JP2013088925A - Input support device, program and pictograph input support method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a pictograph displayed by specific animation display corresponding to a specific character when a message includes the specific character.SOLUTION: Pictographs are displayed by animation display by being associated with other characters. The association is realized when a message includes a pictograph and other characters. A transmission terminal which transmits the message displays a text of the message in a text display area A1 (a first display area) and displays a list of the pictographs in a character input area A2. A sender can input a pictograph by performing a specific operation for the pictograph displayed in the character input area A2. The transmission terminal determines whether or not there are other characters associated with the pictograph when the pictograph is input, and displays a recommendation window W2 (a second display area) when such other characters exist. The transmission terminal notifies the sender of the existence of the other characters (P2) associated with the input pictograph (P1), and urges the sender to input them.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for supporting the input of a pictograph that displays an animation as an interaction with another character.

  The text transmitted and received by e-mail may include pictographs. The pictograms here include those assigned with a character code and those attached as an image to an e-mail. Patent Document 1 describes a technique for attaching additional information that realizes a temporal / spatial visual effect to a character / pictogram when the character / pictogram is input and transmitted in an e-mail. Yes. Patent Document 1 describes moving the coordinates (that is, the position) of a pictograph as an example of such a visual effect.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-190007 (FIGS. 2, 14, etc.)

However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, there is no dependency between characters / pictograms that produce visual effects and other characters. In the technique described in Patent Document 1, no matter what characters are input other than characters / pictograms that produce visual effects, there is no change in the visual effects.
On the other hand, an object of the present invention is to display a pictograph that displays a specific animation corresponding to a character when the message includes a specific character.

  An input support apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention stores pictographic data that describes a combination of a pictograph that displays an animation whose position or appearance changes in a predetermined manner at the time of cooperation and another character that cooperates with the pictograph. Storage means; input means for inputting characters including the pictograms in a first display area for displaying a message; and displaying the characters input by the input means in the first display area; Display control means for displaying in the second display area the candidate characters that can be input by the display means, the display control means using the pictographic data stored in the storage means for display in the first display area When the other character is included in the character to be displayed, the pictogram associated with the other character is displayed as the candidate.

In a preferred aspect, the storage means stores the pictographic data describing the combination for each of a plurality of other characters for one pictogram, and the display control means displays the pictograph data in the first display area. When at least one of the plurality of other characters is included in the character to be displayed, the pictogram associated with the other character is displayed as the candidate.
In another preferred aspect, the storage means stores the pictographic data describing a plurality of the other characters with respect to one pictogram, and the display control means is a first of the plurality of other characters. When one character is included in the character displayed in the first display area, the pictogram that cooperates with the first character and a different one from the first character among the plurality of other characters 2 characters are displayed as the candidates.
In still another preferred embodiment, the storage unit stores a plurality of the pictographic data corresponding to the plurality of pictographs, and the display control unit includes a plurality of the other characters having different linked pictograms as the first character. When the character is included in the display area, the candidate pictogram is displayed in a display mode divided for each other character.
In still another preferred aspect, the display control means excludes the pictograms already input by the input means from the candidates.

  Further, the program according to another aspect of the present invention stores pictographic data describing a combination of a pictograph that displays an animation whose position or appearance changes in a predetermined mode at the time of cooperation and another character that cooperates with the pictograph. A first step of inputting a character including the pictogram to a first display area for displaying a message to a computer accessible to the storage means, and the character input in the first step A second step of displaying in the display area, and a step of displaying in the second display area a candidate for a character that can be input to the first display area. When the character displayed in the display area includes the other character, the pictogram associated with the other character is displayed as the candidate in the second display region. That is intended for executing the third step.

  The pictogram input support method according to another aspect of the present invention includes a first step of inputting a character including a pictogram in a first display area for displaying a message, and input in the first step. A second step of displaying a displayed character in the first display area, and a step of displaying a candidate for a character that can be input in the first display area in the second display area, the position or appearance at the time of cooperation Using the pictographic data describing a combination of a pictograph that displays an animation that changes in a predetermined manner and another character that cooperates with the pictograph, and the character displayed in the first display area is the other character. A third step of displaying, in the second display area, the pictograph associated with the other character as the candidate.

  Note that the present invention associates pictographic data that describes a combination of a pictograph that displays an animation whose position or appearance changes in a predetermined manner at the time of cooperation with another character that cooperates with the pictograph, and the pictograph and the other Receiving means for receiving a message including the character of the message, and display control means for displaying the message received by the receiving means in a display area, wherein the display control means is included in the message displayed in the display area. Receiving terminal having a configuration for displaying the pictograms animated in the predetermined mode, the input support device of any of the above-described modes, and a message generation unit that generates the message including the characters input by the input unit; And a transmission means for transmitting the message generated by the message generation means May be identified as a communication system having a configuration with said receiving terminal.

  According to the present invention, when a specific character is included in a message, it is possible to display a pictograph that displays a specific animation corresponding to the character. In particular, the input support apparatus according to the present invention can support the expression of such animation display.

