JP4816734B2 - Communication device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device.

  Various contents are released on the network. There is a server that publishes content summary information including a plurality of articles including a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of each content and a title of each content. An example of the content summary information is feed information (Feed). As a format of the feed information, for example, there are RSS (Resource Description Framework Site Summary) and Atom (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Non-Patent Document 1 describes a reader (RSS reader) that acquires RSS-format feed information (RSS feed information) from a server. The RSS reader described in Non-Patent Document 1 scrolls and displays titles included in articles included in RSS feed information acquired from a server like an electric bulletin board.

  On the other hand, it is known to provide various communication devices with a sleep function in order to save power. The sleep function is a function that shifts to a standby state that suppresses power consumption by turning off the backlight of the display unit, for example, when certain conditions are satisfied, such as when there is no operation for a certain period of time. It is.

JP 2008-165692 A

Tomoyuki Ozu, “Displaying RSS-delivered article titles in an electric bulletin board style” Dirty News Reader ”, [Online], May 26, 2004, Impression Corporation, [Search July 29, 2008], Internet, <http://www.forest.impress.co.jp/article/2004/05/26/dirtynewsreader.html>

  However, if the timing for displaying a title or the like (an example of content-related information) included in an article included in the RSS feed information and the timing for shifting to the sleep state are controlled independently of each other, the content-related information is being displayed. In addition, a situation may occur in which the communication device shifts to the sleep state. For example, when the display is switched to the sleep state and the backlight of the display unit is turned off, it is difficult for the user to read the content-related information displayed on the display unit.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and suppresses a situation in which the display unit shifts to a sleep state during display of content-related information, and when a user browses content-related information. The object is to provide a communication device that is easy to use.

  In order to achieve this object, the communication device according to claim 1 is capable of accessing a device that stores content summary information including at least one content information including at least a content title based on position information. A display unit that displays information included in the content information; and a sleep transition unit that shifts the display unit to a sleep state when a predetermined condition is satisfied; a position information storage unit that stores the position information; Summary information acquisition means for periodically acquiring the content summary information based on the position information stored in the position information storage means, and content information provided in the content summary information acquired by the summary information acquisition means Extraction means for extracting the information contained in the content-related information, and the extraction means Display means for sequentially displaying the content related information on the display unit; determination means for determining a display time required for displaying the content related information by the display means; and display of the content related information by the display means. And a prohibiting unit that prohibits the sleep transition unit from shifting to the sleep state by the sleep transition unit from the start until the display required time elapses.

  The term “location information” described above is a concept including any information that can specify the location of information on a network. An example of the position information is a URL. Further, the “title” means a character string that is less than the entire character string of the content and reflects the content.

  The communication device according to claim 2 is the communication device according to claim 1, wherein the extraction unit includes the content information included in the content summary information acquired by the summary information acquisition unit, the previous time by the summary information acquisition unit. The content-related information is extracted from newly arrived content information that has not been acquired at the time of the acquisition process, and the determining means needs to display the time required to display the content-related information extracted by the extracting means. Decide as time.

  The communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein in the communication apparatus according to claim 1, the determination unit calculates a time corresponding to the number of characters constituting the content-related information extracted by the extraction unit. It is determined as the required display time.

  The communication device according to claim 4 is the communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a sleep transition time storage unit that stores a sleep transition time and a time elapsed without operation on the communication device. A time counting means for counting time, a remaining time until the elapsed time counted by the time measuring means reaches the sleep transition time before the display means starts displaying the content related information, and the determination And a remaining time comparing means for comparing the magnitude relationship with the required display time determined by the means, and the prohibiting means is determined by the remaining time comparing means that the required display time is greater than the remaining time. The sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage means is updated with the required display time, and the time counting means The elapsed time counted is reset, and when the elapsed time counted by the time measuring unit exceeds the time stored in the sleep transition time storage unit, the sleep transition unit puts the display unit in a sleep state. To move to.

  The communication device according to claim 5 is the communication device according to claim 4, wherein when the user performs an operation on the communication device, the elapsed time counted by the time measuring unit is reset and the sleep transition time storage is performed. Time updating means for updating the time stored in the means with a predetermined sleep transition time is provided.

