JPH11149435A - Device and method for displaying information and information medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display the statement of each speaker to be successively displayed in the case of chat. SOLUTION: A client computer is provided with chat display parts 11A and 11B respectively corresponding to speakers A and B. Images respectively expressing the speakers A and B are displayed on display parts 13A and 13B. The statement inputted to a chat input part 12 is sent to a server and returned to the client. The statement of the speaker A is displayed on the display part 11A and a blank line corresponding to this display is displayed on the display part 11B. The similar display is performed on the display part 11B as well, the statement is divided into paragraphs for each speaker on the display parts 11A and 11B and when any person expect for the relevant speaker speaks, the blank line is displayed. The statement is time-sequentially displayed, and the contents of chat can be easily grasped.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information display apparatus for displaying a pseudo-conversation by transmitting text data substantially in real time by a plurality of users on a network, more simply. The present invention relates to an information display method and an information medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a communication network such as the Internet or a personal computer communication service, two-way communication is performed between client computers via a server in almost real time, and pseudo on the communication network using text data. A system called chat, which realizes a conversation, has become widespread. Note that a pseudo conversation itself performed by text data on the chat system is called a chat.

A network user participating in a chat sends, for example, short text data to a server in order to make a comment. The sent text data is displayed on the display screens of the client computers of all the users participating in the chat via the network in substantially real time. A statement of a response to the displayed text data is created by another user and sent to the server in the same manner. In this way, statements from a plurality of users are sequentially displayed on each client computer substantially in real time.

The remarks are displayed serially to the client computer in the order of remarks, that is, in the order in which the text data arrives at the server. FIG. 6 shows an example of display of remarks to a client computer by a conventional chat system. This is an example in which an interview is performed on a communication network using a chat system. In this example, a chat is performed between an interviewer (speaker A) and an artist (speaker B).

The chat display unit 100 displays text data of chat contents. A predetermined delimiter (">" in this example) is displayed following data indicating the speaker, such as the name of the speaker. The text data displayed following the delimiter is a statement by the speaker. A line feed is made at the end of the text data, and the text data arriving at the server after this statement is displayed in the same manner. In this way, text data arriving at the server one after another is serially displayed on the client computer.

[0006] A speaker can send a comment to a server by inputting text data to the chat input unit 101. The text data sent to the server is sent to the communication network and immediately reflected on the client.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional chat system, the comments made by a plurality of speakers are displayed serially. Therefore, when the content of the remark is moved back and forth by the speaker, or when multiple topics are taken up by multiple speakers, the display becomes cluttered, and the flow of the conversation becomes very difficult to understand. There was a problem that it would. This is the same even when the number of speakers is limited, for example, in an interview or a panel discussion.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information display device, an information display method, and an information medium which can easily display the remarks of each speaker displayed one after another during a chat on a communication network. To provide.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides information used in a system for transmitting and receiving data between a plurality of information devices for clients connected by a network using a server. In the display device, a plurality of display units respectively corresponding to the plurality of transmission sources, a determination unit for determining the transmission source of the received data, and the received data are displayed on the display unit corresponding to the transmission source determined by the determination unit. When displaying received data on the display unit and displaying the received data on the display unit, a display corresponding to the received data is displayed on the display units other than the transmission source of the received data among the plurality of display units. An information display device comprising a control unit.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information display method for use in a system for transmitting and receiving data between a plurality of information devices for clients connected by a network using a server. A plurality of display units respectively corresponding to the plurality of transmission sources, a step of determining the transmission source of the received data, and the received data are displayed on the display unit corresponding to the transmission source determined in the determination step. In addition, when the received data is displayed on the display unit, the display control of displaying a blank corresponding to the received data on the display units other than the transmission source of the received data among the plurality of display units. And a step of displaying information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a plurality of display units respectively corresponding to a plurality of transmission sources and a transmission source of the received data are determined in an information medium providing a computer program. Judgment means;
The received data is displayed on the display unit corresponding to the transmission source determined by the determination unit, and when the received data is displayed on the display unit, the transmission source of the received data among the plurality of display units is displayed. Display control means for displaying a blank corresponding to received data on a display unit other than the above, using a server to transmit and receive data between a plurality of client information devices connected via a network Is an information medium that provides the information display device used in the above as a computer program that can be read and executed by an information device.