Diagram showing configuration of communication system Functional block diagram showing functional configurations of transmitting terminal and receiving terminal Hardware block diagram showing hardware configuration of communication terminals (transmission terminal and reception terminal) The figure which illustrates the data structure of pictogram data The figure which illustrates the screen which is displayed when the character is inputted to the message Diagram showing preview display The figure which shows the example of a recommendation display Flowchart showing an outline of pictogram input processing by a transmission terminal A figure exemplifying a linked anime pictogram A diagram exemplifying the correspondence of linked anime pictograms A figure illustrating the correspondence of cooperation of anime pictograms Figure showing a display example of the recommendation window Flow chart showing display processing by receiving terminal Figure showing a display example of the recommendation window

[Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a communication system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The communication system 10 is a wireless communication system for transmitting and receiving messages using the network 200, and includes a transmission terminal 100a and a reception terminal 100b. The transmission terminal 100a is a communication terminal for transmitting a message, and the reception terminal 100b is a communication terminal for receiving a message. The transmission terminal 100a and the reception terminal 100b are wireless communication terminals such as smartphones and tablet terminals, for example. The network 200 is a network capable of transmitting and receiving messages, and is, for example, a mobile communication network or a wireless LAN (Local Area Network).

  Here, the message is data transmitted and received between communication terminals using characters. The message here is typically a so-called e-mail, but may have a mechanism similar to e-mail such as SMS (Short Message Service). However, in the present embodiment, an e-mail is assumed as a message.

  Moreover, the character in this embodiment is a general term for a character and a pictograph. Here, a character (not a pictogram) is a so-called plain text, and is a character or symbol described in a predetermined character code such as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) or Shift JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards). That is. In the following, when such characters are distinguished from pictograms, they are particularly referred to as “text characters”.

  The pictogram is an image displayed together with text characters in a message. The pictogram here is an image that is input and used like a character and does not necessarily have an appearance similar to a character. The pictograms of this embodiment are classified into “normal pictograms” and “anime pictograms”. An anime pictogram is a pictogram that can be displayed in particular, and a normal pictogram is a pictogram other than an anime pictogram. Animation display of an animated pictogram is a display that changes its position or appearance. The animation display of an animated pictogram is, for example, that the pictogram moves around, that the pictogram is enlarged or reduced, or that the color pattern of the pictogram changes.

  The transmitting terminal 100a and the receiving terminal 100b are characterized by being able to transmit and receive messages including such animated pictograms. Specifically, the transmission terminal 100a has a main feature in that it creates a message including an anime pictogram, and the reception terminal 100b receives a message including an anime pictogram, and an aspect according to the anime pictogram included in the message The main feature is that a part of the message is animated.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating functional configurations of the transmission terminal 100a and the reception terminal 100b. The transmission terminal 100 a includes at least input means 101, storage means 102, display control means 103, display means 104, message generation means 105, and transmission means 106. The receiving terminal 100b includes a receiving unit 107, a display control unit 108, and a display unit 109. The configuration corresponding to the input support apparatus of the present invention in the transmission terminal 100a is the input unit 101, the storage unit 102, and the display control unit 103.

  The input means 101 is means for inputting characters according to the operation of the user (message sender). The input unit 101 includes, for example, a touch screen and a keypad (keyboard). The storage means 102 is means for storing pictographic data. Here, the pictogram data is data describing a combination of an anime pictogram, another anime pictogram linked with the anime pictogram, and an animation display mode when the anime pictogram and the other anime pictogram are linked. . In this embodiment, the linkage of anime pictograms refers to an interaction that occurs when a certain anime pictogram exists in a message together with other anime pictograms.

  The display unit 104 is a unit that displays a message including characters, and the display control unit 103 is a unit that controls display by the display unit 104. The display control means 103 displays characters input by the user and also displays candidate characters that can be input by the user (hereinafter referred to as “input candidates”). The display control means 103 displays, as input candidates, animated pictograms that cause animation display due to the linkage of animated pictograms in response to user input, and prompts the user for input.

  The message generation unit 105 is a unit that generates a message based on a user input result. The message generation unit 105 generates a message including characters input by the user and appropriately set information such as a destination. The message generation means generates a message including pictographic data as an attached file when the character input by the user includes an animated pictograph. The transmitting unit 106 is a unit that transmits the message generated by the message generating unit 105 to a predetermined destination (here, the receiving terminal 100b).

  The receiving means 107 is means for receiving a message transmitted from the transmitting terminal 100a. The display unit 109 is a unit that displays a message including characters, and the display control unit 108 is a unit that controls display by the display unit 109. When the pictogram data is attached to the message received by the receiving means 107, the display control means 108 displays the animation pictogram in an animation according to the description of the pictogram data. The display control means 108 realizes animation display of animated pictograms by executing a script described in pictogram data.

  FIG. 3 is a hardware block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the communication terminal 100, which is a specific example of the transmission terminal 100a and the reception terminal 100b. The communication terminal 100 is a device that has both the function of the transmission terminal 100a and the function of the reception terminal 100b. In the following description, for convenience of explanation, the transmission terminal 100a and the reception terminal 100b are collectively explained by the communication terminal 100. However, the transmission terminal 100a (or the reception terminal 100b) is the same as the reception terminal 100b (or the transmission terminal 100a). It is not always necessary to have the functions. In other words, the communication terminal 100 may be configured as a transmission-only (or reception-only) terminal.

  The communication terminal 100 includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 120, a communication unit 130, and a touch screen unit 140. The touch screen unit 140 includes a display unit 141 and a sensor unit 142 in more detail. In addition to the configuration shown in FIG. 3, communication terminal 100 may include means for inputting / outputting audio (speaker, microphone, etc.), a vibrator, and the like.

  The control unit 110 includes an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory corresponding to a main storage device, and controls each unit of the communication terminal 100 by executing a program. That is, the control unit 110 corresponds to a computer that executes a program. The control unit 110 may have a multi-core configuration, that is, a configuration including a plurality of CPUs, or a configuration separately including an arithmetic processing circuit for a specific purpose other than the CPU (for example, for image processing or message transmission / reception). Also good. The control unit 110 implements the display control means 103 and 108 and the message generation means 105 described above.

