JP2012181873A - Electronic book display control device, electronic book display control program, electronic book display control method, and electronic book - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display information of interest which a reader reads and related information of the information of interest in a readable and intelligible manner while reducing a burden applied to an operation of a display control by the reader in the display of the information, or contests of an electronic book.SOLUTION: An electronic book display control device performs an electronic book display control for controlling a display, on a screen, of information included in an electronic book that can display the information in a page unit. The electronic book display control device includes: detecting means that detects from a currently displayed page a relation source information for specifying related information, or information being present on a page different from the currently displayed page on the screen; and display control means that displays the related information corresponding to the relation source information in an area that is not overlapped with the display area of the information of interest that is detected by the detecting means and includes the related source information. This invention also provides a method for implementing the electronic book display control as an electronic book reader, a method for implementing it as an electronic browser software, and a method for implementing it in JavaScript(R) program included in the electronic device.

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for appropriately controlling display of attention information read by a reader and related information of the attention information in an electronic book.

With the spread of tablet terminals, multifunctional mobile phones and notebook PCs, electronic book viewers (also called electronic book browsers) have been developed as software for reading electronic books. There is an electronic book reader as a dedicated device for an electronic book with a built-in electronic book viewer. The e-book viewer can display one page of the e-book on a vertically long screen, or it can display two pages of left and right spread on a horizontally long screen. Unlike a paper book, an electronic book has a characteristic that an easy-to-read display can be realized by appropriately controlling a page display method.

The reading mode technology described in Patent Document 1 is related to an electronic book in which when a plurality of pages of an electronic book are displayed in a left and right spread page, the page selected by the reader is fixed by a method of pinning, etc. This page can be the target of page turning. This is effective when the user wants to read the information described on the pinned page by comparing it with the information described on the other pages of the electronic book.

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has the following problems. That is, (1) There is a restriction that the information to be pinned must be in units of pages, (2) The operation to specify the page to be pinned by the reader is necessary, and (3) Moreover, the pinning target To change the page, it is necessary to release the pinning, display another page, and pin the page.

The technique described in Patent Document 2 is based on a storage unit in which book data is stored and region data selected from a plurality of region data constituting the book data stored in the storage unit in a predetermined order. An electronic book device comprising switching display control means for sequentially switching and displaying while changing the size to match the display area of the display unit.
Specifically, the technique described in Patent Document 2 is a technique for display control so that a framed comic can be viewed on a small screen. That is, in the embodiment, the comic data M for one page is divided into, for example, frame data M1 to M6, and display orders of 1st to 6th are defined for each of the frame data M1 to M6. When the preview display process is executed on the comic data, the comic data for one page is displayed in the preview display area, and the frame data M1 having the earliest display order is enlarged and displayed in the frame display area. At this time, the displayed frame data M1 is enlarged and displayed at the maximum enlargement ratio within a range that can be accommodated in the frame display area.

In addition, the area corresponding to the frame data M1 in the comic data for one page displayed in the preview display area is highlighted. Thereafter, when the frame advance key is pressed, the frame data displayed in the frame display area is switched from the frame data M1 to the frame data M2. At the same time, the position of the frame data displayed in reverse in the preview display area is also switched to the area corresponding to the frame data M2.

The technique described in Patent Document 2 has the following problems. (1) Since the preview display area fixedly displayed in units of one page is not large enough to read the contents, it cannot be compared with the contents displayed in the frame display area. (2) Originally in the preview display area. Since the information to be displayed and the information to be displayed in the frame display area are information on the same page, it cannot be read while comparing and integrating the two.

The technology described in Patent Document 3 links a navigation device that guides the current position and destination using a map and an electronic book for sightseeing guidance. In other words, an electronic book that includes tourism information suitable for the selected area is selected from the area near the current position acquired by the navigation device, and a page with a high publication score in the electronic book is selected and displayed. is there. When there are a plurality of such pages, the pages are divided into each area of the screen and displayed.

The technique described in Patent Document 3 has the following problems. In other words, an operation for selecting an area is required, and even if tourist information that matches the selected area is displayed, there is no information described by designating the tourist information in the area. It is impossible to deepen understanding while referring to tourism information.

In the technique described in Patent Document 4, a part of the electronic book is displayed in the first display area, a part of the part is displayed in the second display area, and the page of the electronic book is turned. When the operation is performed, the screen of the second display area is scrolled.

The technique described in Patent Document 4 has the following problems. That is, since only a part of the information displayed in the first display area is displayed in the second display area, it cannot be read that the understanding is deepened while comparing the related information.

In the technique described in Patent Document 5, a plurality of contents having different viewpoints in constructing a table of contents are given to the contents of the electronic book. Then, using a table of contents selected from a plurality of tables of contents, the corresponding contents in the electronic book are called up and displayed using the links set in the items constituting the table of contents.

