MXPA99009110A - Portable information terminal and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable information terminal can effectively utilize game results and is arranged to be multifunctional. When result information is transmitted from a terminal (PDA1) to another terminal (PDA2), the destination terminal (PDA2) adds the transmitted result information to result information which has already been held thereby. The items of result information are sorted in the order of scores, and score data are updated. Of the updated result information, the result information having the same identification number as the identification number of the terminal (PDA2) is displayed on a display unit of the terminal.

Description

"PORTABLE AND MEDIA REGISTRATION INFORMATION TERMINAL" BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a portable information terminal for use as an auxiliary memory for an information handling apparatus, and a recording medium that stores a program to be downloaded to the portable information terminal.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED TECHNIQUE Most of the game software so far available in the market generates a score, a time, a number, etc. as a result of the game being played. In a shooting game, for example, a higher score is earned when more enemy characters are removed. In a game to play a role, the period of time consumed after the game has started until it ends is provided in a score class. In an action game comprising a plurality of stages (minimum units to be cleared), the number of stages that have been cleared before the game is finished is provided as a score class.

Until now, when a game is played, the result of the game is simply indicated to the player of the game and can not be used effectively by the player of the game.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable information terminal that is used by a person and can share information from another portable information terminal used by another person in addition to its own information, so that the information terminal Laptop can compare the information of the person and the information of the other person with the other, vg that you can effectively use the results of the people's game and the portable information terminal is multifunctional. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium that stores a program for operating a portable information terminal that is multifunctional. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable information terminal comprising a terminal unit having a memory means for storing a program and data, a manual control means for admitting manual control inputs, a means of control to execute the program and generate at least images based on the manual control inputs admitted by the manual control means to proceed with the program, a presentation means for presenting the images generated by the control means, a transmitting means for transmit the information relative to the program, a receiving means to receive the information relative to the program, the control means comprises an information processing means for adding information supplied from another portable information terminal through the receiving means, to the information already withheld by it and classify all the information according to the values of to herself. Since it is possible to share the information of a portable information terminal that is used by a person and also the information of another portable information terminal used by another person, the portable information terminal can compare the information of the person and the information of the person. the other person with each other so that the portable information terminal is multifunctional. All information is classified according to the values of the same. Therefore, if the information is related to ranges of a game (including a game), then the ranges can - Confirm easily and therefore, the information can be transmitted quickly and easily recognized. If the portable information terminal is used as a gaming machine, the game results of a plurality of game players can easily be referred to the terminal of a certain player of the game and therefore, the skill levels of the players of the game. game regarding the game can be easily confirmed. In the aforementioned portable information terminal, the terminal unit may have inherent identification information, the information may comprise the result of the information processed and generated by an information processing apparatus such as a master unit for the terminal unit and transmitted to the terminal unit, and the information may be assigned an identification number of the terminal unit before being transmitted to it. This allows a person's terminal to easily compare the information withheld by the person and the information withheld by the other persons from each other. Alternatively, the terminal unit may have inherent identification information, the control means may comprise a means for maintaining at least one representative item in the information of all the information having the same identification number when all the information is classified. With this provision, it is possible to keep the best result information or result information that has a high utility value and share it with other people. The program can be downloaded from an information processing apparatus as a master unit for the terminal unit. The information can represent a score, a time or a number generated as a result of program execution. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium capable of being read by a computer and storing a program and data downloaded from a master unit to a portable information terminal comprising a terminal unit having a means of memory for storing a program and data, a means of manual control for admitting manual control inputs, a control means for executing the program and generating at least the images based on the manual control inputs supported by the manual control means to continue with the program, a means of presentation to present the images generated by the - control means a transmitting means to transmit the information related to the program and a receiving means to receive the information relative to the program, the program and the data being executable through the terminal unit, the program having the step of processing the information by adding the information provided by another portable information terminal through the receiving medium or the information already retained by it, classify all the information in accordance with the values of the same. With the aforementioned recording medium, since it is possible to share the information of a portable information terminal that is used by the person and also the information of another portable information terminal used by another person, the portable information terminal can compare the information of the person and the information of the other person with each other, so that the portable information terminal is multifunctional. All information is classified according to the values of the same. Therefore, if the information is related to ranges of a game (including a game) then the ranges can be easily confirmed and therefore, the information can be transmitted quickly and easily recognized.