  The communication device according to claim 6 is the communication device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the display unit determines whether the display unit is in a sleep state before the display unit starts displaying the content related information. A determination unit; and a sleep cancellation unit that cancels the sleep state of the display unit when the display unit determines that the display unit is sleeping by the determination unit during sleep, and the prohibition unit includes the sleep cancellation unit In the case where the sleep state of the display unit is released by the above, the elapsed time that is updated by the required display time and is counted by the time measuring unit, and the predetermined sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage unit is updated. To reset.

  According to the communication device of the first aspect, since the display unit is prohibited from entering the sleep state until the display necessary time elapses after the display of the content related information is started, the display of the content related information is performed. There is an effect that the situation in which the display unit shifts to the sleep state can be suppressed. As a result, it is possible to provide a communication device that is easy to use when the user browses content-related information.

  According to the communication device of the second aspect, in addition to the effect produced by the communication device of the first aspect, the time required to display the content related information extracted from the newly arrived content information is determined as the display required time. There is an effect that it is possible to suppress a situation in which the display unit shifts to the sleep state during the display of the content related information extracted from the newly arrived content information.

  According to the communication device according to claim 3, in addition to the effect produced by the communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the time corresponding to the number of characters constituting the content related information is determined as the display necessary time. Thus, it is possible to determine an appropriate display required time according to the number of characters constituting the content related information. As a result, there is an effect that the situation in which the display unit shifts to the sleep state during the display of the content related information can be more reliably suppressed.

  According to the communication device according to claim 4, in addition to the effect achieved by the communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, when it is determined that the required display time is longer than the remaining time, the sleep transition time storage unit The sleep transition time stored in is updated with the display necessary time and the elapsed time counted by the time measuring means is reset, so that the transition of the display unit to the sleep state is prohibited during the display necessary time. As a result, there is an effect that the situation in which the display unit shifts to the sleep state during the display of the content related information can be reliably suppressed. In addition, since the display unit shifts to the sleep state after the necessary display time elapses, it is possible to suppress the prohibition of shifting to the sleep state from being unnecessarily prolonged and to realize power saving.

  According to the communication device of claim 5, in addition to the effect of the communication device of claim 4, when the user performs an operation on the communication device, the elapsed time is reset and the sleep transition time storage means stores Even if the sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage means is updated with the display necessary time for displaying the content related information, the time to be updated is updated at the predetermined sleep transition time. There is an effect that the transition timing to the sleep state can be returned to a timing corresponding to a predetermined sleep transition time.

  Note that “the user performs an operation on the communication device” is not limited to the case where an operation is performed on a key or the like provided on the communication device. For example, a command such as print execution is input from an external device. This includes the case where the user operates an external device.

  The communication device according to claim 6 releases the sleep state when it is determined that the communication device according to claim 6 is in the sleep state before starting the display of the content related information in addition to the effect produced by the communication device according to claim 4 or 5. The display portion is prohibited from entering the sleep state for the time required for display. As a result, it is possible to make the content-related information visible to the user and to suppress the situation where the display unit shifts to the sleep state during the display of the content-related information. In addition, since the transition to the sleep state occurs when the necessary display time elapses, the prohibition of transition to the sleep state is suppressed from being unnecessarily prolonged, and there is an effect that power saving can be realized.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the multi-function device which is one Embodiment of this invention. (A) is a figure which shows typically the structure of feed information and one structure of the articles contained in feed information, (b) is a figure explaining the identification method of a new arrival article. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the screen content of a display panel. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the display required time required for the display of content relevant information, and the transition timing of a sleep state. It is a flowchart which shows the RSS acquisition process performed in a multi-function device. (A) is a flowchart showing a sleep transition process executed in the multi-function device, and (b) is a flowchart showing a user operation time process executed in the multi-function device.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multi-function device 10 which is an embodiment of a communication apparatus according to the present invention. The multi-function device 10 of the present embodiment is configured to be accessible to a content providing server (an example of a device that stores content summary information based on position information) (not shown). Here, the content providing server publishes one or a plurality of sites, and each site includes a plurality of contents. The content providing server stores RSS-format feed information (an example of content summary information). Details of the feed information will be described later with reference to FIG. 2. The feed information includes (includes) a plurality of articles (an example of content information) corresponding to the summary information of the content included in the site. .

