JP2015207044A - information display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a user interface that allows a user to refer to pieces of information relevant to each other and has consistent operability.SOLUTION: A DB 14 stores a plurality of types of information groups in association with each other; an input receiving part 11 detects a user action including an action target item that has become a target of an action by the user and an action intended direction indicating the direction intended by the action; a screen control part 12 displays each of the plurality of types of information groups according to a direction associated with the detected action target item and the action intended direction. Thus, bidirectional information reference to an information group to be a selection reference and a selection target information group can be achieved.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for displaying relevant information.

  With the widespread use of electronic terminals, the amount of information that must be processed by the user increases, making it difficult to select appropriate information. For example, when selecting a product in online shopping or selecting content to be auditioned on a content distribution site, it is necessary to select an item from among a large number of options.

  From such a background, there is a need for a user interface that can easily acquire appropriate information while referring to a plurality of related information. Also, terminals with various screen sizes are widespread, and it is necessary for the convenience of the user to provide a consistent interface independent of the terminals.

  As an existing technology, when selecting information from a certain information group, an interface for changing information to be displayed according to an input to the check box by separately providing a check box for information serving as a selection criterion is widely used. . By limiting the information displayed according to the input to the check box, it is possible to assist the user in obtaining appropriate information.

  Further, when an item in the list A arranged in a first direction (for example, horizontal direction) on the screen is selected, a list B related to the item is selected in a second direction (for example, vertical direction) that intersects the first direction. There is an interface to be displayed. There is also an interface for displaying the list B on a circle centering on the items of the selected list A. By displaying list A including information to be selected such as products and list B including information related to items in list A in different directions on the same screen, the items of list A with reference to list B Selection can be performed intuitively.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus that automatically displays information related to information to be displayed. Information can be collected more efficiently by displaying related information.

JP 2005-339379 A

  However, the conventional interface that changes the information to be displayed according to the input to the check box is not intuitive because the user needs to go back and forth between the area where the information is browsed and the area where the check box is arranged. There was a problem that convenience was not high. In particular, the screen display area is limited in mobile terminals, and it is difficult to fit the information display screen for displaying information and the area in which the check box is placed in the same screen. Will be provided. In that case, the user needs to perform the reciprocal operation of the information display screen and the check box screen many times. Since many stationary terminals have a wide screen display area, it may be possible to provide an interface in which information display screens and check box screens are arranged on the same screen for stationary terminals. If it is changed, a consistent interface cannot be provided to the user, which may cause confusion when used. When a check box is used, information suitable for the condition is retrieved and redisplayed every time an operation is performed on the check box, and screen transition occurs. When the screen transition occurs, the information that has been browsed until then is lost, and it is necessary to browse the displayed information again from zero.

  In addition, in a conventional interface that displays related information in a different direction, when a certain piece of information is selected, only one-way information can be output such that another group of information related to the information is displayed. When there are many types of information to be handled and the structure is related to each other, the user browses the information to be selected from the information to be the selection criterion, finds a new selection criterion from the browsing result, and further Take a thought process, such as limiting the viewing target. In other words, the user's thought is not a one-way method of selecting a selection criterion and determining information to be selected, but a new selection based on the information to be a selection target group output from the specified selection criterion. It is often done interactively, such as determining a reference. Therefore, an interface that outputs unidirectional information is not intuitive when the information structure is complicated. The same applies to the technique of Patent Document 1.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a user interface with which operability is consistent and related information can be referred to each other.

  An information display device according to the present invention includes an information storage unit that stores a plurality of types of information groups in association with each other, a display unit that displays information stored in the information storage unit, and the information displayed on the display unit An input receiving means for detecting a predetermined operation including an operation target information indicating the operation target information and an operation intention direction indicating an operation direction, and a direction corresponding to each information group, When the direction associated with the operation target information is different from the operation intention direction, information associated with the operation target information in the information group associated with the same direction as the operation intention direction is stored as the information. Display control means for reading from the means and displaying on the display means.