In the recording medium, the terminal unit may have inherent identification information, the information may comprise the resulting information processed and generated by an information processing apparatus such as the master unit and transmit to the terminal unit, the information it may assign from an identification number of the terminal unit after it has been transmitted to it. In the recording medium, alternatively, the terminal unit may have inherent identification information, the program comprises the step of maintaining at least one representative item of information of all the information having the same identification number when all the information is stored . In the recording medium, the information may represent a score, a time or a number generated as a result of program execution. The objects, features and advantages mentioned above and others of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown by way of an illustrative example .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a plan view of an entertainment system to which a method of adding the information according to the present invention is applied; Figure 2 is a front view of an entertainment apparatus showing slots thereof; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the entertainment apparatus; Figure 4 is a functional diagram of a specific arrangement of the main components of the entertainment apparatus; Figure 5 is a plan view of a portable information terminal; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the portable information terminal; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the portable information terminal with a lid being open; Figure 8 is a front elevational view of the portable information terminal; Figure 9 is a functional diagram of an arrangement of the main components of the portable information terminal; Figure 10 is a diagram showing control items that are carried out by means of a portable information terminal control means; Figure 11 is an illustrative view of a wireless communication function carried out by a portable information terminal; Figure 12 is an illustrative view of a cooperation operation of the entertainment apparatus (master unit) and the portable information terminal (slave unit); Figure 13 is a functional diagram showing a flow of the program data downloaded from the entertainment apparatus (master unit) to the portable information terminal (subordinate unit); Figure 14 is a flow chart of a sequence of the download of the program data shown in Figure 13; Figure 15 is a functional diagram showing another data stream of the program downloaded from the entertainment apparatus (master unit) to the portable information terminal (slave unit); Figure 16 is a flow chart of a sequence of the download of the program data shown in Figure 15; Figure 17 is an illustrative diagram of the concept of an accumulation and classification of the score data generated from a plurality of portable information terminals when a game is played between the portable information terminals; Figure 18 is a functional block diagram of a resulting formation processing means; and Figure 19 is a flow chart of a processing sequence with resultant information processing means shown in Figure 18.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY One embodiment of a portable information terminal in accordance with the present invention will be described below with reference to Figures 1 to 19. As shown in Figure 1, an entertainment system generally represented by 500, to which a method is applied. to add the information according to the present invention, it has an entertainment apparatus 1 with which it is detachably connected to a terminal 100. The entertainment apparatus 1 reads a program registered in a similar optical disc, for example, and executes a game , for example, based on the program depending on the user's commands, eg the game player. The execution of the game, mainly represents controlling the progress of the game and the presentation of images and the generation of sounds. The entertainment apparatus 1 has a rectangular box 2 which houses a disk loading unit 3 essentially centrally therein for charging an optical disc such as a CD-ROM or the like, as a recording means for supplying a program of registered application in it. The box 2 supports a reset switch 4 for resetting a program currently being executed, a power supply switch 5, a disk control switch 6 for controlling the loading of the optical disk and two slots 7A, 7B. The entertainment apparatus 1 can be supplied with the application program via a communication link instead of being supplied from the optical disk as the recording medium. The entertainment system 500 also includes a manual controller 20 for supplying user commands to the entertainment apparatus 1. Two manual controllers 20 can be connected respectively with the slots 7A, 7B allowing two players of the game or users to play a competition game, for example. A memory card that has been conventionally used or a terminal in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention can also be inserted into the slots 7A, 7B. Although the two slots 7A, 7B are shown in Figure 1, the entertainment apparatus 1 may have more or less than two slots. The manual controller 20 has first and second control pads 21, 22, a left button 23L, a right button 23R, a start button 24, a selector button 25, analog control pads 31, 32, a mode selector switch 33 to select the control modes for the analog control pads 31, 32 and an indicator 34 to indicate a selected control mode. The manual controller 20 also has a mechanism for imparting vibration (not shown) placed thereon to impart vibrations to the manual controller 20, depending on the manner in which the video game progresses. The manual controller 20 is electrically connected to the slot 7B in the box 2 via a connector 26. Figure 2 shows the slots 7A, 7B which are defined in a front panel of the box 2 of the entertainment apparatus. Each of the slots 7A, 7B have upper and lower units. Specifically, the branch 7A, 7B have respective memory card insertion units 8A, 8B in their upper units for inserting a memory card or terminal 100 therein, and - respective controller connectors (jacks) 9A, 9B as their lower units for connection to a connection terminal (connector) 26 of the manual controller 20. The memory card insertion units 8A, 8B have respective insertion holes (slots) which are horizontally elongated rectangular shape. These insertion grooves have opposite lower round corners in contrast to the opposite upper corners thereof so that the memory card will not be inserted into the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B