  The multi-function device 10 acquires the feed information from the content providing server according to the preset feed information acquisition frequency, and displays, for example, the title of the article included in the acquired feed information as the content related information. (Display example). The multi-function device 10 is always turned on for FAX reception. However, in order to save power, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, the backlight of the display panel 50 is erased to shift to the sleep state. It is configured as follows. Although details will be described later, the multi-function device 10 of the present embodiment is configured to be able to suppress a situation in which the display panel 50 shifts to a sleep state during display of content-related information.

  The multi-function device 10 includes a control unit 12, a display panel 50, a keypad 52, a printing unit 54, a scanning unit 56, a FAX unit 58, a network interface 60, a PSTN interface 62, and a speaker 64. Have. The control unit 12 includes a CPU 14, a ROM 16, a RAM 18, and an NVRAM 20.

  The CPU 14 executes various processes according to the programs 16a and 16b stored in the ROM 16. The ROM 16 stores a basic function program 16a and a feed information processing program 16b.

  The basic function program 16 a is a program for controlling basic operations of the multi-function device 10. The basic function program 16a includes, for example, a program for controlling the printing unit 54, the scanning unit 56, the FAX unit 58, and the like. The CPU 14 executes the sleep transition process shown in FIG. 6 according to the basic performance program 16a.

  The feed information processing program 16b obtains feed information from a content providing server (not shown), creates information for display on the display panel 50 (hereinafter referred to as “display data”), and displays it. It is a program. The CPU 14 executes the RSS acquisition process shown in FIG. 5 according to the feed information processing program 16b.

  The RAM 18 includes a basic function work area 18a, an update information storage area 18b, a sleep shift counter 18c, and a sleep shift time storage area 18d. The basic function work area 18a is a storage area for storing various data generated in the course of processing being executed in accordance with the basic function program 16a. The update information storage area 18b is a storage area for storing feed information acquired by executing an RSS acquisition process (FIG. 5) described later.

  The sleep transition counter 18c counts an elapsed time since the multi-function device 10 was last operated. That is, the elapsed time that has elapsed without any operation on the multi-function device 10 is counted, and corresponds to an example of a time measuring means.

  The sleep transition time storage area 18d is a storage area for storing the sleep transition time, and corresponds to an example of a sleep transition time storage unit. In the present embodiment, the “sleep transition time” is described as a value indicating the length of time such as “20 minutes”, but instead, for example, a time such as “21:30” is “ It may be configured to be stored as “sleep transition time”. The multi-function device 10 of this embodiment is configured to shift to the sleep state when the value of the sleep shift counter 18c exceeds the sleep shift time. The sleep transition time storage area 18d stores a sleep transition time determined in advance by the user. While the content-related information is displayed on the display panel 50, the sleep transition time storage area 18d is temporarily disabled. In particular, it may be updated to the display required time described later.

  The NVRAM 20 includes a basic function parameter storage area 20a, a URL storage area 20b, a user setting sleep transition time storage area 20c, a previous acquisition information storage area 20d, and a display information type storage area 20e. The basic function parameter storage area 20a is a storage area for storing various parameters (for example, print settings, scan settings, etc.) used when the CPU 14 executes processing according to the basic function program 16a.

  The URL storage area 20b is a storage area for storing feed information URL (an example of position information). The content providing server stores the feed information based on the feed information URL. In order to access the content providing server and receive the content providing service, the user registers the feed information URL in this storage area. The URL storage area 20b corresponds to an example of a position information storage unit.

  The user set sleep transition time storage area 20c is a storage area for storing the sleep transition time set by the user. The user can set an arbitrary time such as “20 minutes” as the sleep transition time. The sleep transition time stored in the user-set sleep transition time storage area 20c corresponds to an example of a predetermined sleep transition time. When the multi-function device 10 is powered on and when an operation is performed on the multi-function device 10 by the user, the sleep transition time stored in the user-set sleep transition time storage area 20c is written in the sleep transition time storage area 18d. It is.

