JP4782731B2 - Display device and method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for displaying a schedule table such as a program table, and more particularly to an apparatus for extracting and displaying a part of the schedule table.

  In recent years, with the spread of digital broadcasting, a wide variety of programs have been broadcast. In addition, with the spread of electronic program guides (hereinafter abbreviated as EPG), it is possible to confirm the schedule of programs to be broadcast in the future on a television screen. Furthermore, with the widespread use of hard disks and DVDs, it is becoming possible to easily record programs.

  Under such circumstances, conventionally, various techniques have been proposed for supporting that a user can easily select a desired program from many broadcast programs. For example, there is a system that extracts a user's preference regarding a television program based on the contents of reserved recording on a hard disk or the like and a browsing history of the program, and recommends a program that meets the user's preference among programs to be broadcast in the future. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). An apparatus for selecting a program desired by a user using information on whether or not a recorded program has been browsed has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Furthermore, in order to make it easy for the user to browse the EPG, a method of displaying the broadcast time and channel in a tabular format has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

There has also been proposed a method of determining programs that should be preferentially displayed in the program table and displaying those programs efficiently (see, for example, Patent Documents 4 and 5). Furthermore, a method for determining these priorities using viewing history is also disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 6).
JP-A-11-164217 JP 2000-253325 A Japanese Patent No. 28388892 JP 2002-94893 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-23118 JP-A-9-83891

  However, the above conventional technique has a problem that it is not considered to be used in a device having a small display area such as a mobile phone. Therefore, for example, many operations are forced to find a desired program from the program guide.

Generally, in a portable device such as a mobile phone, since the screen size is limited, it is necessary to extract and present only a portion necessary for the user. In a cellular phone, the display screen size is 240 dots × 320 dots, and a display size of 2 to 3 inches is standard. In general, nine lines of 10 characters per line are generally displayed on the screen size. In addition, the font size can be reduced and a maximum of 380 characters can be displayed, but the restrictions are greater than in a home display. Therefore, in order to display program information for a small screen such as a mobile phone, a display device different from that for a large screen such as a home display is required.

  In addition, since terminals such as mobile phones are always connected to a communication network, when the user does not intend, the provision of information using e-mail or local radio, information according to the position is asynchronously performed. May be provided. Even in such a case, when the user is browsing the program guide or the like, it is necessary to display the program guide or the like without disturbing the browsing and to be able to check the information that has been distributed. For example, when a user is checking a program guide for performing a scheduled recording of a TV program outdoors on a mobile phone, if there is an incoming mail on the user's mobile phone, to check the content of the email, It is necessary to erase the currently displayed program guide from the screen and change to a mode for checking e-mails. Even if the reservation recording operation is performed halfway after confirming the contents of the mail, the program guide must be displayed again. In this way, in a terminal such as a mobile phone, in order to place importance on portability by the user, the physical size of the screen to be displayed must be reduced. Browsing) is difficult on one screen at the same time.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and even on a small screen such as a mobile phone, necessary information can be browsed immediately from a large schedule table such as a program table. And it aims at providing the display apparatus which can browse simultaneously the delivered information, such as an e-mail, without the browsing being disturbed.

In order to achieve the above object, a display device according to the present invention is a display device that displays information of a table that is a collection of cells specified by row numbers and column numbers, and relates to display for each of the cells. First priority determining means for determining priority, and matrix determination for determining a row and column including cells having high priority determined by the first priority determining means from among the rows and columns of the table Means, a table display means for processing and displaying a portion including a cell having a high priority among the determined rows and columns, and an information acquisition means for acquiring information via a communication network. The table display means combines the cells included in the table to be displayed and the adjacent cells, calculates the priority for display for each combined cell , and obtains the information at the location of the calculated low priority cell. Information obtained by means And displaying by overlapping, select the cell that displays the information layout and the layout of the cells together adjacent cells when displaying information acquired by the information acquiring unit, the location of the selected cell And displaying the information in a superimposed manner .

  As a result, since the rows and columns including the cells with high priority are displayed in a table format, the user can check the priority of the cells while checking other cells belonging to the same row and column without performing a troublesome search operation. It is possible to search and browse high cells immediately and intuitively, and the communication information sent asynchronously is displayed overlaid on the low priority cells, so the program table etc. on the terminal such as a mobile phone Even when information is distributed via the communication network while browsing the information, the distributed information can be browsed at the same time without obstructing browsing of the program guide and the like.

  The present invention can be realized not only as such a display device, but also as a display method, as a program that causes a computer to function as a display device, or as a computer-readable recording that records the program. It can also be realized as a medium.

  According to the display device of the present invention, it is possible to quickly view necessary information from a large schedule table such as a program table even on a small screen such as a mobile phone, and the browsing is hindered. In addition, the distributed information such as e-mail can be browsed at the same time.

  That is, according to the display device according to the present invention, a part necessary for the user is displayed in a tabular form. Therefore, desired information can be browsed immediately and intuitively without performing a troublesome display operation. And even in a display device equipped with only a small display area such as a portable terminal, necessary information such as program information is efficiently presented to the user. Program selection can be performed by operation. In addition, even when information is distributed via a communication network while viewing program information, information is displayed superimposed on a low priority program, which prevents viewing of program information. The user can browse the distributed information and the program information at the same time.

  As described above, the present invention is a display device that is effective for mobile phones, home televisions, and the like that must display relatively large information on a display screen, such as a program guide, and its practical value is Extremely high.

  A display device according to the present invention is a display device that displays information of a table that is a collection of cells specified by a row number and a column number, and has a first priority for determining a display priority for each cell. A degree determining means, a matrix determining means for determining a row and a column including cells having a high priority determined by the first priority determining means from among the rows and columns of the table, a determined row and Among the columns, it comprises a table display means for processing and displaying a portion including cells with high priority in one table, and an information acquisition means for acquiring information via a communication network, the table display means, Control is performed so that communication information, which is information acquired by the information acquisition means, is displayed at a location of a cell having a low priority among cells included in a table to be displayed. As a result, since the rows and columns including the cells with high priority are displayed in a table format, the user can check the priority of the cells while checking other cells belonging to the same row and column without performing a troublesome search operation. High cells can be found and browsed immediately and intuitively. And since the communication information acquired from the outside is displayed superimposed on the low priority cell among the cells included in the table to be displayed, when viewing information such as the program table on a terminal such as a mobile phone Even when information is distributed via the communication network, the distributed information can be browsed at the same time without obstructing browsing of the program guide or the like.

  Here, it is preferable that the priority determination means determines the priority based on a viewing history or a recording history of a program by a user of the display device. Accordingly, for example, since a program that has been viewed or recorded in the past with high frequency is preferentially displayed, the user can easily find an interesting program.

  The table display means may display the program table so that a high priority program is displayed differently from other programs, and the cell contains program information indicating the contents of the program. Included, the table display means may display the program table so that the program information of the high priority program is displayed in more detail than the program information of the low priority program. As a result, the program information is efficiently compressed and displayed on a small-sized screen, so that the user can easily find a program with a high priority and confirm the adjacent program with a low priority while giving priority to the program. High-level programs can be confirmed in more detail.

  The display device further includes program guide storage means for storing a program guide relating to a program broadcast in the past, and the priority determination means relates to a previously broadcasted program stored in the program guide storage means. By comparing the program guide with the program guide for programs to be broadcast in the future, it is judged whether or not there is a change in the program corresponding to the same time zone and channel, and the priority of the program in which the change has occurred May be determined higher. As a result, new programs and special programs are preferentially displayed, and the user is saved from the trouble of searching for new programs and special programs.

  The program guide storage means stores the program guide for at least two weeks ago, and the priority determination means for the programs corresponding to the same time zone and channel for two weeks ago, one week ago and this week. By comparing program schedules, it is preferable to determine the priority of this week's program low for programs that are the same two weeks ago and this week, even if the program is one week ago and this week is different. . As a result, when a special program provided temporarily is returned to the normal program in the next week, it is avoided that the program is mistakenly handled as a new program.

  Here, the information acquired by the information acquisition means has a two-dimensional display shape, and the table display means has a shape close to the two-dimensional display shape of the information among the low priority cells. The information may be displayed on a cell having the same. Moreover, the said table | surface display means may display the said information on several adjacent cells with low priority among the cells contained in the table | surface to display. Thus, when information such as an image is distributed, the information such as the image is displayed in a state where the layout (aspect ratio) is maintained. Moreover, even if it is a big message, information is displayed on a schedule table, without covering up a cell with high priority.

  The information acquisition means may acquire an e-mail transmitted to a user of the display device as the information, the schedule table is a timetable of transportation, and the cell It is a frame indicating a departure time corresponding to a combination of a departure time zone and a destination of a transportation facility, and the priority determination means determines the priority based on a use history of the transportation facility by a user of the display device. May be.

  Further, when a cell included in the displayed table is selected, the table display means may display a pop-up menu indicating an operation instruction related to the cell in an overlapping manner on the table. As a result, the user can immediately perform the next necessary operation on the selected cell.

  The table display means may display an icon indicating the position of the cell together with the table when a cell having a high priority that is not included in the displayed table exists in the schedule table. Thus, the user can know that there is a cell with high priority that is not displayed on the screen and the approximate position thereof, and can easily access the cell that is not displayed on the screen.

  In addition, the schedule table is schedule information indicating a user's schedule, and the first priority determination unit includes the contents input to each cell constituting the schedule table, the input user, and the number of times the schedule is confirmed. The priority may be determined based on at least one of the number of times the schedule is changed. As a result, the same effect as that of the program schedule and timetable can be obtained for the personal schedule chart.

  Further, the table display means may further display the entire schedule table in an aspect indicating which part of the schedule table the displayed table corresponds to, or the table display means may receive a message from a user. In accordance with the instruction, cells having a high priority among the cells included in the displayed table may be selected while being sequentially moved, and the selected cells may be displayed in a manner different from other cells. Accordingly, the user can easily know which position in the entire schedule table corresponds to the location displayed on the screen, and can select and switch only high priority cells at high speed.

