JP7275846B2 - Information processing device and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and program.

Emails and communication tools have a function of notifying the user of the reception of a new message in a pop-up window (hereinafter abbreviated as "pop-up") or the like when receiving a message from another person. Pop-ups often include the subject line of the new message. By seeing the pop-up, the user recognizes that a new message has been received. Also, the user can easily judge whether the message is important or not by looking at the subject and sender displayed in the popup. If the user determines that the message is important, the user immediately confirms the contents of the message. can be done.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200002 discloses a technique for displaying a list of received mail boxes (receiving mail storage locations), highlighting the titles of delivered mails whose expiry date is near for a certain period of time to alert the user. .

JP 2015-56116 A

By the way, pop-ups are often designed to disappear after being displayed for a short period of time. If the user is always looking at the screen, the displayed popup can be recognized. However, if the user is not looking at the screen, they will not even notice that the popup has been displayed. Also, if the user is looking at a different location than where the popup was displayed, the user may not recognize the displayed content of the popup. Messages associated with popups that users didn't see and didn't even know they saw should be easier to see when looking at their mailing list.

The technology disclosed in Patent Literature 1 was able to highlight and display unread emails that are due soon. However, even if unread mail is highlighted, it doesn't reflect how the user perceives it. For this reason, the user may misunderstand unrecognized unread mail as if he or she had recognized it, and there is a risk of overlooking the unrecognized mail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it easier for a user to check whether or not a message has been recognized.

In order to achieve at least one of the above objects, an information processing apparatus that reflects one aspect of the present invention includes: a message receiving unit that receives a message through a network; and message information including the name of the sender of the message received by the message receiving unit, the date and time when the message was received, and the subject of the message are stored in a predetermined notification area provided on the operation screen. Receipt notification part that notifies only within the period, and when the eye coordinates are stopped inside the notification area for more than a predetermined time , it indicates that the user has recognized the message in response to the message information notified from the notification area. A message management unit that manages messages with recognition information attached thereto, and a browsing display unit that displays messages in a display mode corresponding to presence or absence of recognition information in a browsing area provided on an operation screen.
The information processing apparatus described above is one aspect of the present invention, and a program reflecting one aspect of the present invention is configured in the same manner as the information processing apparatus described above.

According to the present invention, the fact that the user has recognized the message information notified from the notification area is indicated in the viewing area, so that the user looking at the viewing area can easily determine whether or not the message has been recognized. Therefore, the user can preferentially check messages that he does not recognize.
Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of the embodiments.

1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an overview of a message transmission/reception system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example of a client PC and a message application according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration example of a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of processing for displaying a pop-up by a client PC according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a first display example of a browsing screen and a display example of a popup according to an embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flow chart showing an example of processing of an expansion program according to an embodiment of the present invention; 6 is a flow chart showing an example of comparison processing performed by a comparison unit according to an embodiment of the present invention; 5 is a chart showing an example format for highlighting messages according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing second and third display examples of a browsing screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present specification and drawings, constituent elements having substantially the same function or configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, thereby omitting redundant description.

[One embodiment]
First, a configuration example and an operation example of a message transmission/reception system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an outline of a message transmission/reception system 10. As shown in FIG.

The message transmission/reception system 10 includes a client PC 2 (an example of an information processing device), a message server 3, and a client PC 4 (an example of an information processing device). Client PCs 2 and 4 and message server 3 are connected to each other through network 6 . The network 6 is, for example, an open network such as the Internet, but may be a closed network such as an in-house LAN (Local Area Network).

The message transmission/reception system 10 manages transmission/reception of messages exchanged between the client PC2 and the client PC4. In the present embodiment, as an example of messages, a case of sending and receiving e-mails (abbreviated as “messages”) will be described. The contents of the message are displayed on the viewing screen 50 on the operation screen 40 of the client PC 2 . A message is mainly composed of the message address of the user who is the sender of the message, the message address of the user who is the destination of the message, the subject, the body of the message, etc. The text of the message is described in the body of the message. In addition, various files may be attached to the message. Then, the messages sent and received by the client PC 2 are displayed on the viewing screen 50 so that they can be viewed.