  The storage unit 120 stores various data including the above-described pictographic data. The storage unit 120 is configured by, for example, a hard disk or a flash memory. The storage unit 120 may include a detachable storage medium such as a so-called memory card, and may store pictographic data in this storage medium. In other words, the pictographic data need only be stored in a storage medium accessible by the control unit 110, and is not necessarily stored in the communication terminal 100 main body. The storage unit 120 implements the storage unit 102 described above.

  The communication unit 130 transmits and receives data such as messages via the network 200. The communication unit 130 includes a communication interface corresponding to the network 200. Note that the communication unit 130 supports a plurality of communication methods, and can transmit and receive data in a manner corresponding to each communication method. The communication unit 130 implements the transmission unit 106 and the reception unit 107 described above.

  The touch screen unit 140 displays characters and images and accepts an operation of a user (message sender or receiver). The display unit 141 includes a display panel using a liquid crystal element or an organic EL (electroluminescence) element, and a drive circuit that drives each element (that is, a pixel) of the display panel. The sensor unit 142 includes a sensor that detects a user operation on the display panel of the display unit 141. The sensor of the sensor unit 142 is preferably a capacitance type capable of detecting multi-touch, but may be of another type or may not be able to detect multi-touch. The touch screen unit 140 implements the input unit 101 and the display units 104 and 109.

  The pictographic data stored in the storage unit 120 is one per animated pictograph. The communication terminal 100 can accept input of an animated pictogram in which pictographic data is stored. That is, the communication terminal 100 cannot accept an input for an animated pictogram in which pictographic data is not stored. The pictographic data may be preset in the communication terminal 100 or may be downloaded to the communication terminal 100 in response to provision by a content provider. The pictographic data is data including a script for displaying an animated pictograph as an animation, for example, GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) data.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the data structure of pictographic data, and is an example when pictographic data is composed of GIF data. In this example, the pictographic data includes a default image area, a script area, and a comment area. The script area and comment area may be provided in an extension block (such as Comment Extension) of GIF data.

  The default image area is an area for describing an image displayed at the time of non-cooperation. Non-cooperation means before an animated pictogram cooperates or when a pictogram to be linked is not included in the message in the first place. The image described in the default image area may be an image whose appearance changes (so-called animation GIF), but may be an image whose appearance does not change. That is, the animation pictogram is not necessarily required to be displayed in animation when it is not linked, as long as it can be animated when linked.

  The script area is an area for describing information necessary for cooperation of animation pictograms and animation display. In the script area, an ID for identifying the animated pictogram (that is, itself) and a script that defines the manner of animation display are described. The ID of the anime pictogram is an appropriate combination of letters and numbers. For example, the ID of the anime pictogram identifies the attribute (content provider, producer, category, etc.) by the upper m digits of the n-digit number and identifies the anime pictogram itself by the lower (nm) digits. It may be a data structure.

  The script includes at least an ID of an anime pictogram (that is, an animation pictogram to be linked) associated with the anime pictogram and an animation display mode when linked with the animation pictogram to be linked. In addition, in a case where an image displayed at the time of cooperation is different from an image displayed at the time of non-cooperation, image data displayed at the time of cooperation can be embedded in a script. The script describes how to change its position and / or appearance (or both) when an animated pictogram with a certain ID is the target of cooperation. The fact that the character is approached at a predetermined speed is described. The script is described in, for example, SWF (Small Web Format).

  In the script area, IDs of a plurality of anime pictograms may be described. For example, when three or more anime pictograms are linked, an ID obtained by subtracting 1 (own) from the number of animated pictograms linked simultaneously is described. In addition, when there are multiple animation pictograms to be linked and different animations are displayed when linked with each of the anime pictograms, a script that describes the ID and animation display is linked for each linked animation pictogram. The number of anime pictograms is described in the script area.

  The comment area is an area for describing information necessary for displaying a recommendation window, which will be described later. In the comment area, its own ID, the ID of the animation pictogram to be linked, and an explanatory text for notifying the user of the animation display mode of the anime pictogram are described. It should be noted that the own ID described in the comment area and the ID of the animation pictogram to be linked are the same as those described in the script area. Moreover, since an explanatory note is not essential, you may abbreviate | omit it.

  The configuration of the communication system 10 is as described above. Under this configuration, the transmission terminal 100a generates a message according to the operation of the sender and transmits it to the reception terminal 100b. In addition, when receiving the message, the receiving terminal 100b displays characters included in the message.

  At this time, the sending terminal 100a can make recommendations for animated pictograms so that the sender can easily understand the appearance of the animation display due to the cooperation, and to make it easy to input the linked anime pictograms into the message. Here, “recommend” is to notify the sender of other animated pictograms linked to the animated pictograms (or the animated pictograms input by the sender) included in the message, and to promote the appearance of animation display during linkage. The sender can easily input a combination of linked anime pictograms by inputting along the recommendation. If the sender uses the recommendation, the sender can input the anime pictogram according to the combination without needing to know the combination of the anime pictogram to be linked in advance. In other words, the recommendation enables support for an input to express an animation display.

  On the other hand, when the receiving terminal 100b receives a message including a plurality of anime pictograms to cooperate, the receiving terminal 100b can perform an animation display by the cooperation of these anime pictograms. Thereby, the recipient of the message can view a message that moves more than a normal message (a message composed of only text characters and normal pictograms). Moreover, according to the message of this embodiment, since the animation display mode can be changed by changing the animation pictogram to be linked, it is possible to show the receiver a non-uniform animation display.

