JPH1021036A - Interactive video input / output system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide an interactive video input / output system for performing display by a WWW browser on the Internet, and to provide an input system with simple operation. An image data control unit for managing a display position of an image, an HTML analysis unit, an image position association unit, an input unit, an input signal conversion unit, a communication unit, a display unit. In the interactive video display terminal 106, the HTML analysis unit 103 and the image data analysis unit 105 perform image position association, and move the cursor to an appropriate position based on the input cursor movement signal based on the image position association data. Interactive video input / output system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an interactive video information input / output system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as a method of reproducing multimedia information from a network, a method of accessing data on the Internet using a personal computer or the like as a terminal has been widely used. In this case, an interactive button displayed by the browser is selected with a mouse to perform an operation such as selecting a page.

[0003] An example of a simplified Internet terminal is an Internet TV introduced by Nikkei Electronics (February 26, 1996). In this Internet TV, a joystick-like switch is mounted on a remote controller, and this is used instead of a mouse to select a button on a display screen.

In a specialized Internet terminal, a cross key used for a game machine or the like is provided, and the cursor is moved to a button on a screen displayed by a browser by using the cross key instead of a mouse.

[0005]

In the above prior art, when selecting a button, a cursor is scrolled to a button to be selected by a mouse or an input means corresponding thereto, and the button is selected by a selection button. . However, this method has the inconvenience that the cursor speed is too slow and the scrolling time to the button to select is long, or the speed is too fast to pass the button and must be returned in the opposite direction. There is a problem in the kindness with respect to. This is particularly remarkable in the case of a simplified Internet terminal considered in the present invention, which is contrary to the concept of a system that does not require a complicated system or operation.

An object of the present invention is to provide an interface of an Internet terminal which does not give stress to a user by a simple operation.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an interactive video input / output system according to the present invention comprises:
Image data control means for managing a display position of an image such as a button to be displayed; means for analyzing an HTML file; and association of the analysis result of the HTML file with the position of the image data displayed by the image data control means. Image position associating means to be performed, input means for selecting a button, etc., means for converting a signal from the input means into a direction of movement of a cursor on a display screen, communication means for connecting to a communication line, And display means for displaying data and text.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an Internet TV which is an example of an interactive video input / output system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The Internet TV described here is a simple Internet terminal obtained by adding a function of accessing the Internet to a normal TV. Since the system is configured with the minimum system required for accessing the Internet, it is possible to provide an inexpensive system as compared with a personal computer or the like.

On the Internet, WWW (World Wide W
eb) An application called a browser displays multimedia information. HTML (Hyper Text Makeup Language) is used as definition information for the multimedia information. The WWW browser analyzes the definition file and reproduces and displays the multimedia information.

The configuration of the system in this embodiment will be described below.

An interactive video input / output system centered on an Internet TV is an Internet TV 1
00 and a communication means 119 for connecting a remote controller 107 as an input device and a communication line.

The Internet TV 100 is a communication means 1
19 allows the user to access the Internet via a communication line 120 and exchange multimedia data and mail with other personal computers 121 and workstations 122 connected to the Internet.

The Internet TV 100 includes a light receiving unit 101 for receiving a signal from a remote controller, an input signal converting unit 102 for converting a signal from the remote controller to a key input signal,
HTML analysis means 10 for analyzing an HTML file
3, an image position associating means 104 for associating the displayed image file with its positional relationship, and HTML
It comprises video data control means 105 for controlling display of an image extracted from a file, and a display unit 106 for displaying image data and text.

The remote control 107 is connected to the Internet TV 1
00 is a remote control device for selecting a button displayed on the display unit 106 and selecting a TV channel, and emits information selected by the remote control.
08, a power switch 109, a mode switching switch 110 for switching between TV mode and Internet terminal mode, an audio volume 111, a channel up / down switch 112, a channel button 113 for directly selecting a channel, and a cursor instead of a mouse. Cross key 114, P for inputting movement direction
REV button 115, NEXT button 116, HOME
It comprises a button 119 and a RET button 118 for selecting a button at the cursor position.

The signal transmitted from remote control 107 is received by receiving section 101 of Internet TV. The received signal interprets the received signal depending on whether the Internet TV mode is the TV mode or the Internet terminal mode, and performs an operation according to the signal.

When the channel button 113 is pressed when the mode changeover switch 110 of the remote control 107 is set to the TV mode, the built-in tuner is adjusted to a TV station corresponding to the channel number and a TV program is broadcast as in a conventional TV. . Alternatively, the channel up / down switch 112 sequentially selects a channel having a channel number larger or smaller than the currently selected channel, and broadcasts the program of the target channel.