User 1 operates client PC 2 and creates a message using message application 13 (an example of a message creation program). A message application 13 running on the client PC 2 is used as a message client capable of receiving messages from the message server 3 . It is assumed that the client PC 4 also runs the message application 13 that allows the user 5 to create messages.

Message application 13 on client PC 2 receives messages sent by user 5 and sends messages created by user 1 . Messages sent from the message application 13 also include messages to which the user 1 replies. The message application 13 according to this embodiment has a function of displaying a pop-up 60 when receiving a message. The pop-up 60 generally disappears after a certain period of time. Also, the pop-up 60 is displayed in a small display area so as not to interfere with the work of the user 1 . Therefore, the contents displayed in the pop-up 60 are limited to information such as the sender and subject of the message received by the message application 13 . However, the user 1 can roughly grasp what kind of message has been received by looking at the displayed popup 60 .

The message server 3 is used as an example of a message management server that manages messages sent and received between the client PC 2 and the client PC 4 . The message server 3 is provided with a message box, and messages received from other users (for example, user 5) and messages sent by user 1 to other users can be saved in the message box. . For example, if the network 6 is an in-house LAN, the message server 3 is one server shared by the client PC2 and the client PC4. Also, if the network 6 is the Internet, the message server 3 is a plurality of servers used for each of the client PC2 and the client PC4.

Client PC 4 is used by user 5 . The user 5 uses the message application 13 installed on the client PC 4 to send a message requesting a reply to the user 1 and receive messages sent from the user 1 .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration example of the client PC 2 and the message application 13. As shown in FIG.
The client PC 2 has a communication section 11 , an imaging section 12 and a message application 13 .

The communication unit 11 passes a message received from the message server 3 through the network 6 to the message management unit 15 in the message application 13 through the message reception unit 14, or according to the instruction of the message management unit 15, transmits a message addressed to another user. is transmitted via the network 6. A message sent from the communication unit 11 to the network 6 is stored in the message server 3, and transferred to the message server 3 accessible to other users based on the header information etc. added to the message. User can receive.

The imaging unit 12 is installed, for example, facing the user 1 who operates the client PC 2 and has a function of imaging the face of the user 1 . Then, the imaging unit 12 captures an image including the eyes of the user 1 . The image captured by the imaging unit 12 is input to the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 of the extension program 20 in the message application 13 .

The message application 13 is application software that operates on the client PC 2, and has a function of transmitting and receiving messages, a function of creating messages, and a management function of rearranging messages by reception date and time. However, in this embodiment, focusing on the receiving function of the message application 13, an example configuration and an example operation of the message application 13 will be described. The message application 13 includes a message receiving section 14 , a message managing section 15 , a reception notifying section 16 , a viewing display section 17 and an expansion program 20 .

The message receiving unit 14 receives messages received by the communication unit 11 from the message server 3 through the network 6 . Then, the message receiving section 14 outputs the received message to the message managing section 15 .

The message management unit 15 stores and manages messages received through the communication unit 11 in a message list (not shown). A large number of messages are stored in the message list, and the message management unit 15 can read messages required by the user from the message list and output them to the browsing display unit 17 . Here, the message received by the communication unit 11 is sent by another user to the recipient, user 1 .

Then, when the line-of-sight coordinates are included inside the pop-up 60, the message management unit 15 attaches recognition information indicating that the user 1 has recognized the message to the message notified from the pop-up 60. to manage. This recognition information is information updated based on the determination result output from the comparison unit 23 of the expansion program 20, and is used as a line-of-sight recognition flag in the present embodiment. The message management unit 15 can also manage whether the message is read or unread.

