JP2012128765A - Video display device, video display method, video display control program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a video display device that easily and securely select an item that a user desires out of a plurality of display items.SOLUTION: A video display device 1 includes a group generation part 17 which performs a classification process for classifying display items belonging to a group of interest selected when first information input is detected into a plurality of new groups, a group selection part 18 which performs a selection process for sequentially selecting one of the plurality of new groups as a group of interest one after another, and a display image generation part 13 which performs an image process for generating a display image in such display format that display items belonging to the group of interest are emphasized and displayed each time the group of interest is selected out of the plurality of new groups. A series of processes including the classification process, selection process, and image process is repeatedly executed until the number of display items belonging to the group of interest becomes equal to or less than a predetermined number.

Description

  The present invention relates to a display control technique for selecting a user-desired item from among a plurality of display items appearing on a display screen.

  In recent years, many electronic devices such as personal computers, televisions, and portable communication terminals present graphical information to the user and execute specific processing according to the user's response (for example, key input or voice input). Has a user interface function. In the case of a personal computer, a user operates an input device such as a pointing device or a keyboard while visually recognizing an operation screen of a display, and displays a number of display items (for example, input items and selection items) presented by the program. A desired item can be selected from among them. A user interface technique that enables the user to efficiently select such items is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-79988 (Patent Document 1).

  A web browser running on a personal computer obtains a web page from a site (server) on the Internet or an intranet, and displays the image information on the screen based on the web page. To do. As a result, the user can browse the web page. Generally, a web page includes a data file having information described in a markup language defined by a standardization organization such as IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). Link information such as a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) indicating the location of a resource on the Internet or an intranet can be embedded in this web page. The user operates the input device to specify a display item corresponding to the link information embedded in the web page (for example, by moving the mouse cursor onto a desired display item and pressing a mouse button) ), A resource (for example, a web page, an image file, or an audio file) corresponding to the link information can be accessed.

  However, since the display format such as the arrangement of display items included in the web page can be freely and arbitrarily determined by the web page provider, the general web browser function displays the web page acquired from the server. It is difficult to appropriately change the format to a display format that is easy for the user to view. For this reason, when many display items are included in the web page, there is a problem that a large burden is generated when the user operates the input device to select a desired item from among these display items. User interface technologies that attempt to solve such problems are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-25114 (Patent Document 2) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-237865 (Patent Document 3).

  The browser device disclosed in Patent Document 2 analyzes an HTML file (page information), and based on the analysis result, links information (for example, URL specified by an anchor tag) and the link information from the HTML file. Extracted character string. Then, the browser device generates a page image in which an image of a code such as a number is arranged in the vicinity of the character string image, and displays the page image on the screen. According to the browser device, the user selects a desired character string corresponding to the code by operating an input device such as a remote controller and pressing a button (for example, a numeric key) corresponding to the code, Link information associated with this character string can be specified.

  On the other hand, the network image display device disclosed in Patent Document 3 divides a screen display area of an Internet television or the like into a plurality of partial areas, and associates each partial area with a numeric key of a remote controller (operation input receiving unit). Then, the network image display device displays the numbers of the corresponding numeric keys in the partial area. When the user presses a numeric key having a desired number to select a partial area, the selected partial area is automatically enlarged and displayed. The magnified partial area is further divided into a plurality of partial areas by the network image display device, and a numeric key of the remote controller is associated with each partial area and displayed. Therefore, the user can select a desired partial area in the screen display area simply by pressing the numeric key of the remote controller a plurality of times.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-79988 (paragraphs 0083 to 0091, FIG. 3) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-25114 (paragraphs 0026 to 0032, FIG. 6) JP 2009-237865 A (paragraphs 0074 to 0081, FIG. 1)

  However, in the user interface technologies of Patent Documents 2 and 3, the user needs to operate the remote control while alternately comparing the screen and the keys of the remote control. For this reason, if the number of times the key is pressed increases, there is a high possibility that the key is pressed incorrectly, and the number of line-of-sight movements between the remote control and the screen increases, which places a heavy burden on the user.

  In addition, when the user interface technologies of Patent Documents 2 and 3 are applied to a television apparatus having an Internet connection function, the 13 keys that can be used on the remote control are numbers “0” to “12”. May only exist. In such a case, when more than 13 display items appear on the screen, the user must input a combination of a plurality of numeric keys in order to input a number of “13” or more. It becomes complicated and erroneous operation is likely to occur.

  Furthermore, in the user interface technologies of Patent Documents 2 and 3, since it is necessary to display images of numbers and symbols on the screen, a part of the original image may be hidden under the images of numbers and symbols or display items. The layout of the original image may be distorted, and the visibility of the original image is reduced.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a video display device, a video display method, a video display control program, and a video display device that can easily and reliably select a user-desired item from among a plurality of display items appearing on a screen. It is to provide a recording medium.

  The video display device according to the present invention analyzes a data file, extracts a piece of related information corresponding to a plurality of display items from the data file based on the analysis result, and the plurality of pieces based on the piece of related information. A group generation unit that classifies display items into a plurality of groups, a group selection unit that sequentially selects one group from among the plurality of groups as a target group, and the target group each time the target group is selected A display image generation unit that generates a display image that is displayed on the screen in a display format that highlights the display item belonging to the input item, and an input monitoring unit that monitors the presence or absence of the first information input to the input device, The group generation unit displays the display items belonging to the group of interest selected at the time when the first information input is detected as a plurality of new groups. The group selection unit executes a selection process for sequentially selecting a group of interest from the new plurality of groups, and the display image generation unit performs the new plurality of groups. Each time the target group is selected from among the groups, the display item belonging to the target group is highlighted rather than the display item belonging to a group other than the target group among the plurality of new groups. Image processing for generating a display image to be displayed on the screen is executed, and the group generation unit, the group selection unit, and the display image generation unit are configured such that the number of display items belonging to the group of interest is equal to or less than a predetermined number. Until this time, a series of processes including the classification process, the selection process, and the image process are repeatedly performed.

  An image display method according to the present invention comprises: analyzing a data file; extracting related information corresponding to each of a plurality of display items from the data file based on the analysis result; and the plurality of displays based on the related information. A step of classifying items into a plurality of groups, a step of sequentially selecting one group from among the plurality of groups as a target group, and a display item belonging to the target group each time the target group is selected. A step of generating a display image to be displayed on the screen in a display format to be highlighted, a step of monitoring presence / absence of the first information input to the input device, and a point of time selected when the first information input is detected Performing a classification process for classifying display items belonging to the group of interest into a plurality of new groups; A step of performing a selection process of sequentially selecting a target group from among the plurality of groups, and each time the target group is selected from the plurality of new groups, the target of the new plurality of groups is selected. Executing the image processing for generating a display image displayed on the screen in a display format for highlighting the display items belonging to the group, and executing the classification processing and executing the selection processing; A series of steps including the step of executing the image processing is repeatedly executed until the number of the display items belonging to the group of interest becomes a predetermined number or less.