On the other hand, the processing after the mode switch 112 of the remote controller 110 is switched to the Internet terminal mode will be described below.

WW for displaying data on the Internet
The W browser interprets the file described in the HTML language as described above and displays each page.

FIG. 2 shows that a certain homepage is accessed,
This is the screen displayed by the HTML file FIRST.HTM of the homepage. The display screen 201 includes an area 203 for displaying HTML data, and a scroll bar 202 for scrolling when the display of the HTML data is large.
It consists of. In a normal WWW browser, a function button for easily operating a page turning history is displayed in a display area. However, this is displayed by each browser independently of the HTML directly, and in this embodiment, a button is provided on the remote controller side for simplicity. that is,
The PREV button 115, the NEXT button 116 in FIG.
A HOME button 117. Each function is PRE
The V button 115 displays the previous page, and NE
The XT button 116 displays the next page, and
The OME button 117 displays a reference page.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a format file described in the HTML language in the present embodiment, in which information of image data displayed in FIG. 2 and the like are described. The page analyzes a file described in HTML language, which is a common platform, and displays based on the analysis result. Although there are some differences between browsers in terms of display not specified in HTML, the basic operation is the same in all browsers.

Description of the line shown in FIG. 3 (a) <IMG SRC
= "..."> Specify the file name of the image to be displayed on the screen in the "..." part, and if the image is to be changed to any page when the user selects it, < A HREF = "..."> and </A>
Surround <IMG SRC = "..."> with <A HREF="..."> and specify the name of the page that changes with "...".

In FIG. 3A, when the FIRST.HTM file is opened and the text data “PC catalog” enclosed between <TITLE> and </ TITLE> is displayed,
It is. Next, open the image file named MENU001.GIF, and then open the image file named BUTTON1.GIF. Then, BUTTON002.GIF, BUTTON003.GIF, BUTTON00
4. The image file named GIF is displayed. 205 in the area 203 of FIG. 2 is the image data MENU001.GIF. Further, selection buttons 206, 207, and 208 are displayed in which numbers 1, 2, and 3 are assigned to receive a user's number selection.

The image data of these selection buttons is shown in FIG.
BUTTON001.GIF, BUTTON002.GIF, BUTTON0 shown in (a)
03.Gifs are assigned respectively.

When BUTTON004.GIF is selected,
Access an HTML file of another WWW server. The address description of the other server is 301 in FIG.
It is another.co.jp/main.htm described in the line.

On the display screen 201, for example, even if the display area 205 is selected by the RET button 118, nothing happens. On the other hand, the selection button of [1] is
8, the HTML file MENU000.
PAGE001.HTM, the corresponding page described in HTM
Transition to a file. The contents of PAGE001.HTM are as shown in FIG. When the WWW browser receives the file PAGE001. Open HTM and display screen 210
Is obtained.

The relationship between the image on the display screen 210 and the image information and operation described in FIG. 3B is as follows.

The text data “PC X-100” sandwiched between the descriptions <TITLE> and </ TILTLE> in FIG. 3B corresponds to 210 in FIG. 2, and <IMG SRC = "..."> COMPUTER.GIF described in the "..." portion of the image becomes the image 212. Also,
BUTTON010.GIF of HTML file is 213, BUTTON01
1.GIF is 214 and BUTTON012.GIF is 215. BUTTON
010.GIF, BUTTOB011.GIF, BUTTON012.GIF are each <A
HREF = "..."> and </A>, when these images are selected by the RET button 118,
The transition to the file defined by the "..." part of <A HREF="..."> is performed. BUTTON010.GIF in Fig. 3 (b) is the BUT in Fig. 3 (a).
Since it is the same as the description for TON002.GIF, open the HTML file called PAGE002.HTM. BUTTON011.GIF is the same as the description for BUTTON003.GIF in Fig. 3 (a), so PAGE00
3. Open the HTML file called HTM. BUTTON01
Since the HTML file of FIRST.HTM is described in 0.GIF, the HTML file of FIG. 3A is opened and the display screen 201 of FIG. 2 is displayed.

The above is an example of the case where a normal HTML file is analyzed and displayed. The conventional display file selection method and the selection method of the present embodiment are shown in FIG.
I will explain using.