When the message receiving unit 14 receives a message, the reception notification unit 16 secures a predetermined notification area on the operation screen 40 and displays a pop-up 60 in this notification area, thereby indicating that the user 1 has received the message. be notified. The reception notification unit 16 then outputs the position information within the screen displaying the popup 60 to the notification area information acquisition unit 22 of the extension program 20 . User 1 can confirm that the message has been received through reception notification section 16 .

The reception notification unit 16 notifies the pop-up 60 provided on the operation screen 40 that the message has been received by the message reception unit 14 within a predetermined period. Therefore, the reception notification unit 16 can display the message information related to the message managed by the message management unit 15 before the user 1 opens the message through the viewing screen 50 and reads the message text. The message information includes, for example, the name of the sender of the message, the date and time when the message was received, the subject of the message, and the like. The extension program 20 is started up at the timing when the reception notification unit 16 displays the popup 60 .

The browsing display unit 17 (an example of the browsing display unit) displays a message on the browsing screen 50 (an example of the browsing area) provided on the operation screen 40 in a display format that matches the presence or absence of recognition information. Here, the presence of recognition information means that the message managed by the message management unit 15 is attached with the recognition information, that is, the line-of-sight recognition flag, which will be described later, is set. On the other hand, the absence of recognition information means that the message managed by the message management unit 15 does not have recognition information, that is, the line-of-sight recognition flag is not set.

The browsing display unit 17 displays the message read from the message management unit 15 on the browsing screen 50 in different display modes depending on whether the message has been read or not. Furthermore, the browsing display unit 17 displays information indicating that the user 1 has not recognized the message (the unrecognized icon 51a shown in FIG. 5 to be described later) for the unrecognized message among the unread messages by the user 1. It is displayed on the browsing screen 50 together with the message. In addition, for the message recognized by the user 1, the browsing display unit 17 displays information indicating that the message has been recognized (a recognized icon 51b shown in FIG. 5, which will be described later) on the browsing screen 50 together with the message.

The expansion program 20 includes a line-of-sight coordinate acquisition section 21 , a notification area information acquisition section 22 and a comparison section 23 .
The line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 acquires line-of-sight coordinates representing the position of the line of sight on the operation screen 40 of the user 1 who visually recognizes the message. Here, the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 acquires the line-of-sight coordinates based on the facial expression of the user 1 in the image input from the imaging unit 12 or the eye movement direction. The program for the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 to measure the line-of-sight coordinates on the operation screen 40 may be an independent process, built into the message application 13, or an extended function that can be added to the message application 13 as an add-in. good too. The OS (Operating System) installed in the client PC 2 may have the function of measuring the line-of-sight coordinates. After measuring the line-of-sight coordinates, the line-of-sight coordinates acquisition unit 21 provides the comparison unit 23 with the measured line-of-sight coordinates.

The notification area information acquisition unit 22 acquires notification area information including the position of the popup 60 displayed on the operation screen 40 from the reception notification unit 16 . The notification area information includes vertical and horizontal coordinates of the popup 60 on the operation screen 40 .

The comparison unit 23 compares the notification area information of the popup 60 acquired by the notification area information acquisition unit 22 with the line-of-sight coordinates of the user 1 acquired by the line-of-sight coordinates acquisition unit 21 . Then, when the pop-up 60 includes line-of-sight coordinates, the comparison section 23 sets a line-of-sight recognition flag managed as an attribute of each message by the message management section 15 . The message management unit 15 is notified that the comparison unit 23 has set the line-of-sight recognition flag in the message. The line-of-sight recognition flag is information that is referred to when changing the display form of a message when the message is displayed by the browsing display unit 17. For example, an example of the display form is shown on the browsing screen 50 of FIG. 5, which will be described later.

Here, even if the user 1 is looking at the screen, if the user's line of sight moves to the pop-up 60 by chance, it is considered that the user 1 does not recognize the display contents of the pop-up 60 . For this reason, the line-of-sight coordinates to be compared by the comparison unit 23 may be limited to the case where the eye has stopped inside the pop-up 60 for several seconds or longer. Thereby, the comparison unit 23 can reflect the intention of the user 1 , such as whether or not the user 1 has recognized the display content of the popup 60 with interest, in the recognition result of the popup 60 .

