each metadata (year / month / day). Again, a plurality of data groups can be displayed on the screen, and the group icon 501-2 is the attention icon. Note that the attention icon can be distinguished from the group icon other than the attention icon by changing the thickness of the frame line. When scrolling is instructed by the left and right instruction keys 303 to 304 of the operation remote controller 103, the group icon moves in the direction opposite to the instructed direction according to the arrangement order, and the attention icon moves to the data group in the instructed direction. I will do it. The group icon 501 is made up of a plurality of data icons 502. In this example, the group icon creation unit 211 creates group icons so that M data icons 502 can be displayed for one group icon 501. That is, in one group icon 501, icons of M data selected from data belonging to the group (hereinafter, selected data icons) are displayed to form a group icon.

  The relationship between the content in the group and the selected data icon will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 shows a case where there are N contents in one group and M data icons are displayed on the group icon. Sort the content in metadata order and divide it into N / M groups. Then, an arbitrary data icon 502-1 is selected from the contents 601-1 to 602-1 of the first group, and an arbitrary data icon 502 is selected from the contents 601-2 to 602-2 of the second group. Extract data icons such as -2. In this way, the data icon 502-P is extracted as the selected data icon from the arbitrary contents 601-P to 602-P. Then, the group icon creation unit 211 creates a group icon 501 as shown in FIG. 5 by arranging the extracted selection data icons in order. When N / M is smaller than 1, data icons for all contents in the group are selected and displayed. If N / M is not a natural number, the decimal part is rounded up.

  FIG. 7 shows a display example of each layer at the content level and the group level. In FIG. 7, as shown in FIG. 11, the data is hierarchically grouped by year, month, and day. The group level 1 shows a yearly display 701, the group level 2 shows a monthly display 702, and the group level 3 shows. Display 703 in units of days. There is a content level display 704. These displays can be switched by operating the level designation keys 306 to 309 of the operation remote controller 103. In the display of the group icons at each level, the group icons in the yearly display 701 display the most data icons, then the monthly display 702, and then the daily display 703. The number of displays is low. In other words, as the hierarchy level is increased, more data icons of contents in the data group are displayed in each group icon. Note that the number of data icons displayed in the group icon is set for each layer (group level).

  When moving to a lower hierarchy, the first icon in the array is used as the attention icon in the data group or content included in the data group indicated by the attention icon when moving. In moving to a higher hierarchy, the icon of the data group including the content or data group indicated by the icon of interest when moving is used as the icon of attention. Further, at each level, the icon of interest can be moved by scrolling the screen to the left and right independently without being caught by the upper level. That is, the attention icon can be sequentially changed in accordance with the order of arrangement beyond the range of the data group in the upper hierarchy including the data or data group indicated by the attention icon.

  8, 9, and 10 show examples of display switching between layers. FIG. 8 shows a case where the group level 3 is switched to the group level 1. In the display 801 in units of days (group level 3), the group icon 805 that is the icon of interest indicates April 1, 2004. This is switched to group level 1 display (annual display 802). At this time, in the display of the group icon 809 in 2004, a data icon corresponding to the group icon 805 that was the icon of interest before switching is displayed as a data icon 806. Here, unlike the other data icons, the data icon 806 is displayed at a predetermined position as a data icon with a different background color. Further, the data icon 806 is selected from the data icons displayed in the group icon 805.

  Similarly, in the daily display 803, the group icon 807, which is the icon of interest, indicates November 1, 2004. This is switched to the group level 1 display 804 in units of years. In the display 804, the group icon 810 of the data group in 2004 including the data group indicated by the group icon 807 that was the icon of interest before switching is the icon of interest. At that time, in the display of the group icon 810 in 2004, a data icon corresponding to the group icon 807 that was the icon of interest before switching is displayed as a data icon 808. Here, unlike the other data icons, the data icon 808 is displayed at a predetermined position with a different background color. Further, the data icon displayed at 808 is selected from the data icons displayed at the group icon 807 and displayed.

The number A of data icons displayed as data icons 806 is:
The number of data included in the data group indicated by the group icon 805 that was the icon of interest at group level 3 is B,
-The data icon display number of group icons at group level 1 is C,
If the number of data in the data group indicated by the group icon 809 at group level 1 is D,
A = C * B / D
It becomes.