  The previously acquired information storage area 20d is a storage area for storing the previously acquired feed information. The display information type storage area 20e is a storage area for storing the type of information to be displayed on the display panel 50. Although details will be described later with reference to FIG. 2, each article included in the feed information includes a plurality of types of information (content title character string, content update date / time information, and the like). Of the information included in each article, the type of information stored in the display type storage area 20e is displayed on the display panel 50.

  The display panel 50 is a liquid crystal display device that can display various information. The keypad 52 is composed of a plurality of keys. The user can input various instructions and information to the multi-function device 10 by operating the keypad 52.

  The printing unit 54 has a printing mechanism such as an ink jet type or a laser type. The scanning unit 56 has a reading mechanism such as a CCD or CIS. The FAX unit 58 executes various operations for executing FAX communication. The network interface 60 is connected to the Internet line 61. The multi-function device 10 can access a content providing server (not shown) via the Internet line 61.

  The PSTN interface 62 is connected to a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) (not shown). The PSTN is used when performing FAX communication or telephone communication.

  The feed information that the multi-function device 10 acquires from the content providing server will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of feed information and one configuration of articles included in the feed information. As shown in FIG. 2A, the feed information includes a plurality of articles corresponding to the summary information of the content included in the site published by the content providing server, in addition to the information indicating the feed information update date and time. Each article includes a content title character string, content update date / time information, a content summary character string, and a content URL. However, the article may be configured to include another type of information.

  A content title character string (an example of a title) is a character string reflecting the content. The content update date / time information is information related to the date / time when the content is updated in the content providing server. The content summary character string is a character string that reflects the content, and is composed of a character string that is larger than the content title character string and smaller than the entire content character string. The content URL is a URL for acquiring content.

  The multi-function device 10 periodically acquires feed information including such articles from the content providing server, and in order to allow the user to visually recognize the outline of the articles included in the acquired feed information, the content-related information extracted from the articles Information is displayed on the display panel 50. However, in the multi-function device 10 of the present embodiment, content-related information is not extracted from all articles included in the acquired feed information, but instead of newly arrived articles (hereinafter referred to as newly arrived articles. An example of newly arrived content information). Only content-related information) is displayed on the display panel 50.

  FIG. 2B is a diagram for explaining a method for identifying newly arrived articles. The multi-function device 10 periodically acquires feed information by an RSS acquisition process (FIG. 5) to be described later, and stores the acquired feed information in the update information storage area 18b. In other words, the latest feed information acquired by the RSS acquisition process is stored in the update information storage area 18b (FIG. 1). On the other hand, the feed information acquired in the previous RSS acquisition process (that is, the RSS acquisition process performed once before the latest RSS acquisition process) is stored in the previous acquisition information storage area 20d.

  Therefore, the multi-function device 10 includes the content title character string of each article included in the feed information stored in the update information storage area 18b and the content of each article included in the feed information stored in the previously acquired information storage area 20d. The content title characters of the article (included in the feed information) stored in the previously acquired information storage area 20d among the articles (included in the feed information) compared with the title character string and stored in the update information storage area 18b Articles having content title character strings that do not match the columns can be identified as newly arrived articles.

  Note that the above-described new article identification method is an example. Instead of specifying a new article based on a content title character string, for example, a new article may be specified based on whether other information such as content update date / time information or a content summary character string matches. The functional unit 10 may be configured. FIG. 2B illustrates only one type of feed information. However, when a plurality of content URLs are registered in the URL storage area 20b (see FIG. 1), a plurality of feeds are displayed. Since the information is acquired, a plurality of pieces of feed information are stored in the previous information storage area 20d and the update information storage area 18c, respectively.

  Next, a screen displayed on the display panel 50 when the multi-function device 10 acquires a new article will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the screen content of the display panel 50 in the standby state. As shown in FIG. 3, the display panel 50 in a standby state displays a button 160 used for opening a menu screen. The display panel 50 is provided with a feed information display area 162. When the newly acquired article is included in the acquired feed information, the multi-function device 10 sequentially scrolls the content related information extracted from the newly arrived article in the feed information display area 162 in the direction of flowing from the right side to the left side toward the screen. indicate. Therefore, the user of the multi-function device 10 can know the outline of the newly arrived article by viewing the content related information displayed on the display panel 50.

  In order to display the content related information in an easy-to-read manner for the user, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, three spaces (spaces for three characters) may be arranged between the content related information. good.