  In the information display device, the information group forms a hierarchical structure, and the display control means, when the direction associated with the operation target information is the same as the operation intention direction, It is characterized in that information on the hierarchy of the above is read from the information storage means and displayed on the display means.

  In the information display device, the display control unit arranges information to be displayed on the display unit in a direction associated with the information on the basis of a display position of the operation target information that causes the information to be displayed. It is characterized by being displayed.

  According to the present invention, related information can be referred to each other, and a user interface with consistent operability can be provided.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the information display apparatus in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example which represented the information stored in the database of the information display apparatus in this Embodiment with the tree structure. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the data shown in FIG. 2 in a tabular format. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the information display apparatus in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example which represented the data stored in the database in the Example by the tree structure. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the data shown in FIG. 5 in a tabular format. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen displayed in an Example. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen which expand | deployed the information item of the same kind in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen which expand | deployed the relevant information item in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen which expand | deployed the relevant information item in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen which expand | deployed the information item of the same kind in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen which selected the icon which displays detailed information in FIG.

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

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the information display device in the present embodiment.

  The information display device 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes an input receiving unit 11, a screen control unit 12, a display unit 13, and a database (DB) 14. The information display device 1 is a device that stores a plurality of types of information groups related to each other in the DB 14 and displays information in accordance with a user operation. In addition, each part with which the information display apparatus 1 is provided is good also as what is comprised by the computer provided with the arithmetic processing unit, the memory | storage device, etc., and the process of each part is performed by a program. This program is stored in a storage device included in the information display device 1, and can be recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a semiconductor memory, or provided through a network. Hereinafter, each part will be described.

  The input receiving unit 11 receives an input from a user and detects a predetermined user action. Specifically, as a predetermined user action, a selection operation, an item targeted for the selection operation and its intended direction, a slide operation, an item targeted for the slide operation, and its intended direction are detected. The selection operation and the slide operation are referred to as action types, the item subjected to the selection operation and the item subjected to the slide operation are referred to as action target items, the direction intended for the selection operation and the direction intended for the slide operation are referred to as an action intended direction. An operation other than the selection operation and the slide operation may be detected.

  Examples of the selection operation include a click operation in a laptop terminal and a touch operation in a portable terminal. Examples of the slide operation include a drag operation on a laptop terminal and a swipe operation on a portable terminal.

  The action target item is an information item displayed on the coordinate of the selected motion when the selected motion is detected as the action type, and on the coordinates at the start of the slide motion when the slide motion is detected as the action type. This is the displayed information item.

  The action intention direction is information indicating the direction of the action input by the user. In the present embodiment, an icon indicating the direction for expressing the intended direction of the user's selection operation is arranged on the information item. For example, a vertical arrow icon and a horizontal arrow icon are arranged on information items that can be selected by the user. As another example, the intended action direction may be determined based on the position on the information item that has been selected and operated (right if the right side of the information item is selected, down if the lower side is selected, etc.). .

  On the other hand, when the action type is a slide operation, the direction of the slide operation is set as the user's intended action direction.

  When the input from the user corresponds to a predetermined user action, the input reception unit 11 outputs user action information including the action type, the action target item, and the action intention direction to the screen control unit 12.

  The screen control unit 12 displays the information to be displayed side by side in a direction associated with each type of information. For example, when two types of information exist as information to be displayed, the two types of information groups are associated with the first direction (vertical direction) and the second direction (horizontal direction) and displayed on the display unit 13. Depending on the type of information to be displayed, they are displayed side by side in the vertical or horizontal direction.

  Further, the screen control unit 12 changes the information to be displayed according to the user action detected by the input receiving unit 11. For example, when the action type is a selection operation and the direction corresponding to the action target item and the action intention direction are the same, the same type of information as the action target item is expanded and displayed. When the direction corresponding to the action target item is different from the intended action direction, another type of information related to the action target item is expanded and displayed. When displaying information, the information is expanded in a direction (vertical direction or horizontal direction) corresponding to the information. When the action type is a slide action, if the direction corresponding to the action target item is the same as the intended action direction, the same type of information item as the action target item that could not be displayed on the screen is moved to the screen. To display.