The technique described in Patent Document 5 has the following problems. In other words, it is only possible to access the corresponding contents of the electronic book from the items that make up the table of contents for each table of contents, so there is a way to read related information side by side and deepen understanding while comparing them Can not.

Special table 2009-508230 gazette JP 2002-183207 A JP 2012-003614 A JP 2011-242848 A JP 2004-094578 A

The present invention makes it easy to read and understand the focus information being read by the reader and the related information of the focus information while displaying the information that is the content of the electronic book while minimizing the burden of the display control operation by the reader. The purpose is to display.

The present invention dynamically controls display of electronic book contents on a screen in response to an operation input from a reader who reads the electronic book, and information on one or more pages to be simultaneously displayed on the screen. , The target information including the related source information is detected from the display page content, the related information corresponding to the related source information is extracted from the content other than the display page content of the electronic book, and the target information and the related information are displayed on the screen. Display so that information does not overlap. The present invention can be realized in a “thing” called an electronic book reader, or can be realized in a “computer program” called an electronic book browser, or JavaScript (registered trademark) incorporated in an electronic book. It can also be realized in an “electronic book” by a program.
≪Invention of things≫
The present invention is an electronic book display control device that controls the display of information contained in an electronic book capable of displaying information in units of pages on a screen, and is different from the page being displayed on the screen. An area that does not overlap the display area of the target information including the related source information detected by the detecting means and the detecting means for detecting related source information that specifies related information that is information existing on the page. And display control means for displaying related information corresponding to the related source information.
≪Invention of computer program≫
An electronic book display control program for controlling on-screen display of information contained in an electronic book capable of displaying information on a page basis, wherein information on one or more pages to be displayed simultaneously on the screen Detection processing for detecting attention information including related source information from information stored in display content storage means that is read from and stored in the electronic book, and related information corresponding to the related source information is extracted from the electronic book data Receiving the related information extraction process, the information stored in the display content storage means, the focus information detected by the detection process, and the related information extracted by the related information extraction process, and receiving the focus information on the screen. And a display control process for displaying the related information so as not to overlap with each other.
≪Method invention≫
An electronic book display control method for controlling on-screen display of information contained in an electronic book capable of displaying information in page units, wherein information on one or more pages to be displayed simultaneously on the screen is displayed. A detection processing step of detecting attention information including related source information from information stored in display content storage means that is read from and stored in the electronic book, and related information corresponding to the related source information is obtained from the electronic book data. Upon receiving the input of the related information extraction processing step to be extracted, the information stored in the display content storage means, the attention information detected by the detection processing step, and the related information extracted by the related information extraction processing step, The display control processing step for displaying the attention information and the related information so as not to overlap each other can be performed.
≪Invention of electronic books≫
Text content described as text data (eg, HTML file, XHTML file or TXT file), additional content consisting of at least one kind of content such as images and videos, and display consisting of the text content and the additional content A program that processes content and dynamically controls display on the screen in conjunction with the browser in accordance with an operation input from the operator (eg, a program written in JavaScript (registered trademark)). A dynamic display control program, wherein the dynamic display control program obtains attention information including related source information from display page content that is information of one or more pages to be displayed simultaneously on the screen. Detecting means for detecting and related information corresponding to the related source information Receiving input of related information extracting means for extracting from the display content other than the display page content of the child book, the display page content, the attention information detected by the detecting means, and the related information extracted by the related information extracting means. Thus, the electronic book can be provided with display control means for displaying the target information and the related information so as not to overlap each other on the screen.

The present invention is an electronic book display control device that controls the display of information contained in an electronic book capable of displaying information in units of pages on a screen, and is different from the page being displayed on the screen. An area that does not overlap the display area of the target information including the related source information detected by the detecting means and the detecting means for detecting related source information that specifies related information that is information existing on the page. Display control means for displaying related information corresponding to the related source information, wherein the detecting means extracts related source information from the display content storage means, and the related information In accordance with the occurrence of an event for selecting related source information to be highlighted among the related source information extracted by the original information extracting unit, a selection unit that selects related source information, and a selection unit that selects the related source information. And a focus information detecting means for detecting the focus information containing related source information may be configured in which comprises a. (See Figure 9)

The present invention is an electronic book display control device that controls the display of information contained in an electronic book capable of displaying information in units of pages on a screen, and is different from the page being displayed on the screen. An area that does not overlap the display area of the target information including the related source information detected by the detecting means and the detecting means for detecting related source information that specifies related information that is information existing on the page. Display control means for displaying related information corresponding to the related source information, wherein the detecting means selects the focus information in response to the occurrence of an event for selecting the focus information from the display content storage means. Selecting means for selecting, highlight setting means for setting the focus information selected by the selection means as a highlight target, and related source information from the focus information selected by the selection means And related source information detecting means for knowledge, can be configured in which comprises a. (See Figure 10)