  In the transmission terminal 100a, the animation display of animation pictograms by cooperation may not be performed. The animation display of the animated pictograms by the cooperation is sufficient if it is performed at the receiving terminal 100b, but a preview display may also be performed at the transmitting terminal 100a so that the sender can confirm the display mode of the message in advance.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a screen displayed by the touch screen unit 140 when characters are input to the message. FIG. 5A is an example of a screen for inputting text characters, and FIG. 5B is an example of a screen for inputting pictograms. Here, the text display area A1 is a display area for displaying the body of the message. In the text display area A1, it is not necessary to display the entire text, and only a part of the text may be displayed. When displaying only a part of the text, the text display area A1 is configured such that other parts can be scrolled and displayed according to the operation of the sender. The text display area A1 corresponds to the first display area of the present invention.

  The character input area A2 is an area for accepting input of characters. The example shown in FIG. 5A is a case where characters (alphabet characters, kana characters, etc.) are input by an image imitating a so-called ten key. On the other hand, the example shown in FIG. 5B displays a list of pictograms that can be input. The sender can input a pictograph by performing a predetermined operation (for example, a tap operation) on the pictograph that he or she wants to input. Further, the transmission terminal 100a may accept a drag-and-drop operation on the pictograph and may place the pictograph at an arbitrary position in the text. Note that the character input area A2 is configured to accept a scroll display according to the operation of the sender, like the text display area A1, when displaying all the pictograms when displaying all pictograms in the screen. May be.

  In the example of FIG. 5B, both normal pictograms and animation pictograms can be displayed in the character input area A2. In the character input area A2, it is desirable that the normal pictogram and the animated pictogram are distinguished from each other in display manner so that the sender can easily identify them at the time of input. Here, it is assumed that the symbol “A (an initial of animation)” is displayed at the lower right of the pictogram is an animation pictogram, and that the symbol is not displayed is a normal pictogram.

  Further, it is desirable that the transmission terminal 100a is configured to be able to display an animation pictogram as a preview. The preview display is, for example, the display shown in FIG. In this example, the preview display is realized by performing a predetermined operation (for example, long press) on the animated pictogram displayed in the character input area A2. When such an operation is performed, the transmission terminal 100a displays the preview window W1. The preview window W1 is a display area for displaying the animation display mode of the animated pictogram and displaying the explanatory text of the animation display. The preview window W1 is displayed so as to overlap the text display area A1, but may be displayed so as to overlap the character input area A2. Note that what is displayed in this example relates to animation display during non-cooperation.

The sender inputs characters using such a screen. When receiving an operation for inputting a character, the transmission terminal 100a displays the character corresponding to the operation in the text display area A1.
At this time, when a collaborative anime pictogram is input by the sender, the transmission terminal 100a recommends the anime pictogram that is the target of cooperation with the anime pictogram. The recommendation is performed as follows, for example.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a recommendation. In this example, the recommendation window W2 is a display area displayed so as to be adjacent to the upper part of the character input area A2 and to overlap a part of the text display area A1. However, the display position of the recommendation window W2 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. A recommendation window W2 shown in the figure shows a case where an animated pictogram P2 imitating a butterfly cooperates with the animated pictogram P1 when an animated pictogram P1 imitating a flower is input. The recommendation window W2 corresponds to the second display area of the present invention.

  When the character displayed in the text display area A1 includes an animation pictogram to be linked (in this case, the anime pictogram P1), the recommendation window displays the anime pictogram (in this case, the anime pictogram P2) linked to the anime pictogram. It is displayed as an input candidate. The sender can input the animated pictogram P2 into the body of the message by performing a predetermined operation (for example, a tap operation) on the animated pictogram P2 displayed in the recommendation window W2. Note that the transmission terminal 100a may accept a drag-and-drop operation also in the recommendation window W2, as in the case of the character input area A2.

  Here, the state that “the animation pictogram to be linked is included in the characters displayed in the text display area A1” does not indicate only the state in which the anime pictogram is actually displayed in the text display area A1. . This is because, as described above, not all characters included in the message body are displayed in the body text display area A1. In other words, the state that “the animation pictogram to be linked is included in the characters displayed in the text display area A1” is, in other words, a status in which the anime pictograph to be linked is included in the text of the message.

  Further, from the viewpoint of prompting input, it is sufficient that only the animated pictogram P2 (that is, input candidate) is displayed in the recommendation window W2. However, in order to clearly notify the sender which anime pictogram and which anime pictogram are linked, not only the input candidate anime pictogram P2 but also the linked anime pictogram P1 should be displayed. Is desirable. In particular, when a plurality of recommendation windows are displayed as will be described later, it is desirable that the input candidate anime pictogram and the cooperation target anime pictogram are displayed in pairs.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an outline of pictogram input processing including input support processing of the present invention. This input process is a process executed when the sender starts inputting characters. Therefore, the transmission terminal 100a first accepts an input of characters (step Sa1). When receiving the input of the character, the transmitting terminal 100a displays the character in the text display area (step Sa2).

  Next, the transmitting terminal 100a determines whether or not the character input by the process of step Sa1 is an animation pictogram (step Sa3). If the character input by the sender is not an animation pictogram (step Sa3: NO), the transmitting terminal 100a does not recommend the character. On the other hand, when the character input by the sender is an animation pictogram (step Sa3: YES), the transmission terminal 100a determines whether or not the recommendation for the anime pictogram can be performed. Specifically, the transmission terminal 100a determines whether or not there is an animated pictogram that cooperates with the input animated pictogram using the pictographic data (step Sa4).