Next, the hardware configuration of the client PCs 2, 4 and the computer 30 constituting the message server 3 of the message transmission/reception system 10 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration example of the computer 30. As shown in FIG.

The computer 30 is hardware used as a so-called computer. The computer 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 31 , a ROM (Read Only Memory) 32 , and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 33 connected to a bus 34 . Computer 30 further comprises display device 35 , input device 36 , non-volatile storage 37 , network interface 38 and camera 39 .

The CPU 31 reads from the ROM 32 program codes of software that implement each function according to the present embodiment and executes them. The RAM 33 is temporarily written with variables, parameters, etc. generated during the arithmetic processing. The display device 35 is, for example, a liquid crystal display monitor, and displays the results of processing performed by the computer 30 to the user 1 . The input device 36 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, etc., and allows the user 1 to perform predetermined operation inputs and instructions. The client PCs 2 and 4 are provided with the reception notifying unit 16 corresponding to the display device 35 and the input device 36, but the message server 3 may be configured without the display device 35 and the input device 36. FIG.

As the non-volatile storage 37, for example, HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), flexible disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory, etc. are used. be done. The nonvolatile storage 37 stores programs for operating the computer 30 in addition to the OS and various parameters. The ROM 32 and the non-volatile storage 37 record programs and data necessary for the operation of the CPU 31, and are examples of computer-readable non-transitory recording media storing programs executed by the computer 30. Used. Therefore, this program is permanently stored in the ROM 32 and the nonvolatile storage 37 .

For example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) or the like is used as the network interface 38, and various data can be transmitted and received between devices via a LAN, a dedicated line, or the like.

The imaging unit 12 controls the start and end of imaging, the angle of view of the imaging, and the like of the camera 39 . The image captured by the camera 39 is temporarily stored in the RAM 33, read from the RAM 33 by the CPU 31 as appropriate, and used for predetermined processing. The camera 39 can capture moving images of the user 1, but may also capture still images.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of processing for the client PC 2 to display the pop-up 60. As shown in FIG.
First, client PC 2 launches message application 13 . When the message application 13 is activated, the browsing screen 50 is displayed on the operation screen 40 .

The message receiving unit 14 of the message application 13 accesses the message server 3 at regular time intervals or according to an operation instruction from the user 1 to check the server (S1). Next, the message receiving unit 14 determines whether or not the message server 3 has a new message that can be received by the client PC 2 (S2).

If there is no new message in the message server 3 (NO in S2), the process returns to step S1 and the message receiving section 14 checks the server. If there is a new message (YES in S2), the message receiving section 14 downloads (receives) the message from the message server 3 (S3). Then, the message management unit 15 stores the received message in a message list (not shown) and manages the message (S4).

Next, the reception notification unit 16 displays a popup 60 (S5). Then, the reception notification unit 16 activates the extension program processing by the extension program 20 (S6). After that, the process returns to step S1 and repeats the process. Although not shown, the pop-up 60 displayed in step S5 disappears after a predetermined period of time, and the extension program 20 also stops at the same time.

<First display example of browsing screen and pop-up display example>
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a first display example of the browsing screen 50 and a display example of the popup 60. As shown in FIG. Both the browsing screen 50 and the popup 60 are displayed within the operation screen 40 on the display device 35 .

The browsing display unit 17 performs processing for displaying the browsing screen 50 on the display device 35 . At the top of the viewing screen 50, the application name "message application" is displayed. The viewing screen 50 includes a viewing window 51 and a preview window 52 . The browsing window 51 and the preview window 52 are examples of message objects displayed for the user 1 to browse the message and check the message text.

In the browsing window 51, each item of read, recognition, sender, and title is displayed.
In read items, read messages are displayed with a check mark. The check mark is a mark indicating that the message read by the user 1 by clicking on the title of the title item has been read.