The present invention is an electronic book display control device that controls the display of information contained in an electronic book capable of displaying information in units of pages on a screen, and is different from the page being displayed on the screen. An area that does not overlap the display area of the target information including the related source information detected by the detecting means and the detecting means for detecting related source information that specifies related information that is information existing on the page. Display control means for displaying related information corresponding to the related source information, wherein the detecting means selects the focus information in response to the occurrence of an event for selecting the focus information from the display content storage means. Selecting means for selecting, highlight setting means for setting the focus information selected by the selection means as a highlight target, and related source information from the focus information selected by the selection means And the display control means corresponds to the related source information in a predetermined display positional relationship determined according to the number of related source information detected by the detecting means. The related information and the focus information may be displayed so as not to overlap each other on the screen. (See Figure 11)

In the present invention, “an electronic book capable of displaying information in units of pages” means that the contents of the electronic book can be assigned to any page and displayed. In some cases, such as the PDF file format, the content assignment to the page is fixed. As represented by the EPUB format, depending on the font size and display screen size of the display character, Some content assignments change. As information display in units of pages, there are one that displays one page on one screen, one that displays two pages on one screen, and one that displays three or more pages on one screen. In particular, two-page display on one screen is displayed on two pages of left and right spreads, and it is easy to understand in reading by reading the information while comparing the information displayed on the left and right pages. Can be expected.

In the present invention, “focused information” is information selected in a display unit having a predetermined spread from the displayed page. The display unit as the focus information may be a single sentence, a single paragraph or paragraph consisting of a plurality of sentences, a single mathematical formula, a single figure, It may be a table.

In the present invention, “highlighting” refers to displaying a display target portion on the page so as to be distinguishable from other portions. As a specific highlighting method, there is a method in which at least one of a color, a character size, a character font, and a background color is different from other parts, an underline is drawn, or a frame is drawn. There is also a method of enclosing with.

In the present invention, “related information” is information that is related to the information of interest but is not supposed to appear on the displayed page because it is information on another page. Related information includes diagrams, tables, mathematical formulas, images, videos, notes, footnotes, correct questions, and explanations of questions. For example, in an electronic book including technical or medical contents, when a sentence about a description target is read, the user often wants to read it while looking at the structure diagram or characteristic diagram of the target. Sometimes, while looking at two or more figures and tables as related information, a sentence or a mathematical expression is read as attention information.

In the present invention, “related source information” is information used to refer to specific related information. Therefore, the related source information needs to include information that can specify specific related information. When the related information is a figure, the figure number or the figure name becomes the relation source information, and a reference symbol that refers to a part of the figure can be used as the relation source information of the figure. When the related information is a mathematical formula, the mathematical formula number is the related source information. In addition, when the related information is an explanation of the problem, the problem number becomes the related source information. When the related information is an image, the related source information can be described as an image tag in HTML. The related source information can also be described as a hyperlink in the document. Furthermore, a tag indicating the related source information is defined, and the related source information can be expressed in a format in which information specifying specific related information is described in a form sandwiched between the tags.

In the present invention, the “detecting means for detecting related source information” can be realized by a method of automatically extracting a part having information that can specify specific related information from a target page or focus information. For example, a portion in which a character string consisting of a number followed by a character “diagram” is detected as a figure number from the target page or target information, and the detected figure number can be used as related source information. This automatic extraction can be performed at the time of editing an electronic book, and the automatically extracted portion can be described in a format sandwiched by tags indicating related source information. There is a method of performing this automatic extraction when the target page becomes a target of reading, and related information automatically extracted at the time of reading before the previous time is stored as part of the content of the electronic book, There is also a method of reading it out again. If the related source information is expressed in a format that describes information specifying the related information between the tags indicating the related source information, the tag indicating the related source information is written from the content in the page or the focus information. It is possible to use a method of detecting by a column search and using a character string sandwiched between the detected tags as related source information.

In the present invention, the “selecting means” is for selecting a new position of the target information or related source information as a selection target from the displayed page. This can also be said to be a movement of the position to be selected. There are roughly three types of selecting means. The first type requires operation by the reader. In the second type, the position of the selection target is automatically moved without an operation by the reader, and in the third type, the position of the selection target is automatically moved without an operation by the reader. If the timing of this movement is too early for the reader, when the reader performs a predetermined operation, the position to be selected returns to the position before the movement.