  In step Sa4, the transmission terminal 100a refers to the comment area of the input pictogram data of the anime pictogram, specifies the ID of the anime pictogram (that is, its own ID), and specifies the ID of the animation pictogram to be linked. . Next, the transmission terminal 100a refers to the pictographic data of the anime pictogram other than the input anime pictogram, and specifies the ID of the anime pictogram (that is, its own ID) described in the comment area as the ID of the animation pictogram to be linked. It is determined whether or not it matches with the ID. The transmitting terminal 100a determines that there is an animated pictogram that is linked to the input animated pictogram when there is an animated pictogram that matches these IDs.

  The transmitting terminal 100a does not make a recommendation when there is no animated pictogram that cooperates with the input animated pictogram (step Sa4: NO). On the other hand, when there is an animated pictogram that is linked to the input animated pictogram (step Sa4: YES), the transmitting terminal 100a performs processing for displaying the linked animated pictogram, that is, the animated pictogram that is an input candidate, on the recommendation window. Execute (Steps Sa5 to Sa9).

  In step Sa5, the transmission terminal 100a determines whether or not the recommendation window is being displayed. If the recommendation window is not displayed, the transmission terminal 100a executes the process of step Sa6, and if the recommendation window is being displayed, executes the process of step Sa7.

  In step Sa6, the transmission terminal 100a newly generates a recommendation window. The transmission terminal 100a identifies one or more animated pictograms that are input candidates based on the determination result in step Sa4, and displays them on the recommendation window. At this time, the transmission terminal 100a also displays the anime pictogram (that is, the input anime pictogram) linked with the anime pictogram that is the input candidate in the recommendation window. The process of step Sa6 realizes the display of the recommendation window as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, in step Sa7, the transmitting terminal 100a determines whether or not the recommended window being displayed is a recommended window related to the animated pictogram input most recently in step Sa1. That is, the transmitting terminal 100a determines whether or not the recommendation being made at that time is related to the animation pictogram that was most recently input. Specifically, the transmission terminal 100a determines whether or not the most recently input anime pictogram is displayed as an input candidate in the recommended window being displayed.

  When the recommendation window related to the most recently input animation pictogram is displayed (step Sa7: YES), the transmission terminal 100a updates the displayed recommendation window (step Sa8). Specifically, the transmission terminal 100a rewrites the display of the recommendation window by changing the input candidates to be displayed on the recommendation window.

  If the recommendation window related to the most recently input anime pictogram is not displayed (step Sa7: NO), the transmission terminal 100a displays a recommendation window that is different from the recommendation window being displayed (step Sa9). That is, when a plurality of combinations of linkages are considered for the animated pictograms in the text, a plurality of recommendation windows divided for each combination are generated. However, in the present embodiment, even when there are a plurality of recommendation windows, only one recommendation window is actually displayed. In the following, the state of a window that is displayed when there are a plurality of recommended windows is referred to as “active”, and the state of a window that is not displayed at this time is referred to as “inactive”.

  When these processes are executed, the transmitting terminal 100a determines whether or not to finish the input process (step Sa10). For example, when receiving an operation for transmitting a message or an operation for temporarily storing a message as a draft, the transmission terminal 100a ends the input process. In addition, when the sender continues to input characters, the transmitting terminal 100a executes the processing after Step Sa1 again, and repeats this until the input processing is completed.

  For convenience of explanation, the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 omits a part of the input process (for example, the process when the recommendation is ended). More specifically, the input processing includes processing described in the following specific example.

  9 to 12 are diagrams for explaining a specific example of the input processing according to the present embodiment. FIG. 9 shows the anime pictograms used in this specific example and the anime pictograms linked with the anime pictograms, and FIG. 10 shows the correspondence between an anime pictogram and the anime pictograms linked with the anime pictogram. FIG. 11 illustrates the correspondence relationship of the animation pictograms shown in FIG. This figure shows that animated pictograms connected by straight lines of the same line type (thickness, pattern, etc.) constitute one combination.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the animation pictogram “arrow” has four characters (“bow”, “heart”, “target”, “angel”) to be linked. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, there are three combinations C1, C2, and C3 that are established by the animated pictograph of “arrow”. Here, the combination C2 forms one combination by three animated pictograms (“arrow”, “heart”, “angel”). In other words, the combination C2 is a combination in which all three characters are not included in the body of the message. In the case of this example, a plurality of scripts corresponding to each combination of animation pictograms to be linked, that is, combinations C1, C2, and C3 are described in the pictogram data of the anime pictogram “arrow”.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an input example of an animated pictogram when the animated pictogram shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 is used, and a recommendation window displayed when the animated pictogram is input according to the input example. Here, the recommendation window displayed in a thick frame means an active recommendation window. In this input example, it is assumed that the first animated pictogram input is “arrow”, and no animated pictogram has been input before that.

  Now, assume that an animated pictograph of “arrow” is input in step Sa1 of the input process. As shown in FIG. 9, there are four characters, “bow”, “heart”, “target”, and “angel”, as shown in FIG. Then, the determinations at steps Sa3 and Sa4 are both “YES”. On the other hand, since the recommendation has not been performed yet, the determination in step Sa5 is “NO”.

  As a result, the transmission terminal 100a executes the process of step Sa6, that is, the process of newly generating and displaying a recommendation window. At this time, the transmission terminal 100a displays the recommendation window W21 and displays four characters “bow”, “heart”, “target”, and “angel” as input candidates.