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of display units corresponding to a plurality of transmission sources are provided, and when received data is displayed on the corresponding display unit, the other display units are displayed. Since a blank corresponding to the received data is displayed, the data from each transmission source can be divided and displayed simply.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. According to the present invention, the display of the chat content is divided according to the speakers, so that the conversation flow can be easily grasped. FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of a communication system to which the present invention can be applied. In this example, the Internet 1 is used as a communication network.

[0014] A WWW server 2 is connected to the Internet 1. Storage 3 of WWW server 2
Stores an HTML file. The WWW server 2 can publish the HTML file stored in the storage 3 to the Internet 1.

A provider 4 is connected to the Internet 1. .. And the client computers 6, 6,... Of speakers A, B are connected to the provider 4 via, for example, a public telephone line. The provider 4 has a WWW server, provides various contents to the Internet 1, and has client computers 5, 5,... And client computers 6, 6,.
・ ・ Provide a service to secure connection with the Internet 1.

As the client computers 5 and 6, a personal computer is preferably used. The present invention is not limited to this, and other information devices having a network connection function, such as a word processor, a television with an Internet access function, and a home computer game machine, can be used as the client computers 5 and 6. In FIG. 1, one provider 4 is connected to the Internet 1. However, a plurality of providers 4 may exist, and the client computers 5, 5,... .. May be connected to different providers 4 respectively.

The configuration shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, FIG.
, And client computers 6, 5,... And client computers 6, 6,.
.. May be directly connected to the server 2 ′ by, for example, a public telephone line. The configuration shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to, for example, a personal computer communication service.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the client computers 5 and 6, which are, for example, personal computers. In the personal computer 100, a controller 111 having both functions of a memory controller and a bus controller is connected to the local bus 105. The controller 111 includes, for example, a cache 112 composed of an SRAM and a RAM 11 composed of a DRAM.
4 are connected. The CPU 113 is connected to the cache 112 via the processor bus 110.

Further, a hard disk 116 is connected to the local bus 105 via a hard disk controller 115 and, for example, a CRT or an LCD (Liquid Crystal) via a graphic controller 117.
The display 118 is connected. Further, the local bus 105 is connected to the extension bus 120 via the bus bridge 119.

An input / output controller 121 is connected to the extension bus 120. A necessary input / output device is appropriately connected to the input / output controller 121. As input / output devices connected to the input / output controller 121, input devices such as a keyboard 122 and a mouse 123, for example, a floppy drive and a C
A disk drive such as a D-ROM drive and a magneto-optical disk drive, and an output device such as a printer 125 are also exemplified.

A modem 126 is further connected to the extension bus 120. Via a modem 126, for example, it can be connected to a public telephone line 127. Modem 12
Instead of 6, a network adapter that can be connected to an external network may be connected. In this example, it is connected to the provider 4 via the public telephone line 127. The provider 4 is connected to the Internet 1. Therefore, the personal computer 10
0 can be connected to the Internet 1 through the public telephone line 127 and can be connected to the WWW server 2 through the connected Internet 1.

The sound source module 128 is further connected to the extension bus 120. This sound module 128
Outputs sound under the control of the CPU 113 to drive the speaker 129.

When the personal computer 100 is started, a predetermined screen is displayed on the display 118 and a cursor which is moved by operating an input device such as the mouse 123 and the keyboard 122 is displayed.
The user can realize a desired function in the personal computer 100 by operating the cursor with the input device described above.

Next, a chat system according to this embodiment will be schematically described. This example applies to events on the network, such as interviews and panel discussions. In this example, the chat is an interview conducted between a predetermined speaker A (in this example, an interviewer) and a speaker B (in this example, an artist).
Take the form of browsing the display of this chat. Other general users are prevented from participating in the chat itself.

The configuration of the network is the same as that shown in FIG.
Any of those shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2 may be applied. Here, description will be made using the example of FIG.