  That is, when the group icon creation unit 211 is switched to a higher hierarchy, the number of data icons displayed in the group icon in the hierarchy before and after the switching is changed from the data icon displayed in the attention icon before switching. The number determined based on the ratio of is extracted. Then, the extracted data icon is used as a data icon constituting the group icon after switching, and the display of the data icon extracted from the attention icon is displayed in a form different from other data icons.

  The group icon creation unit 211 arranges the contents in the data group indicated by the group icons 805 and 807 as 601-1 to 602-M in FIG. 6 and divides them into A groups. Then, the group icon creation unit 211 extracts the corresponding A data icons 502 as selected data icons. Thus, the data icons 806 and 808 displayed in the group level 1 attention icon are extracted from the data icons displayed in the group icons 805 and 807 that were the attention icons, and these changed the background color. Displayed as a data icon. Furthermore, they are arranged at positions arranged in the order of arrangement and become group icons when switched. For other data groups at group level 3, data icons to be displayed on the group level 1 group icon are extracted from the data icons constituting the group icon.

  With the above processing, the position and range viewed before switching (the position and range of the attention icon before switching) can be confirmed by the group icon after switching.

  FIG. 9 shows a case where the group level 3 is switched to the group level 1 and a case where the group level 3 is switched to the group level 2. In the daily display 901, a group icon 905 that is a notable icon indicates April 1, 2004. This is switched from the group level display to the yearly display 902. Then, the 2004 group icon 909 becomes the attention icon. At that time, in the display of the group icon 909 in 2004, a data icon 906 corresponding to the attention icon (group icon 905) before switching is displayed. As described with reference to FIG. 8, the data icon 906 is displayed at a predetermined position as a data icon with a different background color in a form that can be distinguished from other data icons. Furthermore, as described above, the data icon 906 is selected from the data icons displayed with the attention icon (group icon 905) and displayed.

  In addition, in the daily display 903, the group icon 907 which is the attention icon indicates April 1, 2004. This is switched from the group level display to the monthly display 904. Then, the group icon 910 of April 2004 becomes the attention icon. At that time, in the display of the group icon 910 in April 2004, a data icon 908 corresponding to the attention icon (group icon 907) before switching is displayed. As shown in the figure, the data icon 908 is displayed at a predetermined position as a data icon with a different background color so as to be distinguishable from other data icons. Furthermore, the data icon 908 is selected and displayed from the data icons displayed in the group icon 907 that was the attention icon before switching.

The number E of data icons 908 displayed in the display 904 is:
The number of data included in the data group corresponding to the group icon 907 that is the icon of interest at group level 3 is F,
-The number of data icons displayed in the group icon at group level 2 is G,
If the number of data in the data group indicated by the group icon 910 at group level 2 is H,
E = G * F / H
Represented as:

  Then, E data is extracted from the F data in the group icon 907 according to the method described with reference to FIG. 6, and this is displayed as a data icon with a different background color. Further, these extracted data icons are arranged according to the arrangement order of the data icons in the group icon after switching, and constitute a part of the group icon when switched.

  As described above, the number of displays in the display 902 and the display 904 is different depending on the switched hierarchy, and as a result, the browsing position and range before switching can be confirmed with each granularity (detail level).

  FIG. 10 shows a case where the content level is switched to the group level 1 and a case where the group level 3 is switched to the group level 1. In the content unit display 1001, it is assumed that the icon of interest is a data icon 1005 of data within April 1, 2004. The display is switched from the content level display 1001 to the group level 1 year display 1002. At that time, the 2004 group icon 1009 becomes the attention icon. In the display of the group icon 1009, the data icon corresponding to the data icon 1005 that was the icon of interest before switching is displayed as a data icon 1006 shown in FIG. The data icon 1006 is displayed at a predetermined position as a data icon with a different background color so that it can be distinguished from other data icons. Further, the data icon 1006 is displayed as the icon of interest (data icon 1005).