  The display unit 13 displays information according to the control of the screen control unit 12.

  The DB 14 stores a plurality of types of information displayed by the information display device 1 in association with each other.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example in which information stored in the DB 14 is represented by a tree structure. In the example shown in the figure, two types of information tree structures are stored in association with each other: a tree structure having nodes B and C with node A as a root and a tree structure having nodes E and F with node D as a root. The dotted line in the figure indicates that the two nodes are related to each other.

  FIG. 3 shows the data shown in FIG. 2 in a tabular format. The data shown in FIG. 3 has a list number, node number, node content, parent node number, child node number, and related node number. The list number holds the number assigned to the tree structure to which the node belongs. In the example of FIGS. 2 and 3, 1 is assigned to the tree structure having the node A as a root, and 2 is assigned to the tree structure having the node D as a root. The node number is an ID for uniquely identifying the node. The node content is information displayed on the display unit 13. The parent node number is the node number that becomes the parent of the node, and the node number on the root side of the arrow indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2 is entered. The child node number is a list that holds node numbers that are children of the node, and the node number on the tip side of the arrow indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2 is entered. The related node number is a list that holds node numbers related to the node, and the node number connected with a dotted line in FIG.

  Although an example in which the data stored in the DB 14 has a tree structure has been described here, a plurality of types of related lists may be stored.

  Information stored in the DB 14 is associated with a direction for each type. For example, information belonging to a tree structure having node A as a root is associated in the vertical direction, and information belonging to a tree structure having node D as a root is associated in the horizontal direction. The screen control unit 12 displays information on the nodes A, B, and C side by side in the vertical direction, and displays information on the nodes D, E, and F side by side in the horizontal direction. When the information display device 1 is activated, the nodes A and D, which are the roots of each tree structure, are displayed as a two-dimensional array.

  Next, the operation of the information display device 1 in the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the information display device 1 in the present embodiment. In the following description, the data shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are stored in the DB 14, and the nodes A, B, and C are associated with the vertical direction, and the nodes D, E, and F are associated with the horizontal direction. To do. In addition, when the information display device 1 is activated, only the nodes A and D are displayed as a two-dimensional array. It is assumed that a vertical direction icon and a horizontal direction icon are assigned to each node displayed on the display unit 13.

  First, the input receiving unit 11 waits for an input of a predetermined user action from the user (step S11). When the input reception unit 11 detects a predetermined user action (YES in step S11), the input reception unit 11 outputs user action information to the screen control unit 12.

  The screen control unit 12 determines whether the action type is a selection operation (step S12). If the action type is not a selection operation (NO in step S12), the process proceeds to step S20 to perform a slide operation process.

  When the action type is a selection operation (YES in step S12), it is determined whether or not the arrangement direction of the action target item matches the action intention direction (step S13). If it demonstrates using a specific example, when a user selects the vertical direction icon provided to the node A displayed on the display part 13, the node A will become an action object item. In addition, since node A is associated with the vertical direction, it is determined that the arrangement direction of the action target item matches the action intention direction. When the user selects the horizontal icon given to node A, it is determined that the arrangement direction of the action target item and the action intention direction do not match. In another example, when the user selects the horizontal direction icon assigned to the node D, it is determined that the arrangement direction of the action target item matches the action intention direction. When the user selects the vertical direction icon assigned to the node D, it is determined that the arrangement direction of the action target item does not match the action intention direction.

  If it is determined in step S13 that they match (YES in step S13), it is determined whether an information item of the same type as the action target item has already been expanded (step S14). (NO in step S14), information items of the same type are expanded and displayed in the direction associated with the type (step S15). If already expanded (YES in step S14), they are expanded and displayed. The information item is stored (step S16). To explain using a specific example, when only the node A and the node D are displayed when the information display device 1 is activated, when the selection operation is performed on the vertical icon of the node A, the screen control unit 12 Reads information on nodes B and C, which are child nodes of node A, from DB 14 and displays nodes B and C side by side in the action intended direction (vertical direction) starting from the display position of node A. On the other hand, if the nodes B and C are displayed in the vertical direction starting from the node A, that is, if they are already expanded and displayed, the nodes B and C are not displayed.