  The cell includes program information indicating the contents of the program, and the table display means includes a program information detail level changing unit that changes the detail level of the program information displayed in the cell. The display means may display the communication information in a free area generated by the change of the detail level of the program information by the program information detail level changing unit. At this time, for example, when the empty area exists in a plurality of cells, the table display means displays the communication information in the empty area of the low priority cell determined by the first priority determining means. When the empty area exists in a plurality of cells, it is preferable to display the communication information in the plurality of cells. Thereby, for example, when an interruption occurs due to an incoming communication information such as an e-mail, it is possible to read the e-mail while browsing the outline of the program.

  Further, the display device further includes a scroll instruction input unit that receives an instruction to scroll the schedule table, and the table display based on a direction or amount of the scroll when the scroll instruction input unit receives the instruction. Display position change determining means for determining whether or not to change the display position of the communication information displayed by the means on the screen, the table display means according to the instruction received by the scroll instruction input means. The table display means may change the display position according to the determination result and display the communication information when it is determined that the display position is changed by the display position change determination means. Good. At this time, when the scroll instruction input unit receives the instruction, the display position change determination unit is configured such that the scroll direction or amount is a direction or amount for displaying the information of the cell hidden by the communication information. In some cases, it is preferable to determine that the display position of the communication information on the screen is not changed. Thereby, it is automatically determined that the scrolling operation enables browsing of cells hidden by the display of communication information such as e-mail and enabling browsing of cells that are not displayed on the screen, The operation burden on the user is reduced.

  In addition, the display device further includes a display selection input unit that receives selection of communication information displayed by the table display unit, and when the display selection input unit receives the selection, the selected communication information is displayed at that time. Display position enlargement determining means for determining that the display area is enlarged from the display area being displayed, and determining the enlarged display area, wherein the table display means is provided by the display position enlargement determining means. The communication information may be displayed in the determined display area. At this time, it is preferable that the display position enlargement determining means determines an area including a cell having a low priority determined by the first priority determining means as the enlarged display area. As a result, when the amount of communication information such as an electronic mail is large, the display location can be expanded and the communication information can be glimpsed with a simple operation.

The display device further includes a program relevance calculating unit that calculates a relevance between the communication information acquired by the information acquiring unit and each cell of the program guide, and a relevance calculated by the program relevance calculating unit. Second priority determining means for determining a priority for displaying the program information of each cell based on the degree, and the table display means has a low priority determined by the second priority determining means The communication information may be displayed over the cell. At this time, it is preferable that the second priority determination unit determines a lower priority than a cell having a high relevance level for cells around the cell having a high relevance level calculated by the relevance level calculation unit. . For example, when the communication information is music information related to a predetermined program, the program relevance calculation means is high for a cell of a program related to the music information acquired by the information acquisition means. It is preferable that the degree of association is calculated, and the table display means displays the communication information in cells around a program cell to which the music information is related. As a result, when the program and communication information acquired from the outside are related, the communication information is displayed in a cell close to the program, so that the related program and communication information can be displayed without performing a special operation. You can view it simultaneously on one screen.

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

  When displaying information according to time, such as a schedule table represented by a program table or timetable, it is better for the user to view the time relationship with respect to the whole at a glance. it can. Therefore, the program guide and timetable are often displayed in a table format. On the other hand, when displaying a program that the user wants to view preferentially according to the user's viewing history, etc., it is also possible to display the program time, channel, and program content in text format as shown in FIG. It is. However, when determining the context of the broadcast time of a program and whether or not the presented program is the same channel, it cannot be determined unless the time information and channel information of each program is confirmed. In this way, in comparison with displaying only the program information in the text format, by displaying it in the table format as shown in FIG. 5, information such as the order relationship in which the programs are broadcast and whether or not they are in the same channel can be obtained. It is possible to make a judgment at first glance. Note that hatched portions in the figure correspond to special color display, reverse display, or the like, and indicate programs that the user wants to preferentially view.

  However, when a recommended program or the like is displayed in a table format, depending on each part (cell) in the table, many unnecessary cells may be included. For example, in the program guide, it may be necessary to display even programs that are not of interest to the user. Therefore, in the present embodiment, an apparatus for efficiently displaying information by displaying a high priority program such as a recommended program in a table format and processing the contents of a cell is provided.

  Embodiments 1 to 8 of the present invention will be described below. Here, the specific example of the invention according to the claims corresponds to the program distribution system of the third to eighth embodiments. The first and second embodiments relate to a program distribution system consisting only of the basic parts of the program distribution systems of the third to eighth embodiments, that is, a display device having a configuration excluding information acquisition means in the claims. It is. Therefore, the first and second embodiments are for explaining a functional part (schedule table display function) common to the third to eighth embodiments. Hereinafter, Embodiments 1 to 8 will be described in order.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to the first embodiment. This program distribution system is a system that distributes a program, a program table as a schedule table, etc. to a portable information terminal via a broadcast wave or a communication network, and includes a viewing history external storage unit 101, a program table external storage unit 102, a viewing history The storage unit 103, the program guide storage unit 104, the display priority program selection unit 105, the display time zone determination unit 106, the display channel determination unit 107, and the program guide display unit 108 are configured. The components 103 to 108 are modules provided in a portable information terminal such as a mobile phone. The program table is an example of a table that is a collection of cells specified by row numbers and column numbers.

  The viewing history external storage unit 101 is a hard disk, a computer device, or the like in which a user's program viewing history is stored, and the history of the user's viewing of a program by a television or a recording device is stored in a format as shown in FIG. Has been. In FIG. 2, for example, it is shown that a program of the “quiz” genre called “Karakuri TV” of 7:00 to 7:55 on 104 channels was viewed on July 2 for 45 minutes. In this way, it is possible to extract user preferences from the accumulated viewing history using statistical processing.

  The program table external storage unit 102 is a storage device in which information related to programs broadcast in the past, programs currently being broadcast, and programs scheduled to be broadcast in the future is stored. The stored location may be a server, a database of a broadcasting station, a personal hard disk in the home, or the like.

  The viewing history storage unit 103 selects a storage history required when selecting a program from the viewing history stored in the viewing history external storage unit 101, for example, a semiconductor memory in a mobile phone Etc., etc. This viewing history accumulating unit 103, for example, browses every week whether a user often watches a quiz program or an animation program, or often watches a program in which a certain performer appears. Information such as the presence of a program is extracted from the viewing history of the viewing history external storage unit 101 and stored.

  The program guide storage unit 104 is a memory or the like that stores program information necessary for display among program guides stored in the program guide external storage unit 102 in the portable information terminal. For example, information as shown in FIG. 3 is accumulated. By the way, since the screen of a mobile phone or the like is not sufficiently large, all the data shown in FIG. 3 cannot be displayed at one time. For example, a part of the program guide is displayed as shown in FIG. The program guide displayed in FIG. 4 is shown in a dotted frame in FIG. As shown in the dotted frame (displayed program guide) in FIG. 5, it is not possible to display only the program representation from 7 o'clock to 9 o'clock on channels 104 and 106 at a time, and the screen can be displayed with the left and right arrow keys. By scrolling left and right, the channels 108 and 110 can be confirmed as shown outside the dotted frame in FIG. 5, and the screen can be scrolled up and down with the up and down arrow keys to display programs in different time zones. Can be confirmed.

  The display priority program selection unit 105 determines the priority of the program information display order for the program information stored in the program guide storage unit 104 based on the history information stored in the viewing history storage unit 103. It is a processing unit. That is, it is an example of a first priority determination unit that determines the display priority for each cell that is an element constituting the schedule table. For example, if the user often browses a program related to “quiz” from the user's viewing history, the “quiz” program is a priority program to be displayed with priority. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when a user likes a program of the genre of “quiz”, “anime”, and “music” from the user's viewing history, the user is hatched as shown in FIG. The program matches the user's preference. If the conventional program guide is displayed, the program guide as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed as it is. That is, only a limited range of programs is displayed, and the color of the program that suits the user's preference is changed. Therefore, even if there is a program recommended to the user in the same time zone, it cannot be confirmed unless the screen is scrolled. Therefore, it is necessary to scroll the screen when making a recording reservation by looking only at the program guide displayed on the mobile phone, or when comparing recommended programs. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, as will be described later, the program table shown in FIG. 5 is displayed as shown in FIG.

  The display time zone determination unit 106 is a processing unit that determines the time zone of the program guide to be displayed in order to display as many important programs as possible selected by the display priority program selection unit 105. That is, it is an example of a matrix determination unit that determines a row and a column including a cell having a high priority from among the rows and columns constituting the schedule table. In addition, a degree of detail corresponding to the priority is set for the program information to be displayed. For example, in the simplest display (when displaying low priority program information), only the start time and the program name, and in the next simple display (when displaying medium priority program information) ) Further displays the contents of the program, and in the case of detailed display (when displaying high priority program information), displays information such as performers, etc. By changing the level of detail, the displayable time zone (number of display lines) is controlled. The degree of detail of the program information may be a ratio to the total number of characters of the program information. Further, the degree of detail of the program information may be determined based on the number of lines when displayed on the display terminal.

The display channel determination unit 107 is a processing unit that determines a channel to be displayed in order to display as many important programs selected by the display important program selection unit 105 as possible. In particular, when the priority programs overlap in the same time zone, the channels are determined so that the channels are preferentially displayed so that the users can be compared with each other. Also, it is possible to preferentially display channels that are frequently viewed from the viewing history of past users. That is, the display channel determination unit 107 is also an example of a matrix determination unit that determines a row and a column including a cell having a high priority from among the rows and columns constituting the schedule table.