  In this state, when an animated pictograph of “heart” is input, the transmission terminal 100a determines that all of steps Sa3 to Sa5 are “YES”. Further, since the recommended window W21 being displayed contains the “heart” animated pictograph, the transmitting terminal 100a also determines “YES” for step Sa7. When the “arrow” and “heart” anime pictograms are input, in order for the animation pictograms to be linked, it is necessary to input the “angel” anime pictograms constituting the combination C2. Therefore, the transmission terminal 100a performs the process of step Sa8, that is, the process of updating the recommendation window W21. In this case, the transmission terminal 100a excludes input candidates other than the “angel” anime pictogram from the display target. Accordingly, in the recommendation window W21, only the anime pictogram “angel” is displayed as an input candidate.

After that, when the anime pictogram “angel” is input according to the recommendation, the transmission terminal 100a ends the recommendation by the recommendation window W21.
As described above, when the sender inputs the animated pictograms “arrow”, “heart”, and “angel”, there are no animated pictograms to be recommended. Therefore, the display state of the screen of the transmission terminal 100a returns to the state where the recommendation window is not displayed, as in the case where no animation pictogram is input.

  In addition, the transmission terminal 100a desirably does not perform the recommendation again for the same animation pictogram once the recommendation is finished. That is, the transmitting terminal 100a desirably excludes an already-input animation pictogram from a recommendation target (that is, an input candidate). This is because if there are a plurality of anime pictograms of the same combination, it may not be possible to uniquely determine which anime pictogram and which anime pictogram are linked. Also, if the already input anime pictogram is not excluded from the recommendation target, for example, when the “flower” anime pictogram of the combination C8 is input, the “butterfly” anime pictogram is recommended, and then “butterfly” The same recommendation is repeated, such as when an anime pictogram is entered, the "Hana" anime pictogram is recommended, and when an "flower" anime pictogram is entered, the "butterfly" anime pictogram is recommended again. There is also a risk. The transmitting terminal 100a may restrict the input so that the animated pictogram that has been input once cannot be input again as another method for preventing the same recommendation from being repeated.

  Next, it is assumed that after the animated pictograph “arrow” is input and the recommendation window W21 is displayed, the animated pictograph “flower” that is not included in the input candidates of the recommendation window W21 is input. In this case, the transmitting terminal 100a determines “YES” in steps Sa3 to Sa5, but determines that step Sa7 is “NO” because the input candidate of the recommendation window W21 does not include the animated pictogram “flower”. . Therefore, the transmitting terminal 100a executes the process of step Sa9, that is, the process of displaying a recommended window W22 different from the recommended window W21 being displayed. In the recommendation window W22, only the anime pictogram “Butterfly” is displayed as input candidates because the animation pictogram linked to the input “Hana” anime pictogram is only the “Butterfly” anime pictogram.

  When only the animated picture character “butterfly” is displayed in the recommendation window W22, when the animated picture character “butterfly” is input, the transmission terminal 100a ends the recommendation by the recommendation window W22. At this time, the transmission terminal 100a deletes the recommendation window W22, and activates the recommendation window W21 that has been inactive until then. The transmitting terminal 100a continues the recommendation by the recommendation window W21 until “bow”, “heart”, “target”, and “angel” displayed as input candidates at this time are input.

  In addition, when only the “Butterfly” anime pictogram is displayed in the active recommendation window W22, when the anime pictogram displayed in the inactive recommendation window W21, for example, the “Heart” anime pictogram is input, The transmission terminal 100a switches the active recommendation window from the recommendation window W22 to the recommendation window W21. Further, the transmission terminal 100a updates the input candidates displayed on the recommendation window W21 according to the input animated pictogram (in this case, “heart”). Specifically, if an “anime” character of “heart” is input, only the animated character of “angel” is displayed as an input candidate in the recommendation window W21.

  At this time, if the animated pictogram “angel” is input, the transmitting terminal 100a ends the recommendation by the recommendation window W21. On the other hand, when the recommendation window W21 is displayed, the anime pictogram “Butterfly” which is an anime pictogram that is not displayed in the active recommendation window W21 and is included in the inactive recommendation window W22 is displayed. When input, the transmitting terminal 100a ends the recommendation by the recommendation window W22 at this point.

  Next, it is assumed that an animated pictogram “ball” that is not included in the input candidates of the recommendation window W21 is input after the animated pictogram “arrow” is input and the recommendation window W21 is displayed. Then, the transmission terminal 100a displays a new recommendation window W23 and deactivates the recommendation window W21, as in the case where the “Hana” animated pictogram is input. The recommendation window W23 includes three characters, “bat”, “heart”, and “target”, which are linked with the “ball” anime pictogram, as input candidates.

  In the case where the recommendation window W23 is active, when an animated pictograph of “heart” is input, the transmitting terminal 100a determines that the cooperation between the animated pictograph of “ball” and the animated pictograph of “heart”, that is, the combination C5 is established. to decide. Then, the transmission terminal 100a ends the recommendation by the recommendation window W23 and activates the recommendation window W21 that has been inactive.