  If it is determined in step S13 that they do not match (NO in step S13), it is determined whether or not the information item associated with the action target item is expanded and displayed (step S17). (NO in step S17), the associated information item is expanded and displayed in the direction associated with the information item (step S18). If already expanded (YES in step S17), it is expanded and displayed. The information item thus stored is stored (step S19). If it demonstrates using a specific example, when the node E and F relevant to the node B are not displayed, when selection operation is performed with respect to the horizontal direction icon of the node B, the screen control part 12 will be a node from DB14. The information of nodes E and F, which are related nodes of B, is read, and the nodes E and F are displayed side by side in the intended action direction (lateral direction) starting from the display position of node B. On the other hand, if the nodes E and F are displayed side by side starting from the node B, that is, if they are already expanded and displayed, the nodes E and F are hidden.

  If it is determined in step S12 that the action type is a slide operation (NO in step S12), it is determined whether or not there is a subsequent element to be displayed in the intended action direction, that is, the slide direction (step S20). If it exists (YES in step S20), the subsequent element is displayed (step S21).

  By repeating the above processing, the user can acquire information while referring to a plurality of types of information.

<Example>
Next, an example will be described in which the information display device 1 according to the present embodiment is used to identify a device that causes a network failure.

  FIG. 5 shows an example in which the data stored in the DB 14 in this embodiment is represented by a tree structure. The DB 14 stores data of a cause tree structure having a node describing cause information and a symptom tree structure having nodes describing symptom information. For a symptom caused by a certain cause, the cause node and the symptom node are associated with each other. For example, the cause of a tree-structured router node is associated with a symptom that an IP cannot be acquired or a lamp abnormality that is caused when a failure occurs in the router. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the data shown in FIG. 5 in a tabular format. The user acquires case information of past similar troubles while referring to the cause / symptom information stored in the DB 14 and repairs the failure.

  When trouble occurs in the Internet at the user's home and the information display apparatus 1 of this embodiment is activated, the information items in the upper hierarchy of the cause tree structure are expanded and output in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. In this example, the cause is associated with the vertical direction and the symptom is associated with the horizontal direction. The expanded lower level information items are displayed indented. 7 and subsequent figures, the dotted line in the figure indicates the screen display area of the display unit 13 of the information display device 1. Although the symptom information is not displayed in FIG. 7 for the convenience of the screen display area, the information items in the upper level of the symptom information are expanded in the horizontal direction. In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming a mobile terminal such as a smartphone, but a stationary terminal such as a PC can also be used with a similar interface.

  Each information item displayed in the screen display area accepts a selection operation and a slide operation in two directions, as an action. In FIG. 7, when a downward arrow below each information item is touched, a downward selection operation is detected, and when a right arrow on the right side of each information item is touched, a right selection operation is detected. When a swipe is performed on the information item, it is detected as a slide operation in the swipe direction.

  When a downward selection operation is detected for the cause information item displayed in FIG. 7, the information item in the lower hierarchy of the selected information item is expanded or stored. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed after the user touches the down arrow of the information item described as PC in FIG. In FIG. 8, the information items in the lower hierarchy of the information item described as PC are indented and expanded. The information item described as a router displayed under the information item described as PC in FIG. 7 is outside the screen display area in FIG. By sliding the information item displayed in FIG. 8 upward, information items outside the screen display area can be moved and displayed within the screen display area. In the state of FIG. 8, when the down arrow of the information item described as PC is touched, the expanded and displayed information item is stored and the state returns to the state of FIG.