  A video display control program according to the present invention is read from a computer-readable recording medium and causes a processor to execute the steps of the video display method.

  A computer-readable recording medium according to the present invention is characterized in that the video display control program is recorded.

  According to the present invention, the user can select a desired item from among a plurality of display items without moving the line of sight of the input device. For example, a desired item can be easily reached from a plurality of display items by simply pressing a single key of the input device a plurality of times.

It is a functional block diagram which shows roughly the main structures of the video display apparatus of Embodiment 1 which concerns on this invention. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a connection form of a video display device, a communication network, and a plurality of data servers according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is an external view of a remote controller that is an example of the operation input device according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the service menu image displayed on the display screen. It is a figure which shows the other example of the service menu image displayed on the display screen. It is a figure which shows the display image (page image) of a web page. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of display items extracted by a data analysis unit according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the display image (page image) of a web page. It is a figure which shows a part of description content of the HTML file contained in a web page. It is a figure which shows a part of description content of a style sheet file. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of the table which shows the correspondence of link ID and the coordinate position of the display item corresponding to this. It is a figure which shows an example of the link table of an initial state. 4 is a flowchart schematically showing a procedure of web page browsing processing according to the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart schematically showing a procedure of web page browsing processing according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the some display item classified into the three link groups Gp1, Gp2, Gp3 (grouping). It is a figure which shows the link table updated by rewriting group ID of the link table of FIG. 12 according to the classification | category (grouping) of FIG. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp1 in FIG. 15 are highlighted. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp2 in FIG. 15 are highlighted. FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp3 in FIG. 15 are highlighted. It is a figure which illustrates a plurality of display items reclassified (grouping) into three link groups Gp1, Gp2, Gp3. It is a figure which shows the link table updated by rewriting the group ID of the link table of FIG. 16 according to the classification | category (grouping) of FIG. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp1 in FIG. 20 are highlighted. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp2 of FIG. 20 are highlighted. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp3 in FIG. 20 are highlighted. It is a figure which illustrates a plurality of display items reclassified (grouping) into three link groups Gp1, Gp2, Gp3. It is a figure which shows the link table updated by rewriting the group ID of the link table of FIG. 21 according to the classification | category (grouping) of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the some display item reclassified (grouping) into two link groups Gp1 and Gp2. It is a figure which shows the link table updated by rewriting the group ID of the link table of FIG. 26 according to the classification | category (grouping) of FIG. 10 is a flowchart schematically showing a procedure of web page browsing processing according to Embodiment 2, which is a modification of Embodiment 1. 12 is a flowchart schematically showing a procedure of web page browsing processing according to the third embodiment. 12 is a flowchart schematically showing a procedure of web page browsing processing according to the third embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows roughly the structure of the video display apparatus 1 in the case of implement | achieving by a program.

  Hereinafter, various embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the main configuration of the video display apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the video display device 1 includes an image display unit 11 and a display control unit 12.

  The image display unit 11 is a display device for projecting video and characters on the display screen 11D based on the video signal output from the display control unit 12, and can be configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display or a plasma display. The display control unit 12 has a function of generating a video signal for causing the image display unit 11 to display an image based on character information, graphics information, image information, and the like. Here, the graphics information is information for displaying a figure composed of geometric figures such as circles and straight lines, function curves, and the like. Examples of the image information include information processed into a bitmap format such as a photographic image.

  The video display device 1 has a function of acquiring a data file such as a web page, an image file, or an audio file from a data server on the communication network 2 and generating a display image based on the data file. In order to realize the function of using such a network service, the video display device 1 includes a display image generation unit 13, a data analysis unit 14, a data acquisition unit 15, a network communication unit 16, a link group generation unit 17, and a link selection. The unit 18 and the component storage unit 21 are provided. All of these components 13 to 18 and 21 operate under the control of the display control unit 12. Note that image files and audio files can be acquired in either a streaming format or a download format.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the network communication unit 16 is connected to the communication network 2. The communication network 2 is a large-scale network such as the Internet or a WAN (Wide Area Network), or a small-scale network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a home network.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a connection form of the video display device 1, the communication network 2, and a plurality of data servers SV ₁ , SV ₂ ,..., SV _N (N is an integer of 3 or more). Network communication unit 16, in response to a request from the data acquisition unit 15 establishes a communication link with the data server SV _k of the access destination from among the data server _SV 1 _{~SV N.} Then, the network communication unit 16 can acquire the data file designated by the request from the data server SV _k .

Network communication unit 16 in accordance with HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), HTTPS communication protocol, such as (HTTP over Secure Socket Layer) or SHTTP (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol), from one of the data server _SV 1 Sv _N, the address information It has a function of acquiring a specified web page as a data file. Here, the address information is an identifier for specifying the location of a resource such as a web page in the communication network 2 and can also be called a resource specifying address. For example, a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), an IP address or a port number, or a combination of two or more thereof can be used as address information. A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a subset of a URI. The web page is described in a markup language having a structured data such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Language), or XML (Extensible Markup Language). The web page may also include a style sheet file having display control information (display style) that specifies the display format of the display items included in the structured data file. An example of this type of style sheet file is a known CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) file.

  The video display device 1 includes a broadcast receiving unit 22 that operates under the control of the display control unit 12. The broadcast receiving unit 22 has a tuner function that selects a broadcast station to be received by the antenna 22A in accordance with an instruction from the display control unit 12 and receives a broadcast signal of the broadcast station. The broadcast receiving unit 22 may have a function of receiving one or a plurality of broadcast waves of terrestrial digital broadcast, satellite digital broadcast, and cable digital broadcast, but is not limited thereto. For example, in the case of having a function of receiving terrestrial digital broadcasting compliant with ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial), the broadcast receiving unit 22 converts the frequency of the received signal of the broadcast wave to OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division). A modulation signal is generated, and the OFDM modulation signal is demodulated to generate a transport stream according to the MPEG-2 standard. The broadcast receiving unit 22 configures image data from the transport stream and outputs it to the display control unit 12. The display control unit 12 generates a video signal based on the image data. The video display device 1 also has a function (not shown) for outputting an audio signal synchronized with the video signal to a speaker (not shown).

  The broadcast receiving unit 22 also has a function of receiving a data broadcast, and is a structured data file (hereinafter referred to as a BML file) described in BML (Broadcast Markup Language) which is a markup language for broadcasting. .)) Can also be extracted from the transport stream. This web page may include a style sheet file having display control information for specifying a display format (display style) of display items included in the structured data file.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the video display device 1 includes an input receiving unit 20 that receives an operation input to the operation input device 23, and an input monitoring unit 19 that monitors the presence or absence of the operation input. The input receiving unit 20 and the operation input device 23 are connected to each other by, for example, infrared communication. Instead of infrared communication, the input receiving unit 20 and the operation input device 23 may be connected to each other using a wire such as a cable. Note that short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), wireless LAN, or UWB (Ultra WideBand) may be used instead of infrared communication.