  At this time, since the cooperation with the “heart” anime pictogram has already been established, the transmission terminal 100a excludes the input candidates for the combination using the “heart” anime pictogram already input from the recommendation window W21. Specifically, the transmission terminal 100a excludes the “heart” anime pictogram and the “angel” anime pictogram (the anime pictogram composing the combination C2) from the input candidates displayed in the recommendation window W21, and the “bow” animation. The pictogram (anime pictogram constituting the combination C1) and the “target” anime pictogram (anime pictogram constituting the combination C3) are left as input candidates.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of recommendation windows, the sender can switch the active recommendation window. Specifically, the sender performs a predetermined operation (for example, a double-tap operation) on an area where input candidates on the recommendation window are not displayed (for example, an area where the animated pictogram P1 is displayed in FIG. 7). By doing so, it is possible to deactivate the recommendation window that was active until then, and activate the recommendation window that was previously inactive.

  When the recommendation window W <b> 23 is active and the recommendation window W <b> 21 is inactive, when the sender performs an operation to switch the active recommendation window, the recommendation window W <b> 21 becomes active. When the “heart” anime pictogram is input in this state, the transmitting terminal 100a excludes the anime pictograms other than the “angel” anime pictogram from the input candidates of the recommendation window W21 in order to prompt the establishment of the combination C2.

  Note that the transmission terminal 100a may be configured to display a preview of the animation display mode at the time of cooperation according to the operation of the sender. For example, when the input candidate animation pictogram displayed in the recommendation window is pressed for a long time, the transmission terminal 100a displays a preview window as illustrated in FIG. It is possible to display what kind of animation is displayed when the pictogram is linked.

  The characteristic operation of the transmission terminal 100a is as described above. In this way, the transmission terminal 100a accepts input of characters by the user, and generates and transmits a message attached with pictographic data. When receiving the message transmitted from the transmitting terminal 100a, the receiving terminal 100b executes the following processing.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing display processing by the receiving terminal 100b. Receiving terminal 100b receives the message with pictographic data attached (step Sb1), reads the pictographic data (step Sb2), and specifies the cooperation by the animated pictograph (step Sb3). That is, the receiving terminal 100b specifies which anime pictogram and which anime pictogram are linked.

  Subsequently, the receiving terminal 100b displays a message in a predetermined display area (step Sb4). At this time, the receiving terminal 100b reads and executes the script described in the pictographic data, thereby realizing an animation display using the linked animated pictograms.

  The receiving terminal 100b is preferably configured to be able to switch whether or not to execute animation display. Specifically, the receiving terminal 100b displays a key for switching on / off of the animation display on the touch screen unit 140, and switches whether to execute the animation display according to an operation on the key. In the case where the animation display is not performed, the receiving terminal 100b may display an image described in the default image area of the pictographic data instead of the animated pictograph displayed.

  Note that since the pictographic data of this embodiment is a script or the like described in an extended block of GIF data, not only the receiving terminal 100b but also other communication terminals that do not support the animation display of this embodiment are recognized. Is possible. A communication terminal that does not support the animation display of this embodiment recognizes the pictographic data of this embodiment as mere GIF data, and displays an image described in the default image area. Since this communication terminal does not have the ability to recognize scripts, it simply ignores the script area and the comment area. The display of the message by such a communication terminal is the same as that when the receiving terminal 100b does not perform animation display.

[Modification]
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and can be implemented in other modes. The present invention can also be implemented, for example, by the modes shown in the following modifications. In addition, this invention may be implemented in the aspect which combined these some modifications.

(1) Modification of Cooperation The cooperation in the present invention is not based on a combination of pictograms and pictograms, but may be based on a combination of pictograms and text characters. That is, in the cooperation in the present invention, at least one of the characters constituting the combination may be a pictograph. When a character linked with a certain anime pictogram is a text character, the character code of the text character only needs to be described in the pictogram data instead of the ID of the linked anime pictogram. Animation display when animated pictograms and text characters are linked, for example, without changing the display position of the text characters, animated pictograms are approaching the text characters, or animated pictograms swirl around the text characters It is something to do.

  The data structure is such that the ID of the anime pictogram identifies the attribute (content provider, producer, category, etc.) by the upper m digits of the n-digit number and identifies the anime pictogram itself by the lower (nm) digits. In this case, the cooperation in the present invention can be made into a plurality of anime pictograms having specific attributes without using the anime pictograms to be linked as specific animation pictograms. In this way, it is possible to realize cooperation without specifying the anime pictogram itself. For example, it is possible to display an arbitrary animation pictogram provided by the same content provider in a predetermined manner. it can. In this case, it is sufficient that the pictogram data describes not the ID of the animation pictogram to be linked but a part of the ID of the animation pictogram to be linked (upper m digits in the above example).

  The cooperation in the present invention may be performed not by characters included in the body of an e-mail (that is, message) but by characters included in the body and characters included in the subject. Moreover, not only the character contained in the text but cooperation may be performed by the characters contained in the subject. However, when the characters included in the text and the characters included in the subject are linked, the text and the subject need to be displayed on the screen at the same time.

(2) Modification of pictogram data The pictogram data is sufficient if it describes a combination of linked anime pictograms. Therefore, the pictographic data does not have to include a script as in the above-described embodiment. For example, the script may be stored in a predetermined web server or the like. In this case, the pictograph data only needs to describe a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for downloading the script. If the receiving terminal 100b receives the pictographic data and then downloads the script with reference to this URL, it is possible to realize the same animation display as in the above-described embodiment.

  The pictographic data may not be attached to the message. For example, if the URL for downloading pictographic data is described in the message, the receiving terminal 100b can download the pictographic data with reference to the URL after receiving the message. That is, the pictographic data only needs to have some association with the message.

  Note that the fact that the script does not have to be included in the pictographic data also means that the image data displayed at the time of cooperation may not be included in the pictographic data. This is because image data displayed at the time of cooperation can be embedded in a script as described in the above-described embodiment.