  The program guide display unit 108 is a display device such as an LCD or a display control unit that displays a program guide using the time zone and channel information determined by the display time zone determination unit 106 and the display channel determination unit 107. The program guide display unit 108 processes and displays a part of the time zone and channel determined by the display time zone determination unit 106 and the display channel determination unit 107 that includes a program with a high priority into a single table. It is an example of a table | surface display means. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, as many programs as possible to be displayed with priority on the user (important programs) are displayed on one screen as much as possible.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the program guide storage unit 104 acquires the current time, acquires a displayable program guide from the program guide external storage unit 102, and stores it (S701). The accumulated program guide is a program guide as shown in FIG. Next, the display priority program selection unit 105 preferentially displays the program information stored in the program guide storage unit 104 from the user viewing history information stored in the viewing history storage unit 103. Is determined (S702). If there is a program to be preferentially displayed (display priority program) among the displayable program information, the process proceeds to the next step. If there is no display priority program, the process proceeds to step S711 (S703). In step S711, normal program display is performed based on the current time, and the process ends.

  When there is a display priority program, the display channel determination unit 107 confirms whether there is a priority program broadcast on a different channel in the same time zone in the display priority program (S704). If there are overlapping programs, the channels of those programs are selected as display channels (S705). If there is no overlapping program, the process proceeds to step S706. If the program table shown in FIG. 3 is stored, the user is interested in “quiz”, “animation”, and “music”, so as shown in FIG. The programs that should be overlapped. Therefore, channels 104 and 108 are preferentially selected as display channels. Then, the display channel determination unit 107 selects channels in descending order of priority display programs (S706). In channels 104 and 108, as shown in FIG. 5, since 104 has more priority display programs, 104 is displayed first.

  Subsequently, the display time zone determination unit 106 selects the priority display program that is farthest in time from the current time (S707). The range of the most distant program is, for example, the range from the current time to the most distant program when the most current program is displayed. In the example of FIG. 5, “overseas music” starting on the channel 104 from 12:00 is selected because it is farthest in time. Then, the display time zone determination unit 106 determines whether or not all the priority display programs can be displayed by reducing the information of programs other than the priority display program (S708). If it can be displayed, the process proceeds to step S710, and the selected time zone is set as the program display time zone. If it cannot be displayed, the process proceeds to step S709. In the case of this example, even if the program from 8:00, 9:00 and 11:00 is displayed only for the title, the program from 12:00 cannot be displayed. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S709. Programs that cannot be displayed are removed from the display priority programs, and the process returns to step S707 (S709). Here, since “overseas music” from 12:00 cannot be displayed, it is removed from the priority display program, and the process returns to step S707. In step S707, since “overseas music” has been removed from the priority display program, the most distant program is “music 10” from 10:00. In this case, since only the program title is displayed for the program from 8:00 and 9:00, “Music 10” can also be displayed. From 10:00 to 10:00 is determined as a time zone for displaying the program guide (S710).

  Based on the display channels by the display channel determination unit 107 and the order thereof, and the display time zones by the display time zone determination unit 106 and the details thereof, the program guide display unit 108 displays the program guide shown in FIG. Is displayed as a program guide shown in FIG. Here, with regard to the display channel, 104CH with the most recommended programs preferred by the user and 108CH with the next highest are displayed in this order from the left, and the display time zone is from 7 o'clock and 10 o'clock which are recommended programs preferred by the user. Is shown in detail.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, based on the viewing history of the user, the program information preferred by the user is displayed in a focused and detailed manner. Therefore, it is possible to find desired information immediately and intuitively without a troublesome display operation. For example, when making a recording reservation or the like, a program can be selected with a small number of operations.

  In the present embodiment, the program to be preferentially displayed is determined using the user's viewing history, but the program to be preferentially displayed may be determined using the user's recording history. This makes it possible to remember to make a recording reservation for a program that the user is always recording. For example, when a program cell is selected for the program table displayed as shown in FIG. 7, a pop-up menu screen as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed, thereby enabling remote control of home appliances and the like. .

  In the present embodiment, the program to be displayed is determined based on the genre information based on the preference extracted from the user's viewing history. However, keywords, performers, and the like included in the program guide from the program viewing history are determined. Information may be used.

  In this embodiment, the program to be displayed is determined based on the user's preference. However, the program may be determined according to a program (new program) that the broadcast station wants the viewer to watch with priority.

  In this embodiment, the priority program is determined using the viewing history of the program, but program setting information manually input by the user may be used.

  In the present embodiment, the priority display program is set based on the information as to whether or not the program is the priority program. However, the program may be determined using a weight (for example, a weight coefficient of 0 or more and 1 or less). . As a result, even when the time zone or channel to be displayed with priority is determined, it is possible to determine more precisely using the weight information.

  In this embodiment, the display area of the program information is reduced by displaying only the program title. However, the display area of the program is reduced by not displaying the program information other than the priority program. May be.

  In the present embodiment, the program to be displayed is preferentially displayed based on the preference extracted from the user's viewing history. If there are many programs, it is not always possible to display all the programs. Therefore, if there are other programs to be displayed, a mark indicating that (there is another recommended program) may be displayed in each cell. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when there is a program to be displayed in the same time zone, an icon such as a horizontal arrow may be displayed in a cell in that time zone. Further, when there is a program to be displayed in a later time zone on the same channel, a vertical arrow icon may be displayed in the cell of that channel. These icons are not icons that indicate that a screen that is generally displayed on a mobile phone or the like can be scrolled, but icons that indicate that there is a program that the user should check. Furthermore, by changing the size of the icon according to the number of priority programs that are not displayed, the user can determine the importance of viewing confirmation only from the display screen.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as in the screen display example shown in FIG. 7, a channel (“106CH” in the display example in FIG. 7) in which the priority program does not exist is not displayed, and a column (channel) in the program table is displayed. On the contrary, as shown in the screen display example shown in FIG. 11, the time zone in which no important program exists may be hidden and the row (time zone) in the program table may be closed. This makes it easy to check programs of other channels broadcast in the same time zone as the favorite program.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 11, when the program table to be displayed is horizontally long, it may be displayed in a layout in which a rectangular screen provided in the portable information terminal is viewed horizontally. In particular, when there are many important programs in the same time zone, it is necessary to increase the number of channels displayed on one screen. In this embodiment, the case of displaying two channels on one screen has been described. However, when there are priority programs of three or more channels between 7:00 and 8:00, a table regarding three or more channels may be displayed. Is possible. At this time, since it is necessary to increase the number of channels, it is possible to provide program information more efficiently if the screen of the display terminal is used in landscape orientation.

  Furthermore, instead of using the display terminal in landscape orientation, it is also possible to change the display content by reversing the contents of the vertical and horizontal axes and taking channel information in the vertical direction and time information in the horizontal direction. . For example, when a program guide is displayed on a mobile phone or the like equipped with a broadcast receiving function, the broadcast content can be displayed in either a portrait or landscape orientation when the broadcast is received. Therefore, the direction in which the program guide is displayed may be determined according to the direction in which the broadcast content is displayed. Thereby, when viewing broadcast content immediately after viewing the program guide, or conversely, when viewing the broadcast content after confirming the content in the program guide, it is possible to browse without changing the orientation of the display device. It becomes like this. This is not limited to the direction of the broadcast content, but the direction in which the program guide is displayed may be determined by the application used immediately before.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the first embodiment, a program to be preferentially displayed is determined using the user's viewing history. However, when a new program or a special program (a program different from a normal program) is broadcast without using the user's viewing history, it is also useful to display the program with priority. Therefore, in this embodiment, as an example of displaying a program table without using the viewing history, information on programs broadcast in the past is accumulated, and a difference from a program broadcast in the future is detected, so that priority is given. A display device for determining a program to be displayed will be described.

  FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. This program distribution system is a system that distributes a program, a program table as a schedule table, etc. to a portable information terminal via a broadcast wave or a communication network. A program table external storage unit 801, a program table storage unit 802, and a program table acquisition A history storage unit 803, a display priority program selection unit 804, a display time zone determination unit 805, a display channel determination unit 806, and a program guide display unit 807 are configured. The program guide external storage unit 801, the program guide storage unit 802, the display time zone determination unit 805, the display channel determination unit 806, and the program guide display unit 807 are the same as the components having the same names shown in FIG. Therefore, the description is omitted.

  The program guide acquisition history storage unit 803 is a processing unit having a storage unit such as a memory that stores information on programs broadcast in the past as a program guide acquisition history. Since the program often broadcasts dramas etc. continuously on each day of the week, at least the past week's program table is stored. That is, the program guide acquisition history storage unit 803 is an example of a program guide storage unit that stores a program guide relating to programs broadcast in the past.

  The display priority program selection unit 804 is broadcasted in the same time zone of the same channel of the program currently acquired in the program guide storage unit 802 and the program guide of one week before stored in the program guide acquisition history storage unit 803. It is a processing unit that selects a program that should be preferentially displayed by comparing text information of the program information being displayed. In other words, the display priority program selection unit 804 compares the stored program schedule relating to the previously broadcasted program with the program schedule relating to the program to be broadcast in the future, so that the programs corresponding to the same time zone and channel are compared. This is an example of first priority determination means for determining whether or not a change has occurred in the program and determining a higher priority for the program in which the change has occurred.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 13, comparing the program table one week ago (FIG. 13 (a)) with the program table acquired this time (FIG. 13 (b)), It is assumed that the text information of the title of the program is different from the program from 10 o'clock of 104 channels (hatched portion in FIG. 13B). In this case, it is highly likely that these programs are new programs that start today or are special programs that are not normally broadcast. Therefore, the display priority program selection unit 804 determines that it is necessary to preferentially display these programs as a program guide. In the case of FIG. 13, 108 channels of “iron baseball player” and 104 channels of “Olympic hour” are determined as programs to be displayed preferentially.

