JPH10124481A - Hypermedia system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hypermedia system which can easily construct a hypermedia application by exchanging some of its component elements according to the scale and characteristic of the application. SOLUTION: This system consists of a data management part 103 which manages a hypermedia structure, a media management part 104 which manages the contents of every node, a presentation part 102 which receives the user input and performs the screen layout based on the node information obtained from the part 103 and the contents information obtained from the part 104, and a main control part 101 which controls each component element. In such a constitution, the parts 102 and 103 are linked together via a node link request application program interface 150. Then the parts 102 and 104 are linked together via a contents request application program interface 151.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a hypermedia system, and more particularly to a hypermedia system capable of flexibly changing the system configuration according to the scale and nature of an application.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional hypermedia systems include, for example, a standalone system, a network system,
Or, it depends on the computer environment to be used, such as a multimedia device such as a laser disk. Further, the storage location of the data is fixed to a secondary storage unique to the system such as a file system or a database management system (DBMS) regardless of the size of the data amount, and its scalability depends on the configuration of the system.

[0003] As a conventional hypermedia system, for example, there is a hypertext system disclosed in JP-A-7-44447. The hypertext system includes a directory service in which file information connected to a wide area network and a LAN is stored,
It comprises a hypertext device connected to the LAN and a file device connected to the hypertext device. Another conventional example is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-6-2.
There is a hypermedia system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 50913. This system includes a cut storage node that stores multimedia information, a card storage unit that stores a scene management node that manages a playback order according to the order of association of the nodes, and a cut storage node that is used for editing and scene management. A card management / editing unit that manages the playback order of the common cut storage node by editing the cut storage node based on the node, and reproduces the cut storage node in the order of association with reference to the scene management node And a card display / playback processing unit.

Each of these conventional systems has a configuration depending on a computer environment to be used, such as a stand-alone system, a network system, or a multimedia device such as a laser disk.
The data storage location is also fixed in a secondary storage unique to the system such as a file system.

[0005]

In the conventional hypermedia system, as described above, even if the presentation function is high, the system configuration depends on the computer environment used,
To change the system configuration and scale according to the network configuration, multimedia devices, data volume, etc.
There was a problem that the program had to be largely rewritten throughout the system.

An object of the present invention is to provide a hypermedia system which can easily construct a hypermedia application by exchanging a part of components according to the scale and properties of an application to be produced. It is in.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a hypermedia system comprising: a data management unit for managing a hypermedia structure; a media management unit for managing content of each node; A presentation unit that performs a screen layout based on the node information obtained from the data management unit and the content information obtained from the media management unit, and a main control unit that controls the components. A node link request application program interface is used to link with the presentation unit, and a content request application program is connected between the media management unit and the presentation unit.
It is characterized by being linked by a program interface.

According to the hypermedia system of the present invention, the data management unit interprets a request for node information from the presentation unit,
Storage means for storing node information, wherein the media management unit comprises: an interpretation means for interpreting a request for content from the presentation unit; and a storage means for storing content, wherein the presentation unit comprises:
A data request unit for requesting and receiving node information from the data management unit; a media request unit for requesting and receiving content to the media management unit; and analyzing node information from the data request unit. And a data analysis unit for notifying the media request unit.

According to the hypermedia system of the present invention, one of a plurality of computers connected via a network is managed by a data management unit for managing a hypermedia structure and a content of each node. A server computer having at least one of the media management units, and the other computer
A client computer including a presentation unit that performs a screen layout based on node information obtained from the data management unit and content obtained from the media management unit in response to a user input, and a client computer including a presentation unit configured to perform a screen layout between the data management unit and the presentation unit. Are linked by a node link request application program interface, and the media management unit and the presentation unit are linked by a content request application program interface, and the server computer is connected between the data management unit and the presentation unit. Converting the node link request application program interface into a communication protocol on the network, and converting the communication protocol to the Drink request application
A data management communication unit for converting into a program interface, a content request application program interface between the media management unit and the presentation unit, which is converted into a communication protocol on the network, and wherein the communication protocol is converted into the content request application .At least one of the media management communication units for converting to a program interface
Wherein the client computer converts the node link request or content request application program interface into a communication protocol on the network and converts the communication protocol to the node link request or the content request application.
A presentation communication unit for converting into a program interface is provided.