  In addition, in the daily display 1003 according to the group level 3, the group icon 1007 which is the attention icon indicates November 1, 2004. It is assumed that this is switched to the year-by-year display 1004 according to the group level 1. At that time, as described above with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the 2004 group icon 1010 becomes the attention icon. In the display of the group icon 1010, a data icon corresponding to the group icon 1007 that was the icon of interest before switching is displayed as a data icon 1008. The data icon 1008 is displayed at a predetermined position as a data icon with a different background color so that it can be distinguished from other data icons. Furthermore, the data icon 1008 is selected and displayed from the data icons displayed in the group icon 1007 that is the attention icon before switching. As described above, there is one data icon 1006 corresponding to the attention icon before switching when switching from the content level, and the data icon 1008 corresponding to the attention icon before switching when switching from the group level 3 is There will be more than one. That is, the display after switching is different depending on the hierarchy before switching. Therefore, it is possible to recognize the hierarchy (in FIG. 10, whether it is the content level or group level 3) that was being browsed before switching.

  FIG. 11 shows a data hierarchy conceptual diagram. In FIG. 11, 1111 to 1112 are yearly data groups, 1121 to 1124 are monthly data groups, and 1131 to 1138 are daily data groups. Reference numerals 1141 to 1158 denote contents. The content between 1141 and 1142 belongs to the group of the day 1131, and the data group of the day between 1131 to 1132 belongs to the data group of the month 1121. Furthermore, the month data group between 1121 and 1122 belongs to the data group of the year 1111. As described above, the data hierarchy management unit 214 manages the hierarchy structure. The attention icon can move between 1141 to 1158 in the content hierarchy. That is, the scroll control unit 208 sequentially changes the icon of interest in accordance with the order of the data arrangement beyond the range of the data group in the upper hierarchy in response to the operation input from the operation input unit 204. In addition, the reference group (group corresponding to the attention icon) in each group hierarchy can move between 1111 to 1112, 1121 to 1124, and 1131 to 1138.

(Detailed operation explanation)
Hereinafter, the specific operation of this apparatus will be described in several cases.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the hierarchy movement operation between the content level and the group level according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, it is assumed that the display at the group level as shown in FIG. 5 is performed. In this state, when the right instruction key 303 of the operation remote controller is pressed (step S1201), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the left (step S1202). By this processing, the attention icon moves to the right from the group icon 501-2 to 501-3. When the left instruction key 304 of the operation remote controller is pressed (step S1203), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the right (step S1204). As a result of this processing, the attention icon moves to the left from the group icon 501-2 to 501-1.

  The display control unit 209 determines that the movement to the content level is instructed when the hierarchy designation key 309 of the operation remote controller is pressed (step S1205). Then, the display control unit 209 acquires the top data (content) of the data group indicated by the group icon 501-2 that was the icon of interest before switching. Then, the display control unit 209 sets the data icon corresponding to the acquired data as the attention icon (data icon 424 in FIG. 4) at the content level (step S1206). Then, the display control unit 209 switches the display to the content level as shown in FIG. 4 (step S1207).

  On the other hand, when the attention icon indicates the desired content (step S1208), the browsing ends. In the present embodiment, the content corresponding to the icon of interest is displayed when a pressing input of the confirmation key 305 is detected in step S1208.

  On the other hand, when the attention icon does not indicate the desired content, scrolling is performed to move the attention icon to search for the content. That is, when the right instruction key 303 of the operation remote controller 103 is pressed (step S1209), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the left and moves the attention icon to the right from the data icon 424 to the data icon 425 (step S1209). S1210). When the left instruction key 304 of the operation remote controller 103 is pressed (step S1211), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the right and moves the attention icon from the data icon 424 to the data icon 425 to the left (step S1211). S1212).

  Further, when the hierarchy designation keys 306 to 308 of the operation remote controller 103 are pressed (step S1213), the display is switched to the group level display of the designated hierarchy as shown in FIG. 5 (step S1214). At this time, the display control unit 209 displays the content indicated by the attention icon as the switched group icon, like the data icon 1006 in FIG. 10, and among other group icons, the other data icons. A different display is performed (step S1215). When the attention icon shown in FIG. 6 is included in the range of 601-P to 602-P, the display position of the data icon 1006 in the group icon is the position of 502-P in FIG.