  On the other hand, in a program such as a drama, text information of the contents of the program, such as a program from 8 o'clock on 104 channels, may be different. However, in this case, since it is unlikely that the program is a new program, the display priority program selection unit 804 displays a program such as a drama by judging from the genre information (such as “drama”). Do not increase the priority.

  In addition, when a tag such as a new program or a special program is inserted into a program table to be distributed and distributed, the priority for displaying the program may be determined using the tag. Further, when the amount of text of the program content is large, it may be determined that the broadcasting station that is broadcasting is putting effort into the program, and the display priority may be increased. For example, when the text amount is twice or more the text amount of the program information last week, it is possible to increase the display priority. Furthermore, when the performer information is different from the performers of last week, the display priority of the program may be increased.

  After the display priority program selection unit 804 determines a program to be preferentially displayed, the program table is processed and processed by the display time zone determination unit 805 and the display channel determination unit 806 as in the first embodiment. The program guide is displayed on the screen by the program guide display unit 807. FIG. 14 shows a display example of a program guide in the present embodiment.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

First, the program guide storage unit 802 acquires the current time, and acquires and stores the program guide stored in the program guide external storage unit 801 via a communication network or the like (S1101). The display priority program selection unit 804 detects a difference between the past program table stored in the program table acquisition history storage unit 803 and the current program table acquired in the program table storage unit 802 (S1102). Here, it compares with the title of the program guide one week ago. Specifically, it is determined whether the titles of the program guide are different (S1103). If the titles are the same, the process proceeds to step S1104 and is determined to be a normal program. If the titles are different, the process advances to step S1105 to determine whether the title is a new program or a special program. Then, the display priority program selection unit 804 sets the new program or special program as a priority display program (S1106). Thereafter, the processing after step S703 in the first embodiment is performed.

  This makes it possible to generate a program guide that is displayed preferentially to the user as in the display example shown in FIG. Here, a program from 104 o'clock 10 o'clock determined as a new program or a special program and a program from 7 o'clock 108ch (hatched portion in FIG. 14) are preferentially displayed on the screen.

  In the present embodiment, since the special program returns to the normal program in the next week, the program information will be different again, and will be determined as a new program in the next week. Therefore, when it is determined that the program is a special program or a new program, when it is determined whether the program of the next week is a program to be displayed, the previous week determined as the special program or the new program. It may be determined whether the program should be preferentially displayed by comparing with the text information of the program. Therefore, the history information of the channel and time zone program information determined as a special program or a new program needs to be compared with the program table for the next week, and thus may be stored as history information.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 16A, it is assumed that “iron baseball player” and “Olympic hour” are determined as new programs or special programs as in the example of FIG. 13B. However, the program “Iron Baseball Player” from 7 o'clock on 108CH was the same title in the next week's program table (FIG. 16B), and the program “Iron Baseball Player” one week ago was It can be judged that it was a new program. On the other hand, in the 104 channel, in the next week's program table, music from 10 o'clock and drama from 11 o'clock are broadcast (Fig. 16 (b)), which differs from the program "Olympic Hour" one week ago, but two weeks ago. Since it matches the program schedule (FIG. 13 (a)), the program “Olympic Hour” one week ago was a special program, that is, music from 10:00 and drama from 11:00 are normal programs and are preferential. It can be determined that the program is not displayed on the screen.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by accumulating the program table two weeks ago, not only the program information broadcast one week ago but also the program information broadcast two weeks ago. By using it, it is possible to automatically determine whether a new program, a special program, or a broadcast station is a program that a viewer wants the viewer to particularly view, and the user can preferentially display the program. .

In the embodiment described above, a program to be preferentially displayed is determined using the program table acquisition history and the user viewing history. Here, if the portable information terminal can acquire the user's schedule information, the program refers to the schedule information, and if there is a portion where the program that the user recommends and the user's schedule overlap, the program May be preferentially displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 17, if a schedule is input between 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock, if there is a recommended program in that time zone, the program guide for that channel is preferentially displayed. It becomes possible. Further, in the above embodiment, as many programs as possible are displayed on one screen as much as possible. In addition to such a display, a screen may be provided to display in which part of the entire program guide is displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 18, when the detailed display of the program (left figure in FIG. 18) is switched to the whole display (right figure in FIG. 18), which part is displayed in the detailed display shows Displayed when the program guide is displayed. Thereby, it can be grasped which part of the program guide the user was browsing.

  Further, in the above embodiment, as many programs as possible are displayed on one screen as much as possible. In addition to such display, regarding the preferentially displayed program displayed in the table format, it may be possible to move between these programs with a simple operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 19, it is possible to move between preferentially displayed programs by operating the “next” and “back” buttons on the mobile phone. As an example, by repeatedly pressing the “Next” button, a program in the same time zone can be moved with priority over a program of the same channel among a plurality of programs displayed on the screen to be preferentially displayed. it can. When the “Return” button is pressed, it is possible to return in the reverse order. Note that “move” here refers to a move for switching a program to be watched or recorded (a program focused on by the user), a move for switching a program to be displayed on the upper left of the screen, or the like. It is. Note that the selected program may be displayed in a mode different from other programs, for example, a display surrounded by a thick line frame.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the first and second embodiments, when displaying a program guide, an apparatus for efficiently displaying a program guide by assigning display priority to a program corresponding to each cell of the table. explained. In this embodiment, when a program guide is displayed in a table format, when information is distributed from the outside through a communication network or the like, the information is displayed without interfering with the information displayed in the table format. The present invention relates to a display device that can also check information received. For example, when an e-mail is received while viewing the program guide, if the conventional viewing method is used, it is necessary to change from the program guide display mode to the e-mail display mode and browse only the contents of the e-mail. was there. Therefore, in order to view the program guide again, it is necessary to return from the electronic mail display mode to the program guide display mode, which requires many operations. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when information such as e-mail is received while displaying the program guide, display priority is given to the program (cell) in the program guide. By displaying it over the low priority part, both the program guide and e-mail are displayed simultaneously.

  FIG. 20 is a configuration diagram of the program distribution system according to the third embodiment. This program distribution system is a system that distributes a program, a program table as a schedule table, etc. to a portable information terminal via a broadcast wave or a communication network, and includes a viewing history external storage unit 1501, a program table external storage unit 1502, a viewing history The storage unit 1503 includes a program guide storage unit 1504, a program guide display unit 1505, a display priority determination unit 1506, an email receiver 1507, and an email notification location determination unit 1508. The viewing history external storage unit 1501, the program guide external storage unit 1502, the viewing history storage unit 1503, and the program guide storage unit 1504 are the same as the components with the same names shown in FIG. .

  As shown in the left diagram of FIG. 21, the program guide display unit 1505 is a display device such as an LCD or a display control unit that displays the program guide in a table format. With respect to the displayed program, display priority is given to each program (cell) by viewing history, recording history, or the like. That is, the program guide display unit 1505 is a matrix determining unit that determines a row and a column including cells having a high priority determined by the display priority determining unit 1506 and the like from the rows and columns constituting the schedule table. And, it is an example of a table display means for processing and displaying a portion including a cell having a high priority among the determined rows and columns into one table.

The display priority determination unit 1506 is a processing unit that determines the priority for each program (cell) displayed using the history information of the viewing history storage unit 1503. That is, it is an example of a first priority determination unit that determines the display priority for each cell that is an element constituting the schedule table. Similar to the first embodiment, by extracting the tendency of the program that the user often browses from the viewing history, the program to be preferentially displayed is determined according to the tendency. In the left diagram of FIG. 21, since it is determined that the “quiz” and “music” genres and phishing-related programs (hatched portions) have been browsed well from the viewing history so far, program display priority of those programs is shown. The degree is getting higher.

  An e-mail receiving unit 1507 is a communication interface that receives e-mail via a public line such as the Internet. That is, it is an example of an information acquisition unit that acquires information via a communication network. Some e-mails contain not only text information but also image information. In this embodiment, an e-mail received via the Internet or the like is described, but information received via a local radio such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) may be used.

  The e-mail notification place determination unit 1508 displays information according to the priority of each program (cell) determined by the display priority determination unit 1506 and the content of the e-mail received by the e-mail reception unit 1507. It is a processing unit that determines the location and range on the screen. The display priority determination unit 1506 determines display priority in each program (cell). Here, a program (cell) having a low display priority is selected as a candidate for a location to notify the e-mail. As a result, as shown in the right figure of FIG. 21, 104 channel from 8 o'clock to 9 o'clock (region R2), 9 o'clock to 10 o'clock (region R4), 108 channel from 7 o'clock to 8 o'clock (region R1), and 9 o'clock 10 o'clock (region R5) and 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock (region R3) are selected as candidates for the display location. Further, continuous cells are selected as candidates for a place to be displayed in the same manner. In the example of the right diagram of FIG. 21, the region R2 and the region R4 are combined and the region R7, and the region R4 and the region R5 are combined and selected as a candidate for a place where the region R6 can be displayed. In other words, this e-mail notification place determination unit 1508 displays a part of the table display means for displaying the communication information, which is information acquired from the outside, overlaid on the low priority cells among the cells included in the table to be displayed ( This corresponds to the function for determining the location for displaying communication information.

  When the received mail is only text information, the e-mail notification place determination unit 1508 determines a place that can be displayed after confirming that the aspect ratio is not considered. In this case, the area of the display area of each cell is calculated for the candidates from the area R1 to the area R6. The calculated results are shown in FIG. In FIG. 22, since the area R6 is 8000 (= 50 × 160) and becomes the maximum, the area R6 is set as a place for displaying an e-mail and is displayed as shown in FIG. If the received text information is long, the sender information and the summary information of the contents may be displayed. The summarization technique can be diverted from the technique already disclosed.