FIG. 4A is an explanatory diagram of a state of button selection in a conventional example. The dotted line cursor mark indicated by 401 in FIG. 4 is the position of the cursor mark in the initial state, and the solid line cursor mark indicated by 403 is the position of the button to be moved. Cursor mark 4 in the conventional example
When moving from the location 01 to the location of the cursor mark 403, the amount of movement of the input device such as a mouse is converted in analog form as the amount of movement on the screen, and the display position of the cursor mark is changed by the amount of movement. Cursor mark 40 in FIG.
2 is an example. In FIG. 4, the cursor position is only at the intermediate position, but in actuality, when the time division is performed according to the degree of conversion of the amount of movement of the mouse and the amount of movement on the screen, the cursor mark on the screen changes the display position little by little. Is displayed. In order for the user to select the button 403, it was necessary to operate the input device until the cursor mark reached the position 403 and press the selection button at a position where it would be possible to select the button. When the button to be selected is clearly known, the cursor can be moved to the position of the button 207. However, depending on the display method, it may not always be possible to recognize that the button is a button. You may try it.

FIG. 4B shows the movement of the cursor mark in this embodiment. The initial position of the cursor mark is the position of the cursor mark 401 indicated by a dotted line as in the case of FIG. In this embodiment, when the cross key 114 of the input device is pressed rightward at this time, the cursor mark is automatically moved to the position 403 of the next button. Therefore, if the user presses the select button, a transition to a page as in the HTML file described for the button image is performed. Further, the cursor mark does not move to a position of an image such as the image 205 where there is no transition to a page.

In this embodiment, the video data control means 105
Manages the display position based on the HTML file. A movable button position is detected from the management information and information described in HTML. The image position associating means 104 manages the detection of information and the detection result as a table.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which the display of FIG. 2 is performed at the X and Y coordinates on the screen.

The position of the display screen is X, Y starting from the upper left.
Of the number of dots. That is, the upper left coordinates are X, Y = 0,0,
Consider the lower right corner in a coordinate system with X, Y = 639,479.

As can be seen from FIG. 5, the size of the TITLE "PC catalog" is 100 × 20 dots, the size of the image MENU001.GIF is 300 dots × 100 dots, and the images BUTTON001.GIF, BUTTO
N002.GIF, BUTTON003.GIF, three button size 50
X 50 dots. Also, set the size of BUTTON004.GIF to 100
X 50 dots. Each display position is as shown in FIG.

When the display data control means 105 displays the image data, <A HREF
= "..."> Image data BUTTON001.GI surrounded by </A>
F, BUTTON002.GIF, BUTTON003.GIF, BUTTON004.GIF and their respective center coordinates X, Y = 75,385, X, Y = 345,385, X, Y = 275,3
85, image association means 10 for association with X, Y = 500,455
4 to build.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the image association table created by the image association means 104. The image association table in FIG. 6 extracts buttons accompanied by page transitions and the like in one HTML file and numbers them from 1. The image name assigned to the number, the center coordinates of each button, and the numbers of the other buttons accompanied by the transition of the page located above, below, left and right of each button are described.

The algorithm of the cursor movement using the image association table will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

(701) It is checked whether the input key is a signal from the cross key. If the signal is other than the cross key, the process proceeds to step 702. If the key input is the cross key, go to step 703.

(702) A process corresponding to the input key is performed, and the process proceeds to a key input waiting step 700.

(703) The direction of the cross key input is detected.

(704) The current position of the cursor is detected by the video data control means 105.

(705) Based on the key input direction obtained in (703) and the cursor position obtained in (704), the position to be moved is obtained from the image association table.

(706) A cursor is displayed at the position obtained in (705).

The specific operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 as examples.

In the initial state, the BUTTON described first in the image that involves the selection operation in the HTML file
Place the cursor at the position of the center coordinates X, Y = 75, 385 of 001.GIF. At this time, if the selection decision button is pressed, it is requested that BUTTON001.GIF is selected from the image associating means 104 with reference to the cursor position at that time.
Open the page PAGE001.HTM which changes when BUTTON001.GIF of the L file is pressed.

If the pressed key is to the left of the cross key, the cursor is not moved because the image association means 104 knows that there is no corresponding button to the left of the current button. The same applies when an up / down arrow key is input.

When the right arrow key is input, the image BUTTON00 of the button located to the right of the current button and closest to the current button by the image association means 104.
2. Find the GIF and move the cursor to the center coordinates X, Y = 345,385.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to eliminate unnecessary movement of the cursor and improve the usability of the user.

Although the case where the display page in HTML fits in the display screen has been described so far, the display page may not fit in the display screen and may involve scrolling.
The following describes how this embodiment responds to this case. FIG. 8 shows a transition example of the display screen when scrolling is involved. Also,
FIG. 9 shows an HTML file for generating such a display screen.