In addition, the movement referred to here is usually a movement in a reading direction of the reader and a direction toward a page having a larger page number. The event that causes the movement of the selected position in the first type is an operation by the reader. In the second type, the event that causes the movement of the selection position is that the time during which the selection target is highlighted has reached a predetermined time. In the third type, the event that causes the selection position to move is that the time when the selection target is highlighted has reached a predetermined time, or that the reader has performed an operation to return the selection target to the one before the movement. It is.

The operation by the reader may be performed by touching the keyboard or touch panel with a finger, may be performed by voice, or may be performed by blinking eyes or opening / closing the mouth. Alternatively, the reader may control his / her line of sight so as to see a predetermined display portion. Furthermore, an operation may be performed using an electroencephalogram or myoelectric potential.

In the present invention, the “display control means” controls the display style of display on the display unit. The display style is composed of visual effects such as the arrangement and order of information to be displayed and the brightness, color, decoration, and size used when displaying the information to be displayed. For example, the information to be displayed should be arranged so that it does not overlap on the screen, information that is strongly related to the information to be displayed should be placed close to each other, the information that the reader should pay attention to, or the reader For example, the information determined to be displayed is highlighted more than other information corresponds to the display control. The display control can be performed based on information described as a style sheet, or can be performed by a program.

According to the present invention, when reading an electronic book, attention information that is information selected as a reading target from the displayed page and the attention information are related, but originally information on other pages Therefore, related information that should not appear on the displayed page is displayed on the same screen under a small operation load, and the reader can easily read and understand the electronic book. Therefore, in the editing of an electronic book, the work of arranging them on the same page by changing the size and shape of various related information is remarkably reduced.

The example of a screen of emphasis display of related origin information and display of related information in landscape spread. The example of a screen of the highlight display of the information of interest in a horizontal spread, and the display of related information. The example of a screen of a display of attention information and two related information. The figure which shows invention of Claim 1. The hardware block diagram of an electronic book reader. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of the third embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the screen display corresponding to Claim 2. Explanatory drawing of the screen display corresponding to Claim 3. Explanatory drawing of the screen display corresponding to Claim 4. Explanatory drawing of the file structure of the electronic book of an EPUB3 format. Explanatory drawing of operation | movement of the JavaScript (trademark) program in an electronic book.

FIG. 5 shows a typical hardware configuration diagram of an electronic book reader that can be used to implement the present invention. However, the present invention can be operated not only on an electronic book reader but also on a personal computer or a portable information terminal called a smartphone as a partial function of software called an electronic book viewer, and the configuration shown in FIG. 5 is an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a hard disk can be used instead of the flash memory 54, and a wired LAN unit can be used instead of the wireless LAN unit.

The electronic book data is stored in the flash memory 54 as a separate file for each book. The flash memory 54 can store a large number of electronic books. The CPU 51 operates using the RAM 53 as a work area in accordance with programs stored on the ROM 52 and the flash memory 54. Then, the input data from the keyboard and touch panel detected by the operation input unit 55 is interpreted and executed by this program. In this interpretation execution, a conversation with the operator (which is also a reader of the electronic book) is performed by using an LCD unit and an LED lamp, which are displays controlled by the display unit 56, and a speaker connected to the audio output unit 58. To do. In addition, electronic book data can be received from the outside via the communication unit 57 and stored in the flash memory 54. Electric power necessary for the operation of each part of the electronic book reader is supplied from the lithium ion battery through the power supply unit 59. Electronic book data can be obtained from various external devices (for example, USB memory) connected to the USB interface unit via the communication unit 57, or electronic on other computers connected to the network via the wireless LAN unit. You can also get a book data file.

The present invention is a partial function of an electronic book viewer, which is software that runs on a CPU such as the CPU 51 of FIG. In other words, the present invention operates using the content information of the specified page in the target electronic book as input information. And this invention displays the attention information in the page, and the relevant information referred by the related source information in the attention information so that it may not overlap on a screen. Further, the present invention is designed to reduce the operation burden on the reader who moves the selection position on the screen of the related source information or the target information in the page. Accordingly, in the present invention, the reader can easily understand the target information by comparing the related information without being bothered by many operations.

There are several methods for selecting the target information in the designated page. The first method is to select information of interest including the selected related source information by selecting related source information in the page. The second method is to divide the content of the page into several parts that can be used as the target information, and then select one of the parts as the target information. The selection is performed based on the event.

The above-described two methods are methods for selecting the target information from the target page when the target page is selected. There are other methods, which will be described next.
The process of extracting related source information in the page and the process of dividing the page content into several parts that can be regarded as the target information are performed at the time of editing the electronic book, and the related source obtained as a result of the processing Information or page content classification information is embedded in the page as a code that does not appear on the screen display. And when the target page becomes the target of reading, those codes embedded in the page but not appearing on the screen display are read, and the related information specified by the related source information and the attention information do not overlap. Display control is performed so that the positional relationship is easy to read.