  In addition, in the program display example shown in FIG. 24A (a program in which the hatched portion has a high importance), the candidates for the area for displaying the e-mail are the areas from the area R1 to the area as shown in FIG. It consists of a region consisting of a single cell up to R4 and a composite region of region R5 and region R6. Here, it is assumed that the mail received by the e-mail receiving unit 1507 is image information or the like, and the layout (aspect ratio or the like) of the message to be displayed is determined in advance. For example, it is assumed that the image information has an aspect ratio of 1.0 as shown in FIG. In this case, the e-mail notification place determination unit 1508 obtains the aspect ratio in each area, and sets the area closest to the aspect ratio of the received information as the information display area. Each area in FIG. 24B has an aspect ratio as shown in FIG. 26, and therefore the area R1 is determined as an area for displaying information. As a result, the received information is displayed as shown in FIG. The received image information can be displayed more efficiently by deleting the blank area of the image and calculating the aspect ratio, deleting the blank area, and displaying it on the table format. become. When text information and image information are included, it is necessary to calculate the aspect ratio when both text and image are displayed.

  In general, when image information is displayed on the display screen, an area where no image is displayed for any user is an area where there is no information amount, and it is easy to display a new image or the like in that area. . On the other hand, in the present invention, when text information is displayed on the display screen, a necessary display portion and an unnecessary display portion exist for each user. That is, the amount of information and the information value for each user differ depending on the text content being displayed. In addition, the text information can be changed in layout by changing the number of characters in one line. However, the text information inserted in each cell defined by the rows and columns cannot change the overall layout even if the number of characters or the number of rows is changed. Further, if the layout of the display screen expressed by the cells in the rows and columns is changed, it becomes difficult for the user to see. For example, in the case of a program guide, cells are defined by the rows and columns of time zones and channels, but without considering the time zones and channels, comparison of programs in the same time zone and the same channel when arranged in one dimension It will be difficult to make comparisons. In the case where text information is displayed in each cell with respect to the information displayed in the table format in this way, when displaying new information, it is displayed for each cell for each user. It is necessary to evaluate the value of the information and determine the area for displaying the information based on the priority.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 23 and FIG. 27, when a cell of a program guide is displayed, a cell with a low display priority is selected, and mail received on that cell. Etc. were displayed. This may be displayed in a format superimposed on the text information of the program guide cell, or the text information of the received mail is displayed after erasing the text of the program guide cell. Also good. Furthermore, when the amount of text in the received mail is sufficiently large, all the text displayed in the cell of the program table is hidden, but when the amount of text in the received mail is small, the cell of the program table It is also possible to display e-mail text information so as not to hide only the title portion of the program. As a result, the priority of display is determined on a cell-by-cell basis. In addition, even in a low-priority cell, an important part of the text in the cell or a part whose outline of the meaning can be understood (for example, program title) By displaying the information acquired from the outside in the display location other than the portion, it becomes possible to use the screen display more efficiently.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the program guide storage unit 1504 acquires the current time, acquires a program guide that can be displayed from the program guide external storage unit 1502, and stores it (S2301). Next, the display priority determination unit 1506 selects and determines a program to be preferentially browsed by the user from the viewing history stored in the viewing history storage unit 1503 (S2302). Then, the e-mail notification place determination unit 1508 selects a display place where a program whose program display priority is equal to or lower than the threshold is displayed as a candidate for a message display place (S2303). In the program display example shown in the left diagram of FIG. 21, the area from the area R1 to the area R5 is selected as a display location candidate. Subsequently, it is determined whether or not display area candidates are consecutive in position (S2304). If they are continuous, the continuous area is added as a display area candidate (S2305). In the example of FIG. 21, since the region R4 and the region R5 are continuous, the region R6, and the region R2 and the region R4 are continuous, so the region R7 is added as a display region candidate.

  If the message to be displayed is only text information, the process proceeds to step S2307 (S2306). If an image is included, the process proceeds to step S2308. The e-mail notification place determination unit 1508 sets the maximum area among the display area candidates as the display place (S2307). In the example of FIG. 21, the region R6 is a message display region.

When image information is included in the message and the aspect ratio of the message must be taken into account, the e-mail notification place determination unit 1508 first calculates the aspect ratio of the message (S2308). Of the display area candidates, an area having a similar aspect ratio is selected as a display location (S2309). In the example of FIG. 24, the region R1 is selected as the display region because it has the same aspect ratio as the message.

  The program guide display unit 1505 determines whether or not all received messages can be displayed (S2310). If all can be displayed, the process proceeds to step S2311, and a message is displayed. If all the messages cannot be displayed, the message sender and summary information are displayed (S2312). In this way, when the e-mail is only text information, as shown in the program display example of FIG. 23, the e-mail is superimposed on a low-priority program (here, a program excluding a recommended program). When the e-mail includes image information, the e-mail is displayed over the low-priority program while maintaining the aspect ratio of the image as shown in the program display example of FIG. .

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when a program guide is being displayed, when an e-mail or the like is received, information can be displayed on a program (cell) that the user is not interested in, The content of the message can be confirmed immediately without changing to the e-mail reception mode.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which a program guide is displayed on one screen has been described. However, some portable information terminals include a plurality of display screens. Even in such a portable information terminal, display priority is given to each program (cell) displayed on a plurality of screens as in the present embodiment, as shown in the program display example of FIG. By calculating the degree, it is possible to determine the display location of an e-mail or the like.

  In the present embodiment, the example of displaying simultaneously with reception has been described. However, if the program table is being scrolled at the time of reception, the scrolling is terminated and the same program table is displayed for a certain period of time ( For example, it is preferable to display information in a program (cell) having a low display priority when browsing.

  In addition, when the contents of the e-mail are displayed while the program guide is displayed, the user has instructed to change to a time zone or channel different from the currently displayed program guide (up / down scroll, left / right scroll). In this case, on each scroll screen, by searching for a place where the display priority is low, as shown in the program display example of FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the processing when a general electronic mail is received while the program guide is displayed has been described. Further, when the text information of the received e-mail includes text information related to the TV program being broadcast, the importance of identifying the program information cell related to the text information and displaying it around the cell If there is a low cell, the mail information may be displayed in an area where the surrounding cells are combined. As a result, the contents of the e-mail and the program information can be confirmed on a single screen, and a recording reservation operation for the program can be easily realized.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the first to third embodiments, the program table displayed in the table format has been described. In this embodiment, an example of a time table displayed in a table format will be described. Further, a place to be preferentially displayed in the displayed timetable and a place not to be preferentially displayed are determined from the use history of public transportation such as a railway.

  FIG. 31 is a configuration diagram of the timetable distribution system in the fourth embodiment. This timetable distribution system is a system that distributes a timetable as a schedule table to a portable information terminal via a communication network. A timetable external storage unit 2501, a transportation use history storage unit 2502, a timetable storage unit 2503, The time table display unit 2504, the display priority determination unit 2505, the information distribution unit 2506, the information reception unit 2507, and the information notification place determination unit 2508 are included.

  Scenes that can be used by this system will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the user heading for the train platform confirms the train timetable at the location (A). Next, by approaching the platform, a service is performed in which information is distributed from the information distribution server installed on the platform to the portable information terminal. From the information distribution server, information on the station and information on commercial facilities around the station are distributed via a local wireless network or the like, and the portable information terminal is equipped with a reception function for the local wireless network. When the user comes to the point (B), for example, information related to station schedule revision is distributed.

  It is assumed that the user has confirmed the train timetable even when the point (B) is reached. At this time, if it is attempted to check the timetable from the delivered station, it is usually necessary to delete the timetable and check the information. However, according to the display device in the present embodiment, on the screen on which the timetable of the station is displayed, a place with low availability to the user is automatically determined, and information from the station is displayed at that place. be able to.

  Next, each component shown in FIG. 31 will be described.

  The timetable external storage unit 2501 is a Web server or the like that stores information related to the timetable.

  The transportation use history accumulation unit 2502 is a storage unit such as a memory that accumulates the use history of the user's transportation, and stores the use history when the portable information terminal has a ticket gate function for transportation. A memory in a portable information terminal. The transportation use history storage unit 2502 is a memory that obtains transportation use information stored outside via a communication network and temporarily holds it in a portable information terminal. Also good. The usage history accumulated in the transportation usage history accumulation unit 2502 is, for example, information as shown in the table of FIG. FIG. 33 (b) is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the stations and the use times in FIG. 33 (a).

  The timetable storage unit 2503 is a memory or the like that acquires the timetable stored in the timetable external storage unit 2501 such as a Web server and stores it in the portable information terminal. For example, a timetable as shown in FIG. 34 is accumulated. In addition, about this timetable, you may determine automatically which station timetable to display from the railroad use log | history shown in FIG. 33, or position information.

The timetable display unit 2504 is a display device such as an LCD or a display control unit that displays the timetable stored in the timetable storage unit 2503 on the portable information terminal. That is, matrix determination means for determining a row and a column including a cell having a high priority determined by the display priority determination unit 2505 and the like from the rows and columns constituting the schedule table, and the determined rows and columns It is an example of the table | surface display means which process and display the location where the cell with a high priority is included in one table | surface. For example, from the history accumulated in the transportation use history accumulation unit 2502, it is possible to take a train at 7 o'clock in the direction of Namba and use Gakuenmae Station to the area of Saidaiji around 20:00 from the direction of Namba. Recognize. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 35, timetables around 7 o'clock and around 20 o'clock are extracted and displayed.

  The display priority determination unit 2505 is a processing unit that determines the display priority in the displayed timetable using the usage history of the transportation facility usage history storage unit 2502. That is, it is an example of a first priority determination unit that determines the display priority for each cell that is an element constituting the schedule table. As shown in FIG. 36, the display priority is high in the boarding time zone, and the other display parts are candidates for the message display area.

  The information distribution unit 2506 is a computer device or the like that distributes information to a portable information terminal using local wireless or the like.