  As the operation input device 23, for example, a key input device (for example, a keyboard or a remote controller) or a pointing device (for example, a mouse) can be used. The operation input device 23 has a function of transmitting command information input by the user to the input receiving unit 20. The input receiving unit 20 transfers the command information received from the operation input device 23 to the input monitoring unit 19. The input monitoring unit 19 analyzes the command information received from the input receiving unit 20, generates a code corresponding to the analysis result, and outputs the code to the display control unit 12 or the group selection unit 18. Since the display control unit 12 performs control according to the code, the user operates the operation input device 23 to select one of the functions using the network service or the tuner function. Can do.

  FIG. 3 is an external view of a remote controller that is an example of the operation input device 23. 3 includes a “menu” button, a “power” button, an “input switch” button, and “1” to “9”, “10/0”, “11”, and “12”. Numeric keys with numbers are provided. Further, the operation input device 23 is provided with direction keys 31 to 34 and a determination key 35 for moving a cursor or selecting a display item. When the user presses the “menu” button, the display control unit 12 displays the service menu image shown in FIG. 4A or FIG. 5 on the display screen 11D, for example. These service menu images include three selectable areas, i.e., display items (selection items) 41, 42, and 43, to which character strings “view video”, “view news”, and “view weather forecast” are respectively attached. Including. Different link information is assigned to each of these display items 41, 42, and 43, and the user operates the operation input device 23 to select one of these display items 41 to 43 (that is, the display item 41). Focus on any of .about.43).

  When the arrow-shaped cursor 11c is displayed as shown in FIG. 4A, the user presses the direction keys 31 to 34 (cross keys) of the operation input device 23 of FIG. 3 to move the cursor 11c. The display item can be moved onto any one of the display items 41 to 43. Here, the direction keys 31, 32, 33, and 34 are keys for moving the cursor 11c upward, downward, leftward, and rightward, respectively. Among the display items 41 to 43, a display item that overlaps the position of the cursor 11c is selected in real time, and the display item is focused. In FIG. 4B, the focused display item 43 is highlighted, and a frame for highlighting is drawn so as to surround the display area of the display item 43. In addition, it is also possible to move the cursor 11c by using a pointing device such as a mouse as the operation input device 23. On the other hand, when the cursor 11c is not displayed, as shown in FIG. 5, the focus position is moved from the upper display item 41 to the lower display item 43 by pressing the down key 32 twice. be able to.

  For example, when the user focuses on the display item 41 “view video” and presses the enter key 35, the display control unit 12, in response, link information embedded (associated) in the display item 41. The data acquisition unit 15 is made to acquire the data file specified by (1). That is, the data acquisition unit 15 accesses the data file that is a resource (network resource) on the communication network 2 via the network communication unit 16. The data analysis unit 14 analyzes the data file acquired by the data acquisition unit 15 and gives the analysis result to the display image generation unit 13. The display image generation unit 13 generates a display image based on the analysis result. Here, the component storage unit 21 is a data storage area for temporarily storing components such as image data and audio data extracted from the data file. The display image generation unit 13 can read out a component from the component storage unit 21 and configure a display image using the component as necessary.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display image (page image) of a web page which is an example of a data file acquired by the data acquisition unit 15. In the display screen 11D of FIG. 6, a large number of display items each having a character string such as “menu”, “latest information”, “arctic story”,. When the video display device 1 operates in the normal selection mode, the user can reach a desired display item by pressing the direction keys 31 to 34 of the operation input device 23 of FIG. For example, as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 6, the user presses the right direction key 34 three times to change the position to focus from the display item indicating “Menu” to the display item indicating “Soccer Asian Cup”. Next, by depressing the down key 32 five times, the focus item is moved from the display item indicating “Soccer Asian Cup” to the display item indicating “event”, and the right key 34 is pressed. By pressing once, the display item indicating “shopping” can be reached (the position to be focused is moved).

  However, in such a normal selection mode, the user needs to operate the operation input device 23 while moving the line of sight alternately between the display screen 11D and the keys of the operation input device 23, so that the operation is complicated. Therefore, the burden on the user is large.

  The video display device 1 according to the present embodiment has an operation mode (hereinafter referred to as a simple selection mode) in which a user can reach a desired display item only by pressing a single determination key 35 a plurality of times. ing. Hereinafter, the simple selection mode will be described.

  In the simple selection mode, the data analysis unit 14 analyzes the web page acquired by the data acquisition unit 15, and extracts selectable display items from the web page. For example, character information, graphics information, layout information, or link information is associated with each display item.

  7A to 7M are diagrams illustrating examples of display items extracted by the data analysis unit 14. The display items shown in FIGS. 7A to 7M are included in the area DA surrounded by the phantom line shown in FIG. 8, “Everyone Net”, “Watch a movie”, “Menu”, “Latest information”. ”,“ Foreign movie ”,“ Japanese movie ”,“ foreign drama ”,“ domestic drama ”,“ sports ”,“ music ”,“ anime ”,“ comed ”and“ by genre ”. is there.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a part of the description content of the HTML file included in the web page that is the basis of the display image of FIG. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 9 shows only the description relating to the display items included in the area DA shown in FIG. The HTML file is a text format file composed of character codes, and is a structured data file that defines a logical structure by specifying elements with tags surrounded by symbols “<” and “>”.

As shown in FIG. 9, a portion surrounded by a start tag <BODY> and an end tag </ BODY> is a portion describing the configuration of display contents. Further, the portion surrounded by the start tag <H1> and the end tag </ H1> indicates the heading of the display content in FIG. In this example, the fictitious web service name “Everyone Net” is the headline. A link to the URL “http://www.minna.de.net.co.jp/index.html” is attached to this heading by the “href” attribute. In addition, in the display image of FIG. 8, it seems that the character string “Everyone Net” is displayed, but in reality, an image file representing the character string “Everyone Net” is tagged <IMG Is specified and embedded in the display image of FIG. The image file used here is stored in the directory specified by the path “minna_home.files” on the data server (web server) SV _k by the “src” attribute included in the tag <IMG>. It is a file named “logo.jpg”. The image size of this file is 60 pixels high and 300 pixels wide as indicated by the “height” attribute and the “width” attribute. The “alt” attribute designates a character string to be displayed when the web browser that reads and processes the HTML file does not have a function of displaying an image file.