  Further, it is determined whether or not the hierarchy designation key 309 has been pressed without scrolling by the right instruction key 303 and the left instruction key 304 of the operation remote controller 103 (step S1216). When the scroll operation is not performed and the movement to the content level is instructed, the icon of interest (data icon 424) in FIG. 4 is assumed to be at the time of step S1214, and the display is switched to the content level (S1207). When a scroll instruction is given in the group level display, the processing from step S1201 is repeated.

  Thereby, the position of the content browsed at the content level can be recognized by the group icon at the group level which is the upper hierarchy. From the positional relationship of the data icons displayed in the group icon, when moving to a higher hierarchy, the distance from other data can be grasped. In addition, the user can freely move to a desired hierarchy, and can browse from the same position when the user immediately returns to the content level after moving further.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a hierarchy moving operation between group levels of different hierarchies according to the embodiment.

  First, in the group level display as shown in FIG. 5, when the right instruction key 303 of the operation remote controller 103 is pressed (step S1301), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the left. As a result, the attention icon moves to the right from the group icon 501-2 to the group icon 501-3 (step S1302). When the left instruction key 304 of the operation remote controller 103 is pressed (step S1303), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the right. As a result, the attention icon moves to the left from the group icon 501-2 to the group icon 501-1 (step S1304).

  Further, when the hierarchy designation key 306 to 308 to another group level of the operation remote controller 103 is pressed (step S1305), the display control unit 209 determines whether or not the movement destination by the pressed movement key is movement to a lower hierarchy. Determine. In the case of moving to a lower hierarchy, the display control unit 209 acquires the data or data group after switching belonging to the data group indicated by the attention icon before switching. Then, the first one of the acquired data or data group is set as the attention icon after switching (step S1306). Then, the display control unit 209 switches the display to the designated hierarchy (group level) (step S1307). For example, in FIG. 11, when switching from the first hierarchy to the third hierarchy, if the data group corresponding to the icon of interest is the data group 1111, the icon of interest is 1131. Thereafter, the processing returns to step S1301. In addition, it is possible to switch from an arbitrary hierarchy to an arbitrary hierarchy using the hierarchy designation keys 306 to 309.

  Therefore, in the moved hierarchy, it is possible to further scroll and move the icon of interest to search for content. That is, when the right instruction key 303 of the operation remote controller 103 is pressed (step S1301), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the left and moves the icon of interest to the right from the group icon 501-2 to 501-3. (Step S1302). When the left instruction key 304 of the operation remote controller 103 is pressed (step S1303), the scroll control unit 208 scrolls the screen to the right and moves the icon of interest to the left from the group icon 501-2 to 501-1. (Step S1304).

  If the hierarchy designation keys 306 to 308 of the operation remote controller 103 are pressed and this is an instruction to move to a higher hierarchy, the process proceeds from step S1305 to step S1308. The display control unit 209 switches to the group level display as shown in FIG. 5 in the designated hierarchy (step S1308). At this time, the number of data icons corresponding to the number of display of the previous group icon switched from the data icon displayed as the attention icon is selected (step S1309). Then, the display control unit 209 switches the data icon displayed as the attention icon in the layer before switching in the display form such as the data icon 906 and the data icon 908 in FIG. 9 according to the switching destination layer. Display with the group icon. In this way, the display control unit 209 displays the data icons belonging to the group icon that was the icon of interest before switching among the group icons so as to be distinguishable from other data icons (step S1310). Further, the group icon including the data icon corresponding to the attention icon before switching is set as the attention icon immediately after switching.

  Further, the display control unit 209 determines whether or not the movement key for the layer before the movement is pressed on the operation remote controller 103 before the scroll operation is performed after the display is switched to the upper layer (step S1311). If this determination is YES, the icon of interest is the one at the time of step S1313, and the display is switched to the designated group level (step S1307). On the other hand, when a scroll instruction is given in the group level display after switching, the processing from step S1301 is repeated.