  The information receiving unit 2507 is a communication interface or the like that receives information from the information distribution unit 2506 by a portable information terminal. That is, it is an example of an information acquisition unit that acquires information via a communication network.

  The information notification place determination unit 2508 is a processing unit that selects and determines the information received by the information reception unit 2507 from the message display area candidates R1 and R2 in the right diagram of FIG. It is determined that the time schedule far from the current time has a lower display priority, and if the current time is in the morning, the message display area candidate R2 is selected. As a result, as shown in FIG. 37, a message is displayed on the timetable of a train that is not normally used. In other words, the information notification location determination unit 2508 is an example of a table display unit that displays communication information, which is information acquired from the outside, overlaid on cells with low priority among cells included in the table to be displayed.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the timetable distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the timetable storage unit 2503 acquires a timetable associated with the current time, current position, and the like from the timetable external storage unit 2501 and stores it (S3201). Next, the display priority determination unit 2505 sets a timetable part (cell) of the time zone that is normally used from the history accumulated in the transportation use history accumulation unit 2502 as a place to be preferentially displayed. (S3202). The timetable display unit 2504 displays a timetable for the time zone that is normally used (S3203). If the information receiving unit 2507 acquires new information by local wireless or the like, the process proceeds to step S3205 (S3204). The information notification location determination unit 2508 selects, for example, message display area candidates R1 and R2 shown in the right diagram of FIG. 36 as candidates (S3205). It is determined that the time zone far from the current time has a lower display priority (S3206). As a result, the timetable display unit 2504 displays the information received from the local wireless information station of the station so as to be superimposed on the time information of the time zone with low priority as in the timetable display example shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a part of the timetable that is likely to be used by the user (high priority) is extracted and displayed based on the user's transportation history. . Therefore, a desired time can be found immediately and intuitively without a troublesome display operation. In addition, when an e-mail or local wireless information arrives, the incoming message is superimposed on the low priority display area of the timetable, so that the timetable and incoming calls are not disturbed. You can view both messages at the same time.

  In the present embodiment, when a message is acquired based on the importance of display of each cell with respect to timetable information displayed in a table format, a place to display the message is determined. Explained what to do. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 39, when information related to a personal schedule is displayed, it is possible to calculate the display importance level of each cell and determine the place where the incoming message is displayed according to the calculated value. is there. When a schedule is displayed, the display importance level for each cell is determined by the input contents of each schedule shown in FIG. 40, the input person, the number of times the schedule has been confirmed, the number of times the schedule has been changed, etc. It is possible to calculate importance and weight each cell. In the case of personal schedule information, since the importance of the schedule varies depending on the individual, the display location can be determined by the same processing as in the first to third embodiments.

  In the present embodiment, information on the time when the train is used is used as the transportation use history, and the portion of the displayed timetable where the priority of the information for the user is high is determined. Further, only the history of information on the destination of the train may be used as the transportation use history. For example, in FIG. 37, for users who have only boarded only the train in the direction of Saidaiji from Gakuenmae Station, the timetable in the direction of Namba is often not necessary at Gakuenmae Station. At least, the priority on screen display is considered low. Therefore, it is possible to display the received information in the portion where the time information in the direction of Namba is displayed. On the other hand, at Nishidaiji Station, if you have used many trains in the direction of Namba in the past, the timetable for displaying the timetable for Namba is high, and other timetables with low priority are displayed. The received information is displayed. This can be realized by considering the past use history of the transportation facility of the user and information regarding the station on which the user displays the timetable (information regarding the transportation facility).

(Embodiment 5)
Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the third embodiment, by calculating the display priority for each program (cell) in the displayed program guide, information interrupted by e-mail or the like when the program guide is displayed is displayed. When displaying, efficient display was possible.

  In the present embodiment, the degree of detail of program information can be changed, and information that has been interrupted, such as an electronic mail, is displayed more efficiently by utilizing the feature. In general, a program can display a large amount of information such as program title, performer, genre, contents of each time, and the like when displaying program information in detail. On the other hand, it is possible to confirm the channel, start time, and end time by displaying only the program title as a program guide. Therefore, in the present embodiment, an area for displaying other information is generated by changing the level of detail for the displayed program and displaying only the outline of the program. When the program table is displayed when the e-mail is received, the display of each displayed program is changed to only the overview, and an area for displaying the contents of the e-mail is generated. Processing is in progress.

  FIG. 41 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to the fifth embodiment. This program distribution system is a system for distributing a program, a program table as a schedule table, etc. to a portable information terminal via a broadcast wave or a communication network, and includes a program table external storage unit 4101, a program table storage unit 4102, a program table display A section 4103, a display priority determining section 4104, a program information detail level changing section 4105, an e-mail receiving section 4106, an e-mail notification location determining section 4107, and an e-mail display section 4108. Note that the program guide external storage unit 4101, the program guide storage unit 4102, the program guide display unit 4103, the display priority determination unit 4104, and the e-mail receiving unit 4106 perform the same processing as that of the component having the same name in the third embodiment. Therefore, the description is omitted in this embodiment.

The program information detail level change unit 4105 changes the detail level of the program displayed on the program guide display unit 4103 in each program stored in the program guide storage unit 4102 and changes the display to display only the title of the program. . In the program information stored in the program guide storage unit 4102, information such as titles and program performers is divided by tags such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language). At this time, the program displayed in the program guide display unit 4103 may include only a title, or even performers and the contents of the program may be displayed. For example, in the display example shown in the left diagram of FIG. 42, eight programs are displayed, but the four programs are only the titles of the programs, but the remaining four programs are displayed up to the other contents. ing. Therefore, in the program information detail level changing unit 4105, only the summary display of the title-only program is displayed for the program displayed up to information other than the program title. Thereby, as shown in the right figure of FIG. 42, it becomes possible to ensure a display area in two parts Q1 and Q2.

  The e-mail notification place determination unit 4107 is created by changing the priority calculated for each program by the display priority determination unit 4104 and the detail level of the program information by the program information detail level change unit 4105. Using the display area, a place for displaying the content of the email received by the email receiving unit 4106 is determined. In particular, when there are a plurality of areas created by the program information detail level changing unit 4105, the priority for each cell calculated by the display priority determining unit 4104 is used to determine the location for displaying the e-mail. For example, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 42, when a plurality of areas Q1 and Q2 are created, the display priority determination unit 4104 gives priority to the program table from 7 o'clock close to the current time. Is determined to be high, the area Q2 is selected and it is decided to display the contents of the e-mail in the area Q2.

  The e-mail display unit 4108 displays the contents of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit 4106 at the location determined by the e-mail notification location determining unit 4107 so as to be superimposed on the program table displayed by the program table display unit 4103. To do. As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 43, the e-mail is displayed in the area Q2, and the program guide is displayed as it is in the area Q1.

  Note that the e-mail notification place determination unit 4107 and the e-mail display unit 4108 display communication information, which is information acquired from the outside, overlaid on low priority cells among the cells included in the table to be displayed. It is an example of a means.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, information on each program in the program guide displayed on the program guide display unit 4103 is acquired (S4401). The program information detail level changing unit 4105 determines whether or not the program summary information can be displayed for each piece of program information acquired in step S4401 (S4402). Further, the program information detail level changing unit 4105 detects an empty area when the program summary is displayed (S4403). As a result, in the case of FIG. 42, Q1 and Q2 are detected.

  Next, the e-mail notification place determination unit 4107 determines whether or not there are a plurality of free areas detected in S4403 (S4404). If there is one free area, that area is set as the e-mail notification place. Determine (S4405). If there are a plurality of empty areas, the display priority determining unit 4104 calculates the priority for each empty area (S4405). As a result of calculating the priorities for a plurality of free areas, an area having a low priority (Q2 in the case of FIG. 42) is determined as a place to notify the e-mail (S4407). The e-mail display unit 4108 performs processing for displaying the content of the e-mail acquired by the e-mail receiving unit 4106 at a place where the e-mail is notified.

As a result of the above operation, if an e-mail is received while viewing the program guide, it is automatically changed to the program overview display without changing to the e-mail viewing mode, and the location where the e-mail is displayed is changed. It becomes possible to secure. Thereby, it becomes possible to grasp the contents of the e-mail without disturbing the browsing of the program guide. In addition, it is possible to determine whether or not the email should be viewed immediately by simply displaying the content of the sender or subject of the email, even when the user is looking for a favorite program in the program guide The contents of the e-mail can be confirmed without interfering with the work.

  In the present embodiment, e-mail notification place determination unit 4107 assigns one region to the cell display priority for the plurality of regions resulting from the change of the detail level by program information detail level change unit 4105. Based on this. However, when the amount of text of the electronic mail is large, the contents of the electronic mail may be displayed using both of the areas generated by changing the detail level. In particular, when a plurality of e-mails are received, each text information of the e-mail may be displayed in each area. For example, as shown in FIG. 45, a plurality of received mails are displayed in each area. Further, regarding one mail, the sender information may be displayed in the upper area, and the content of the body of the electronic mail may be displayed in the lower area. When displaying both information such as a program guide and e-mail information, the character arrangement direction may be aligned. That way, the user can easily confirm.

(Embodiment 6)
Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the third embodiment, by calculating the display priority for each program (cell) in the displayed program guide, information interrupted by e-mail or the like when the program guide is displayed is displayed. When displaying, efficient display was possible.

  However, since the e-mail is displayed over the program guide, the user may want to confirm the contents of the program hidden in the e-mail. In that case, it is necessary to be able to confirm both the program guide and the electronic mail by scrolling the displayed program guide. In that case, only the program guide is scrolled while the position on the screen of the e-mail is fixed. On the other hand, when the program guide is scrolled greatly and a screen display completely different from the program guide that was displaying the e-mail is displayed, the display priority is calculated again for each cell and the e-mail is displayed. You need to decide where to go. In the present embodiment, when both the program guide and the e-mail are displayed, the cell (or display position on the screen) where the e-mail is to be displayed is determined by the scroll amount of the user's program guide. A characteristic process is performed.