in the wrong orientation. The 8A units8B of memory card insertion also have shutters to protect the connection terminals placed therein for electrical connection. The connectors 9A, 9B of the controller may also have respective insertion holes (slots) which are horizontally elongated rectangular shape. These insertion slots have opposite lower round corners in contrast to the opposite upper corners thereof so that the connector terminal 26 of the manual controller 20 does not connect to the connectors 9A, 9B of the controller in the wrong orientation. The insertion holes of the controller connectors 9A, 9B are differently from the insertion holes of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B so that the memory card is not inserted into the memory insertion holes. the connectors of the controller 9A, 9B. In Figure 3, the terminal 100 is inserted into the memory card insertion unit 8A in the slot 7A that is defined in the front panel of the entertainment apparatus 1. A specific arrangement of the entertainment apparatus 1 will now be described with reference to Figure 4. As shown in Figure 4, the entertainment apparatus 1 comprises a control system 50 that includes a central processing unit (CPU) 51 and its peripheral devices, a graphics system including a graphics processing unit (GPU) 62 for generating and storing the image data in a frame buffer 63, a sound system 70 including a sound processing unit (SPU) 71 for generating music sounds and sound effects, an optical disk controller 80 for controlling an optical disk where the application programs are registered, a communication controller 90 for controlling the signals of the manual controller 20 which give input to the instructions of the user and the data supplied to and from a memory card 10 that stores the game's settings and a BUS to which they are ect the control system 50, the system - 1 - graph 60, the sound system 70, the optical disk controller 80 and the communication controller 90. The control system 50 comprises a CPU 51, a controller 52 of the peripheral device for controlling the interrupts and transferring the direct memory access data (DMA), a main memory 53 comprising a random access memory (RAM) and a memory read-only (ROM) 54 which stores various programs such as in an operating system for managing the main memory 53, the graphic system 60, the sound system 70, etc. The main memory 53 is a memory capable of storing a program that is being executed. The CPU 51 controls the entertainment apparatus 1 in its entirety, executing the operation system stored in the ROM 54. The CPU 51 comprises a 32-bit RISC-CPU, for example. When the entertainment apparatus 1 is connected, the CPU 51 executes the operating system stored in the ROM 54 to initiate control of the graphic system 60, the sound system 70, etc. For example, when the operating system is executed, the CPU 51 starts the operation of the entertainment apparatus 1 in its entirety to check its operation, and then controls the optical disk controller 80 to execute an application program registered on the optical disc. . As the application program is executed, the CPU 51 controls the graphic system 60, the sound system 70, etc. depending on the user's commands in order to control the presentation of the images and the generation of music sounds and sound effects. The graphic system 60 comprises a geometry transfer engine 61 (GTE) to carry out the transformations of the coordinates and other processing, a GPU 62 to generate the image data according to the instructions of the CPU 51, a memory intermediate frame 63 for storing the image data generated by the GPU 62 and an image decoder 64 for decoding the data of the compressed image and encoded by an orthogonal transformation, such as a discrete cosine transformation. GTE 61 has a parallel arithmetic mechanism to carry out a plurality of arithmetic operations parallel to each other, and can carry out coordinate transformations, light source calculations, matrices or vectors at a high speed in response to a request from the CPU 51. Specifically, the GTE 61 can calculate the coordinates of a maximum of 1.5 million polygons per second for a flat shading process in order to draw a triangular polygon with a color, for example. With the GTE 61, the entertainment apparatus 1 is able to reduce the load on the CPU 51 and carry out high-speed coordinate calculations. According to an image generation instruction from the CPU 51, the GPU 62 generates and stores the data of a similar polygon in the frame buffer 63. The GPU 62 is capable of generating and storing a maximum of 360,000 polygons per second. The frame buffer 63 comprises a double port RAM and is capable of simultaneously storing the image data generated by the GPU 62 or the image data transferred from the main memory 53 and reading the image data for presentation. The frame buffer 63 has a storage capacity of 1 Mbytes, for example, and is handled as a 16-bit array consisting of a horizontal array of 1024 pixels and a vertical column of 512 pixels. The frame buffer 63 has a display area for storing the data of the image to be sent as the video output data, a CLUT area (color query box) for storing a color query box which will be referred to by the GPU 62 when it generates a similar polygon, and an area, of texture to store the texture data that will be subjected to coordinate transformations when the polygon is not generated by the GPU 62 and which will be projected towards the generated polygon. The CLUT area and the texture area that vary dynamically as the presentation area is varied. The GPU 62 can carry out, in addition to the flat shading process, a Gouraud shading process to determine the colors in the polygons by interpolating the intensities of the vertices of the polygons and a texture projection process to project the textures stored in the texture areas towards the polygons. To carry out the Gouraud shading process or the texture projection process, the GTE 61 can perform coordinate calculations for a maximum of approximately 500,000 polygons per second. The image decoder 64 is controlled by. the CPU 51 for decoding the image data of an immobile or movable image stored in the main memory 53 and storing the decoded image in the main memory 53. The image data reproduced by the decoder 64 of the image is transferred to the frame buffer 63 by the GPU 62 and can be used as a background for an image plotted by the GPU 62. The sound system 70 comprises a SPU 71 to generate music sounds, sound effects, etc. based on the instructions of the CPU 51, a sound buffer 72 for storing the waveform data of the SPU 71 and a loudspeaker 73 for outputting music sounds, sound