  On the other hand, when a selection operation in the right direction is detected with respect to the cause information item displayed in FIG. 7, the information item related to the selected information item is expanded or stored. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed after the user touches the right arrow of the information item described as the router in FIG. In FIG. 9, the information item related to the information item described as the router is expanded in the horizontal direction with reference to the position corresponding to the information item described as the router. In FIG. 9 and subsequent figures, symptom information items are hatched to distinguish them from cause information items. In FIG. 9, the information item described as being unable to acquire IP is not displayed because it is expanded outside the screen display area, but the screen is displayed when the user swipes the information item described as abnormal lamp horizontally. Information items developed outside the display area can be moved and displayed within the screen display area. As for the slide operation, the screen control similar to the selection operation when the direction is different may be performed when the direction associated with the information item is different from the intended action direction. Specifically, when the cause information item displayed in FIG. 7 (corresponding to the vertical direction) is slid in the horizontal direction, the related information items are expanded in the horizontal direction.

  In FIG. 9, when the downward arrow of the information item described as lamp abnormality is touched, the information item related to the lamp abnormality is expanded downward. FIG. 10 shows an example of a screen in which information items of causes related to lamp abnormality are expanded.

  Subsequently, when the right arrow of the information item described as lamp abnormality is touched in FIG. 10, the information items in the lower hierarchy of the lamp abnormality are indented and expanded in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. The cause information item expanded outside the screen display area can be displayed in the screen display area by swiping in the horizontal direction.

  By repeating the above operation, the user can search the tree structure of the cause / symptom stored in the DB 14 bidirectionally and acquire necessary information. Detailed information about the information item is displayed by touching an icon arranged on the right side of the information item. FIG. 12 is an example of a screen after touching an icon arranged on the right side of the information item described as a router on the screen of FIG. In the operation of displaying detailed information, the input receiving unit 11 detects a touch on an icon as a case information output action, and the screen control unit 12 outputs case information associated with a node that is a target item of the case information output action. It is done by doing.

  In the present embodiment, the information is described as being arranged two-dimensionally on the display screen of the display unit 13, but the information may be displayed in a virtual three-dimensional space. In this case, the direction corresponding to the information is made to correspond to the virtual three-dimensional space.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a plurality of types of information groups are stored in the DB 14 in association with each other, and the action target item and the action intention that the input receiving unit 11 has been the target of the action by the user. By detecting a user action including an action intention direction indicating a direction to be performed, and displaying a plurality of types of information groups according to the direction associated with the detected action target item and the action intention direction. Thus, bidirectional information reference between the information group serving as the selection criterion and the selection target information group can be realized. Specifically, when the direction associated with the action target item is different from the action intended direction, information associated with the action target item is read from the DB 14 and displayed side by side in the action intended direction, and is associated with the action target item. If the action direction and the action intention direction are the same, the information below the action target item is read from the DB 14 and displayed side by side in the action intention direction.

  According to the present embodiment, when information read from the DB 14 is displayed side by side, information can be displayed bidirectionally without screen transition by using the display position of the action target item as a reference. Furthermore, a consistent interface can be provided in various terminals.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information display apparatus 11 ... Input reception part 12 ... Screen control part 13 ... Display part 14 ... DB

Claims (3)

Information storage means for storing a plurality of types of information groups in association with each other;
Display means for displaying information stored in the information storage means;
An input receiving unit that inputs an operation on the information displayed on the display unit and detects a predetermined operation including operation target information indicating the information to be operated and an operation intention direction indicating an operation direction;
When a direction is associated with each information group, and the direction associated with the operation target information is different from the operation intention direction, the information group associated with the same direction as the operation intention direction is Display control means for reading information associated with operation target information from the information storage means and displaying the information on the display means;
An information display device comprising: The information group forms a hierarchical structure,
When the direction associated with the operation target information is the same as the operation intention direction, the display control unit reads information on a layer below the operation target information from the information storage unit and causes the display unit to display the information. The information display device according to claim 1.   The display control unit displays information to be displayed on the display unit side by side in a direction associated with the information on the basis of a display position of the operation target information that causes the information to be displayed. The information display device according to claim 1 or 2.

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