A part surrounded by the start tag <P> and the end tag </ P> indicates one paragraph. In this example, the description after this paragraph indicates that link information related to the “view moving image” service is arranged. This paragraph itself does not contain link information. Similarly to the headline, an image file representing a character string “view moving image”, not a simple character string, is designated by a tag <IMG> and incorporated into the display image of FIG. The image file used here is stored in the directory specified by the path “minna_home.files” on the data server (Web server) SV _k by the “src” attribute included in the tag <IMG>. "watchvideo.jpg", and its image size is 40 pixels high and 170 pixels wide, as indicated by the "height" and "width" attributes.

  A portion surrounded by the start tag <UL> and the end tag </ UL> indicates that the display range is a list composed of a plurality of elements. In this example, display items indicating eleven types of selectable services from “menu” to “by genre” are listed.

Each element in the list is a portion surrounded by a start tag <LI> and an end tag </ LI>. For example, the first element has a link to “http://www.minna.de.net.co.jp/menu.html” as specified by the “href” attribute. Further, the image file 103 on which the characters “menu” are drawn is specified by a tag <IMG> and pasted on the screen. The image file used here is a path minna_home. On the data server SV _k according to the “src” attribute included in the tag <IMG>. btn_sv01. under the directory indicated by files. jpg, and the size is 40 pixels high and 150 pixels wide, as indicated by the “height” and “width” attributes. Similarly, elements that refer to a total of 11 types of links are defined similarly.

  FIG. 8 shows a display image for a moving image distribution site. In this display image area DA, 11 types of image files from “menu” to “by genre” are arranged in a matrix form. In the HTML file of FIG. 9, as described above, the size of the image file is defined as a list element, but the position where each image file is arranged is not defined. The arrangement information indicating the arrangement position is defined in another text file (style sheet file) called a style sheet.

This style sheet is referred to by the “href” attribute of the tag <LINK> in the area surrounded by the start tag <HEAD> and the end tag </ HEAD> indicating the header part of the HTML file. In this example, a file named “top.css” stored under the directory specified by the path “minna_home.files” on the data server SV _k is a style sheet. The description content of this style sheet is shown in FIG.

  The description from the first line to the third line from the top of FIG. 10 indicates position information for the entire list. The description “UL.videoServiceArea” indicates that the target list of the location information is “videoServiceArea”. This name is the name indicated by the “class” attribute of the tag <UL> in the HTML file of FIG. The description “Position: absolute” indicates that the arrangement coordinates of each element of the list “videoServiceArea” are expressed in absolute positions.

  The descriptions from the fourth line to the sixth line from the top of FIG. 10 also indicate position information for the entire list. The description “UL.videoServiceArea LI.vservice01” indicates that the target of the position information of these three lines is the element “vservice01” belonging to the list “videoServiceArea”. This name is the name indicated by the “class” attribute of the tag <LI> in the HTML file of FIG. “Vservice01” is an element including link information of “menu”.

  The description “LEFT: 10 px; TOP: 0 px” indicates the arrangement coordinates of the upper left corner point in the “menu” image file of “vservice01”. This arrangement coordinate indicates the position relative to the upper left of the list “videoServiceArea”, and this description indicates that the upper left corner in the “menu” image file is located at the position of 10 pixels from the left and 0 pixels from the top. To specify what to do.

  When the upper left corner of the displayed image is used as a reference, the list “videoServiceArea” is placed under the area where the image file of the headline “Minna Netto” and the image file of the paragraph “Watch movie” are vertically arranged. The coordinates of the reference point of “videoServiceArea” are 0 pixels from the left and 100 pixels from the top. For this reason, when the position of the “menu” image file is converted into the coordinates of the entire screen display area, it becomes 10 pixels from the left and 100 pixels from the top when the upper left corner of the screen is used as a reference. The arrangement coordinates are defined in the same format for the remaining 10 types of image files, and as a result, the display image looks like FIG.

  From the above, it can be seen that the image generated based on the HTML file of FIG. 9 includes 12 pieces of link information for one heading and 11 types of list elements. As a result, there are 12 selectable areas, that is, display items, in the area DA of FIG.

  The data analysis unit 14 identifies the display position (coordinates) of each display item by analyzing the HTML file and the style sheet file included in the web page. In addition, the data analysis unit 14 assigns an identifier called a link ID to each of the plurality of display items, and generates a table indicating the correspondence between the link ID and the display position of the display item corresponding to the link ID. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of this table. A unique link ID is assigned to each display item, and a set of horizontal pixel positions X and vertical pixel positions Y (that is, a display position) is associated with each link ID. Here, the horizontal pixel position is the number of pixels in the horizontal direction with reference to the left end of the screen, and the vertical pixel position is the number of pixels in the vertical direction with reference to the upper end of the screen. The data analysis unit 14 further generates a table (hereinafter referred to as a link table) that defines a correspondence relationship between the link ID, the display position, and the group ID. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the link table in the initial state generated by the data analysis unit 14. In the link table in the initial state, a value of “0” is set as the group ID value for all link IDs.

  Next, web page browsing processing using a link table will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. 13 and 14 are flowcharts schematically showing a procedure of web page browsing processing according to the first embodiment. The flowcharts of FIGS. 13 and 14 are connected to each other via connectors C1 and C2.

When the display control unit 12 receives a code indicating a web page browsing request from the input monitoring unit 19, the display control unit 12 starts web page browsing processing accordingly. First, the display control unit 12 requests the network communication unit 16 to acquire an HTML file constituting the web page via the data acquisition unit 15 (step S10). In response to this acquisition request, the network communication unit 16 acquires an HTML file from the data server SV _k on the communication network 2 (step S11). And the data acquisition part 15 reads the data of the HTML file received by the network communication part 16 (step S12).

For example, when the HTML file acquisition request includes a URL as address information, the network communication unit 16 establishes a communication link with the data server SV _k, and then uses the GET method for specifying the URL to send the HTTP request to the data. Send to server SV _k . The data server SV _k transmits the data of the HTML file to the network communication unit 16 in the form of an HTTP response to the HTTP request. The data acquisition unit 15 extracts data of the HTML file from the HTTP response received by the network communication unit 16, and delivers this data to the data acquisition unit 15.

  Next, the data analysis unit 14 analyzes the HTML file read in step S12 (step S13), and determines that there is no reference file referenced in the HTML file based on the analysis result. (NO in step S14), the procedure is shifted to step S20. Here, examples of the reference file include the above-described style sheet file, image file, script file, and the like. For example, the data analysis unit 14 can determine the presence or absence of a reference file based on the description of the tag <LINK> or the tag <IMG>.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the reference file exists (YES in step S14), the data analysis unit 14 issues a reference file acquisition request to the network communication unit 16 via the data acquisition unit 15 (step S15). In response to this acquisition request, the network communication unit 16 acquires a reference file from the data server SV _k using, for example, an HTTP GET method (step S16). Then, the data analysis unit 14 reads the reference file data received by the network communication unit 16 via the data acquisition unit 15 (step S17). Here, when the read reference file is a style sheet file, the data analysis unit 14 retains it as it is. On the other hand, when the reference file is a file other than the style sheet file (for example, an image file), this file is stored in the component storage unit 21.