effects, etc. generated by SPU 71. SPU 71 has an ADPCM (Adaptive Differential PCM) function to reproduce 16-bit sound data that has been encoded with a 4-bit differential sound data by ADPCM, a playback function for playback the waveform data stored in the sound buffer 72 for generating sound effects, etc. and a modulation function for modulating and reproducing the waveform data stored in the sound buffer 72. The sound system 70 can be used as a sampling sound source that generates music sounds, sound effects, etc. . based on the waveform data stored in the sound buffer 72 in accordance with the commands of the CPU 51. The optical disk controller 80 comprises an optical disk drive 81 for reproducing the application programs and data recorded in the optical disk such as a CD-ROM or the like, a decoder 82 for decoding programs and data that are registered with an error correction code added thereto, and a buffer 83 for temporarily storing the read data of the driver 81 of optical disk in order to allow the optical disk data to be read at high speed. It is connected to the decoder 82, an auxiliary CPU 84. The sound data recorded on the optical disc which is read by the optical disk drive 81 includes the converted PCM data of the analog sound signals, in addition to the ADPCM data. The ADPCM data, which is recorded as the 4-bit differential data of the 16-bit digital data, is decoded by the decoder 82 supplied to the SPU 71, converted in this way into analog data and applied to drive the loudspeaker 73 The PCM data, which is recorded as the 16-bit digital data, is decoded by the decoder 82 and then applied to drive the loudspeaker 73. The communication controller 90 comprises a communication control mechanism 91 for controlling communication with the CPU 51 through the BUS. The communication control mechanism 91 has connectors 9A, 9B of the controller with which the manual controller 20 is connected to support the user commands, and the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B to receive a memory card 10 as an auxiliary memory device for storing game settings, etc. and the terminal 100. The manual controller 20 connected to one of the connectors 9A, 9B of the controller has 16 command keys, for example, to support user commands, and transmits the current states of the command keys approximately 60 times per second. to the communication control mechanism 91 through the synchronous communication according to an instruction of the communication control mechanism 91. The communication control mechanism 91 transmits the current states of the control keys of the CPU 51. In this way, the user commands are applied to the CPU 51 which carries out a process according to the commands based on the game program being executed. A large amount of image data needs to be transferred at high speed between the main memory 53, the GPU 62, the image decoder 64 and the decoder 82 to read a program, present an image or generate, and store the image data.

In the entertainment apparatus 1, the data is transferred directly from the main memory 53, the GPU 62, the image decoder 64 and the decoder 82 according to the DMA data transfer under the control of the peripheral device controller 52 instead of the CPU 51. Therefore, the load on the CPU 51 can be reduced for data transfer and the high-speed data transfer can be achieved between the main memory 53, the GPU 62, the image decoder 64 and the decoder 82. When the adjustment data of a game that is being executed needs to be stored, the CPU 51 transmits the adjustment data to the communication control mechanism 91 which writes the adjustment data transmitted on the memory card 10 or the terminal 100 which it is inserted into the memory card insertion unit 8A or 8B. The communication control mechanism 91 has an integral protection circuit for protection against electrical disintegration. The memory card 10 and the terminal 100 are separated from the BUS and can be switched on and off while the entertainment apparatus 1 is being energized. Therefore, when the memory card 10 and the terminal 100 suffer from a lack of storage capacity, a new memory card or terminal can be connected without having to disconnect the - entertainment apparatus 1 Consequently, any data of the game that needs to be backed up can be stored in the new memory card connected to the entertainment apparatus 1, without danger of being lost. As shown in Figure 4, the entertainment apparatus 1 further includes a parallel interface of 1/0 (PIÓ) 96 and a serial interface 1/0 (SIO) 97, which serve to connect the memory card 10 and the terminal with the entertainment apparatus 1. The terminal 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below. It is assumed that the terminal 100 will be used as a slave unit connected to the entertainment apparatus 1 which serves as a master unit. The terminal 100 is inserted into one of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B in the slots 7A, 7B of the entertainment apparatus 1, and can be used as an inherent memory card in the connected manual controller 20. For example, if two users or game players play a game in the entertainment apparatus 1, then the two terminals 100 are connected to store the game results of the respective users. In order to electrically connect the power supply terminals and the ground terminals before the other terminals when the memory card 10, the terminal 100 is inserted into the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B, those supply terminals of power and ground terminals of the connectors of the memory card 10 and the terminal 100 are made longer than the other terminals in order to achieve safety and stability of the electrical operation. The corresponding connector conductors of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B can be made longer than the other conductors of the connector or both the power supply terminals and the ground terminals of the connectors of the memory card 10 and the terminal 100 and the connecting conductors of the memory card insertion units 8A, 8B can be made longer than the other terminals and connector conductors. In addition, the connectors of the memory card 10 and terminal 100 can be configured asymmetrically in their longitudinal direction to prevent themselves from being inserted in the wrong direction. As shown in Figures 5 to 8, the terminal 10 has a housing 101 holding a manual control pad 120 having one or more direction buttons 121 and a decision button 122 for admitting events and making several selections, one unit 130 of presentation such as a liquid crystal display unit (LCD) or the like, and a window 140 for wireless communication such as infrared communication