Based on the form for inventing, an Example is described more concretely. The first embodiment corresponds to claim 2, the second embodiment corresponds to claim 3, and the third embodiment corresponds to claim 4. Claim 1 is a superordinate concept of these claims.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the electronic book viewer in the first embodiment. The electronic book data can be described in the data structure shown in the page unit content table 61. That is, the table structure corresponds to the in-page content for each page number. In this table, the in-page content of page j can be indicated by C (j).

A value p is set to the displayed page pointer 604 by the operation of the page feed operation unit 602. The page feed operation unit 602 can be realized as software for processing an input value from the operation input unit 55 of FIG. Using the value p of the displayed page pointer 604, the displayed page read processing unit 62 reads the in-page content C (p) and stores it in the in-page content information buffer 64.

The related source information is extracted from the information stored in the in-page content information buffer 64 by the related source information detection processing unit 68 and stored in the related source information table 605 in the page. The in-page related source information table 605 stores N2 pieces of related source information extracted from C (p), from number 1 to number N2. For example, regarding the related source information number k, Pnt (k) that is a pointer to the related information, Pos (k) that is the position in the page of the related source information, and Page (k) that is the page number to which the related information belongs. ) Are stored in one set.
In this way, all the related source information is extracted for the currently displayed page p, and the related source information table is formed.

After that, a selection processing unit (Pnt (r), Pos (r), Page (r)) that is related source information corresponding to the related source information number r determined based on the event generated by the event generation unit 601 is selected. 603 is selected from the related source information table 605 and recorded in the related source information buffer buffer 69. Here, the event generation unit 601 generates an event that occurs due to an operation on the operation input unit 55 by the reader or a lapse of a certain time from the previous display control by the display control unit 63, and the related source information selection processing unit 603. To give.

The attention information detection processing unit 65 detects the attention information including the in-page position Pos (r) of the related source information, and provides the detected information to the display control unit 63. The related source information emphasis processing unit 66 emphasizes the related source information at the position specified by Pos (r), and provides it to the display control unit 63. The related information extraction processing unit 67 confirms that the Page (r) is different from the currently displayed page p, and is in the in-page content corresponding to the Page (r). The designated information is read from the page unit content table 61 and given to the display control unit 63.

In the display control unit 63, the in-page content information C (p) from the in-page content information buffer 64, the attention information from the attention information detection processing unit 65, and the emphasized association source from the association source information enhancement processing unit 66. Information and related information from the related information extraction processing unit 67 are received, and display is controlled so as to display them in a predetermined style. That is, display is performed so that the target information and the related information do not overlap in the screen. Further, the related source information for specifying the related information is displayed so as to be highlighted in the information of interest.

A specific display example is shown in FIG. FIG. 1 is a display screen in a mode in which an electronic book reader is placed horizontally and two pages of spread are displayed. Here, in the left page of the screen, the part indicated by 11 is the related source information highlighted. That is, the characters “Great Eastern” are highlighted as related source information. The related information corresponding to the related source information is a portion indicated by 12 on the right side of the screen. Since the 40th page is originally displayed on the left page, the 41st page should be displayed on the right page, but the Great Eastern cross section posted on the 45th page is displayed as related information.

Since the relevant information 12 is displayed on the right page and the attention information which is a paragraph including the highlight 11 “Great Eastern” which is the relation source information is displayed on the left page, the attention information and the relevant information do not overlap. It will be displayed on the left and right. As a result, it is possible to read while comparing the target information with the related information. 13 is an operation button for moving the selection position of the related source information in the reverse direction, and 14 is an operation button for moving the selection position of the related source information in the forward direction. When the touch panel in FIG. 5 is transparent and disposed on the LCD unit, these two operation buttons display a button graphic on the screen and detect the force of pressing the button on the touch panel. This can be achieved.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the electronic book viewer in the second embodiment. The electronic book data can be described in the data structure shown in the page unit content table 71. That is, the table structure corresponds to the in-page content for each page number. In this table, the in-page content of page j can be indicated by C (j).

A value p is set to the displayed page pointer 703 by the operation of the page feed operation unit 702. The page feed operation unit 702 can be realized as software for processing an input value from the operation input unit 55 of FIG. Using the value p of the displayed page pointer 703, the displayed page read processing unit 72 reads the in-page content C (p) and stores it in the in-page content information buffer 74. Information stored in the in-page content information buffer 74 is provided to the display control unit 73.

Thereafter, based on the event generated by the event generation unit 701 and the information in the attention information buffer 78, the attention information selection processing unit 79 starts from C (p) stored in the in-page content information buffer 74. The attention information is selected and stored in the attention information buffer 78. The focus information highlighting processing unit 75 performs highlighting processing of the focus information in the focus information buffer 78 and provides it to the display control unit 73.