  Next, the data analysis unit 14 determines whether or not all reference files have been read (step S18). If it is determined that all the reference files have not been read (NO in step S18), the data analysis unit 14 executes steps S15 to S17 until all the reference files are read. When all the reference files have been read (YES in step S18), the data analysis unit 14 shifts the procedure to step S20.

  In step S20, the data analysis unit 14 extracts link information from the web page. Specifically, if it is determined in step S14 that the reference file does not exist, the data analysis unit 14 analyzes the HTML file and extracts link information from the HTML file based on the analysis result. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S14 that the reference file exists and the style sheet file has been acquired, the HTML file and the style sheet file are analyzed, and link information is extracted based on the analysis result.

  Next, the data analysis unit 14 generates an initial link table as shown in FIG. 12, for example (step S21). In the link table in the initial state, a unique link ID, a display position (horizontal pixel position and vertical pixel position), and a group ID are set as attribute information for each display item. The group ID is a unique number assigned when the display item (link) is classified in a future step. At this time, the group ID value for all the display items is set to the initial value (= 0). Has been. The data analysis unit 14 passes the generated link table to the link group generation unit 17.

  Next, based on the extracted link information, the link group generation unit 17 classifies one or a plurality of display items (links) corresponding to the link information to generate a link group (step S22). Specifically, the link group generation unit 17 classifies display items based on the display position, and assigns a unique identifier (group ID) to each link group to update the link table. The link group generation unit 17 delivers the updated link table to the group selection unit 18. If there is only one link information and there is only one display item corresponding to this link information, only one link group including one display item is generated.

  FIG. 15 illustrates a plurality of display items classified (grouped) into three link groups Gp1, Gp2, and Gp3 surrounded by virtual lines according to the display position (vertical pixel position) from the upper end of the display screen 11D. It is a figure to do. In the example of FIG. 15, the link group generation unit 17 classifies display items whose vertical pixel positions from the upper end of the display screen 11D are 0 or more and less than 200 into the link group Gp1, and display items whose vertical pixel positions are 200 or more and less than 400. Are grouped into a link group Gp2, and display items having vertical pixel positions of 400 or more are classified into a link group Gp3. Further, the value “1” is assigned to the link group Gp1, the value “2” is assigned to the link group Gp2, and the value “3” is assigned to the link group Gp3. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a link table updated by rewriting the group ID of the link table of FIG. 12 according to the classification (grouping) of FIG.

  After the link group is generated, the group selection unit 18 refers to the delivered link table and selects one link group to be focused, that is, a group of interest, from the generated link groups (step S23). At this time, the group selection unit 18 passes the group ID, which is the group number of the link group to be focused, and the link table to the display image generation unit 13. In the present embodiment, since the group of interest is selected in order from the link group with the smallest group ID, the group of interest selected first in step S23 is the link group Gp1 (group ID = 1).

  Next, the display image generation unit 13 generates a display image in a display format that highlights display items belonging to the group of interest (step S24). Specifically, the display image generation unit 13 receives an HTML file or a style sheet file from the data analysis unit 14 and reads a reference file from the component storage unit 21. Then, the display image generation unit 13 generates a display image (page image) in which the display items belonging to the group of interest are highlighted as the focused display items based on the HTML file, the style sheet file, and the reference file. To do. The highlighting method is not particularly limited. For example, a transparent image colored in the display item area belonging to the group of interest is displayed by OSD (superimposed display), or the display item belonging to the group of interest. It is possible to perform image processing in which the peripheral boundary portion of the image is surrounded by a thick line. Thereby, the user can visually recognize that the display item belonging to the group of interest is focused.

  Then, the display control unit 12 outputs a video signal of the display image to the image display unit 11 (Step S25). As a result, the display image is displayed on the display screen 11D of the image display unit 11. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp1 in FIG. 15 are highlighted.

  Thereafter, the group selection unit 18 confirms the operation input state (step S26). Specifically, when the user presses the enter key 35 of the operation input device 23 in FIG. 3, a code corresponding to the press is output from the input monitoring unit 19, so the group selecting unit 18 presses the enter key 35. It can be confirmed whether or not a code indicating (first information input) is output from the input monitoring unit 19. When the pressing of the enter key 35 is not detected, the input monitoring unit 19 sends (notifies) a code to that effect to the group selection unit 18.

  When the group selection unit 18 does not confirm pressing of the enter key 35 (NO in step S27), the group selection unit 18 further determines whether or not a predetermined link transition time has elapsed (step S29), and the link transition time has elapsed. If it is determined that it is not (NO in step S29), the process of step S26 is executed again. The link transition time is a waiting time until the focus target is automatically switched to the next link group, and can be set to an arbitrary value (for example, 0.5 seconds).

  When the link transition time has elapsed (YES in step S29), the group selection unit 18 selects a new link group to be focused as a target group (step S23). At this time, the group selection unit 18 delivers the group ID of the group of interest to the display image generation unit 13. Then, the display control unit 12 outputs a video signal of the display image to the image display unit 11 (Step S25). Accordingly, a new display image is displayed on the display screen 11D of the image display unit 11. When the link group Gp1 of FIG. 15 was selected last time, the link group Gp2 can be selected as the target group this time. In this case, as shown in FIG. 18, a display image in which display items belonging to the link group Gp2 are highlighted is displayed on the display screen 11D.

  Thereafter, when the enter key 35 is not pressed (NO in step S27) and the link transition time has elapsed (YES in step S29), steps S23 to S26 are executed again. When the link group Gp2 of FIG. 16 was selected last time, in this step S23, the link group Gp3 can be selected as the group of interest. In this case, as shown in FIG. 19, a display image in which the display items belonging to the link group Gp3 are highlighted is displayed on the display screen 11D.

  Thereafter, the link group (group ID) to be focused is selected by the round robin method until the pressing of the enter key 35 is detected (step S23). Therefore, in the grouping example of FIG. 15, the display image is updated each time the link transition time elapses in the order of FIGS. 17, 18, 19, 17, 17, 18,. The user can press the determination key 35 while focusing on the link group that includes the display item that the user wants to select while viewing the transitioned display image.

  When the user presses the enter key 35 (YES in step S27), the group selection unit 18 determines whether or not the number of display items belonging to the group of interest selected at the time when the enter key 35 is pressed is only one. Is determined (step S30). When the number of the display items is plural (NO in step S30), the group selection unit 18 notifies the link group generation unit 17 of the group ID of the selected link group and returns the procedure to step S22. In subsequent step S <b> 22, the link group generation unit 17 classifies the display items belonging to the group of interest selected when the determination key 35 is pressed and generates a new link group. Specifically, the link group generation unit 17 reclassifies the display items based on the display position, reassigns a unique identifier (group ID) to each link group, and updates the link table. The link group generation unit 17 delivers the updated link table to the group selection unit 18.