with a wireless communication control unit. The housing 101 comprises a top helmet 101a and a lower hull 101b, which houses a board 151 that holds the memory devices, etc. in the same. The housing 101 is configured in such a way as to be insertable into any of the slots 7A, 7B in the box 2 of the entertainment apparatus 1. The housing 101 has a connector 150 on the side of one end thereof that includes a rectangular window. The window 140 is mounted at an almost semicircular end of the housing 101 remote from the manifold 150. The display unit 130 occupies essentially half of the upper hull 101a of the housing 101, and is positioned near the window 140. The manual control pad 120 occupies the other half area of the upper hull 101a and is positioned at a distance from the window 140. The manual control pad 120 comprises an essentially square cover 110 which is movably supported angularly in the housing 101 and holds the steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 and the switch pressers 102, 103 positioned in an area of the housing 101 that can be opened and closed by the lid 110. The steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 extend through the lid 110 from its upper surface to its lower surface. The steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 are held in the lid 110 to move in and out of the upper surface of the lid 110. The pressers 102, 103 of the switch have respective pressure elements held in the housing 101 to move in and out of the upper surface of the housing 101. When one of the pressing elements is pressed from above, press a corresponding pressure switch such as the diaphragm switch, for example, mounted on the board 151 of the housing 101. With the closed lid 110, pressers 102, 103 of the switch are retained in the vertical element with steering buttons 121 and decision button 122, respectively. Therefore, while the lid 110 is being closed through the housing 101, when the steering buttons 121 and the decision button 122 are pressed from above towards the upper surface of the lid 110, the steering buttons 121 the decision button 122 causes the pressure elements of the corresponding switch pressers 102, 103 to press the corresponding pressure switches in the housing 101. As shown in Figure 8, the power and signal terminals 152 are mounted on the board 151 and placed in the connector window 150. The connector 150 has a shape and dimensions that are identical to those of the memory card 10 used in the entertainment apparatus 1. An arrangement of the main components of the terminal 100 will be described below with reference to Figures 9 and 10. As shown in Figure 9, the terminal 100 comprises a control means 160 for controlling the operation of the terminal 100, a connector 162. for connecting the apparatus to connect with a slot of an information handling apparatus, and a non-volatile memory 164 for storing the data, such as with the normal memory card 10 described above. The control means 160 comprises a microcomputer, for example. The control means 160 has a program memory 160a placed therein as a program storage means. The nonvolatile memory 164 comprises a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory that is capable of retaining the stored data even when the terminal 100 is disconnected. The terminal 100 has a battery 166 as will be described later, it can use a static random access memory (SRAM) to support and output data at high speed, instead of non-volatile memory 164. The terminal 100 further has an event input means 168 such as the control buttons for controlling a stored program, a display means 170 such as a liquid crystal display unit (LCD) or the like., for presenting various information articles, depending on the program, a wireless communication means 172 for sending data to and receiving data from another memory card or the like through infrared radiation or the like, and a battery 166 for supplying electrical power to several components of the terminal 100. The battery 166, which serves as a small-sized power supply means, allows the terminal 100 to operate independently even when it is removed from the slots 7A and 7B of the entertainment apparatus 1. The battery 166 may comprise a secondary chargeable battery. When the terminal 100 is inserted into one of the slots 7A, 7B of the entertainment apparatus 1 the terminal 100 is supplied with electrical energy from the entertainment apparatus 1. The battery 166 has a connection terminal that is connected to a power supply terminal 174 through a reverse current prevention diode 176. When the terminal 100 is inserted into one of the slots 7A, 7B of the entertainment apparatus 1, electrical energy is supplied from the entertainment apparatus 1 to the terminal 100 and if the secondary battery is used as the battery 166, the secondary battery is charge for part of the electric power supplied. The terminal 100 also has a clock 178 and a loudspeaker 180 such as a piezoelectric buzzer for example as a sound generating means for generating sounds in accordance with the program. The aforementioned components of the terminal 100 are connected to the control means 160, and operate under the control of the control means 160. Figure 10 shows the control articles that are carried out by the control means 160. While the regular memory card 10 has only one connection interface with the apparatus for connection to the information handling apparatus and an interface of memory for admitting data to and recovering data from the memory the terminal 100 has in addition to those interfaces, a presentation interface, a control command input interface, a sound interface, a wireless communication interface, an administration interface of clock, and a program download interface. Since the control means 160 of the terminal100 has interfaces (impellers) for managing the added functions in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention, independently of the administration for the connection interface of the apparatus and the memory interface, which are conventional functions, the terminal 100 is compatible with the conventional functions. The terminal 100 can be used as a portable gaming device when a game request is executed, because it has the event input means 168 such as the control buttons to control a program that is running, and the medium 170 of presentation in the form of a liquid crystal display unit (LCD) or the like. The terminal 100 has a function for storing a program downloaded from the entertainment apparatus 1 to the program memory 160a of the microcomputer 160. Therefore, a program of the application and several driver software operating in the terminal 100 can be changed. easily .