The related source information detection processing unit 77 refers to the page-based content table 71 and displays related information belonging to a page different from the displayed page, which is information included in the focused information in the focused information buffer 78. The related source information to be specified is detected and stored in the related source information table 705 in the target information. In the attention information internal related source information table 705, N2 pieces of related source information extracted from the attention information buffer 78 are stored from number 1 to number N2. For example, regarding the related source information number k, Pnt (k) that is a pointer to the related information, Pos (k) that is the position in the page of the related source information, and Page (k) that is the page number to which the related information belongs. ) Are stored in one set.

The related information extraction processing unit 76 refers to the related source information table 705 in the information of interest, and uses a pointer to related information belonging to the page number not designated by the currently displayed page pointer 703, and related information. Is extracted and provided to the display control unit 73.

The display control unit 73 receives the in-page content information C (p) from the in-page content information buffer 74, the focus information from the focus information highlighting processing unit 75, and the related information from the related information extraction processing unit 76, Display is controlled so that they are displayed in a predetermined style. That is, display is performed so that the target information and the related information do not overlap in the screen. Further, the related source information for specifying the related information is displayed so as to be highlighted in the information of interest.

A specific display example is shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows a display screen in a mode in which the electronic book reader is placed horizontally and two pages of spread are displayed. Here, in the right page of the screen, the portion indicated by 21 is the highlighted attention information. Since the 47th page is originally displayed on the right page, the 46th page should be displayed on the left page, but the cross section of Great Eastern posted on the 45th page is displayed as related information. The related information 22 is displayed on the left page, and the focus information that is a paragraph including “Great Eastern” that is the related source information is displayed on the right page, so that the focus information and the related information are displayed on the left and right without overlapping. Will be. As a result, it is possible to read while comparing the target information with the related information.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of the electronic book viewer in the third embodiment. The electronic book data can be described in the data structure shown in the page unit content table 81. That is, the table structure corresponds to the in-page content for each page number. In this table, the in-page content of page j can be indicated by C (j).

A value p is set to the displayed page pointer 82 by the operation of the page feed operation unit 805. The page feed operation unit 805 can be realized as software for processing an input value from the operation input unit 55 of FIG. Using the value p of the displayed page pointer 82, the displayed page read processing unit 84 reads the in-page content C (p) and stores it in the in-page content information buffer 87. Information stored in the in-page content information buffer 87 is provided to the display control unit 85.

After that, based on the event generated by the event generation unit 804 and the information in the attention information buffer 802, the attention information selection processing unit 803 from the C (p) stored in the in-page content information buffer 87, The attention information is selected and stored in the attention information buffer 802. The focus information highlighting processing unit 88 performs highlighting processing of the focus information in the focus information buffer 802 and provides it to the display control unit 85.

The related source information detection processing unit 801 refers to the page-by-page content table 81, and displays related information that is included in the target information in the target information buffer 802 and belongs to a page different from the displayed page. The related source information to be specified is detected and stored in the related source information table 806 in the focus information. The related information in the target information information table 806 stores N2 pieces of related source information extracted from the target information buffer 802 from number 1 to number N2. For example, regarding the related source information number k, Pnt (k) that is a pointer to the related information, Pos (k) that is the position in the page of the related source information, and Page (k) that is the page number to which the related information belongs. ) Are stored in one set.

The related information extraction processing unit 89 refers to the related source information table 806 in the information of interest, and uses the related information using a pointer to related information belonging to the page number not designated by the currently displayed page pointer 82. Is extracted and provided to the display control unit 85.

The number N2 of related source information recorded in the related source information table 806 in the focus information is stored in the related source information number buffer 86 and provided to the display control unit 85.

In the display control unit 85, the in-page content information C (p) from the in-page content information buffer 87, the focus information from the highlight information processing unit 88 of the focus information, the related information from the related information extraction processing unit 89, the relation source The number of related source information from the information number buffer 86 is received, and the display is controlled so as to display in a predetermined style. That is, display is performed so that the target information and the related information do not overlap in the screen. Further, the related source information for specifying the related information is displayed so as to be highlighted in the information of interest.

A specific display example is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a display screen in a mode in which the electronic book reader is displayed horizontally. Here, the portion indicated by 32 on the lower side of the screen is the highlighted attention information. In this attention information 32, two related source information “Leviathan” and “Great Eastern” are highlighted. A cross section of Great Eastern is displayed as related information 31 in the upper right of the screen. Also, Leviathan related information 33 is displayed at the upper left of the screen. The attention information 32 and the related information 31 and the related information 33 that are referred to using the related source information in the attention information are arranged so as to be easily referred to without overlapping.