  For example, when the user presses the enter key 35 while the display items belonging to the link group Gp3 in FIG. 19 are highlighted, the number of display items belonging to the link group Gp3 is 18, so the group selection unit 18 Determines that the number of display items belonging to the link group Gp3 is not one (NO in step S30). In subsequent step S22, the link group generation unit 17 reclassifies the display items belonging to the link group Gp3 based on the display positions described in the link table. FIG. 20 shows a plurality of display items reclassified (grouped) into three link groups Gp1, Gp2, and Gp3 surrounded by virtual lines according to the display position (horizontal pixel position) from the left end of the display screen 11D. It is a figure illustrated. In the example of FIG. 20, the link group generation unit 17 classifies display items whose horizontal pixel position from the left end left of the display screen 11D is 0 or more and less than 300 into the link group Gp1 (group ID = 1), and the horizontal pixel position is Display items of 300 or more and less than 600 are classified into the link group Gp2 (group ID = 2), and display items whose horizontal pixel positions are 600 or more are classified into the link group Gp3 (group ID = 3). FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a link table updated by rewriting the group ID of the link table of FIG. 16 according to the classification (grouping) of FIG. As shown in FIG. 21, the group ID corresponding to the display item not selected by the user is set to a value (= −1) indicating invalidity.

  After the generation of the new link group, the group selection unit 18 repeatedly executes steps S23 to S29 until the determination key 35 is pressed, as described above. At this time, the link group (group ID) to be focused is selected by the round robin method (step S23). 20, the display image is updated each time the link transition time elapses in the order of FIGS. 22, 23, 24, 22, 23, 24. The user can press the determination key 35 while focusing on the link group that includes the display item that the user wants to select while viewing the transitioned display image.

  For example, when the user presses the enter key 35 while the display items belonging to the link group Gp3 in FIG. 20 are highlighted, the number of display items belonging to the link group Gp3 is 6, so that the group selection unit 18 Determines that the number of display items belonging to the link group Gp3 is not one (NO in step S30). In subsequent step S22, the link group generation unit 17 reclassifies the display items belonging to the link group Gp3 based on the display positions described in the link table. FIG. 25 shows a plurality of display items reclassified (grouped) into three link groups Gp1, Gp2, Gp3 surrounded by virtual lines according to the display position (vertical pixel position) from the upper end of the display screen 11D. It is a figure illustrated. FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a link table updated by rewriting the group ID of the link table in FIG. 21 in accordance with the reclassification (grouping) in FIG. As shown in FIG. 26, the group ID corresponding to the display item not selected by the user is set to a value (= −1) indicating invalidity.

  After the generation of the new link group, the group selection unit 18 repeatedly executes steps S23 to S29 until the determination key 35 is pressed, as described above. Therefore, in the grouping example of FIG. 25, the display items belonging to the target group are highlighted every time the link transition time elapses in the order of the link groups Gp1, Gp2, Gp3, Gp1, Gp2, Gp3,. A display image is generated and displayed. The user can press the determination key 35 while focusing on the link group that includes the display item that the user wants to select while viewing the transitioned display image.

  For example, when the user presses the enter key 35 while the display items belonging to the link group Gp3 in FIG. 25 are highlighted, the number of display items belonging to the link group Gp3 is two. Determines that the number of display items belonging to the link group Gp3 is not one (NO in step S30). In subsequent step S22, the link group generation unit 17 reclassifies the display items belonging to the link group Gp3 based on the display positions described in the link table. FIG. 27 illustrates a plurality of display items that are reclassified (grouped) into two link groups Gp1 and Gp2 surrounded by virtual lines according to the display position (horizontal pixel position) from the left end of the display screen 11D. FIG. FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a link table updated by rewriting the group ID of the link table of FIG. 26 in accordance with the reclassification (grouping) of FIG. As shown in FIG. 28, the group ID corresponding to the display item not selected by the user is set to a value (= −1) indicating invalidity.

  Finally, when there is only one display item belonging to the link group selected by the user (YES in step S30 in FIG. 14), the data acquisition unit 15 uses the link information associated with the display item. The designated link destination data file is accessed via the network communication unit 16 (step S31). Thereby, the data acquisition part 15 can acquire the data file of a link destination. When the linked data file is a web page, the user can view the display image (page image) displayed on the image display unit 11.

  As described above, according to the video display device 1 of the first embodiment, the user can reach a desired display item by simply pressing one determination key 35 a plurality of times. For example, the display image of the web page in FIG. 8 displays 36 display items. As described above, the desired display item can be selected from the 36 display items by pressing the enter key 35 four times. It is possible to arrive at

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Next, a second embodiment which is a modification of the first embodiment will be described. The configuration of the video display apparatus according to the present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the video display apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment except that the flowchart of FIG. 29 is adopted instead of the flowchart of FIG. In the present embodiment, the flowcharts of FIGS. 13 and 29 are connected to each other via connectors C1 and C2.

  Referring to FIG. 29, when the pressing of the determination key 35 (first information input) is not confirmed (NO in step S27), the group selecting unit 18 further determines the direction based on the code supplied from the input monitoring unit 19. It is confirmed whether or not any of the keys 31 to 34 is pressed (second information input) (step S28). When none of the direction keys 31 to 34 can be confirmed (NO in step S28), the determination process in step S29 described above is executed.

  On the other hand, when any of the direction keys 31 to 34 is pressed (YES in step S28), the display control unit 12 cancels the simple selection mode and switches to the above-described normal selection mode (step S32). Thereby, the user can reach a desired display item more quickly according to the content of the display image.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
Next, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The configuration of the video display device of the present embodiment is almost the same as the configuration of the video display device 1 of the first embodiment. The video display apparatus according to the present embodiment analyzes a web page (web page having information described in a broadcast markup language) received by the broadcast receiving unit 22 and displays the display image on the display screen 11D. In this case, a simple selection mode that operates in the same manner as in the first embodiment is provided. As shown in FIG. 1, the broadcast receiving unit 22 has a function of storing a web page including a BML file extracted from a transport stream in a buffer memory 22B.

  30 and 31 are flowcharts schematically showing a procedure of web page browsing processing according to the third embodiment. 30 and 31 are connected to each other via connectors C3 and C4.

  For example, when the user presses the data key 36 of the operation input device 23 in FIG. 3, the display control unit 12 receives a code indicating a browsing request for the web page for data broadcasting from the input monitoring unit 19 and responds accordingly. The web page browsing process according to the third embodiment is started. First, the display control unit 12 instructs the data acquisition unit 15 to read a BML file from the buffer memory 22B (step S42).

