JP3296365B2 - Hypertext model display device and display method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hypertext model for visualizing a static structure of an electronic data model by combining a graphical display form (browser) and a dynamic time attribute (temporal context). The present invention relates to a display device and a display method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A hypertext is a text having a hierarchical structure or a network structure. The basic unit of information is a fragment of a document called a node, and each node is related by a link. It can navigate related nodes. In such a hypertext system, due to the complexity of the model structure, the user who uses the information navigates through what process, and sees the information on which side in the hypertext information space. The problem of not knowing was often encountered.

[0003] Such a problem is called the "stray-child problem", for which various approaches have been taken to provide a temporal context in the representation of the navigation process as one solution to this problem. (ACM Transactionson Information Systems, Vo
l 7, No.1, January 1989, pp58-84 Context and Orientat
ion in Hypermedia Networks (Kenneth Utting and Nico
le Yankelovich (Brown Univ.)). There are two main ways to do this.

[0004] A temporal context is provided in a window separate from a browser in which a data model structure is visualized.
These have the concept of "history" or "path", which are represented linearly along the time axis, or the reference trajectory is two-dimensionally visualized as a partial tree structure.

[0005] A time context is displayed as one of a plurality of attributes in a browser that visualizes the data model structure. Time is treated in the same manner as other attributes, and small characters are displayed below icons. Label it.

[0006]

However, in the above method, although two windows can be displayed side by side by a multi-window system, it cannot be said that the two windows are integrated. When looking over, there is a problem that the recognizability of the time attribute is low, and it is difficult to recognize a change in time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem. In order to effectively search a complicated hypertext structure and solve a user's lost child problem, a hypertext model structure is fused with time information. The purpose of the present invention is to provide hypertext system users with integrated information by visualizing them on the same two-dimensional plane, and to facilitate understanding of the contents of the hypertext system.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a system having a hypertext model as a data expression model and a means for graphically displaying a tree structure / net structure of a hypertext model on a two-dimensional plane.
As shown in FIG. 1, a time attribute adding means 1a for adding a time attribute to node data, an icon generating means 1b for recognizing the time attribute added to the node data and generating an icon according to the time attribute value. Layout generating means 1c for generating the structure of the hypertext model based on the generated icons and link data, and display means 4 for displaying the generated structure, and the display form is changed according to the change of the time attribute. It is characterized by

[0009]

According to the present invention, time information such as a reference time and a node creation date is added to a node which is a unit of information, and a node is displayed according to the time information when reading and displaying hypertext data. By generating and displaying the display form of the icon, the user can visually grasp the use state of each displayed node, solve the problem of getting lost in the hypertext information space having a complicated structure, and It can also be used as information for recognizing the degree of use of and deleting unnecessary nodes.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of the present invention, and FIG.
Is a diagram illustrating a browser generation process, FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating addition of a time attribute to a node, FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an icon size determination algorithm, FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a basic browser, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a browser generated according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a control device, 1a is a time attribute adding means, 1b is an icon generating means, 1c is a layout generating means, 2 is a main storage device, 2a is hypertext data, 3 is an input device, 4 is a display device, 5 Is an external storage device.

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a hypertext model stored in an external storage device 5 is read and stored in a main storage device 2, and the hypertext model is fetched as input information. An icon having a size corresponding to the time attribute of the node is created, and two-dimensionally arranged by the layout generation unit 1c, thereby generating a browser as output information. The browser generated here is displayed in a form recognizable by the user on the display device 4 such as a bitmap display.

The hypertext model referred to includes:
There are two elements, “node information” and “link information” that defines the relationship between nodes.

A node is a basic unit of information. In the present invention, a time attribute is added as shown in FIG. As the time attribute, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the latest reference time (time) of the node information, the generation date of the node, and the like are given. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, in a system in which information is shared by a plurality of users, the latest reference time (time) when viewed as a whole user, or the user A, user B, etc. The latest reference time (time) for each user is added. of course,
As time attributes, in addition to the above, use time intervals,
You may make it select and add as needed, such as the integrated value of the referred time.

As shown in FIG. 2, when such a hypertext model is read, the time information added to the node is passed to the icon generating means 1b. The icon generating means 1b acquires an attribute value relating to time from the node information, calculates an icon size suitable for display from the information, and generates an icon according to the obtained icon size, as described later. Next, a calculation for arranging these on a two-dimensional plane is performed from the generated icons and link information, the layout is determined, and the structure of the hypertext model is a browser in which the icons are connected by graphical lines and arranged. , And the browser is visualized by being displayed on a bitmap display.