In the recognition item, an icon is displayed that indicates whether or not the user 1 looks at the popup 60 and recognizes the message displayed on the popup 60 . The browsing display unit 17 can change the display contents of the recognition item depending on whether or not the line-of-sight recognition flag indicating that the user 1 has recognized the message is set among the message attributes. The browsing screen 50 of FIG. 5 shows an example in which a non-recognition icon 51a or a recognition icon 51b is displayed as a recognition item. The unrecognized icon 51a is displayed with a design in which diagonal lines are superimposed on the image of the pupil, and the recognized icon 51b is displayed with an image of only the pupil. This icon indicates that User 1 has recognized the message whose senders are Taro and Hanako.

The From field displays the name of the sender of the message.
The title item displays the title given to the message. Here, the browsing display unit 17 displays the message in the browsing area by making the format of the text representing the title of the message for which the line-of-sight recognition flag is not set different from the format of the text representing the title of the message for which the line-of-sight recognition flag is set. indicate. For example, the text representing the title of the message for which the line-of-sight recognition flag is not set is underlined and displayed to alert the user 1 . In addition, the browsing display unit 17 displays the messages in the browsing area in a display form that emphasizes the messages for which the line-of-sight recognition flag is not set, rather than the other messages.

The display mode in which the message is emphasized includes a mode in which different icons are displayed according to the line-of-sight recognition flag, a mode in which the message text and icon are blinked, a mode in which the text and message are displayed in different colors, and a message display area. may include at least one form of displaying by changing the size of the

The text of the message selected by the user 1 is preview-displayed in the preview window 52 . In this example, the text of the message whose sender is Jiro is previewed. A check mark is attached to the read item of the message whose text is preview-displayed in the preview window 52 .

Pop-up 60 displays information about the message newly received by message application 13 . The timing at which the popup 60 is displayed at the lower right of the operation screen 40 is immediately after the message application 13 receives the message, and the popup 60 is displayed for a certain period of time. Then, after a certain period of time has passed, the popup 60 disappears. Note that FIG. 5 shows an example in which the browsing screen 50 and the popup 60 are displayed at the same time, but only the popup 60 may be displayed.

The information about the message displayed in the pop-up 60 includes, for example, sender and subject items. This pop-up 60 is used as an example of a notification area for notifying the user 1 of information about the message. Since the size of the pop-up 60 is small, the pop-up 60 only displays the items of sender and subject, and does not display the body of the message.

The popup 60 is displayed at a specific position within the operation screen 40 on the display device 35 . The reception notification unit 16 of the message application 13 calculates the positions for displaying the browsing screen 50 and the popup 60 based on the size of the operation screen 40 . Although the size of the pop-up 60 is assumed to be predetermined, the position where the pop-up 60 is displayed may vary depending on usage conditions.

In this embodiment, the upper left position of the operation screen 40 is defined as origin coordinates (0, 0), the x-coordinate increases to the right from the origin coordinates, and the y-coordinate increases downward from the origin coordinates. . In this case, the specific position and size of the popup 60 are represented by coordinates where the upper left of the popup 60 is (x1, y1) and the lower right of the popup 60 is (x2, y2), for example. When the reception notification unit 16 displays the popup 60, the notification area information acquisition unit 22 shown in FIG.

Next, an example of processing of the message application 13 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an example of processing of the expansion program 20. As shown in FIG. As described above, the extension program 20 is triggered by the reception of the message by the message receiving section 14 via the communication section 11 .

First, the notification area information acquisition unit 22 acquires information regarding the display of the popup 60 from the reception notification unit 16 (S11). Information related to the display of the popup 60 includes a display flag that is set when the popup 60 is displayed on the operation screen 40 .

Next, the notification area information acquisition unit 22 determines whether or not the popup 60 is displayed based on the information regarding the display of the popup 60 (S12). For example, if the display flag acquired by the notification area information acquisition unit 22 from the reception notification unit 16 is turned off, the popup 60 is not displayed (NO in S12), so the process proceeds to step S19.

