JPH07160694A - Display changeover controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the display changeover controller capable of automatically and naturally turning pages. CONSTITUTION:The document information which includes a text code and a page turning code PR are stored in a book memory 3. A control part 2 reads out one page of document information till the code PR is detected from the book memory 3 and writes it in a display buffer 4. A display controller 6 generates the display time according to the number of the text code which is included in one page of the document information. When the display time is passed, a display timer 7 updates the control part 2 and writes the document information of the next page in the display buffer 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display switching control device suitable for use in, for example, an electronic book player or a word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in recent years, various electronic devices called electronic book players have been put into practical use. An electronic book player is an LCD display that reads document information from a so-called electronic publication medium in which document information written on a print medium such as a book is recorded on a floppy disk or a CD-ROM and reads the book as if reading the book. It is what is displayed in. Such a device is equipped with a display switching control device composed of a microcomputer or the like, and this device performs page forward / back for a normal book, skips to a predetermined page, or searches for a predetermined vocabulary. The processing is performed and the result is displayed on a display unit such as an LCD display.

[0003]

The display switching control device described above often has an automatic page feed function for automatically performing a manual page feed when reading a book. The automatic page feed function is to display the document information for one page displayed on the display unit by sequentially updating it to the contents of the next page every 30 seconds, for example. By the way, if the contents of the next page are updated and displayed at predetermined intervals, the following problems may occur. In other words, depending on the page displayed, the number of characters included in that page will naturally increase or decrease.If the number of characters to read is too small, the display time will be too long for the reader. Has a problem that the display time is too short, which causes the reader to feel unnatural. Therefore, the present invention is
It is an object of the present invention to provide a display switching control device that can automatically page forward without causing the reader to feel unnatural.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention described in claim 1, a first memory for storing document information including a text code and a page break code representing a page break. Means, at least second storage means for temporarily storing document information for one screen display read from the first storage means, and detection of the page break code from the first storage means. Write control means for reading out the document information for one page and writing it in the second storage means, and generating a display time corresponding to the number of text codes included in the document information for one page, and displaying the display time. When the time has passed, the writing control means is operated to be updated, and the display switching means for writing the document information for the next page to the second storage means is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the display switching means is provided with a conversion table for converting the number of text codes into the display time. Further, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the number of text codes included in the document information for one page is added to the page break code in advance.

In addition, according to the invention described in claim 4,
First storage means for storing document information composed of a text code and a header representing an attribute of the text code, and at least temporarily storing one-screen display document information read from the first storage means. The header is read from the second storage means and the first storage means, the start address and the number of characters in the page for each page forming the header are extracted, and one page from the start address of the designated page is extracted. Writing control means for reading out the document information for one minute and writing it in the second storage means, and generating a display time according to the number of characters in the page, and updating the writing control means when the display time has elapsed The document information for the next page is operated and the second page is operated.
And a display switching means for writing the data in the storage means.

[0007]

According to the present invention, document information including a text code and a page break code representing a page break is stored in the first storage means, and the writing control means stores the document information from the first storage means. The document information for one page until the page code is detected is read out and written in the second storage means for temporarily storing the document information for one screen display. Then, the display switching means generates a display time corresponding to the number of text codes included in the document information for one page, and when the display time has elapsed, the writing control means is updated to operate for the next page. The document information of is written in the second storage means. As a result, since the display time is adjusted according to the number of text codes per page, that is, the number of characters, it is possible to solve the inconvenience that the display time is too long or too short as in the past, and the reader can be prevented. It is possible to automatically page forward without feeling unnatural.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A. First Embodiment (1) Configuration of the First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a display switching control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an operation unit composed of various operation switches arranged on the device panel, and generates an operation signal SW according to operation of various switches. The operation unit 1 is provided with a power switch, a page feed / return switch, an automatic page feed switch for instructing an automatic page feed described later, and the like. 2 is CP
The control unit is composed of U, ROM, RAM and the like. The control unit 2 controls the operation signal SW supplied from the operation unit 1.
A read control signal CD corresponding to the above is generated and supplied to the book memory 3. The read control signal CD
Is a signal including a read start / end address and the like. Further, when the operation signal SW instructing the automatic page feed is supplied from the operation unit 1, the control unit 2 performs the automatic page feed control based on the page break signal PR and the display switching instruction signal CG described later.