The client computer 6 of the speaker A is connected to the Internet 1 via the provider 4.
Similarly, the client computer 6 of the speaker B is connected to the Internet 1. For example, the speaker A operates the client computer 6 to input the speech as text data. The input text data is temporarily stored in the RAM 114, for example. This text data is transmitted by the modem 126 to the server 2 via the public telephone line 127 and the Internet 1.

The text data is transmitted to the server 2 together with ID information for identifying the speaker of the data, such as the name of the speaker, that is, the source of the data. This text data and I for data speaker identification
D is transmitted to all the client computers 5, 5,... And 6, 6,.

Here, the server 2 accepts only text data transmitted from the client computers 6 of the predetermined speakers A and B, and receives text data from other general user client computers 5. Do not accept. The server 2 only transmits text data to the client computer 5 of another general user.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a chat display for the client computers 5 and 6 in this embodiment. When the software for chatting is started in the client computers 5 and 6, the display screen 10 for chatting is displayed on the display 118. This software is
It is stored in the hard disk 116 of each of the client computers 5 and 6 in advance.

The software for performing the chat is not limited to being held by the clients 5 and 6 in advance, but may be obtained from the server 2 every time via the Internet 1, for example.

The present invention is not limited to this, and this software can be created in a format that can be described in an HTML file and stored in the storage 3 connected to the server 2. In this case, the client computers 5, 5,
, Or the client computers 6, 6,..., Even if they do not have this software, each can access the server 2 to execute the chat according to this embodiment.

That is, a function for realizing a chat according to this embodiment is described in an HTML file using, for example, a predetermined script language. The HTML file is read by a so-called WWW browser which reads and displays the HTML file, for example. The read HTML is displayed on the WWW browser.
Based on the description of the file, a screen equivalent to the display screen 10 and adapted to chat is displayed.
The chat is performed by the speaker using this screen, and the chat is browsed by the general user.

For the display screen 10, the chat display unit 1
1A and 11B and the chat input section 12 are displayed. Chat display sections 11A and 11B correspond to speakers A and B, respectively. That is, the text data based on the utterance of the speaker A is displayed on the chat display unit 11A, and the text data based on the utterance of the speaker B is displayed on the chat display unit 11B.

Also, chat display sections 11A and 11B
Speaker display sections 13A and 13B are provided at the upper part of the display, and the speakers are displayed. In the speaker display sections 13A and 13B, for example, as shown in the example of FIG. 4, image data indicating the speakers A and B are displayed together with ID information for identifying the speakers. This image data is transmitted from the server 2 to each client computer 5,
.. And 6, 6,.
Of course, only the ID information for identifying the speakers A and B may be displayed. It is also possible to display a predetermined icon.

In the client computers 6, 6,... Used by the speakers, a chat input unit 12 is provided for the display screen 10. Chat input unit 1
For example, text data is input to speaker 2 by speaker A, for example. When the input is confirmed and, for example, the return key is pressed, the input text data is transmitted to the server 2.

The server 2 waits for text data sent from the client computer 6 of the speaker A or the client computer 6 of the speaker B.
When the text data is sent, ID information for identifying the speaker and a delimiter (">" in this example) for distinguishing the ID information from the text data are inserted at the head of the text data. This data is then transferred to all client computers 5, 5,.
・ Send to As can be seen from the above, the server 2 according to this embodiment performs the same processing as the above-described conventional example.

FIG. 5 shows chat display sections 11A and 11A at client computers 5, 5,... And 6, 6,.
13 is a flowchart of a display process of text data for B. Although the same processing is performed in the client computers 5 and 6, the processing in the client computer 5 will be described here. Further, the processing described in this flowchart is performed by the C of the personal computer 100 as the client computer 5.
It is controlled by the PU 113.

The client computer 5 waits for chat text data transmitted from the server 2 (step S10). When the text data arrives, it is determined who the speaker is (step S1).
1). This is based on the delimiter inserted in the text data in the server 2, and before and after the delimiter,
This is done by separating the information part. If it is determined that the data is text data by the speaker A, the process proceeds to step S12.