  FIG. 46 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention. This program distribution system is a system that distributes a program, a program table as a schedule table, etc. to a portable information terminal via a broadcast wave or a communication network. A program table external storage unit 4501, a program table storage unit 4502, a program table display A unit 4503, a display priority determination unit 4504, an e-mail reception unit 4505, an e-mail notification place determination unit 4506, an e-mail display unit 4507, a scroll instruction input unit 4508, and an e-mail display position change determination unit 4509. The program table external storage unit 4501, the program table storage unit 4502, the program table display unit 4503, the display priority determination unit 4504, the e-mail reception unit 4505, the e-mail notification place determination unit 4506, and the e-mail display unit 4507 are implemented. Since the same processing as that of the component having the same name in the fifth embodiment is performed, the description thereof is omitted in the present embodiment.

  A scroll instruction input unit 4508 receives an input for scrolling the program guide displayed on the program guide display unit 4503. The scroll input is input by, for example, a direction key of a mobile phone. Here, as shown in FIG. 47, there are a case where only one hour is scrolled in the vertical direction of the program table and a case where scrolling is performed to different channels as shown in FIG. In the case of FIG. 47, the same program is partially displayed before and after scrolling. On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 48, since the channels are different, the same program does not exist before and after scrolling.

  An e-mail display position change determination unit 4509 determines whether or not to change the display position (cell) of the e-mail before scrolling based on the scroll content input by the scroll instruction input unit 4508. Specifically, in the case of scrolling for only one hour as shown in FIG. 47, it is determined that the user wanted to confirm the contents of the program from 10 o'clock of 104 ch, which was hidden by displaying an e-mail. Do not move the e-mail display position (display position on the screen). On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 48, when the user scrolls the program table so that the program contents of other channels are displayed, the program table is displayed again on the program table display unit 4503. The priority determination unit 4504 calculates the display priority, and displays the e-mail information in the portion of the program (cell) having a low display priority, thereby changing the display position. That is, it is determined whether or not to re-display the e-mail according to the amount and direction of the scroll instructed by the scroll instruction input unit 4508 and the location where the e-mail is currently displayed. This automatically determines whether the program was scrolled to confirm a program that could not be confirmed because the user was viewing an email, or whether it was scrolled to confirm another program. It becomes possible to determine the position.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the scroll instruction input unit 4508 determines whether there is a scroll instruction, and when there is no scroll instruction, repeats this step (S4801). If there is a scroll instruction, it is determined whether or not the scroll is to display a program hidden by the display of the e-mail (S4802). In the case of scrolling for displaying a place hidden by the e-mail, the e-mail display position change determination unit 4509 does not change the display position (display position on the screen) of the e-mail. Only the contents of are scrolled (S4803). If it is not the scroll for displaying the place hidden by the e-mail, the process proceeds to step S4804, and the display priority determination unit 4504 calculates the priority of each program to be displayed again (S4804). The e-mail notification location determination unit 4506 extracts a cell having a low program display priority, and sets the cell location as the e-mail display location.

  As a result of the above operation, when scrolling to confirm a hidden program guide by displaying an e-mail, the contents of the program can be confirmed to maintain the display location of the e-mail. . When a new program guide is displayed, the display priority is calculated for the cell in which the program is written, and the display location of the e-mail can be automatically changed.

  In the present embodiment, the display position of the e-mail is not changed when scrolling to confirm the program guide hidden by displaying the e-mail. Conversely, when changing the entire displayed program, the display location of the e-mail was calculated again. Instead of this, or in addition to this, as shown in FIG. 50, when the display priority of the portion where the e-mail was displayed is sufficiently low (nothing is broadcasted during the broadcast interruption time, etc.) In such a case, scrolling may be performed while the e-mail is displayed in the cell. That is, the e-mail may be moved as the cell moves so that the e-mail is displayed in the same program cell even after scrolling.

  In the present embodiment, the display position of the e-mail is not changed when scrolling to confirm the program table hidden by displaying the e-mail. Instead of this, or in addition to this, when the program guide is scrolled, it is determined that the display of the e-mail is unnecessary, and a confirmation message for deleting the e-mail is displayed to the user. Depending on the result, the display of the e-mail may be stopped.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 51, an e-mail is displayed at a portion from 10 o'clock of 104Ch, and when it is scrolled down, there is no place for displaying the e-mail. At this time, a program having a low program display priority may be extracted from the displayed program guide, and the contents of the e-mail may be displayed on the program.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the e-mail is displayed immediately after scrolling the program guide, but the e-mail may be displayed after a predetermined time (for example, about 3 seconds). This makes it possible to check the e-mail after checking the entire program guide. At this time, the predetermined time may be changed depending on the amount of characters displayed in the cell or the amount of characters in the e-mail. Thereby, display according to the amount of information displayed in the cell hidden by the e-mail becomes possible.

(Embodiment 7)
Next, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the third embodiment, even when an e-mail is received while browsing the program guide, the contents can be confirmed by displaying the e-mail in some cells of the program guide. However, it is difficult to check the entire contents of the e-mail even if only a part of cells of the program guide is displayed. In the present embodiment, after an e-mail is displayed in some cells of the program guide, the user focuses on the display of the e-mail or when a cell in which the e-mail is displayed is selected. Further, a characteristic process of enlarging the display area of the e-mail is performed.

  FIG. 52 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention. This program distribution system is a system for distributing a program, a program table as a schedule table, etc. to a portable information terminal via a broadcast wave or a communication network, and includes a program table external storage unit 5101, a program table storage unit 5102, a program table display Unit 5103, display priority determination unit 5104, e-mail reception unit 5105, e-mail notification place determination unit 5106, e-mail display unit 5107, e-mail display selection input unit 5108, and e-mail display position enlargement determination unit 5109. Yes. Note that the program guide external storage unit 5101, program guide storage unit 5102, program guide display unit 5103, display priority determination unit 5104, e-mail receiving unit 5105, e-mail notification place determination unit 5106, and e-mail display unit 5107 are implemented. Since the same processing as that of the component having the same name in the fifth and sixth embodiments is performed, the description thereof is omitted in the present embodiment.

  The e-mail display selection input unit 5108 accepts an input operation in which the user selects an e-mail cell displayed on the program guide. For example, the user selects a cell even by moving a frame to a cell in which an e-mail is displayed using a cross key of a cellular phone or the like, using a determination button or the like.

  The e-mail display position expansion determination unit 5109 selects a cell adjacent to the cell (cell in which the e-mail is displayed) input by the e-mail display selection input unit 5108, and expands the display area of the e-mail. Then, the e-mail is displayed again by the enlarged cell in the e-mail display unit 5107. For example, as shown in FIG. 53, in the cell from 10:00 of 104Ch, the e-mail is displayed because the cell display priority is low. At this time, the e-mail display position enlargement determination unit 5109 determines whether to enlarge the display area upward or horizontally in the cell in which the e-mail is displayed. This is determined in part 5109. As shown in the right diagram of FIG. 53, there are two directions P1 and P2 as the enlargement directions. At this time, when the display is expanded in each direction, the display priority of the program that is hidden is calculated, and the electronic mail is displayed with the display priority expanded in the lower direction. In the example shown in FIG. 53, it is assumed that the display priority is lower in the area P2 than in the area P1. As a result, as shown in FIG. 54, the display area is expanded in the horizontal direction to display the e-mail.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the e-mail display selection input unit 5108 determines whether or not a cell displaying an e-mail has been selected (S5401). If it is selected, the e-mail display position enlargement determination unit 5109 selects a cell in the enlargement direction based on the current e-mail display area (S5402). In the example shown in FIG. 53, the cells P1 and P2 are selected. Further, the e-mail display position enlargement determination unit 5109 determines an enlargement direction for each cell in the enlarged area based on the display priority calculated by the display priority determination unit 5104 (S5403). In the example shown in FIG. 53, the display priority is lower in the area P2. Therefore, by combining the cells of P2, the e-mail display unit 5107 displays the e-mail content again (S5404).

  As a result of the above operation, even when an e-mail is received while the program guide is being displayed, the contents of the e-mail can be confirmed, and if an e-mail is selected, the display area of the program guide is reduced. Then, by expanding the display area of the e-mail, the contents can be confirmed.

  In the present embodiment, the e-mail display position enlargement determination unit 5109 selects an enlarged area such as P1 and P2. However, when the display priority is lower than a predetermined value in both areas, or when the display priorities are equal, a new rectangle is generated by combining both areas and the contents of the e-mail are displayed at that position. May be. As a result, as shown in FIG. 56, an area obtained by combining a plurality of enlarged areas may be newly generated, and an e-mail may be displayed in the area.

(Embodiment 8)
Next, an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In the third embodiment, when a program guide relating to broadcast content is displayed, when an e-mail not related to the broadcast content is received, the position for displaying the text information of the e-mail is automatically determined. It was a thing. However, the text information acquired via the network may be related to a predetermined cell of the displayed program guide. In the present embodiment, when information related to a predetermined cell of the program guide is acquired, a characteristic process is performed in which received text information is displayed near the cell.

  FIG. 57 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention. This program distribution system is a system that distributes a program, a program table as a schedule table, etc. to a portable information terminal via a broadcast wave or a communication network. A program table external storage unit 5701, a program table storage unit 5702, a program table display A unit 5703, an e-mail receiving unit 5704, a program guide relevance calculating unit 5705, a display priority determining unit 5706, an e-mail notification place determining unit 5707, and an e-mail display unit 5708. It should be noted that program table external storage unit 5701, program table storage unit 5702, program table display unit 5703, e-mail receiving unit 5704, e-mail notification place determination unit 5707, and e-mail display unit 5708 have the same names in the fifth embodiment. In the present embodiment, the description is omitted because the same processing as that of the constituent elements is performed.