  With the above processing, the range of contents browsed at the group level can be recognized by the group icon at the group level which is the upper hierarchy. From the positional relationship of the data icons displayed in the group icon, when moving to a higher hierarchy, the distance from other data can be grasped. In addition, the user can freely move to a desired hierarchy, and when the user immediately returns to the original group level after further moving, browsing from the same position can be performed.

  In these embodiments, hierarchization is performed in date units such as year, month, and day. However, a time unit may be added to this and the number of hierarchies may be increased. In addition, it is possible to manage the metadata of places by hierarchizing countries, prefectures, place names, and hierarchizing music artists, albums, and music. Furthermore, a group may be created by the number of contents. The user can move up and down the hierarchy by changing the number of contents in the group.

  In addition, when displaying the position and range of the content that was browsed in the hierarchy before moving with the group icon in the upper hierarchy, it was displayed as a data icon with a changed background color. Different display may be performed by changing the appearance.

  In addition, when displaying the position and range of the content browsed in the hierarchy before the movement with the group icon in the upper hierarchy, the display color may be changed depending on the original hierarchy. This clearly shows which level is being viewed and which level has been reached.

  In the configuration as described above, when the user's position is not known in the detailed lower layer, it is possible to clearly grasp the overall outline and the own position by going up to the upper layer. Then, it can be grasped how much later the user can reach the vicinity of the target content. In addition, you can determine how much range you are currently checking.

  In addition, by displaying more data icons as group icons as you go up, you can display a considerable amount of content according to the number of data in the data group, making it easier to understand the overview. it can.

  Further, the display can be switched freely by skipping the hierarchy, and the visual search can be continued by easily returning to the original position. That is, instead of switching the display hierarchy in the hierarchy order, the display can be switched from an arbitrary hierarchy to an arbitrary hierarchy. As a result, the level of detail of the content group does not gradually change, but a content group with a desired level of detail can be displayed and switching to the screen with the desired level of detail can be performed in a short time.

  Furthermore, while using the display screen effectively, it is possible to grasp the position and range that the user has confirmed, and to scroll this while searching for images.

  Although the embodiment has been described in detail above, the present invention can take an embodiment as a system, apparatus, method, program, storage medium, or the like. Specifically, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to an apparatus composed of a single device.

  In the present invention, the functions of the above-described embodiments are achieved by supplying a software program directly or remotely to a system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes the supplied program code. Including the case. In this case, the supplied program is a computer program corresponding to the flowchart shown in the drawings in the embodiment.

  Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention includes a computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

  In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, or the like.

  Examples of the computer-readable storage medium for supplying the computer program include the following. For example, floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD- R).

  As another program supply method, a client computer browser is used to connect to a homepage on the Internet, and the computer program of the present invention is downloaded from the homepage to a recording medium such as a hard disk. In this case, the downloaded program may be a compressed file including an automatic installation function. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the present invention.

  Further, the program of the present invention may be encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and distributed to users. In this case, a user who has cleared a predetermined condition is allowed to download key information for decryption from a homepage via the Internet, execute an encrypted program using the key information, and install the program on the computer. You can also.

  In addition to the functions of the above-described embodiment being realized by the computer executing the read program, the embodiment of the embodiment is implemented in cooperation with an OS or the like running on the computer based on an instruction of the program. A function may be realized. In this case, the OS or the like performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Furthermore, the program read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, so that part or all of the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized. May be. In this case, after a program is written in the function expansion board or function expansion unit, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the content browsing system by embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of the content browsing apparatus by embodiment, and a display apparatus. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the operation remote control by embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the content level display by embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the group level display by embodiment. It is a figure explaining the relationship between the content in a group and selection data icon by embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of each hierarchy by embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the display switching by embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the display switching by embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the display switching by embodiment. It is a figure explaining the concept of the data hierarchy by embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the hierarchy movement operation | movement between the content level and group level by embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the hierarchy movement operation | movement between the group levels of a different hierarchy by embodiment.