  Next, the data analysis unit 14 analyzes the BML file read in step S12 (step S43), and determines that there is no reference file referenced in the BML file based on the analysis result. (NO in step S44), the procedure is shifted to step S50. Here, examples of the reference file include a style sheet file, an image file, and a script file. On the other hand, if it is determined that the reference file exists (YES in step S44), the data analysis unit 14 reads the reference file from the buffer memory 22B via the data acquisition unit 15 (step S47). Here, when the read reference file is a style sheet file, the data analysis unit 14 retains it as it is. On the other hand, when the reference file is a file other than the style sheet file (for example, an image file), this file is stored in the component storage unit 21.

  Next, the data analysis unit 14 determines whether or not all reference files have been read (step S48). If it is determined that all reference files have not been read (NO in step S48), the data analysis unit 14 executes step S47 until all reference files are read. When all the reference files have been read (YES in step S48), the data analysis unit 14 shifts the procedure to step S50.

  In step S50, the data analysis unit 14 extracts link information from the web page. Specifically, if it is determined in step S44 that the reference file does not exist, the data analysis unit 14 analyzes the BML file and extracts link information from the BML file based on the analysis result. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S44 that the reference file exists and the style sheet file has been acquired, the BML file and the style sheet file are analyzed, and link information is extracted based on the analysis result.

  Next, the data analysis unit 14 generates an initial link table as in the case of the first embodiment (step S51). The data analysis unit 14 passes the generated link table to the link group generation unit 17. Next, the link group generation unit 17 classifies one or a plurality of display items (links) corresponding to the link information based on the extracted link information, and generates a link group (step S52). Specifically, the link group generation unit 17 classifies display items based on the display position, and assigns a unique identifier (group ID) to each link group to update the link table. The link group generation unit 17 delivers the updated link table to the group selection unit 18.

  After generating the link group, the group selection unit 18 refers to the delivered link table and selects one link group to be focused, that is, a group of interest from the generated link groups (step S53). At this time, the group selection unit 18 passes the group ID, which is the group number of the link group to be focused, and the link table to the display image generation unit 13. Next, the display image generation unit 13 generates a display image in a display format that highlights display items belonging to the group of interest (step S54). Specifically, the display image generation unit 13 receives a BML file and a style sheet file from the data analysis unit 14, and reads a reference file from the component storage unit 21. Then, the display image generation unit 13 generates a display image (page image) in which the display items belonging to the group of interest are highlighted as the focused display items based on the BML file, the style sheet file, and the reference file. To do. The highlighting method is not particularly limited. For example, a transparent image colored in the display item area belonging to the group of interest is displayed by OSD (superimposed display), or the display item belonging to the group of interest. It is possible to perform image processing in which the peripheral boundary portion of the image is surrounded by a thick line. Thereby, the user can visually recognize that the display item belonging to the group of interest is focused.

  Then, the display control unit 12 outputs the video signal of the display image to the image display unit 11 (Step S55). As a result, the display image is displayed on the display screen 11D of the image display unit 11.

  Thereafter, the group selection unit 18 confirms the operation input state (step S56). Specifically, when the user presses the enter key 35 of the operation input device 23 in FIG. 3, a code corresponding to the press is output from the input monitoring unit 19, so the group selecting unit 18 presses the enter key 35. It can be confirmed whether or not a code indicating (first information input) is output from the input monitoring unit 19. When the pressing of the enter key 35 is not detected, the input monitoring unit 19 sends (notifies) a code to that effect to the group selection unit 18.

  When the group selection unit 18 does not confirm that the enter key 35 is pressed (NO in step S57), the group selection unit 18 presses any one of the direction keys 31 to 34 based on the code supplied from the input monitoring unit 19 (second step). It is confirmed whether or not (information input) has been made (step S58). When the pressing of any of the direction keys 31 to 34 cannot be confirmed (NO in step S58), it is determined whether or not a predetermined link transition time has elapsed (step S59), and the link transition time has not elapsed. If it is determined (NO in step S59), the process of step S56 is executed again. The link transition time is a waiting time until the focus target is automatically switched to the next link group, and can be set to an arbitrary value (for example, 0.5 seconds).

  When the link transition time has elapsed (YES in step S59), the group selection unit 18 selects a new link group to be focused as a target group (step S53). At this time, the group selection unit 18 delivers the group ID of the group of interest to the display image generation unit 13. Then, the display control unit 12 outputs the video signal of the display image to the image display unit 11 (Step S55). Accordingly, a new display image is displayed on the display screen 11D of the image display unit 11.

  As in the case of the second embodiment, the group selection unit 18 repeatedly executes steps S53 to S59 until either the enter key 35 or the direction keys 31 to 34 are pressed. At this time, the link group (group ID) to be focused is selected by the round robin method (step S53). Therefore, as in the first and second embodiments, every time the link transition time elapses, a display image in which the display items belonging to the group of interest are highlighted is generated and displayed. The user can press the determination key 35 while focusing on the link group that includes the display item that the user wants to select while viewing the transitioned display image.

  When the user presses the enter key 35 (YES in step S57), the group selection unit 18 determines whether or not the number of display items belonging to the group of interest selected at the time when the enter key 35 is pressed is only one. Is determined (step S60). When the number of the display items is plural (NO in step S60), the group selection unit 18 notifies the group ID of the selected link group to the link group generation unit 17, and performs the procedure in step S52 of FIG. return.

  Finally, when the number of display items belonging to the link group selected by the user is only one (YES in step S60 in FIG. 31), the data acquisition unit 15 displays the link information associated with the display item. It is determined whether it is internal link information (step S61).

  When the link information is not internal link information (NO in step S61), the data acquisition unit 15 accesses the link destination data file specified by the link information associated with the display item via the network communication unit 16. (Step S62). Thereby, the data acquisition part 15 can acquire the data file of a link destination. When the linked data file is a web page, the user can view the display image (page image) displayed on the image display unit 11.

  On the other hand, if the link information is internal link information (YES in step S61), the data acquisition unit 15 accesses and acquires the web page in the buffer memory 22B specified by the internal link information (step S61). S63). Therefore, the user can see the display image (page image) displayed on the image display unit 11.

  On the other hand, when any of the direction keys 31 to 34 is pressed (YES in step S58), the display control unit 12 cancels the simple selection mode and switches to the above-described normal selection mode (step S64). Thereby, the user can reach a desired display item more quickly according to the content of the display image.

  As described above, according to the video display device of the third embodiment, as in the case of the first embodiment, the user traces a desired display item by simply pressing one determination key 35 a plurality of times. Can arrive. As in the case of the second embodiment, the user can transition from the simple selection mode to the normal selection mode by simply pressing one of the direction keys 31 to 34. Accordingly, a desired display item can be quickly reached.

Modified examples of the first, second, and third embodiments.
Although various embodiments according to the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, these are examples of the present invention, and various forms other than the above can be adopted. For example, the configurations of the first to third embodiments can be incorporated into a video display device that has a relatively large screen and displays a high-definition video, such as a liquid crystal display device or a plasma display.