In this embodiment, a program built in an electronic book should be displayed simultaneously on the screen by dynamically controlling the display on the screen in conjunction with the browser in response to an operation input from the reader. The attention information including the related source information is detected from the display page content which is the information of the above page, the related information corresponding to the related source information is extracted from the content other than the display page content of the electronic book, and the above information is displayed on the screen. The attention information and the related information are displayed so as not to overlap.

Generally, an electronic book is a compressed file that includes an XHTML file (or HTML file), a CSS file, a program file described in JavaScript (registered trademark), an image file, and a moving image file. (See Figure 12)
A program described in Java Script (registered trademark) constituting an electronic book (hereinafter referred to as a Java Script (registered trademark) program) operates in cooperation with a browser of the electronic book. This JavaScript (registered trademark) program extracts display page content displayed on the screen based on content described in the XHTML file in response to an operation input by the reader of the electronic book. Then, this JavaScript (registered trademark) program extracts attention information that is a sentence, paragraph, or paragraph that the reader is focusing on from the display page content.
Then, this JavaScript (registered trademark) program extracts the related source information if there is related source information that refers to related information such as a figure, a photo, a table, a video, or a glossary in the target information. .
Then, the JavaScript (registered trademark) program reads the related information referred to by the extracted related source information from the files (image file, moving image file, etc.) bundled with the electronic book, and displays the page content. A part of the display page content is rewritten so that the related information can be arranged in a part of the display area of the information other than the target information in the content displayed on the screen. However, the display page content before rewriting is saved and retained in a predetermined storage area.

In other words, this JavaScript (registered trademark) program deletes a part of information other than the target information from the display page content. Then, the related information or the related information is displayed so that the related information other than the display page content of the electronic book referenced from the related source information in the focus information can be displayed on the portion where the deleted information is displayed. This JavaScript (registered trademark) program is rewritten to the content surrounded by the XHTML tag for the reference information to be called, and is transferred to the electronic book browser and displayed on the screen. At this time, the attention information and the related source information therein are highlighted. The range to be deleted in order to secure the display space for the related information is determined by the JavaScript (registered trademark) program based on the size of the display space to be used by the related information. Thus, when the related information corresponding to the related source information in the information of interest is displayed on the display page, until the next operation by the reader (eg, pressing the NEXT button in FIG. 13), This display screen is maintained.

FIG. 13 shows an example in which a program written in JavaScript (registered trademark) displays a reference diagram that is related information that is referenced by related source information included in the focus information. That is, the reader advances the sentence while operating the NEXT button and highlighting the information of interest (eg, sentence, paragraph, or paragraph as a unit). When the NEXT button is pressed to read the attention information that requires the reference diagram, the program described in the JavaScript (registered trademark) calls up and displays the reference diagram (corresponding to related information) together with the attention information.
The operation is fast because there is no need to start a new browser or switch display for each page to display the reference diagram. The reference diagram is not always displayed, but the display is controlled based on a condition judgment by a program described in JavaScript (registered trademark) included in the electronic book.

When the reader performs the next operation, the JavaScript (registered trademark) program restores the contents of the display page contents held for saving in a predetermined storage area and causes the browser to display the screen. Thereby, the display of the related information disappears from the screen, and the screen display returns to the state before the related information is displayed.

11 Example of highlighted related source information 12 Related information corresponding to related source information 11 Operation button 14 for moving the selected position of related source information in the reverse page direction Moving the selected position of related source information in the forward page direction Operation button 21 to be displayed Example 22 of highlighted focus information 22 Related information 31 corresponding to focus information 21 Related information 32 corresponding to Great Eastern that is related source information Leviathan as an example of focus information and related source information And Great Eastern highlighted 33 Related information corresponding to Leviathan, which is related source information 51 CPU
52 ROM
53 RAM
54 Flash Memory 55 Operation Input Unit 56 Display Unit 57 Communication Unit 58 Audio Output Unit 59 Power Management Unit 61 Page Unit Content Table 62 Displayed Page Reading Processing Unit 63 Display Control Unit 64 In-Page Content Information Buffer 65 Focused Information Detection Processing Unit 66 Related source information enhancement processing unit 67 Related information extraction processing unit 68 Related source information detection processing unit 69 Related source information buffer 601 Event generation unit 602 Page feed operation unit 603 Related source information selection processing unit 604 Displayed page pointer 605 Intra-page related source information table 606 Display unit 71 Page unit content table 72 Displayed page read processing unit 73 Display control unit 74 In-page content information buffer 75 Highlighted information processing unit for attention information 76 Related information extraction processing unit 77 Related source information Detection processing unit 78 Focused information buffer 79 Focused information selection processing unit 701 Event generation unit 702 Page feed operation unit 703 Displayed page pointer 704 Display unit 705 Related source information table 81 in focused information Page unit content table 82 Displayed page Pointer 83 Display unit 84 Displayed page reading processing unit 85 Display control unit 86 Related source information number buffer 87 In-page content information buffer 88 Focused information highlighting processing unit 89 Related information extraction processing unit 801 Related source information detection processing Unit 802 attention information buffer 803 attention information selection processing unit 804 event generation unit 805 page feed operation unit 806 related source information table in attention information