According to the hypermedia system of the present invention, in addition to the server computer having the data management unit and the data management communication unit, the presentation unit and the presentation communication unit,
The present invention is characterized in that the presentation unit comprises a client computer having a media management unit linked by a content request application program interface.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the server computer having the media management unit and the media management communication unit, the presentation unit and the presentation communication unit, And a client computer having a data management unit linked by a node link request application program interface.

According to the hypermedia system of the present invention, the first server computer including the data management unit and the data communication unit, and the second server computer including the media management unit and the media management communication unit. And the client computer including the presentation unit and the presentation communication unit.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment of the present invention.
1 shows a configuration of a hypermedia system according to an embodiment. In FIG. 1, a hypermedia system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a data management unit 103 that manages a hypermedia structure, a media management unit 104 that manages the content of each node, A presentation unit 102 for performing a screen layout based on the obtained node information and the content obtained from the media management unit 104, and a display unit 1
05, a main control unit 101 for controlling each of the above components.

The application interface (API) for associating each of the above-mentioned components is as follows.
Node link request A as API of data management unit 103
The content request API 151 is defined as the PI 150 and the API of the media management unit 104, respectively.

Next, the presentation unit 102, the data management unit 103, and the media management unit 1 in the above configuration
The respective configuration examples of No. 04 will be described with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the internal configuration of the presentation unit 102, FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams illustrating an example of the internal configuration of the data management unit 103, and FIGS. It is a figure explaining an example of an internal configuration.

In FIG. 2, the presentation unit 10
Reference numeral 2 denotes a user interface unit 22 for displaying a screen on the display unit 105 and receiving an event input by a user; a data request unit 23 for requesting node link information to the data management unit 103;
Media requesting unit 24 for requesting content data from the server 04
And a data analysis unit 25 that analyzes the node information obtained by the data request unit 23 and notifies the user interface unit 22 and the media request unit 24 of the node information.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show two examples of the internal configuration of the data management unit 103, respectively. In the configuration example of FIG. 3, the data management unit 103a includes an interpretation unit 32 that interprets a node link request API 150 from the presentation unit 102 and returns a processing result, and a file system 33 that stores node link information. The data management unit 103 having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 is suitable for small-scale data management. In another configuration example of FIG. 4, the data management unit 103b interprets the node link request API 150 from the presentation unit 102 and returns a processing result, and a database management system (hereinafter, referred to as node management information) that stores node link information. DBMS) 36. The data management unit 103 having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 is suitable for medium-scale or larger data management. The data management unit 103 stores the file system 33 and the DBMS 36
It is also possible to adopt a configuration having both of them.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show two examples of the internal configuration of the media management unit 104, respectively. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 5, the media management unit 104a includes a content request API 15 from the presentation unit 102.
An interpreting unit 42 that interprets 1 and returns a processing result and a file system 43 that stores contents. The media management unit 104 having this configuration is suitable for small-scale content data management. The media management unit 104b having another configuration in FIG. 6 includes an interpretation unit 45 that interprets the content request API 150 from the presentation unit and returns a processing result, and a DBMS 46 that stores the content.
The media management unit 104 having this configuration is suitable for managing medium-sized or larger content data. Note that the media management unit 104 may be configured to include both the file system 43 and the DBMS 46.

FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, FIGS. 5 and 6
Since the node link request API 150 is completely the same, the configuration or operation of the presentation unit 102 or the media management unit 104 is the same as that of the data management unit 103a shown in FIG.
Are not affected by any of the data management units 103b shown in FIG. Similarly, since the content request API 151 is completely the same, the presentation unit 102
Alternatively, the configuration or operation of the data management unit 103 is not affected by either the media management unit 104a shown in FIG. 5 or the media management unit 104b shown in FIG. 6 as the media management unit.

Each of the above-mentioned APIs is realized as a function call, and when restructuring the system, it is only necessary to select necessary components and relink, so that the man-hour for system development can be reduced. .

Next, the operation of the hypermedia system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 5, FIG. 7, and FIG.

First, the flow of processing for displaying node information on the screen of the display unit 105 will be described. In FIG. 7, the node information 51, that is, the node identifier 511 is "nod
When the information “e001” is displayed on the screen, the data request unit 23 requests the node information to the data management unit 103 through the node link request API 150 using “node001” as an argument. The API used at this time is GetNodeByID (node001) 6 shown in FIG.
It is one.