The display screen 801 in FIG. 8 is the display screen before the start of scrolling. It has a screen configuration in which the HTML of FIG. 9 is displayed in order from the top. At this time, the cursor mark 802 indicates the image file BUTT of the HTML file.
It is assumed that the button 807 displaying ON002.GIF is located at the center coordinates. FIG. 10 shows an example of the image position association table at this time. Since BUTTON005.GIF to BUTTON007.GIF are not displayed on the screen, a mark indicating that the center coordinate field is outside the display screen is described. However, BUTTON005.GIF
Display of BUTTON007.GIF from image data control means 104
Is performed based on a certain rule, so that the positional relationship of the images can be known in advance.

A screen halfway from the start of scrolling is a display screen 803. As can be seen from the figure, the position of the position button 207 where the cursor is located on the display screen 801 is moving upward, but the cursor display position is displayed following the center coordinates of the button 807 by the display data control means.
Since the image position association table constantly updates the center coordinates of the button while the display screen is scrolling, the image data control unit 104 changes the display position of the cursor so as to follow the button 207. The cursor follows.

The display screen after scrolling is the display screen 806. Display screen 803 as a result of scrolling
The button 207 that has been displayed until now has moved out of the display screen. In this case, the image data control means 104 determines that the cursor mark has moved downward, and issues a dummy cross key signal for downward movement. With this dummy signal, the center coordinates of the button 807 are obtained from the image association table, and the display of the cursor is moved to the button 807.

As described above, even if the image whose cursor has been selected by scrolling moves out of the display, a new button is automatically selected, so that the user's convenience is good.

In this embodiment, the cursor position is controlled by creating an image position association table in advance, but the same effect as in this embodiment can be obtained even if the position is grasped in real time.

Further, in this embodiment, the image data enclosed by <A HREF="..."> and </A> is described as an HTML description that generates an operation when a button such as a page transition is selected. However, it is obvious that the same control can be applied to text data, and it is surrounded by <SELECT NAME = "..."> and </ SELCT> by FORM tag. OPTION>
The image position associating means can also be used for HTML descriptions that involve other selection operations, such as a description that sends a selection request described in <INPUT TYPE = "submit"> to a browser or the like to perform an action. It is possible to simplify the movement of the cursor by making it an extraction target when creating the association table.

In this embodiment, the communication means is considered as an external device. However, the same effect can be obtained even if the communication means is built in the Internet TV.

In this embodiment, the TV / Internet terminal mode switching is added to the input device. However, the same effect can be obtained by describing the switching tag definition in the HTML and performing the switching based on this description.

In this embodiment, the cursor is directly moved to the next button position. However, if the cursor is automatically moved, a cursor movement locus may be displayed.

[0061]

According to the present invention, the user can easily move the cursor to an appropriate position without performing unnecessary cursor movement processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an Internet TV according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a display example by a browser in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an HTML file corresponding to FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of how the cursor moves in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display coordinate system in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a table for associating an image position with an image file according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm of cursor movement in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing display transition when scrolling the display screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an HTML file corresponding to FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a table for associating image positions with image files in the case of HTML in FIG. 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

100: Internet TV, 101: Light receiving unit, 102
... Input signal conversion means, 103 ... HTML analysis means, 10
4. Image position association means, 105 ... Video data control means, 106 ... Display means, 107 ... Input device, 108 ... Light emitting unit, 109 ... Power switch, 110 ... Mode switch, 111 ... Volume, 112 ... Channel up / down switch 113 direct channel button 114 cross key 115 PREV button 1
16 ... NEXT button, 117 ... HOME button, 11
8 RET button, 119 communication means, 120 communication line.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. Multimedia data is obtained by a communication means and displayed based on a display information definition file.
An interactive video input / output system for performing an interactive operation on display data by an input unit, comprising: an image display control unit; and a unit for creating input pointer control information from the definition file. An interactive video input / output system, characterized in that an input pointer is moved by a user. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Internet is used as a network connected by said communication means,
An interactive video input / output system in which a display information definition file is an HTML file. 3. The display information definition file according to claim 1, wherein the display information definition file has a selection definition for selecting display of multimedia data, and the input pointer is moved by a selection process at a pointer destination. An interactive video input / output system that controls only movement to a position. 4. An interactive video input / output system according to claim 1, wherein said input means has a cross cursor, and moves an input pointer in response to an input of said cross cursor.