Claims (14)

A plurality of data is grouped into a plurality of data groups based on additional information of each data, and a plurality of data groups are grouped based on the additional information of data constituting each group to form a hierarchical structure, A data browsing device that displays an icon of each data or each group according to a hierarchical structure,
Display means for arranging and displaying icons of data or groups belonging to a specified hierarchy in the hierarchical structure according to the additional information;
One of the icons displayed on the display means is a notice icon, and a change means for changing the notice icon according to the order of the arrangement according to an operation input;
Switching means for switching the hierarchy displayed on the display means in response to an operation input;
A group to which data or a group corresponding to the icon of interest belongs among the groups of the hierarchy after switching the location in the array of the icon of interest in the hierarchy before switching when the switching means switches to a higher hierarchy. A data browsing device comprising: generating means for generating an icon so as to be clearly shown in an icon indicating   2. The data browsing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the changing unit sequentially changes the icon of interest in accordance with the order of the arrangement beyond the range of the data group in the upper hierarchy according to the operation input. The icon corresponding to each of the plurality of data is a data icon composed of a display image or a reduced image of the data, or an image that can recognize the data,
The icon corresponding to the plurality of data groups forming the hierarchical structure is a group icon configured by an image in which the data icons corresponding to the data belonging to the data group are displayed in a predetermined number for each hierarchy. The data browsing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein   4. The data browsing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the number of data icons displayed on the group icon increases as it becomes higher.   The number of data icons displayed on the group icon of the hierarchy before and after the switching from the data icon displayed on the attention icon before switching when the generation means is switched to a higher hierarchy by the switching means. The number of data icons determined based on the ratio is extracted, and the extracted data icon is used as a data icon constituting the group icon after switching, and the extracted data icon constitutes another data constituting the group icon. The data browsing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the group icon is generated so as to be displayed in a form different from the icon.   When the switching by the switching means is switching from a higher hierarchy to a lower hierarchy, and the lower hierarchy is a hierarchy selected at the time of switching to the higher hierarchy, 6. The data browsing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising setting means for setting a notice icon before switching to a hierarchy as a notice icon of the lower hierarchy. A plurality of data is grouped into a plurality of data groups based on additional information of each data, and a plurality of data groups are grouped based on the additional information of data constituting each group to form a hierarchical structure, A method for controlling a data browsing apparatus that displays an icon of each data or each group according to a hierarchical structure,
A display step of arranging and displaying icons of data or groups belonging to a specified hierarchy in the hierarchical structure according to the additional information;
One of the icons displayed in the display step is a notice icon, and a change step of changing the notice icon according to the order of the arrangement according to an operation input,
A switching step of switching the hierarchy to be displayed in the display step according to an operation input,
When switching to a higher hierarchy in the switching step, the data or group corresponding to the attention icon belongs to the group of the hierarchy after switching the location in the array of the attention icon in the hierarchy before switching. And a generation step of generating an icon so as to be clearly shown in an icon indicating a group.   8. The control of the data browsing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, in the changing step, icons of interest are sequentially changed in accordance with the order of the arrangement beyond the range of a data group in a higher hierarchy in accordance with an operation input. Method. The icon corresponding to each of the plurality of data is a data icon composed of a display image or a reduced image of the data, or an image that can recognize the data,
The icon corresponding to the plurality of data groups forming the hierarchical structure is a group icon configured by an image in which the data icons corresponding to the data belonging to the data group are displayed in a predetermined number for each hierarchy. 9. The method for controlling a data browsing apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein:   The method for controlling a data browsing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the number of data icons displayed on the group icon increases as it becomes higher.   In the generation step, the number of data icons displayed on the group icon of the hierarchy before and after the switching from the data icon displayed on the attention icon before the switching when the switching means switches to a higher hierarchy. The number of data icons determined based on the ratio is extracted, and the extracted data icon is used as a data icon constituting the group icon after switching, and the extracted data icon constitutes another data constituting the group icon. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the group icon is generated so as to be displayed in a form different from the icon.   When the switching by the switching step is switching from a higher hierarchy to a lower hierarchy, and the lower hierarchy is a hierarchy selected at the time of switching to the higher hierarchy, 12. The method of controlling a data browsing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a setting step of setting a notice icon before switching to a hierarchy as a notice icon of a lower hierarchy.   A program for causing a computer to execute the method for controlling the data browsing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 12.   A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the control method of the data browsing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 12.

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