The data management unit 103a analyzes the request of the presentation unit 102 by the interpretation unit 32 and stores the node identifier 511 in the file system 33 as "node00".
Request the node information of "1", and return the node information 51 as the return value to the presentation unit 102.

The presentation unit 102 interprets the contents of the node information 51 received by the data request unit 23 by the data analysis unit 25, and as shown in FIG.
12 is “text001”, the media identifier 512 is transmitted from the media request unit 24 to the media management unit 23 through the content request API 151 by the text identifier “text10
Requesting the content “0”. AP used at this time
I is the GetMediaByID (text shown in FIG. 8)
l00) 62.

The media management unit 104a analyzes the request of the presentation unit 102 by the interpretation unit 42, and stores the media identifier 512 in the file system 43 as "textl".
A request for the content “00” is returned, and the return value text data 55 is returned to the presentation unit 102. The presentation unit 102 includes a media request unit 2
4 displays the text data 55 received on the screen of the display unit 105 via the user interface unit 22.

Further, the flow of processing when the hot spot area of the text data 55 displayed on the screen by the above-described processing is pointed by the mouse will be described.

The coordinate value P (x, y) specified by the mouse is
It is detected by the user interface unit 22 in the presentation unit 102 and notified to the media request unit 24. The media request unit 24 requests the anchor identifier of the hot spot area corresponding to the coordinate value P from the media management unit 23 through the content API 151. The API used at this time is GetAncho shown in FIG.
rByPosition (x, y) 63.

The media management section 23 analyzes the request of the presentation section 102 by the interpretation section 42 and sends the coordinate value P to the file system 43 in the text data 55.
Request the anchor identifier of the hotspot area pointed to by
The return value “anchor-01” (53 in FIG. 7)
2) is returned to the presentation unit 102.

The presentation unit 102 notifies the data requesting unit 23 of the anchor identifier received by the media requesting unit 24, and the data requesting unit 23 transmits the anchor identifier "a
Using the “nchor-01” as an argument, the data management unit 22 requests node information of a node to be displayed next through the node link request API 150. AP used at this time
I is the GetNextNodeByAnch shown in FIG.
or (node001, anchor-01) 64.

The data management unit 22 analyzes the request of the presentation unit 102 by the interpretation unit 32 and requests the file system 33 for the link destination node information when the anchor identifier is “anchor-01” in the node information 51. The returned node information 52 is returned to the presentation unit 102.

The presentation unit 102 interprets the contents of the node information 52 received by the data requesting unit 23 by the data analyzing unit 25, and as shown in FIG.
Since 22 is “image050”, the media request unit 24 requests the media management unit 23 for the content with the media identifier “image050” via the content request API 151. The API used at this time is
GetMediaByID (image05) shown in FIG.
0) 65.

The media management unit 104a analyzes the request of the presentation unit 102 by the interpretation unit 42, and stores the media identifier "image05" in the file system 43.
It requests the content “0” and returns the image data 56 as a return value to the presentation unit 102.
The presentation unit 102 displays the image data 56 received by the media request unit 24 on the display unit 105 via the user interface unit 22 on a screen.

Next, a hypermedia system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 9, this hypermedia system
Main control unit 101, presentation unit 102, presentation communication unit 701, media management unit 10
4, a client computer 70 operating as a client including the display unit 105, and a server computer 71 operating as a server of node link data including the data management communication unit 711 and the data management unit 103.

In this embodiment, the API between the presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 701 is the node link request API 150, and the API between the presentation unit 102 and the media management unit 104.
The content request API 151 is defined as an API between the data management unit 103 and the data management communication unit 711.
Stipulates the node link request API 753.

A node link protocol 752 is defined as a communication procedure between the presentation communication unit 701 and the data management communication unit 711. The node link protocol 752 is prepared as a network library for relaying the above-mentioned APIs, and connecting each component using this protocol enables a flexible system configuration including a network environment.

The presentation unit 102 receives an event from the user and notifies the presentation communication unit 701 of the event.
01, requesting the content to be displayed on the media management unit 104 based on the node information obtained from the display unit 10 and laying out the content based on a predetermined rule.
5 is displayed.

The presentation communication unit 701 requests data from the server computer 71 through the node link protocol 752 and obtains the result.