In the sent text data, the utterance portion is displayed in step S12 in the paragraph corresponding to utterer A, ie, in the chat display section 11A in the example of FIG. At this time, the ID information for identifying the speaker and the delimiter are not displayed. Then, in the next step S13, a blank line is inserted in the paragraph of another speaker, in the example of FIG. 4, the chat display section 11B corresponding to the speaker B. This blank line is inserted, for example, by an amount corresponding to the line of the text data displayed in the chat display unit 11A.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S11 that the incoming text data is from the speaker B, the process proceeds to step S14. In this step S14 and the next step S15, processing reverse to the processing in the above-described steps S12 and S13 is performed. That is, the comment part of the sent text data is displayed on the chat display unit 11B corresponding to the speaker B in step S14. Then, in the next step S15, blank lines are inserted into the chat display unit 11A by an amount corresponding to the number of lines displayed on the chat display unit 11B in step S14.

Although the case where two speakers A and B have been described here, the present invention is not limited to this example. The present invention can cope with a similar process even when the number of speakers is even larger. That is, the number of chat display units corresponding to the number of speakers is displayed on the display screen 10. Step S11 described above
In, the determination is made for each speaker, text data is displayed on the chat display section corresponding to the speaker, and a blank line corresponding to the displayed text data is displayed on another chat display section.

In the above description, the content of the utterance is represented by text data, and the utterer is displayed by displaying the image data stored in advance in the server 2 on the utterer display units 13A and 13B. This is not limited to this example. For example, a camera that can be controlled by the computer 6 is provided on the client computer 6 side to photograph the speaker. The computer 6 uses the captured image as image data.
And transfers the captured image data to the server 2. This process of photographing and transferring image data is automatically performed. This image data is displayed on the other client computers 5, 5,... And 6, 6,. By doing so, you can increase the sense of reality,
It is possible to make the speech of the speaker easy to understand.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the chat system, when displaying the text of the chat content on the client computer, a paragraph is provided for each speaker, and the speech of each speaker is provided. Is displayed along the flow of time for each paragraph. Therefore, there is an effect that the flow of a comment can be visually and easily determined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a communication system to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a communication system to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a client computer.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a chat display according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a chat display process in a client computer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a chat display in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Internet, 2 ... Server, 5,6 ...
・ Client computer, 10 ・ ・ ・ Display screen, 1
1A, 11B: Chat display unit, 12: Chat input unit, 13A, 13B: Speaker display unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] An information display device used in a system for transmitting and receiving data between a plurality of client information devices connected by a network using a server, comprising: a plurality of display units respectively corresponding to a plurality of transmission sources; Determining means for determining the transmission source of the received data; and displaying the received data on the display unit corresponding to the transmission source determined by the determination means, and displaying the received data on the display unit. When data is displayed, among the plurality of display units, the display unit other than the transmission source of the received data has display control means for displaying a blank corresponding to the received data. Characteristic information display device. 2. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein in each of the plurality of display units, the received data displayed by the display control unit and the blank displayed by the display control unit are displayed. Is displayed according to the time series of the received data. 3. The information display device according to claim 1, wherein the image indicating the transmission source is displayed on a corresponding display unit. 4. The information display device according to claim 3, wherein the image is generated by receiving, from the server, image data created at the same time as the communication at the transmission source and transmitted to the server. An information display device, which is an obtained image. 5. An information display method used in a system for transmitting and receiving data between a plurality of information devices for clients connected by a network using a server, comprising: a plurality of display units respectively corresponding to a plurality of transmission sources; Determining a transmission source of the received data; and displaying the received data on the display unit corresponding to the transmission source determined in the determination step, and displaying the received data on the display unit. And when the received data is displayed, of the plurality of display units, on the display unit other than the source of the received data, a display control step of displaying a blank corresponding to the received data. An information display method comprising: 6. An information medium for providing a computer program, comprising: a plurality of display units respectively corresponding to a plurality of transmission sources; a judgment unit for judging a transmission source of received data; When the received data is displayed on the display unit corresponding to the transmission source determined by the above, when the received data is displayed on the display unit, the plurality of display units other than the transmission source of the received data are displayed. Display control means for displaying a blank corresponding to the received data on the display unit, and transmits and receives data between a plurality of information devices for clients connected by a network using a server. Information medium for providing an information display device used in a system as a computer program readable and executable by the information device .