Claims (8)

An electronic book display control device that controls display on a screen of information included in an electronic book capable of displaying information in units of pages,


Display content storage means for reading and storing information of one or more pages to be simultaneously displayed on the screen from the electronic book;


Detecting means for detecting attention information including related source information from information stored in the display content storage means;


Related information extracting means for extracting related information corresponding to the related source information from the electronic book data;

Upon receiving the information stored in the display content storage means, the focus information detected by the detection means, and the related information extracted by the related information extraction means, the focus information and the related information do not overlap on the screen. Display control means for displaying,


With


Electronic book display control device. The detection means

Related source information extracting means for extracting related source information from the display content storage means;

Selecting means for selecting related source information in response to the occurrence of an event for selecting related source information to be highlighted among the related source information extracted by the related source information extracting means;

Attention information detection means for detecting attention information including the related source information selected by the selection means;

It is equipped with

The electronic book display control apparatus according to claim 1.
The detection means

Selection means for selecting the attention information in response to the occurrence of an event for selecting the attention information from the display content storage means;

Highlight setting means for setting the target information selected by the selection means as a highlight target;

Related source information detecting means for detecting related source information from the attention information selected by the selecting means;

It is equipped with

The electronic book display control apparatus according to claim 1.
The detection means is

Selection means for selecting the attention information in response to the occurrence of an event for selecting the attention information from the display content storage means;

Highlight setting means for setting the target information selected by the selection means as a highlight target;

Related source information detecting means for detecting related source information from the attention information selected by the selecting means;

With

The display control means has a predetermined display positional relationship determined according to the number of pieces of related source information detected by the detecting means, and related information corresponding to the related source information and the attention information do not overlap on the screen. Is what you want to display

The electronic book display control apparatus according to claim 1.
An electronic book display control program for controlling display on a screen of information included in an electronic book capable of displaying information in page units,

A detection process for detecting attention information including related source information from information stored in display content storage means for reading and storing information of one or more pages to be simultaneously displayed on the screen from the electronic book;

Related information extraction processing for extracting related information corresponding to the related source information from the electronic book data;

Upon receiving the information stored in the display content storage means, the focus information detected by the detection process, and the related information extracted by the related information extraction process, the focus information and the related information do not overlap on the screen. Display control processing to display,


An electronic book display control program for executing.
An electronic book display control method for controlling display on a screen of information included in an electronic book capable of displaying information in page units,

A detection process step of detecting attention information including related source information from information stored in display content storage means for reading and storing information of one or more pages to be simultaneously displayed on the screen from the electronic book;

A related information extraction processing step for extracting related information corresponding to the related source information from the electronic book data;

Upon receiving the information stored in the display content storage unit, the attention information detected by the detection processing step, and the related information extracted by the related information extraction processing step, the attention information and the related information are displayed on the screen. A display control processing step for displaying so as not to overlap;
The electronic book display control method which performs.
Text content described as text data,
Additional content consisting of at least one type of content of images and videos,
A dynamic display control program, which is a program that processes display content including the text content and the additional content and dynamically controls display on a screen in conjunction with a browser in response to an operation input from an operator An electronic book comprising:

The dynamic display control program is:
Detecting means for detecting attention information including related source information from display page content which is information of one or more pages to be displayed simultaneously on the screen;
Related information extracting means for extracting related information corresponding to the related source information from the display content other than the display page content of the electronic book;
Display that receives the display page content, the focus information detected by the detection means, and the related information extracted by the related information extraction means, and displays the focus information and the related information on the screen so as not to overlap. Control means;

An electronic book comprising:
XHTML content written in XHTML,
Additional content consisting of at least one type of image, video,
It is described in JavaScript (registered trademark) that processes the display content including the XHTML content and the additional content and dynamically controls the display on the screen in conjunction with the browser in response to an operation input from the operator. A dynamic display control program,
An electronic book comprising

The dynamic display control program is:
Detecting means for detecting attention information including related source information from display page content which is information of one or more pages to be displayed simultaneously on the screen;
Related information extracting means for extracting related information corresponding to the related source information from the display content other than the display page content of the electronic book;
Display control for receiving the display content, the focus information detected by the detection means, and the related information extracted by the related information extraction means, and displaying the focus information and the related information on the screen so as not to overlap. Means,
Characterized by comprising

E-book.