  Here, when the display shifts to a sleep state in which the backlight of the display panel 50 is erased during the display of the content related information, the content related information becomes difficult to visually recognize. Therefore, the multi-function device 10 is configured so that the transition to the sleep state is prohibited during the display necessary time required for displaying the content related information.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an overview of processing in the multi-function device 10, and is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a display required time required for displaying content-related information in the multi-function device 10 and a sleep state transition timing. . In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, it is assumed that “20 minutes” set by the user is stored in advance as the sleep transition time in the sleep transition time storage area 18 d. In this case, when 20 minutes have passed since the last user operation, the multi-function device 10 shifts the display panel 50 to the sleep state.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a case where a newly arrived article is acquired 10 minutes after the last user operation. In this case, the remaining sleep transition time (an example of the remaining time) from a certain point in time before displaying the content-related information until reaching the sleep transition time stored in advance is 10 minutes. The “sleep transition remaining time” is obtained, for example, by subtracting the elapsed time counted by the sleep transition counter 18c from the sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18d.

  Further, in the example shown in FIG. 4A, it is assumed that the display required time required for displaying the content related information is 5 minutes. In this embodiment, the time corresponding to the number of characters (number of characters) of the content-related information to be displayed is determined as the display necessary time. Specifically, as the number of characters of the content-related information increases, a larger value (that is, longer time) is determined as the display necessary time. This is because when the number of characters of the content related information to be displayed is large, it takes a longer time to scroll and display all the characters constituting the extracted content related information.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, before the display of the content related information, when the display required time is equal to or less than the remaining sleep transition time, the multi-function device 10 is stored in advance in the sleep transition time storage area 18d. Do not change the sleep transition time. As a result, the display panel 50 shifts to the sleep state at a timing corresponding to the sleep shift time determined by the user without shifting to the sleep state until all the content related information is displayed.

  On the other hand, as in the example shown in FIG. 4B, the display required time is longer than the remaining sleep transition time (that is, the value indicating the display required time is larger than the value indicating the sleep shift time and represents a longer time). The multi-function device 10 updates the sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18d with the necessary display time corresponding to the number of characters of the content-related information, and the sleep transition counter 18c. Reset the elapsed time counted by. As a result, the transition of the display panel 50 to the sleep state is prohibited during the display necessary time from the reset of the sleep transition counter 18c. In other words, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the display panel 50 shifts to the sleep state during the display of the content related information. Furthermore, since the display panel 50 shifts to the sleep state after the necessary display time has elapsed, prohibition of shifting to the sleep state is suppressed from being prolonged more than necessary, and power saving can be realized.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4C, when it is determined that the display panel 50 is in the sleep state before the display of the content related information is started, the multi-function device 10 cancels the sleep state and shifts to the sleep state. The sleep transition time stored in the time storage area 18d is updated with the display required time, and the elapsed time counted by the sleep transition counter 18c is reset. That is, the display panel 50 is prohibited from shifting to the sleep state for the time required for display. As a result, the backlight of the display panel 50 can be turned on to make it easier to visually recognize the content related information, and the situation where the display panel 50 shifts to the sleep state during the display of the content related information can be prevented. In addition, since the display panel 50 shifts to the sleep state after the necessary display time has elapsed, prohibition of shifting to the sleep state is suppressed from being prolonged more than necessary, and power saving can be realized.

  As described above, according to the multi-function device 10 of the present embodiment, the display panel shifts to the sleep state during the display of the content related information in any of the cases shown in FIGS. Can be prevented. As a result, it is convenient for the user to browse the content related information.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing RSS acquisition processing executed by the CPU 14. This RSS acquisition process is periodically executed in accordance with the preset feed information acquisition frequency.

  First, the CPU 14 executes step S502 (hereinafter, step is omitted), accesses the content providing server, and acquires feed information (S502). That is, feed information is acquired based on the feed information URL stored in the URL storage area 20b (FIG. 1). The acquired feed information is stored in the update information storage area 18b.

  Next, the CPU 14 acquires the content title character string (FIG. 2A) of each article included in the acquired feed information (S504), and stores each article of the feed information stored in the previous acquisition information storage area 20d. A content title character string is acquired (S506).