The data management communication section 711 of the server computer 71 receives the node link protocol 752,
This is converted into a node link request AP 1753, a data request is issued to the data management unit 103, and the result is converted into a node link protocol 752. In addition, a communication path can be secured between a plurality of computers, and a node link protocol can be transmitted / received to / from each of the connected computers.

Here, the presentation unit 102, the presentation communication unit 701, the media management unit 104
Can be configured to be connected to the main control unit 101 statically when a program is generated or dynamically when a program is executed.

The presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 703 or the presentation unit 102 and the media management unit 104 are configured such that the internal structure is hidden by the node link request API 150 or the content request API 151. This means that even if the presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 701 or the presentation unit 102 and the media management unit 104 are exchanged, there is no need to change other components at all. .

Next, a hypermedia system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 10, the hypermedia system of the present invention includes a main control unit 101, a presentation unit 1
02, a client computer 80 operating as a client including the data management unit 103, the presentation communication unit 801 and the display unit 105, and a server computer 81 operating as a content data server including the media management communication unit 811 and the media management unit 104
It is composed of

In this embodiment, a node link request API 150 is defined as an API between the presentation unit 102 and the data management unit 103, and a content request API 151 is defined as an API between the presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 801. AP between media 104 and media management communication unit 811
The content request API 853 is defined as I.

As a communication procedure between the presentation communication unit 701 and the media management communication unit 811,
The content protocol 852 is defined.

The presentation unit 102 receives an event from the user, and sends the event to the blur data management unit 1.
03, and requests the content to be displayed on the presentation communication unit 801 based on the node information obtained from the data management unit 103. The content is laid out based on a predetermined rule and displayed on the display unit 105. .

The presentation communication unit 801 of the server computer 81 requests content from the computer 81 through the content protocol 852 and obtains the result.

The media management communication unit 811 receives the content protocol 852 and sends it to the content request AP.
1853, and issues a content request to the media management unit 104.
Convert to In addition, a communication path can be secured between a plurality of computers, and a node link protocol can be transmitted / received to / from each of the connected computers.

Here, the presentation unit 102, the data management unit 103, the presentation communication unit 801
Can be configured to be connected to the main control unit 101 statically when a program is generated or dynamically when a program is executed.

The presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 801 or the presentation unit 102 and the data management unit 103 are configured so that the internal structure is hidden by the node link request API 150 or the content request API 151. This is because the presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 801 or the presentation unit 10
This means that even if any one of the data management unit 103 and the data management unit 103 is exchanged, it is not necessary to change other components at all.

Next, a hypermedia system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 11, the hypermedia system of the present invention includes a main control unit 101, a presentation unit 1
02, presentation communication unit 903, display unit 105
90 operating as a client with
A computer 71 operating as a node link data server including a data management communication unit 711 and a data management unit 103; and a computer 81 operating as a content data server including a media management communication unit 811 and a media management unit 104. Is done.

In this embodiment, the node link request API 150 and the content request API 151 are used as the API between the presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 901, and the node link request AP is used as the API between the data management unit 103 and the data management communication unit 711.
I753 as an API between the media management unit 104 and the media management communication unit 811 as a content request API
853 respectively.

The presentation communication unit 901 and the data management communication unit 711 or the media management communication unit 81
As a communication procedure between the two, a node link protocol 752 and a content protocol 852 are defined, respectively.

The presentation unit 102 receives an event from the user and notifies the presentation communication unit 901 of the event.
The content to be displayed is obtained based on the node information obtained from 01, and the content is laid out based on a predetermined rule and displayed on the display unit 105.

The presentation communication unit 901 requests data from the computer 71 through the node link protocol 752 and obtains the result. Further, the content is requested from the computer 81 through the content protocol 852 and the result is obtained.

The data management communication unit 711 receives the node link protocol 752 and sends it to the node link request A.
The data is converted to P1753, a data request is issued to the data management unit 103, and the result is converted to the node link protocol 752. In addition, a communication path can be secured between a plurality of computers, and a node link protocol can be transmitted / received to / from each of the connected computers.

The media management communication unit 811 receives the content protocol 852, converts the content protocol 852 into a content request AP 1853, issues a content request to the media management unit 104, and converts the result into the content protocol 852. In addition, a communication path can be secured between a plurality of computers, and a node link protocol can be transmitted / received to / from each of the connected computers.