As described above, the terminal 100 can be controlled in operation independently of the entertainment apparatus 1. Therefore, the terminal terminal 100 can generate data according to a request stored in the program memory 160a as the program storage medium, independently of the application software of the entertainment apparatus 1. If the data generated in this way is exchanged between the terminal 100 and the entertainment apparatus 1, when the terminal 100 and the entertainment apparatus 1 is capable of cooperative operation, that is, one can be linked to the other. The clock 178 allows the terminal 100 to share the time data with the entertainment apparatus 1. Specifically, not only the terminal 100 and the entertainment apparatus 1 can have time data matched to one another, but they can share the data to control the progress of the games they play independently of one another, in accordance with the time real. A specific example of the cooperation operation between the terminal 100 and the entertainment apparatus 1 will be described later. Figure 11 schematically illustrates the manner in which wireless communications are carried out between the two terminals 100. The wireless communication means 172 of the terminals 100 can send data to and receive data from each other through the windows 140 serving as wireless communication windows to perform wireless communications with infrared or similar. Therefore, a plurality of memory cards are allowed to exchange internal data with each other. The internal data includes data transferred from the information handling apparatus such as the entertainment apparatus 1 and stored in the memories in the memory cards. The terminal 100 has been described as an auxiliary storage unit for the entertainment apparatus 1. However, the terminal 100 can be used in various applications or requests. For example, the terminal 100 is applicable to the retrieval of several items of information. A specific example of the cooperation operation between the terminal 100 and the entertainment apparatus 1 will be described below. As described above, the terminal 100 can share the game data generated by the control means or the microcomputer 160, the time data produced by the clock 178 on the memory card and the data generated by another memory card. memory and transmitted through the wireless communication means 172 with the entertainment apparatus 1. Figure 12 is illustrative of the cooperation operation of the entertainment apparatus 1 as the master unit and the terminal 100 as the subordinate unit. In the specific example of the cooperation operation, an optical disc (CD-ROM) as the recording medium with a software application program registered therein is loaded into the entertainment apparatus 1 and the read program of the optical disc is discharge to the terminal 100 inserted in the slot 7A of the entertainment apparatus 1. Before describing the specific example of the cooperation operation, a process of downloading the program as a basis for this cooperation operation will first be described below with reference to Figures 13 and 14. Figure 13 shows a flow of program data that occurs when an application program such as a video game supplied from the optical disc (CD-ROM) loaded in the disk loading unit 3 of the entertainment apparatus 1 is directly transferred (download) through the CPU 51 of the entertainment apparatus 1 to the program memory 160a in the microcomputer 160 of the terminal 100. Figure 14 shows a sequence of the download of the program data shown in Figure 13. In the step YES shown in Figure 14, a program of application of a video game that must be operated by the microcomputer 160 in the terminal 100 (hereinafter also referred to as the "subordinate unit") is read as the data of the CD-ROM loaded in the disk loading unit 3 of the entertainment apparatus 1 (hereinafter also referred to as the "master unit"). In general, the program of the application read in this way is different from the program of the application that is operated by the entertainment apparatus 1. In step S2, the CPU 51 issues a "program download application command" to the microcomputer 160. The CPU 51 carries out the voting in order to receive a "current status of program download permission" from the micro-switch 160. Voting refers to a process for questioning in order to determine whether or not there is a request for service. In step S3, the microcomputer 160 receives the "program download request command" from the CPU 51. In step S4, when the microcomputer 160 terminates a routine that is currently being executed and is capable of executing the download of the program, the microcomputer 160 returns the "current status of the program download permission" to the CPU 51. In step S5, when the CPU 51 receives the "current state of program download permission" from the microcomputer 160, the CPU 51 transfers (downloads) the read program from the CD-ROM in step SI to the memory 160a of the terminal program 100 and stores the program in the program memory 160a. The CPU 51 carries out the polling to receive a "current program start permission status" from the microcomputer 160. The addresses of the memory 160a of the program where the downloaded data is stored are managed by the microcomputer 160. Even when the program downloaded from the master unit has been described as having been stored in the memory 160 of the program, the program can be stored in a memory such as an SRAM or the like capable of accepting and sending data at high speed. In step S6, the microcomputer 160 receives the transferred program from the master unit as a data, and stores the received program in the memory of the program 160a. During this time, the CPU 51 sees the data of the program as being stored directly in the memory 160a of the terminal program 100. As described above, the addresses of the program memory 160a are administered by the microcomputer 160. In step S7, when the microcomputer 160 receives the data of the final program from the master unit and is ready to execute the program, the microcomputer 160 returns the "current program start permission status" to the CPU 51. In step S8, the CPU 51 receives the "current program start permission status" from the microcomputer 160, and issues a "start command". of