The book memory 3 is a semiconductor memory such as an IC card and stores electronically published document information. This document information is formed from a text code and a control code, and the control code represents the format content of the text code such as a line feed code CR and a page break code PR. The document information stored in the book memory 3 is read according to the read control signal CD supplied from the control unit 2. A display buffer 4 is a book memory 3
The document information for one page read from is temporarily stored. Reference numeral 5 denotes a display unit including an LCD (liquid crystal display element) or the like, which displays the text code for one page read from the display buffer 4 on the screen based on the format designated by the control code.

Reference numeral 6 is a display controller. The display controller 6 takes in the document information read from the book memory 3, counts the number of text codes (the number of characters) included in the document information, and detects the page break code PR included in the text code. A page break signal PR instructing a page break is generated and output to the control unit 2. Further, the display controller 6 converts the number of text codes at the time when the page break signal PR is detected, that is, the number of characters per page, into time data DT and supplies it to the display timer 7. To convert the number of characters per page into the time data DT, a conversion table that associates the detected number of characters with the time data DT is used. For example, when the display screen of the display unit 5 can display up to 250 characters, if the number of characters per page is "50 characters" or less, the time data DT is set to "6".
If the number of characters is 0 seconds or less and the number of characters is 100 characters or less, the time data DT is set to "120 seconds", and thereafter, a conversion table is used that increases the number of seconds of the time data DT by 60 seconds every time the number of characters increases to 50 characters. .

The display timer 7 counts the timer clock in response to the timer start signal ST supplied from the control unit 2, and the display is switched at the timing corresponding to the time data DT supplied from the display controller 6. The signal CG is output to the control unit 2. That is, when the time data DT corresponding to the number of characters per page elapses, the control unit 2 reads the document information of the next page from the book memory 3 based on the display switching signal CG. As a result, automatic page feed control is performed. The timer start signal ST is output by the control unit 2 in response to the page break signal PR supplied from the display controller 6.

(2) Operation of the First Embodiment Next, the operation of the first embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, in particular,
The operation of the automatic page feed control, which is the gist of the present invention, will be described in detail. First, when the display switching control device is powered on, the control unit 2 loads the control program from the internal ROM and then initializes each unit of the device to enter the standby state. Here, when the operator operates the automatic page feed switch provided in the operation unit 1, the operation signal SW corresponding to the switch is supplied to the control unit 2. As a result, the control unit 2 enters the automatic page feed control mode.

The control unit 2 which has shifted to the automatic page feed control mode generates a read control signal CD in order to read the document information of the first page from the book memory 3, and supplies this to the book memory 3. The book memory 3 to which the read control signal CD is supplied sequentially reads the document information from the read start address designated by the signal CD and outputs it to the display buffer 4. Here, for example, it is assumed that the document information is read in the mode shown in FIG. In this figure, X represents a text code (character), and CR and PR added to the end of the line of the text code X represent a line feed code and a page break code, respectively.

The text code X thus read
Are sequentially written into the display buffer 4 and also taken into the display controller 6. The display controller 6 is
The number of the text code X, that is, the number of characters is sequentially counted from the line number L ₁ (see FIG. 2). Then, when the page break code PR given to the end of the line of the line number L _n is detected, the time data DT corresponding to the number of characters counted so far is generated using the conversion table described above. For example, the number of characters counted from the line numbers L ₁ to L _n is “1.
If it is 50 characters or less, the value of the time data DT is "180 seconds" according to the conversion table. Further, the display controller 6 generates a page break signal PR for instructing a page break at the time of detecting the page break code PR, and sends this to the control unit 2, while setting the time data DT in the display timer 7. .

Upon receiving the page break signal PR, the control section 2 supplies the control signal CD representing the read end address to the book memory 3 and sends the timer start signal ST to the display timer 7. As a result, the display buffer 4 stores the document information for one page, that is, the text code X of the line numbers L ₁ to L _n, and the text code X is displayed on the display unit 5 according to the control code. To be done. on the other hand,
The display timer 7 receives the timer start signal ST and starts counting the timer clock.