  The video display devices according to the first to third embodiments are not limited to the hardware configuration, and can be realized by a computer-readable program. FIG. 32 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the video display device 1 when realized by a program. 32 includes a broadcast receiver 22, a processor 61 including a central processing unit (CPU), a video interface 62, an input interface 63, a random access memory (RAM) 64, a non-volatile memory 65, a recording medium 66, and the like. A network interface 67 is provided. These components are connected to each other via a bus 70. Here, the input interface 63 corresponds to the input reception unit 20, and the network interface 67 corresponds to the network communication unit 16. Examples of the recording medium 66 include a hard disk (magnetic disk), an optical disk, and a flash memory. The processor 61 can realize the function of the video display device 1 by loading and executing a program from the nonvolatile memory 65 or the recording medium 66.

  In the above embodiment, the user has reached a desired item by key input, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to change the configuration of the above embodiment so that a user-desired item can be reached by voice input. Specifically, the input monitoring unit 19 can monitor the presence or absence of specific information input based on the recognition result of the input voice.

1 display apparatus 2 a communication network, _SV 1 Sv _N data server, 11 image display unit, 11D display screen 12 display control unit, 13 a display image generating unit, 14 data analysis unit, 15 data acquisition unit, 16 network communication Unit, 17 link group generation unit, 18 group selection unit, 19 input monitoring unit, 20 input reception unit, 21 component storage unit, 22 broadcast reception unit, 22B buffer memory, 23 operation input device, 31 upper key, 32 lower key, 33 Left arrow key, 34 Right arrow key, 35 Enter key, 36 Data key.

Claims (21)

A data analysis unit that analyzes the data file and extracts related information corresponding to each of a plurality of display items from the data file based on the analysis result;
A group generation unit that classifies the plurality of display items into a plurality of groups based on the related information;
A group selection unit for sequentially selecting one group as the target group from the plurality of groups;
A display image generation unit that generates a display image displayed on the screen in a display format that highlights the display items belonging to the group of interest each time the group of interest is selected;
An input monitoring unit that monitors the presence or absence of first information input to the input device;
The group generation unit executes a classification process of classifying display items belonging to the group of interest selected at the time when the first information input is detected into a plurality of new groups.
The group selection unit executes a selection process for sequentially selecting a target group from the plurality of new groups,
Each time the target group is selected from the new plurality of groups, the display image generation unit performs the target group rather than the display item belonging to a group other than the target group among the plurality of new groups. Executing image processing for generating a display image to be displayed on the screen in a display format for highlighting the display item belonging to
The group generation unit, the group selection unit, and the display image generation unit include a series including the classification process, the selection process, and the image process until the number of display items belonging to the group of interest is equal to or less than a predetermined number. To repeat the process,
A video display device characterized by that. The video display device according to claim 1,
The related information includes information designating a display position of the display item,
The plurality of display items are classified based on each display position.
A video display device characterized by that.   3. The video display device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number is one. The video display device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The group generation unit generates a table indicating a correspondence relationship between the display item and the group,
The group selection unit sequentially selects the group of interest using the table.
A video display device characterized by that. The video display device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A network communication unit for establishing a communication link with any of a plurality of data servers via a communication network;
A video display device, further comprising: a data acquisition unit that acquires the data file from the data server via the network communication unit. The video display device according to claim 5,
The related information includes link information indicating a location of the data file in the communication network,
The data acquisition unit acquires, from the data server, a new data file specified by the link information corresponding to the one display item when the number of the display items belonging to the target group is narrowed down to one. To
A video display device characterized by that. The video display device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A receiver that receives the data file transmitted from an external transmitter and stores the data file in a buffer memory;
A video display device further comprising: a data acquisition unit that acquires the data file from the buffer memory. The video display device according to claim 7,
The related information includes internal link information for designating a data file acquired by the receiving unit,
When the number of the display items belonging to the group of interest is narrowed down to one, the data acquisition unit retrieves a new data file designated by the internal link information corresponding to the one display item from the buffer memory. get,
A video display device characterized by that.   9. The video display device according to claim 1, wherein the input monitoring unit detects the second information input different from the first information input when the second information input is detected. An image display apparatus characterized by releasing an operation mode in which processing is repeatedly executed.   10. The video display device according to claim 1, wherein the input device is an operation input device to which an operation input is made by a user. 11.   11. The video display device according to claim 1, wherein the data file includes a structured data file having information described in a markup language. apparatus.   12. The video display device according to claim 11, wherein the data file further includes a style sheet file having display control information. Analyzing a data file and extracting related information corresponding to each of a plurality of display items from the data file based on the analysis result;
Classifying the plurality of display items into a plurality of groups based on the related information;
Sequentially selecting one group as the target group from the plurality of groups;
Generating a display image displayed on the screen in a display format that highlights the display item belonging to the group of interest each time the group of interest is selected;
Monitoring the presence or absence of first information input to the input device;
Performing a classification process for classifying display items belonging to the group of interest selected at the time when the first information input is detected into a plurality of new groups;
Executing a selection process of sequentially selecting a group of interest from the plurality of new groups;
Each time the group of interest is selected from the plurality of new groups, a display image displayed on the screen in a display format that highlights the display item belonging to the group of interest among the plurality of new groups Performing image processing to generate
A series of steps including the step of executing the classification process, the step of executing the selection process, and the step of executing the image process are repeated until the number of the display items belonging to the group of interest becomes a predetermined number or less. Executed,
A video display method characterized by the above. The video display method according to claim 13,
The related information includes information designating a display position of the display item,
The plurality of display items are classified based on each display position.
A video display method characterized by the above. The video display method according to claim 13 or 14,
Establishing a communication link with any of a plurality of data servers via a communication network;
Obtaining the data file from the data server after the establishment of the communication link. The video display method according to claim 15,
When the number of the display items belonging to the group of interest is narrowed down to one, a communication link with a specific data server specified by the link information included in the related information corresponding to the one display item is established. Steps,
Obtaining the specific data file from the specific data server,
The link information is information indicating a location of a data file in the communication network.
A video display method characterized by the above. The video display method according to claim 15 or 16,
Receiving the data file transmitted from an external transmission device and storing it in a buffer memory;
Acquiring the data file from the buffer memory.   18. The video display method according to claim 17, wherein when the number of the display items belonging to the group of interest is narrowed down to one, the internal link information included in the related information corresponding to the one display item. A video display method, further comprising: obtaining a designated data file from the buffer memory. The video display method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, comprising:
Monitoring the presence or absence of a second information input different from the first information input;
And a step of releasing an operation mode in which the series of steps are repeatedly executed when the second information input is detected.   20. A video display control program which is read from a computer-readable recording medium and causes a processor to execute the steps of the video display method according to any one of claims 14 to 19.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the video display control program according to claim 20 is recorded.

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