program ". In step S9, when the microcomputer 160 receives the "program start command" from the CPU 51, the microcomputer 160 begins to operate the program from a predetermined direction. In accordance with the aforementioned processing sequence, the application program is directly transferred (downloaded) from the entertainment apparatus 1 to the program memory 160a in the microcomputer 160 of the terminal 100, which is inserted into the entertainment apparatus 1 . As described above, the means for supplying the application program is not limited to the recording medium such as a similar optical disc, but the program of the application can be supplied through a communication link. If the program of the application is supplied through the communication link, then only the processing is changed in step SI shown in Figure 14. The aforementioned download process downloads the application program directly from the entertainment apparatus 1 to the program memory 160a in the microcomputer 160 of the terminal 100 which is inserted into the entertainment apparatus 1. However, the CPU 51 can first download the data from an application program to the non-volatile memory 164 of the terminal 100, and then the data of the application program can be copied into the program memory 160a in the microcomputer 160, after the which program of the application can be executed. Figure 15 shows a flow of the program data and Figure 16 shows a download sequence of the program data shown in Figure 15. As shown in Figure 15, a video game request program that is supplied from the CD-ROM loaded in the disk loading unit 3 of the entertainment apparatus 1 is transferred (downloaded) through the CPU 51 of the entertainment apparatus 1 to the non-volatile memory 164 in the terminal 100, then copied to the program 160a memory in the microcomputer 160, and then executed. In step Sil shown in Figure 16, an application program of the video game to be operated by the microcomputer 160 in the terminal 100 is read as the data of the CD-ROM loaded in the disk loading unit 3 of the entertainment apparatus 1. In step S12, the CPU 51 transfers (downloads) the read data from the CD-ROM to the non-volatile memory 164 in the terminal 100. This process is the same as when the data is backed up in a conventional entertainment apparatus. In step S13, the microcomputer 160 receives the transferred program from the CPU 51 as the data and stores the received program data in the non-volatile memory 164, in the same way as with the conventional data backup process. In step S14, the entertainment apparatus 1 issues a "program start request command" with an added address where the download program will begin. In step S15, when the microcomputer 160 receives the "program start request command" from the CPU 51, the microcomputer 160 copies the data of a size indicated in the program memory 160a from the address indicated by the previously mentioned command in the non-volatile memory 164. In step S16, the microcomputer 160 executes the copied program in the memory of the program 160a from its starting or starting address. According to the aforementioned process, the application software program is transferred (download) of the entertainment apparatus 1 through the non-volatile memory 164 to the program memory 160a in the microcomputer 160 of the terminal 100. Generally, the application program downloaded from the entertainment apparatus 1 to the terminal 100 is different from a application program that is operated by the entertainment apparatus 1. However, the downloaded application program can be operated both in the entertainment apparatus 1 and in the terminal 100. In this case, the CPU of the entertainment apparatus 1 and the microcomputer of the terminal 100 need to comprise identical processors. A characteristic function of the terminal 100 in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figures 17 to 19. The characteristic function of the terminal 100 is to add the information supplied from another terminal through the communication means 172. wireless to the information that has already been retained by the terminal 100 and classify all the information articles depending on the values thereof. Figure 17 is illustrative of the manner in which the score data of a plurality of terminals PDA1, PDA2, PDA3, ••• PDAn, generated as a result of a game played between them have been accumulated and classified. Figure 17, a master unit transmits the score data generated as a result of a game played by the master unit to terminals PDA1, PDA2, PDA3, ••• PDAn. The terminals PDA1, PDA2, PDA3, ••• PDAn assign respective identification numbers to the transmitted score data and also assign respective rank data to the score data. For example, in an initial state, since there is only one item of information in each of the terminals, the range data has a value of "1". The scoring data, the identification number data and the rank data are referred to as "resulting information". When the resulting information is transmitted from one terminal to another terminal, the destination terminal adds the resulting information transmitted to the resulting information that has already been held by the destination terminal. Then, the terminal is classified in the order of scores, and the rank data is updated. With the resulting updated information, the resulting information having the same identification number as the terminal identification number which is retained by the user is presented in the display means (LCD) 170 of the terminal. A presentation format can be selected to present within a presentable scale of presentation media (LCD) 170, the resulting information having the terminal identification number in the center and a plurality of items of information resulting above and below the resulting information in the center, or only the resulting information having the terminal identification number, or a plurality of items (including the above) of the resulting information having the terminal identification number. Therefore, the terminal retainer can recognize the range of what it has achieved among the achievements of the retainers of other terminals. A specific example of the aforementioned function will be described in detail below with reference to Figure 17.