When the count value of the display timer 7 has passed the time data DT, that is, "180 seconds" while the document information for one page is displayed on the screen, the display timer 7 is controlled by the control unit 2. The display switching signal CG is output to the control unit 2. The control unit 2 then reads the previously read 1
When it is recognized that the time data DT corresponding to the number of characters per page has elapsed, a read control signal CD is supplied to the book memory 3 in order to read the document information of the next page from the book memory 3. Then, according to the above operation,
Since the display time is adjusted according to the number of characters per page, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the display time is too long or too short as in the past, and it is automatic without making the reader feel unnatural. You can page forward.

B. Modified Example In the above-described first embodiment, the conversion table for generating the time data DT proportional to the number of characters per page is provided, but in addition to this, an operator for adjusting the time length of the time data DT. May be provided. For example, when an operator for selecting three stages of “normal”, “long” and “short” is provided and “normal” is selected, the time data DT obtained via the conversion table described above is used as it is. , "Long" or "Short" is selected, the time data DT is multiplied by the multiplication coefficient "1.5" or "0.5", respectively, to adjust the display time as the interval for automatic page feed. To do. By doing this,
It is possible to perform a more natural automatic page feed that suits the reader's taste.

Further, in the first embodiment, the number of text codes is counted until the page break code PR is detected, and the number of characters included in the page is counted. However, instead of this, as shown in FIG. As described above, it is possible to add the total number of characters included in the page in advance to the page break code PR of the line number L _n . This may be added when writing the document information in the book memory 3. By doing so, the display controller 6 does not need to count the number of characters, so that the configuration can be simplified.

C. Second Embodiment (1) Configuration of Second Embodiment Next, the configuration of the second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this figure, the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. The second embodiment is different from the above-mentioned first embodiment in that the document information stored in the book memory 3 is composed of a header part and a document data part, and the TOC controller 8 described later depends on the contents of the header part. Automatic page feed control and page direct designation control. Hereinafter, these points will be described. First, as in the first embodiment described above, the operation unit 1 is provided with a power switch, a page feed / return switch, an automatic page feed switch, and a page direct designation switch for designating a display page.

The document information stored in the book memory 3 is
As described above, it is composed of the header part HD and the document data part TD. The header part HD is, as shown in FIG.
It is provided with data representing attributes of the document data TD, such as "page start address" and "number of characters in page" for each "page number".
A control code representing the format of the document data TD may be stored in this header part HD. The TOC controller 8 extracts the page head address SAD corresponding to the page number PNO supplied from the control section 2 from the header section HD and sends it to the control section 2. Here, the page number PNO is generated by the control unit 2 based on the operation signal SW corresponding to the switch operation when the page direct designation switch in the operation unit 1 is operated.

(2) Operation of the Second Embodiment Next, the operation of the second embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. Note that, here, an operation of operating the page direct designation switch and then operating the automatic page feed switch to sequentially perform automatic page feed from the designated page will be described. First, when the display switching control device according to the second embodiment is powered on, the control unit 2
Generates a read control signal CD in order to initialize each part of the device after loading the control program from the internal ROM and read the header part HD from the book memory 3. The header part HD read from the book memory 3 is
While being stored in the display buffer 4, it is taken in by the TOC controller 8.

Here, it is assumed that the reader operates the page direct designation switch to designate the display page. Then, the operation signal S corresponding to the switch operation
Based on W, the control unit 2 determines the page number PNO indicating the designated page.
Is generated and sent to the TOC controller 8. The controller 8 extracts the page head address SAD corresponding to the page number PNO from the header section HD and returns it to the control section 2. Upon receiving the page top address SAD, the control unit 2 displays the address SA to display the text code of the specified page.
D is supplied to the book memory 3 as a read control signal CD. As a result, the text code of the designated page is written in the display buffer 4.

The display buffer 4 stores the header section HD together with the text code of the designated page, and the display section 5 displays the text code for one page according to the format included in the header section HD. Next, when the reader operates the automatic page feed switch, the controller 2 supplies the automatic page feed instruction signal AP to the TOC controller 8. Receiving the signal AP, the TOC controller 8 extracts the number of characters in the page of the currently designated page number PNO from the header part HD, and generates the time data DT corresponding to the number of characters in the page using the conversion table described above. Then, the display timer 7 is set.