(3) Modified Example of Input Processing As illustrated in FIG. 8, the input processing of the present invention is not limited to one that sequentially determines whether or not to perform a recommendation every time a character is input. For example, the input process of the present invention extracts characters included in a message at an appropriate timing, determines whether or not the extracted characters include a character to be linked, and makes a recommendation according to the determination result It may be. In this way, the characters to be linked to characters that are not directly entered by the sender (for example, characters quoted when replying to a received message or characters inserted by copy and paste) Even if it is included, it can be recognized as a character to be linked and a recommendation for animation display can be made.

(4) Modification of the recommendation window The recommendation window may be displayed not only in the active window but also in the inactive window. In this case, the active recommendation window and the inactive recommendation window are displayed so that the sender can distinguish each other by changing the background color or displaying a predetermined symbol on one of them. It is desirable.

  Also, the animated pictograms displayed in these recommendation windows, that is, input candidates, do not necessarily have to be displayed in separate windows, and may be displayed in a single window. Even in this case, if the input candidates corresponding to the respective recommendation windows are classified according to the display mode, the sender can distinguish the respective input candidates.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating another display example of the recommendation window. FIG. 14A shows a display example in which a plurality of recommendation windows Wa and Wb are displayed and the background color of the active recommendation window Wa and the inactive recommendation window Wb are made different. FIG. 14B shows the input candidates displayed in the recommendation windows Wa and Wb shown in FIG. 14A by a single recommendation window Wc, and divides each input candidate for each row. It is a display example in the case of displaying.

(5) Others The communication terminals (transmission terminal and reception terminal) of the present invention do not need to be wireless communication terminals. As long as the communication terminal of the present invention can receive a message, there is no problem even if the communication means is wired. Further, message communication does not have to be performed via a network, and may be one that communicates directly between terminals (for example, infrared communication).

  Further, the communication terminal of the present invention is not limited to a smartphone or a tablet terminal, but may be a portable game machine or a personal computer. Furthermore, although the communication terminal 100 described above is configured to integrally include the input support device of the present invention and the display unit 104, the input support device of the present invention may be configured separately from the display unit. The input support apparatus of the present invention only needs to include a display control unit that controls display by the display unit, and does not necessarily include the display unit itself.

  The present invention can be understood not only as an input support apparatus, a transmission terminal or a reception terminal, or a communication system including these, but also as a program executed by the input support apparatus or a pictogram input support method. The program can also be provided in a form recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disk, or a form that is downloaded to a computer via a network such as the Internet and can be installed and used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Communication system, 100 ... Communication terminal, 110 ... Control part, 120 ... Memory | storage part, 130 ... Communication part, 140 ... Touch screen part, 141 ... Display part, 142 ... Sensor part, 100a ... Transmission terminal, 100b ... Reception terminal , 101 ... input means, 102 ... storage means, 103, 108 ... display control means, 104, 109 ... display means, 105 ... message generation means, 106 ... transmission means, 107 ... reception means, 200 ... network

Claims (7)

Storage means for storing pictogram data describing a combination of a pictograph that displays an animation in which the position or appearance changes in a predetermined manner at the time of cooperation, and another character that cooperates with the pictograph;
Input means for inputting characters including the pictograms in a first display area for displaying a message;
Display control means for displaying characters input by the input means in the first display area and displaying candidate characters that can be input by the input means in a second display area;
The display control means includes
Using the pictographic data stored in the storage unit, when the other character is included in the character displayed in the first display area, the pictograph associated with the other character is displayed as the candidate. An input support apparatus characterized by that. The storage means
Storing the pictographic data describing the combination for each of a plurality of other characters with respect to one pictograph,
The display control means includes
When the character displayed on the first display area includes at least one of the plurality of other characters, the pictogram associated with the other character is displayed as the candidate. The input support apparatus according to 1. The storage means
Storing the pictogram data describing a plurality of the other characters with respect to one pictogram,
The display control means includes
When the first character of the plurality of other characters is included in the character displayed in the first display area, the pictogram that cooperates with the first character, and the plurality of other characters The input support device according to claim 1, wherein a second character different from the first character is displayed as the candidate. The storage means
Storing a plurality of pictogram data corresponding to the plurality of pictograms;
The display control means includes
When a plurality of other characters with different pictograms to be linked are included in the characters displayed in the first display area, the candidate pictograms are displayed in a display mode divided for each other character. The input support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input support apparatus is an input support apparatus. The display control means includes
The input support apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the pictograms already input by the input means are excluded from the candidates. To a computer accessible to a storage means for storing pictographic data describing a combination of a pictograph that displays an animation in which the position or appearance changes in a predetermined manner at the time of cooperation and another character that cooperates with the pictograph,
A first step of inputting characters including the pictograms in a first display area for displaying a message;
A second step of displaying the characters input in the first step in the first display area;
Displaying a candidate for a character that can be input in the first display area in a second display area, the character displayed in the first display area using the pictogram data as the other character Is included, the third step of displaying the pictograph associated with the other character as the candidate in the second display area is executed. A first step of inputting characters including pictographs in a first display area for displaying a message;
A second step of displaying the characters input in the first step in the first display area;
A step of displaying a candidate for a character that can be input in the first display area in the second display area, and a pictograph that displays an animation in which a position or an appearance changes in a predetermined manner at the time of cooperation; When the other character is included in the character displayed in the first display area using the pictographic data describing the combination with the other character, the candidate is selected as the candidate for the pictograph associated with the other character. And a third step of displaying the second display area in the second display area.

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