On the other hand, if the display flag acquired by the notification area information acquisition unit 22 from the reception notification unit 16 is turned on, the popup 60 is displayed (YES in S12). Therefore, the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 detects the line-of-sight of the user 1 on the operation screen 40 from the captured image input from the imaging unit 12, and acquires the line-of-sight coordinates of the user 1 (S13).

Further, the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 determines whether the acquired line-of-sight coordinates are appropriate (S14). For example, if the line-of-sight coordinates acquisition unit 21 cannot acquire the line-of-sight coordinates of the user 1 because the user 1 is not in front of the client PC 2, the line-of-sight coordinates acquisition unit 21 determines that the line-of-sight coordinates are inappropriate (S14 NO). In this case, the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 sets, for example, (−1000, −1000) as coordinates that do not exist on the operation screen 40 . Then, the process returns to step S11 and repeats from the first process of the expansion program 20 .

If the line-of-sight coordinates are appropriate (YES in S14), the notification area information acquisition unit 22 acquires the notification area of the popup 60 from the reception notification unit 16 (S15). The notification area of the pop-up 60 is a square area represented by two points of upper left coordinates (x1, y1) and lower right coordinates (x2, y2) on the operation screen 40, as shown in FIG.

Next, the comparison unit 23 compares the line-of-sight coordinates acquired by the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 with the notification area of the popup 60 acquired by the notification area information acquisition unit 22 (S16). By this comparison processing, it is determined whether or not the user 1 has recognized the message notified by the pop-up 60 . A detailed example of the comparison processing in step S16 will be described later with reference to FIG.

Then, the comparison unit 23 determines whether or not the determination result output from the comparison unit 23 is recognition (S17). When the comparison unit 23 determines that the determination result is no recognition (NO in S17), the process returns to step S11, and the expansion program 20 repeats from the first process.

On the other hand, when the comparison unit 23 determines that recognition is present (YES in S17), the comparison unit 23 sets a line-of-sight recognition flag for the message displayed in the popup 60 (S18). After that, the browsing display unit 17 performs processing according to the line-of-sight recognition flag, displays the message on the browsing screen 50 (S19), and ends this processing.

The processing according to the line-of-sight recognition flag is, for example, the browsing display unit 17 displaying the no-recognition icon 51a for messages for which the line-of-sight recognition flag is not set, and displaying the recognition icon 51b for messages for which the line-of-sight recognition flag is set. processing.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of comparison processing performed by the comparison unit 23. As shown in FIG. The processing shown in FIG. 7 is a subroutine called in step S16 of FIG.

First, the comparison unit 23 acquires the line-of-sight coordinates (Xe, Ye) of the user 1 from the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit 21 (S21). Next, the comparison unit 23 acquires upper left coordinates (x1, y1) and lower right coordinates (x2, y2) representing the position of the popup 60 from the notification area information acquisition unit 22 (S22).

Next, the comparison unit 23 determines whether the line-of-sight coordinates are within the popup 60, that is, whether x1<Xe<x2 and y1<Ye<y2 are satisfied (S23). If the line-of-sight coordinates are within the popup 60 (YES in S23), the comparison unit 23 determines that the user 1 has recognized the message displayed in the popup 60 (S24).

On the other hand, if the line-of-sight coordinates are not inside the popup 60 (NO in S23), the comparison unit 23 determines that the user 1 does not recognize the message displayed in the popup 60 (S25). Then, the comparison unit 23 returns the determination result of message recognition or non-recognition to the main routine of FIG. 6 (S26).

FIG. 8 is a listing showing an example format for highlighting messages.

The browsing display unit 17 can change the display form of the message by referring to the flag indicated in the message attribute. This list shows that the message is displayed in different formats depending on whether User 1 is aware of pop-up 60 and whether User 1 has read or unread the message.