  Next, the CPU 14 includes the content title character string of each article (content title character string of each article stored in the update information storage area 18b) included in the feed information acquired this time in S502 and the previously acquired feed information. Content title character string of each article (content title character string of each article stored in the previous acquisition information storage area 20d) (S508), among the articles acquired this time, the content title character of the article acquired last time Articles with content title character strings that do not match the columns are identified as newly arrived articles (S510).

  Next, the CPU 14 counts the number of newly arrived articles (S512), and determines whether there is a newly arrived article (S514). When judgment of S514 is denied (S514: No), it transfers to S540. That is, since there is no new article, the content related information is not displayed.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that there is a newly arrived article (S514: Yes), the CPU 14 extracts information of a type set as a display target from information included in the newly arrived article as content related information (S516). . Here, it is assumed that “content title character string” is stored in the display information type storage area 20e (FIG. 1) as the type of information to be displayed. In this case, the CPU 14 extracts the content title character string included in each newly arrived article as content related information. Then, the CPU 14 concatenates the content related information extracted in S516 to create display data (S518). In the display panel 50, when a space is arranged between the content related information as illustrated in FIG. 3, display data in which each content related information is connected through a predetermined number of spaces is created.

  Note that the maximum number of display characters per article (for example, 50 characters) may be determined in advance. In this case, from the information extracted from each article in the process of S516, information on a character string equal to or less than the maximum number of display characters may be extracted as content related information, and display data may be created based on the content related information. .

  Next, the CPU 14 counts the number of characters (number of characters) included in the display data (S520), and reads a preset display speed (S522). Here, the “display speed” corresponds to the scroll speed when displaying the content-related information on the display panel 50, and is a value corresponding to the distance that one character moves in one second, for example. When no space is placed between the content related information, the total number of characters of the content related information is counted in S520. On the other hand, when a space is arranged between the content related information, the number obtained by adding the number of spaces arranged between the content related information to the total number of characters of the content related information is counted in S520.

  Next, the CPU 14 determines a value obtained by dividing the counted number of characters by the display speed as a display necessary time required for displaying the content related information (S524). That is, a time corresponding to the number of characters constituting the content related information is determined as the display necessary time. As described with reference to FIG. 3, the content related information is sequentially scroll-displayed on the display panel 50. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the time required for the end of the scroll display for one cycle in which each content related information is displayed once is determined as “display required time required for display”. However, the “required display time required for display” may be a time required from the start of the display of the content-related information to the end of scroll display for a plurality of cycles. For example, when each content-related information is set to be displayed N times (N is an integer of 2 or more) (that is, when scroll display is set to be repeated N times), the content-related information is displayed. The time required from the start of the display to the end of the scroll display for N cycles may be referred to as “display required time required for display”.

  Next, the CPU 14 determines whether the display panel 50 is in a sleep state (S526). If it is determined that the display panel 50 is in the sleep state before starting the display of the content-related information (S526: Yes), the display panel 50 is released from the sleep state (S530), and the process proceeds to S532.

  On the other hand, if the determination in S526 is negative (S526: No), the CPU 14 next determines the magnitude relationship between the sleep transition remaining time and the display required time (S528). When it is determined that the required display time is less than or equal to the sleep transition remaining time (S528: No), as described with reference to FIG. 4A, the display required time is stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18d (see FIG. 1). The content related information of the newly arrived article is scrolled and displayed without updating the updated time (S536).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the required display time is longer than the remaining sleep transition time (S528: Yes), or when the sleep state of the display panel 50 is canceled (S530), FIGS. 4B and 4C. ), The sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18d is updated with the necessary display time (S532), and the elapsed time counted by the sleep transition counter 18c is reset (S534). ). Then, the CPU 14 causes the display panel 50 to sequentially display the content related information extracted from the newly arrived article based on the display data (S536).

  Although the details will be described later with reference to FIG. 6, the multi-function device 10 sleeps the display panel 50 when the elapsed time counted by the sleep transition counter 18c exceeds the time stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18d. Transition to the state. Therefore, after the processing of S534, the display of the content related information is started, and the transition of the display panel 50 to the sleep state is prohibited from the start of the display of the content related information until the display necessary time elapses. can do.