FIG. 4 shows an algorithm for determining an icon size according to a time attribute. First, node information is read from the hypertext model, a time attribute value is read therefrom (step 11), and the current date and time are set to cu.
rrent time, max icon size max, min icon size min, shrink rate rate, unit of time you want to identify
are set as intervals (steps 12 to
14). Next, when the time attribute is the reference time (reference tim)
e) or the creation date
If eference time, Rate ← 1 ー ｛rate × ((current time−creation time) / i
If nterval｝ creation time, then Rate ← 1 ー ｛rate × ((current time−creation date) / i
The display magnification (Rate) is calculated by nterval｝ (steps 15 to 15).
17). Note that there are several stages of display magnification, and if five stages of display are possible, the reduction ratio (rate) = 0.2, and if ten stages, rate = 0.1, and the node time attribute The value, the current time, the three time units you want to identify, and the rate
Then, the display magnification (Rate) of the icon is calculated. In this algorithm, the display magnification increases as the reference time and generation date are closer to the present, and the display magnification decreases as the reference time and generation date move away from the present. Become.

Next, the value of max.times.Rate is set as the icon size (step 18). If the icon size is smaller than min, the icon is set to min. If the icon size is smaller than min, the icon size of the calculated icon size is set. Is generated. That is, the maximum icon size multiplied by the calculated reduction ratio becomes the icon size to be displayed. At this time, the icon has the minimum display size, and if the calculated size becomes smaller, Displayed with the minimum icon size. An icon having a size corresponding to the calculated icon size is generated, and the process ends (steps 19 to 21).

As described above, as the icon size, the default values of the maximum display size and the minimum display size are determined in advance, and within this range, the display size of the icon according to the value of the time change is determined.

The unit of time (interval) to be identified is
The time interval to be recognized based on the change in the icon size, which also depends on the nature of time. For example, if the reference time is for reading the information space of the hypertext, the interval needs to be set to about 10 minutes. However, the node generation time may be in units of one day or more.

FIG. 5 shows a static structure of the hypertext model. On the other hand, FIG. 6 is an example in which the display of the time attribute is integrated, and the meaning differs depending on what “time” represents. For example, if the time represents “reference time”, it is possible to read what path the reader has followed and what kind of information the reader has recently referred to. In addition, if it is the “generation time” of the information, it is possible to graphically know which information in the hypertext model was created and when, and to know the process of growth of the model.

In the above-described embodiment, the icon size is changed according to the time attribute value. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The display color and the brightness of the icon are changed according to the time attribute value. The display form may be changed so that the change can be visually recognized according to the time attribute value, such as changing the shape of the icon.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the time attribute value is added to the node, and the icon displayed on the browser is visually changed according to the time attribute value. You can visually grasp the status,
It is extremely effective in solving the problem of lost children, etc., which was a conventional problem, and it is possible to use the information of each node to understand the current usage of the node and to use it as information to delete unnecessary nodes. Thus, the memory can be effectively used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a browser generation process.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating addition of a time attribute to a node.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an icon size determination algorithm.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a basic browser.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a browser generated according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control device, 1a ... Time attribute addition means, 1b ... Icon generation means, 1c ... Layout generation means, 2 ... Main storage device, 2a ... Hypertext data, 3 ... Input device, 4
... Display device, 5 ... External storage device.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A hypertext model display device having a hypertext model as a data expression model and displaying a tree structure or a net structure of the hypertext model on a screen, an attribute adding means for adding an attribute to node data, Icon generating means for generating an icon in a display form according to the following, and layout generating means for generating a structure of the hypertext model based on the generated icon and link data, wherein the generated structure is displayed. Hypertext model display device. 2. A hypertext model display device having a hypertext model as a data expression model and displaying a tree structure or a net structure of the hypertext model on a screen, a time attribute adding means for adding a time attribute to node data. An icon generating means for generating an icon having a display form according to a time attribute; and a layout generating means for generating a structure of a hypertext model based on the generated icon and link data, and displaying the generated structure. A hypertext model display device characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. A hypertext model display method having a hypertext model as a data expression model and displaying a tree structure or a net structure of the hypertext model on a screen, wherein an attribute is added to the node data, and the display according to the attribute is performed. A hypertext model display method comprising: generating an icon of a form; generating a structure of a hypertext model from the generated icon and link data; and displaying the generated structure. 4. A hypertext model display method having a hypertext model as a data expression model and displaying a tree structure or a net structure of the hypertext model on a screen, wherein a time attribute is added to node data, and the time attribute is added to the node data. A hypertext model display method, comprising: generating an icon having a display form, generating a structure of a hypertext model using the generated icon and link data, and displaying the generated structure.