For example, if the user 1 recognizes the pop-up 60 and has not read the message, the browsing display unit 17 applies and displays the normal unread format in which the text of the message title is displayed in bold. At this time, the recognized icon 51b is also displayed.
On the other hand, when the user 1 recognizes the pop-up 60 and has already read the message, the browsing display unit 17 displays the text of the message title without decoration, applying a format for displaying the recognized icon 51b.

If the user 1 does not recognize the pop-up 60 and has not yet read the message, the browsing display unit 17 applies a format that emphasizes the unread message. In this format, for example, the text of the message title is displayed in bold (bold), the text color is red, the text size is increased, and the text font type is italic. In addition, an unrecognized icon 51a is also displayed.

It should be noted that the format is not defined because it cannot be assumed that the user 1 does not recognize the popup 60 and has already read the message. That is, the browsing display unit 17 applies and displays the text of the message title without decoration and displays the unrecognized icon 51a.

<Second and third display examples of browsing screen and popup>
Here, various display forms are conceivable for the browsing screen. Therefore, a viewing screen may be displayed in a form as shown in FIG. 9 in addition to the viewing screen 50 shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing second and third display examples of the browsing screen 50. As shown in FIG.

A browsing screen 50A according to the second display example shown on the upper side of FIG. 9 includes areas for displaying an unread group 53 and a read group 54 .
The browsing display unit 17 rearranges and displays the messages according to the priority given to the messages by the message management unit 15 . The priority is a value assigned in the order that the message has not been recognized by user 1 but has not been read, that the message has been read, and that the message has been recognized by user 1 but has not been read. The priority shall be high. Then, the browsing display unit 17 can rearrange and display the messages on the browsing screen 50 in descending order of priority or in descending order of priority.

For example, the reception notification unit 16 refers to the message attribute of the message managed by the message management unit 15, determines whether the message is unread or read, divides the message into unread or read groups, and displays the messages on the viewing screen 50A. do. Further, the reception notifying unit 16 performs sorting processing so that those in the unread group 53 for which the line-of-sight recognition flag is not set are preferentially displayed. Therefore, messages not recognized by the user 1 are displayed side by side above the unread group 53 . Therefore, the user 1 notices that there is an unrecognized message, and can easily perform an operation such as checking the text of the message.

A browsing screen 50B according to the third display example shown in the lower part of FIG. 9 also has areas for displaying an unread group 53 and a read group 54 . However, on the viewing screen 50B, the height of each line in the unread group 53 is displayed to be larger than the height of each line in the read group 54 . Also, the text size of the titles in the unread group 53 is displayed larger than the text size of the titles in the read group 54 . Therefore, the user 1 can easily notice that there is an unrecognized message and the title of the message.

In the client PC 2 according to the embodiment described above, the message-related information is displayed in a display form according to the recognition result of whether or not the user 1 has recognized the message-related information notified by the pop-up 60 . Therefore, even if the message displayed in the pop-up 60 disappears after a certain period of time has passed, the user 1 can view the non-recognition icon 51a and the recognition icon 51b displayed on the viewing screen 50 later. By looking at the , it becomes easier to determine which messages have been recognized or not. Therefore, the user 1 can preferentially check messages that he does not recognize.

Also, if the user 1 does not recognize the message displayed in the popup 60 , the unrecognized message is highlighted on the viewing screen 50 . For example, the color of the unrecognized icon 51a or the title is changed, or the text of the title is made bold. Therefore, the user 1 can easily notice that there is an unrecognized message, and can prevent an important message from being overlooked.

Further, whether or not the user 1 has recognized the message is determined by whether or not the user 1 has moved his/her eye line to the popup 60 and confirmed the popup 60 when the popup 60 was displayed. Therefore, even if the user 1 does not perform an explicit operation, it can be determined with certainty that the user 1 has confirmed the display contents of the pop-up 60 .

In the above-described embodiment, an example of display processing performed when the message application 13 receives an e-mail has been described, but the type of message is not limited to e-mail. For example, the above embodiments may be applied to notifications of received messages in smartphone applications such as SMS (Short Message Service) and short message services, messages and notifications when applying security patches to the client PC 2, and the like. Similarly, in these cases, a pop-up 60 is displayed to notify User 1 of the message, and after judging whether or not User 1 has recognized the message from User 1's line of sight, A message can be sent to User1.