By the way, when the automatic page feed switch is operated, the control unit 2 supplies the control signal CD representing the read end address to the book memory 3 while generating the timer start signal ST to the display timer 7. Send out. Upon receiving the timer start signal ST, the display timer 7 starts counting the timer clock, and when the count value has passed the time data DT, outputs the display switching signal CG to the control unit 2. As a result, the control unit 2
In order to recognize that the time data DT corresponding to the number of characters of the designated page read earlier has elapsed, the page number PNO is incremented by 1 and the TOC controller 8 is caused to read the text code of the next page from the book memory 3. give. The controller 8 returns the page head address SAD corresponding to the incremented page number PNO to the control unit 2. Then, the control unit 2 supplies the address SAD as a read control signal CD to the book memory 3 in order to display the text code of the next page. As a result, the text code of the next page is automatically displayed on the screen via the display buffer 4.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the document information stored in the book memory 3 includes the "page head address" for each "page number" and the "number of characters in page".
Since the header section HD representing the attribute of the document data TD is provided, page direct designation control for designating a display page based on the content of the header section HD can be performed. Moreover, since the display time is adjusted according to the "number of characters in page" of the designated page, it is possible to perform automatic page feed without making the reader feel unnatural.

In each of the above-described first and second embodiments, the time data DT corresponding to the number of characters per page is generated using the conversion table, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the reader does not have to do so. A time value corresponding to the reading speed may be input in advance, and this value may be used as a reference value to increase or decrease according to the number of characters per page. This is obtained by generating a coefficient corresponding to the number of characters per page and multiplying the coefficient by the reference value. Further, the first and second
In the embodiment, the control unit 2, the display controller 6, the display timer 7, and the TOC controller 8 are separate hardware, but the functions of these units are software of the control unit 2 including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM. You may make it implement | achieve by a process. The gist of the present invention can be applied not only to an electronic book player, but also to well-known word processors, electronic notebooks, or editor software or word processing software running on a personal computer. Further, the book memory 3 described above is a semiconductor memory in which document information electronically published in advance is stored, but the book memory 3 is not limited to this, and may be regarded as a normal internal RAM, for example. In that case, the document information is read from a recording medium such as an electronically published floppy disk and the internal R is read.
It becomes a mode to write in AM.

[0027]

According to the present invention, the document information including the text code and the page break code indicating the page break is stored in the first storage means, and the writing control means stores the document information from the first storage means. The document information for one page until the page break code is detected is read and written in the second storage means for temporarily storing the document information for one screen display. Then, when the display switching unit generates the display time according to the number of text codes included in the document information for one page and the display time has elapsed,
Since the writing control means is operated to update and the document information for the next page is written to the second storage means, the display time is adjusted according to the number of text codes per page, that is, the number of characters, and the conventional method is used. As described above, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the display time is too long or too short, and it is possible to automatically page forward without making the reader feel unnatural.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a modified example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second exemplary embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the contents of a header part HD and a document data part TD in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 1 operation unit 2 control unit (writing control unit, display switching unit) 3 book memory (first storage unit) 4 display buffer (second storage unit) 5 display unit 6 display controller (writing Control means, display switching means) 7 Display timer (display switching means) 8 TOC controller (writing control means, display switching means)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location 9194-5L G06F 15/403 380 B

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first storage unit for storing document information including a text code and a page break code representing a page break, and at least one screen display of document information read from the first storage unit. Second storage means for temporarily storing the above, and writing control means for reading one page of document information until the page break code is detected from the first storage means and writing the read document information in the second storage means. A display time corresponding to the number of text codes included in the document information for one page is generated, and when the display time elapses, the writing control means is updated so that the document information for the next page is displayed. 2. A display switching control device comprising: a display switching unit for writing the data in the second storage unit. 2. The display switching control device according to claim 1, wherein the display switching means includes a conversion table for converting the number of text codes into the display time. 3. The display switching control device according to claim 1, wherein the number of text codes included in the document information for one page is added to the page break code in advance. 4. A first storage means for storing document information composed of a text code and a header representing an attribute of the text code, and at least a document for one screen display read from the first storage means. A second storage unit that temporarily stores information, and the header is read from the first storage unit, and the start address and the number of characters in each page that form the header are extracted, and the specified page A writing control unit that reads out one page of document information from the start address and writes it in the second storage unit, and generates a display time according to the number of characters in the page. And a display switching unit for writing the document information for the next page into the second storage unit.