  In S536, when displaying the content-related information, a process for notifying the user of reception of a new article, such as outputting sound from the speaker 64 (FIG. 1) or blinking the backlight of the display panel 50. The multi-function device 10 may be configured to perform the above. In this way, even if the user is not in the vicinity of the multi-function device 10, it is possible to notify the user of the display of the content related information of newly arrived articles on the display panel 50.

  Next, the CPU 14 determines whether or not the display of all the characters included in the display data has been completed (S538), and repeats the processing from S536 while the determination of S538 is denied (S538: No). On the other hand, if the determination in S538 is affirmative (S538: Yes), the information stored in the update information storage area 18b is copied to the previously acquired information storage area 20d (S540), and this process ends.

  According to the RSS acquisition process of the present embodiment, the time required to display the content related information extracted from the newly arrived article is determined as the display required time, so that the display panel is displayed while the content related information extracted from the newly arrived article is being displayed. The situation that 50 shifts to the sleep state can be reliably suppressed.

  In addition, since the time corresponding to the number of characters constituting the content-related information is determined as the display necessary time, it is possible to determine an appropriate display necessary time, and to suppress the prohibition to enter the sleep state more than necessary, Power saving can be realized.

  FIG. 6A is a flowchart showing a sleep transition process executed by the CPU 14. This process is a process for controlling the transition to the sleep state, and is executed by the CPU 14 when the power of the multi-function device 10 is activated. First, the CPU 14 determines whether or not the sleep transition time has elapsed (S602). Specifically, it is determined whether or not the value of the sleep transition counter 18c exceeds the sleep transition time. While the determination in S602 is negative (S602: No), the process waits.

  On the other hand, if the determination in S602 is affirmative (S602: Yes), the backlight of the display panel 50 is erased and the process shifts to the sleep state (S604), and the process returns to S602.

  As described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18 d is updated to the necessary display time when displaying the content related information. Therefore, according to the multi-function device 10 of the present embodiment, the transition to the sleep state is prohibited while the content related information is displayed, and the display panel 50 is shifted to the sleep state at an appropriate timing, thereby saving power. Can be achieved. Although the present embodiment refers to shifting the display panel 50 to the sleep state, the power supply to other components such as the scan unit 56 (FIG. 1) is also shut off at the same timing, and the sleep state is shifted to. You may make it let it.

  FIG. 6B is a flowchart showing user operation processing executed by the CPU 14. This process is a process for updating the sleep transition time when a user operation is performed, and is executed by the CPU 14 when the power of the multi-function device 10 is activated. First, the CPU 14 determines whether or not the user has performed an operation on the multi-function device 10 (S606). While the determination in S606 is negative (S606: No), the process waits.

  On the other hand, for example, when a user operation is performed on the keypad 52 (FIG. 1) or when a command such as print execution is input from an external device based on the user operation, the multi-function device 10 is operated by the user. (S606: Yes), the CPU 14 stores the time stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18d (FIG. 1) as a sleep transition time that is predetermined by the user (that is, user set sleep transition time storage). The time is updated with the sleep transition time stored in the area 20c (S608), and the elapsed time counted by the sleep transition counter 18c (FIG. 1) is reset (S610). Although not shown in the flowchart, when the user performs an operation on the multi-function note 10 and is in the sleep state at that time, the multi-function device 10 cancels the sleep state of the display panel 50 (sleep state). To return from).

  According to this process, even when the sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage area 18d is updated with the display necessary time for content-related information display, the transition timing to the sleep state is determined by the user. Can return to the one corresponding to the predetermined sleep transition time. That is, after the content-related information is displayed, it is possible to shift to the sleep state at a timing according to the user's preference on condition that the user performs an operation on the multi-function device 10.