Moreover, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various other application examples and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention described in the claims.
For example, the above-described embodiments are detailed and specific descriptions of the configurations of the devices and systems in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. Further, the control lines and information lines indicate those considered necessary for explanation, and not all control lines and information lines are necessarily indicated on the product. In practice, it may be considered that almost all configurations are interconnected.

2 Client PC 3 Message Server 11 Communication Unit 12 Imaging Unit 13 Message Application 14 Message Reception Unit 15 Message Management Unit 16 Reception Notification Unit 17 Browsing Display Unit 20 ... expansion program, 21 ... line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit, 22 ... notification area information acquisition unit, 23 ... comparison unit, 40 ... operation screen, 50 ... browsing screen, 60 ... pop-up

Claims (11)

a message receiver for receiving messages over a network;
a line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit that acquires line-of-sight coordinates representing a line-of-sight position on an operation screen of a user who visually recognizes the message;
A reception notification unit that notifies message information including the name of the sender of the message received by the message reception unit, the date and time of reception of the message, and the subject of the message in a notification area provided on the operation screen within a predetermined period of time. and,
Recognition information indicating that the user has recognized the message is attached inside the notification area to the message information notified from the notification area when the line-of-sight coordinates have stopped for a predetermined time or more. a message management unit that manages the message by
an information processing apparatus comprising: a viewing display unit configured to display the message in a viewing area provided on the operation screen in a display form that matches the presence or absence of the recognition information. The browsing display unit displays the message read from the message management unit in different display formats depending on whether the message has been read or not, and further, among the messages that the user has not read, the user recognizes the message. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information indicating that said message is not recognized is displayed together with said message. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, with respect to the message recognized by the user, the browsing display unit displays information indicating that the message has been recognized together with the message. Furthermore, an imaging unit that captures an image including the user's eyes is provided,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the line-of-sight coordinate acquisition unit acquires the line-of-sight coordinates based on a moving direction of the user's eyes in the image. a notification area information acquisition unit configured to acquire notification area information including the position of the notification area displayed on the operation screen from the reception notification unit;
Comparing the notification area information and the line-of-sight coordinates, and adding the recognition information to each of the messages managed by the message management unit when the line-of-sight coordinates remain in the notification area for a predetermined time or more. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a section. The browsing display unit makes the format of the text representing the title of the message to which the recognition information is not attached different from the format of the text representing the title of the message to which the recognition information is attached, in the browsing area. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the message is displayed. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the browsing display unit displays the messages in the browsing area in a display form that emphasizes the messages to which the recognition information is not attached more than other messages. The display form in which the message is emphasized includes a form in which an icon that differs depending on the presence or absence of the recognition information is displayed, a form in which the text of the message and the icon blink, and a form in which the text and the message are displayed in different colors. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, comprising at least one of , and a form in which the size of the display area of the message is changed and displayed. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the browsing display unit rearranges and displays the messages according to the priority assigned to the messages. The browsing display unit assigns the priority in the following order: the message has not been recognized by the user but has not been read; the message has been read; and the message has been recognized by the user but has not been read. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the messages are displayed in descending order of priority or in descending order of priority. a procedure for sending and receiving messages over a network;
a procedure for obtaining line-of-sight coordinates representing the line-of-sight position of the user viewing the message on the operation screen;
a procedure for notifying message information including the name of the sender of the received message, the date and time of reception of the message, and the subject of the message in a notification area provided on the operation screen only within a predetermined period;
Recognition information indicating that the user has recognized the message is attached inside the notification area to the message information notified from the notification area when the line-of-sight coordinates have stopped for a predetermined time or more. and managing said messages by
a program for causing a computer to execute a procedure for displaying the message in a display mode corresponding to the presence or absence of the recognition information in a viewing area provided on the operation screen;

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