Here, the presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 901 can be configured to be statically connected to the main control unit 101 when a program is generated or dynamically when a program is executed.

The presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 901 are provided with a node link request API.
The internal structure is hidden by 150 or the content request API 151. This means that even if the presentation unit 102 and the presentation communication unit 901 are exchanged, there is no need to change other components at all.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, an example of a system in which one client computer is connected to one or two server computers via a network has been described. However, the number of computers connected to each other depends on the size of the system. Needless to say, it can be changed arbitrarily. The data management unit 103 and the data management communication unit 71 are provided in one server computer.
1 and the media management unit 104 and the media management communication unit 81
1 may be provided.

[0060]

As described above, according to the hypermedia system of the present invention, when the system configuration or scale is changed according to the network configuration, multimedia device, data amount, etc., that is, the scale or nature of the application, It is possible to easily construct a hypermedia system by exchanging some of the components without largely rewriting the program for the entire system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a presentation unit of the hypermedia system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a first configuration example of a data management unit of the hypermedia system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a second configuration example of the data management unit of the hypermedia system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a first configuration example of a content management unit of the hypermedia system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a second configuration example of the content management unit of the hypermedia system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of node link data according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8: Node link request API and content request A
It is a figure showing an example of PI.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a hypermedia system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a hypermedia system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a hypermedia system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 hypermedia system 101 main control unit 102 presentation unit 103 data management unit 104 media management unit 150, 753, node link request API 151, 853 content request API 22 user interface 23 data request unit 24 media request unit 25 data analysis unit 32, 35, 42, 45 Interpretation unit 33, 43 File system 36, 46 DBMS 70, 80, 90 Client computer 71, 81 Server computer 701, 801, 901 Presentation communication unit 711 Data management communication unit 752, 753 Node link protocol 811 Media management Communication unit 852, 853 Content protocol

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A data management unit for managing a hypermedia structure, a media management unit for managing contents of each node, node information obtained from the data management unit upon receiving a user input, and obtained from the media management unit A presentation unit that performs a screen layout based on content information, and a main control unit that controls each of the constituent elements, wherein the data management unit and the presentation unit are linked by a node link request application program interface, A hypermedia system wherein the media management unit and the presentation unit are linked by a content request application program interface. 2. An interpreter for interpreting a request for node information from the presentation unit, wherein the data management unit interprets the request.
A storage unit for storing the node information, wherein the media management unit is configured by an interpretation unit for interpreting a request for content from the presentation unit, and a storage unit for storing content; A data request unit for requesting and receiving node information from the data management unit;
A media request unit for requesting and receiving a content from the media management unit; and a data analysis unit for analyzing node information from the data request unit and notifying the media request unit. The hypermedia system according to claim 1, wherein 3. A server provided with at least one of a data management unit for managing a hypermedia structure and a media management unit for managing contents of each node among a plurality of computers connected via a network. The other computer is a client computer including a presentation unit that performs a screen layout based on node information obtained from the data management unit in response to a user input and content information obtained from the media management unit; A management unit and the presentation unit are linked by a node link request application program interface, and a content request application program is connected between the media management unit and the presentation unit. The server computer converts the node link request application program interface between the data management unit and the presentation unit into a communication protocol on the network, and converts the communication protocol to the node link request. A data management communication unit for converting to an application program interface; a content request application program interface between the media management unit and the presentation unit for converting the communication protocol to a communication protocol on the network; At least one of a media management communication unit for converting to a request application program interface, wherein the client computer A presentation communication unit for converting the node link request or the content request application program interface into a communication protocol on the network and converting the communication protocol into the node link request or the content request application program interface. A hypermedia system characterized by: 4. The server computer including the data management unit and the data management communication unit; and the presentation unit and the presentation communication unit, the presentation unit being linked to the presentation unit by the content request application program interface. 4. The hypermedia system according to claim 3, wherein the hypermedia system includes the client computer having a media management unit. 5. The server computer including the media management unit and the media management communication unit, the presentation unit and the presentation communication unit, and the presentation unit is linked by the node link request application program interface. 4. The hypermedia system according to claim 3, wherein the hypermedia system comprises the client computer having a data management unit. 6. The first server computer including the data management unit and the data communication unit; the second server computer including the media management unit and the media management communication unit; the presentation unit; 4. The hypermedia system according to claim 3, comprising the client computer having a presentation communication unit.