  The CPU 14 that executes S502 corresponds to an example of summary information acquisition means. The CPU 14 that executes S516 corresponds to an example of an extraction unit. The CPU 14 that executes S524 corresponds to an example of a determination unit. The CPU 14 that executes S526 corresponds to an example of a sleep determination unit. The CPU 14 that executes S528 corresponds to an example of remaining time comparison means. The CPU 14 that executes S530 corresponds to an example of a sleep release unit. The CPU 14 that executes S532 and S534 corresponds to an example of a prohibiting unit. The CPU 14 that executes S536 corresponds to an example of a display unit. CPU14 which performs the process shown to Fig.6 (a) corresponds to an example of a sleep transfer means. CPU14 which performs the process shown in FIG.6 (b) corresponds to an example of a time update means.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various improvements and modifications can be easily made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Can be inferred.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the content title character string of each newly arrived article is displayed. That is, although one type of information is displayed as content related information, information combining a plurality of types of information may be used as content related information. When extracting the content summary character string as content related information, a part of the content summary character string is omitted so that the content summary character string of each article included in the feed information is, for example, 40 characters or less. Information may be extracted as content related information.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the display required time was determined based on the number of the characters which comprise content relevant information, it is good also as determining the display required time based on the number of newly arrived articles. In this case, the required display time may be determined so that the required display time becomes longer as the number of new articles increases.

  In the above-described embodiment, the content related information is displayed only for newly arrived articles. However, regardless of whether the article is a newly arrived article, content related information is extracted from each article of the acquired feed information, and the display panel The present invention can also be applied to a case where the display is sequentially scrolled to 50. Of the articles included in the acquired feed information, new articles are preferentially displayed (that is, displayed first), and after all new articles have been displayed, articles that are not new are displayed. The functional unit 10 may be configured. In this case, it is configured so that the user can appropriately select whether the time required for displaying all newly arrived articles is to be displayed as required time or whether the time required for displaying all articles including newly arrived articles is to be displayed. Also good.

10 Multi-function device 18c Sleep transition counter 18d Sleep transition time storage area 50 Display panel

Claims (6)

A device that can access content summary information including at least one content information including at least a content title based on position information, and that displays information included in the content information; and a predetermined condition is provided A communication device comprising sleep transition means for transitioning the display unit to a sleep state when established,
Position information storage means for storing the position information;
Summary information acquisition means for periodically acquiring the content summary information based on the position information stored in the position information storage means;
Extraction means for extracting information included in the content information included in the content summary information acquired by the summary information acquisition means as content related information;
Display means for sequentially displaying the content related information extracted by the extraction means on the display unit;
Determining means for determining a display time required for displaying the content-related information by the display means;
And a prohibiting unit for prohibiting the transition to the sleep state of the display unit by the sleep transition unit from the start of the display of the content related information by the display unit until the display required time elapses. A communication device. The extracting means extracts the content related information from newly arrived content information not acquired during the previous acquisition process by the summary information acquiring means among the content information included in the content summary information acquired by the summary information acquiring means. To extract,
The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determining unit determines a time required for displaying the content related information extracted by the extracting unit as the display necessary time.   The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the determining unit determines a time corresponding to the number of characters constituting the content-related information extracted by the extracting unit as the display necessary time. . A sleep transition time storage means for storing a sleep transition time;
Time counting means for counting the elapsed time that has passed without operation on the communication device;
Before the display of the content-related information by the display means, the remaining time until the elapsed time counted by the time measuring means reaches the sleep transition time and the display necessity determined by the determination means A remaining time comparison means for comparing the magnitude relationship with time,
The prohibiting means updates the sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage means with the necessary display time when the required display time is determined to be greater than the remaining time by the remaining time comparison means, And resetting the elapsed time counted by the time measuring means,
The said sleep transfer means makes the said display part transfer to a sleep state, if the elapsed time counted by the said time measuring means exceeds the time memorize | stored in the said sleep shift time memory | storage means. The communication apparatus in any one of.   When the user performs an operation on the communication device, the elapsed time counted by the timing unit is reset, and the time stored in the sleep transition time storage unit is updated with a predetermined sleep transition time. The communication apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising an updating unit. A sleep determination unit that determines whether the display unit is in a sleep state before the display unit starts displaying the content-related information;
A sleep canceling unit for canceling a sleep state of the display unit when the display unit determines that the display unit is sleeping by the sleep determination unit;
The prohibiting unit updates a predetermined sleep transition time stored in the sleep transition time storage unit with the display required time when the sleep state of the display unit is canceled by the sleep cancellation unit, and 6. The communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the elapsed time counted by the time measuring means is reset.

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