The program table relevance calculating unit 5705 compares the text information of the email received by the email receiving unit 5704 with the text information of the table displayed on the display terminal, and searches for the presence of matching text information. . Then, the degree of association between the received text information and each cell of the displayed table is calculated. For example, when the content of the text information of the e-mail is information related to the theme song of the program being displayed, there is a matching portion between the text information included in the cell and the text information included in the e-mail. In such a case, the received text information is estimated by the program guide relevance calculation unit 5705 to have a high relevance with a specific cell. More specifically, when a program guide as shown in FIG. 58 is displayed and a CM mail for the theme song “Robot Gakko” is received, the received mail is displayed in the upper right cell of the program guide. It is estimated that the relevance of is high.

  The display priority determining unit 5706 determines the display priority of each cell based on the degree of association with the program calculated by the program guide association degree calculating unit 5705. That is, it is an example of a second priority determination unit that determines the priority regarding the display of the program information of each cell based on the degree of association. In the example of FIG. 58, when the program priority is calculated as shown in the left figure, when an email related to the theme song of “Robot Gakko” is received, the display of the upper right cell is displayed as shown in the right figure. The priority is doubled, and the display priority of the cells around the upper right cell is halved. In this way, when information related to the displayed predetermined cell is acquired, the display priority is corrected.

  The e-mail notification place determination unit 5707 displays e-mail text information as shown in FIG. 59 based on the display priority determined by the display priority determination unit 5706.

  With this configuration, if the relevant information is displayed in a part of the cell of the information terminal when the e-mail is received, the contents of the e-mail can be confirmed without hiding the contents of the cell. Is possible.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the display priority determination unit 5706 calculates the display priority of each cell in the table on which the terminal is displayed (S6001). This step is repeated until an e-mail is received via the network. When an e-mail is received, the process proceeds to the next step (S6002). Whether the program table relevance calculating unit 5705 has a matching portion such as a program name in the text information of the email acquired by the email receiving unit 5704 and the text information of each cell displayed in the program guide display unit 5703. By determining whether or not, the degree of association between the e-mail and each cell is determined (S6003). If it is determined that the degree of association is high, for example, if it is determined that the program name and the like match in the e-mail and the program information, the process advances to step S6004, and the display priority determination unit 5706 displays the display priority. Is calculated again (S6004). If it is determined that the degree of association is low, for example, if it is determined that the program name or the like does not match between the e-mail and the program information, the process proceeds to step S6005. The e-mail notification place determination unit 5707 selects a cell with a low display priority, and displays e-mail text information on the cell (S6005).

  As a result of the above operation, when an e-mail related to the program guide is received, if the information related to the e-mail is displayed, the contents of the e-mail are displayed near the cell without hiding the cell. can do. As a result, it is possible to compare and confirm the received information with the information displayed as a table. In particular, in a system that provides a music download service related to a program, it is possible to download music while checking the contents of the program.

In this embodiment, the relevance with each cell is estimated from the degree of coincidence between the text information of the received e-mail and the text information of each cell of the displayed program guide. However, instead of this, or in addition to this, information about the program ID and channel number of the program guide, the name of the broadcasting station, and the time is included as meta information of the received mail. Based on this, the degree of association with each program may be estimated.

  Although the display device according to the present invention has been described based on Embodiments 1 to 8, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Embodiments obtained by arbitrarily combining these embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention and embodiments obtained by variously modifying these embodiments are also included in the present invention.

  For example, the portable information terminal in Embodiments 1 and 2 may have a function related to reception and display of e-mails in Embodiments 3 to 8, that is, information acquisition means for acquiring information via a communication network Or it may have a table display means for displaying the communication information, which is the information acquired by the information acquisition means, overlaid on a low priority cell among the cells included in the table to be displayed. Specifically, the present invention may be realized by combining any of Embodiments 1 and 2 and any of Embodiments 3 to 8.

  The present invention is useful as a display device for displaying a schedule table such as a program table or a timetable, and particularly as a display device for a mobile phone, a PDA, a television, or the like having a small display screen.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a viewing history stored in the viewing history external storage unit. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of program information stored in the program guide storage unit. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how a part of the program guide is displayed. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a recommended program. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a program guide. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a pop-up menu screen displayed superimposed on the program guide. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which an arrow icon is displayed in the program guide. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a program guide. FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a program table one week ago and today. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system. FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a new program and a special program. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example in which schedule information and a program guide are displayed. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of partial display of the program guide and an example of overall display. FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of moving between a plurality of programs to be displayed with priority. FIG. 20 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a display area of a message displayed superimposed on the program guide. FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the size of each display area in FIG. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which an e-mail text is superimposed on a program guide. FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a display area of an image displayed superimposed on the program guide. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of the size of an image. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the aspect ratio of each display area in FIG. FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which an image is superimposed on a program guide. FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a display example of an e-mail when the program guide is scrolled. FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system. FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a program display example in a portable information terminal including a plurality of display screens. FIG. 31 is a configuration diagram of a timetable distribution system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. FIG. 32 is a diagram showing scenes that can be used by the system. FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating an example of a use history accumulated in the transportation use history accumulation unit. FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrating an example of a timetable stored in the timetable storage unit. FIG. 35 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a timetable. FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating a display area of a message displayed superimposed on the timetable. FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which a message is superimposed on a timetable. FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the timetable distribution system. FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which a message is superimposed on schedule information. FIG. 40 is a diagram showing the display importance for each cell. FIG. 41 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention. FIG. 42 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide provided with an empty area. FIG. 43 is a diagram showing a display example of an e-mail and a program guide. FIG. 44 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system. FIG. 45 is a diagram showing a display example of a plurality of e-mails and a program guide. FIG. 46 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention. FIG. 47 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide when scrolling in the vertical direction. FIG. 48 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide when scrolling in the horizontal direction. FIG. 49 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system. FIG. 50 is a diagram showing a display example of a program guide when scrolling in the vertical direction. FIG. 51 is a diagram showing another display example of the program guide when scrolled in the vertical direction. FIG. 52 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention. FIG. 53 is a diagram showing an enlargement direction of an electronic mail display location. FIG. 54 is a diagram showing an example in which an e-mail is displayed in the enlarged area. FIG. 55 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system. FIG. 56 is a diagram showing an example in which an e-mail is displayed in the combined enlarged area. FIG. 57 is a configuration diagram of a program distribution system according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 58 is a diagram showing the display priority of each cell in the program guide. FIG. 59 is a diagram showing a display example of a CM mail and a program guide. FIG. 60 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the portable information terminal in the program distribution system.

Explanation of symbols

101, 1501 Viewing history external storage unit 102, 801, 1502, 4101, 4501, 5101, 5701 Program table external storage unit 103, 1503 Viewing history storage unit 104, 802, 1504, 4102, 4502, 5102, 5702 Program table storage unit 105, 804 Display priority program selection unit 106, 805 Display time zone determination unit 107, 806 Display channel determination unit 108, 807, 1505, 4103, 4503, 5103, 5703 Program table display unit 803 Program table acquisition history storage unit 1506, 2505 4104, 4504, 5104, 5706 Display priority determining unit 1507, 4106, 4505, 5105, 5704 E-mail receiving unit 1508, 4107, 4506, 5106, 5707 E-mail notification location determining unit 2501 Timetable external storage unit 2502 Transportation use history storage unit 2503 Timetable storage unit 2504 Timetable display unit 2506 Information distribution unit 2507 Information reception unit 2508 Information notification place determination unit 4105 Program information detail level change unit 4108, 4507, 5107, 5708 E-mail display unit 4508 Scroll instruction input unit 4509 E-mail display position change determination unit 5108 E-mail display selection input unit 5109 E-mail display position expansion determination unit 5705 Program guide relevance calculation unit

Claims (4)

A display device that displays information of a table that is a collection of cells specified by row numbers and column numbers,
First priority determining means for determining priority for display for each cell;
Matrix determining means for determining a row and a column including cells having a high priority determined by the first priority determining means from among the rows and columns of the table;
Table display means for processing and displaying a portion including cells having high priority among the determined rows and columns into one table;
An information acquisition means for acquiring information via a communication network;
The table display means combines the cells included in the table to be displayed and the adjacent cells, calculates the priority for display for each combined cell, and places the calculated low priority cell location by the information acquisition means. Select the cell for displaying the information by displaying the acquired information in a superimposed manner, and the layout for displaying the information acquired by the information acquisition means and the layout of the cell including the adjacent cells, and selecting And displaying the information superimposed on the cell location . The display device according to claim 1,
The information acquired by the information communication means is information of an e-mail transmitted to the user,
Table display means after receiving the e-mail, when displaying the contents of the e-mail, by calculating a priority relating to the display for each cell the combined adjacent cells, and displays the information of the electronic mail A display device characterized by that. A display method for displaying a table,
A first priority determination step for determining a priority for display for each cell which is an element constituting the schedule table;
A matrix determination step for determining a row and a column including cells having a high priority determined in the first priority determination step from among the rows and columns constituting the table;
A table display step for processing and displaying a portion including cells having high priority among the determined rows and columns into one table;
An information acquisition step of acquiring information via a communication network,
In the table display step, combined with the cell adjacent to the cell in the table to be displayed, and calculates a priority relating to the display for each combined cell, the location of the calculated low-priority cell, by the information obtaining step A cell for displaying the information by overlappingly displaying the communication information which is the acquired information, and a layout for displaying the information acquired by the information acquisition means and a layout of a cell including the adjacent cells, A display method comprising: selecting and displaying the information superimposed on the location of the selected cell . A program for a display device for displaying a table,
A program for causing a computer to execute the steps included in the display method according to claim 3 .

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