As shown in Figure 17 in (1), the resulting information held by the terminal PDA1 of a player Pl is transmitted to the terminal PDA2 of the player P2. The resulting information comprises a terminal ID "ID1", a score "100", and a data rank "1". The rank data is "1" because there is only one resulting information item with an Ml memory of the PDA1 terminal. As shown in Figure 17 in (2), the terminal PDA2 of player P2 determines whether the information resulting from player Pl contains information resulting from player P2 or not. It is assumed that an M2 memory of the terminal PDA2 stores the score data of the identification numbers ID2, IDx, IDy. In the example, the resulting information of player Pl does not contain information resulting from player P2. The resulting information transmitted from the player Pl is added to the resulting information stored in the memory M2 of the terminal PDA2, and the stored items of the resulting information are classified and the ranges are updated. Specifically, the identification number ID1 of the information resulting from the player Pl has the scoring data "100" and the identification numbers ID2, IDx, IDy of the resulting information stored in the memory M2 of the PDA2 terminal have scoring data respective "200", "190" and "180". Therefore, after the resulting information is classified, the range of the information resulting from the player Pl stored in the memory M2 is "4" as shown in Figure 17 in (2). Then, as shown in Figure 17 in (3), the PDA3 terminal of a player P3 determines whether the resulting information of the player P2 contains the information resulting from the player P3 or not. It is assumed that an M3 memory of the PDA3 terminal stores the score data of the ID numbers ID3, IDz. In the example, the information resulting from player P2 does not contain the information resulting from player P3. The resulting information transmitted from the player P2 is added to the resulting information stored in the memory M3 of the PDA3 terminal and the stored items of the resulting information are classified and the ranges are updated. Specifically, the ID numbers ID2, IDx, IDy, ID1 of the resulting information stored in the memory M2 of the PDA2 terminal have respective score data "200", "190", "180" and "100" and the numbers ID3, IDz of the resulting information stored in the M3 memory of the PDA3 terminal have respective "195" score data, "170". Therefore, after the resulting information is classified, the range of information resulting from player Pl stored in memory M3 is "6" as shown in Figure 17 in (3). As shown in Figure 17 in (n + l) when the resulting information stored in a memory Mn of the PDAn terminal of a player nth Pn is transmitted to the terminal PDAl of the player Pl, the terminal PDAl determines whether the resulting information of the player Pn contains the information resulting from the player Pl or not. In the example, the information resulting from the player Pn contains the information resulting from the player Pl. Therefore, of the information resulting from the terminal PDAl transmitted from the DPAn terminal, a portion corresponding to the resulting information stored in the memory Ml of the PDAl terminal is now rewritten with the information currently resulting and the stored items of the resulting information are classified and the ranges Are updated. For example, it is assumed that before the transmission from the PDAl terminal, the player Pl has won a score of "300", for example, higher than the first score "100". When the resulting information 4.5 - is transmitted from the terminal PDAn to the terminal PDAl, the resulting information transmitted is added to the terminal PDAl and the resulting information corresponding to the terminal PDAl is rewritten with the resulting information stored by the terminal PDAl at present. Thus, of the resulting information transmitted from the PDAn terminal, the scoring data "100" corresponding to the identification number ID1 that is stored by the PDAl terminal is updated towards the score "300" which is stored by the PDAl terminal at present . As described above, the information resulting from the terminal PDAl transmitted by the terminal PDAn will not be stored in the memory Ml of terminal PDAl when it is transmitted again to the terminal PDAl, because during the time in which it is transmitted, the The score data of the resulting information stored in the memory Ml is "300" which is greater than the score value "100" of the old resulting information of the PDAl terminal being transmitted. Manifesting in another way, if there is a plurality of items of the resulting information having the same identification number after the resulting information has been received, only the resulting information having the largest score data remains stored. The software (the result information processing means 200) for carrying out the aforementioned function will be described below with reference to Figures 18 and 19. As shown in Figure 18, the resulting information processing means 200 comprises a communication confirmation means 202 for checking communications with another terminal and confirming that a reception of the resulting information has been completed, an ID data reading means 204 for reading the ID data of the received received information, ID inquiry means 206 for determining whether the read ID data is present in the resulting information stored in the non-volatile memory 164 or not, a means 208 for reading punctuation data to read the score data corresponding to the data of ID of the received data if the ID data is not present, a means 210 for determining the score data for selecting the score data a value higher than the scoring data corresponding to the ID data if the reading ID data is present, a means of sorting 212 of reading data to classify the score data in the order of scores, and a means 214 of final determination to determine whether or not the processing was carried out on the resulting information received. A processing sequence of the resulting information processing means 200 will be described below with reference to Figure 19. The processing sequence shown in Figure 19 is executed by a program and the data downloaded to terminal 100 from a recording medium. such as a CD-ROM, a DVD or the like loaded in an information processing apparatus such as a master unit, such as the entertainment system 500. In step SlOl, control means 160 allows communication confirmation means 202 to check communications with another terminal 100 and confirm the end of a reception of the resulting information. When the end of the reception of the resulting information is confirmed, the control goes to step S102 where the control means 160 allows the reading means 204 of the ID data to read the ID data of the received data stored in the memory non-volatile 164, for example. In step S103, the control means 160 allows the ID inquiry means 206 to determine whether the resulting information containing the same ID data as the read ID data is present in the resulting information that has been stored in the non-volatile memory 164 before reception. If no resultant information containing the same ID data of the read ID data is present, then the control proceeds to step S104 where the control means 160 allows the reading means 208 to read the score data. score corresponding to the ID data from the resulting information received. In step S105, the control means 160 allows the scoring data classification means 212 to compare the value of the scoring data read with the value of the scoring data of the resulting information that has already been stored in the volatile memory 164 in order to determine the position where the punctuation data read will be written. Specifically, the scoring data classification means 212 determines a position between the resulting information that has the scoring data whose value is closer to and greater than the value of the scoring data read and the resulting information that has the data of score whose value is closer to and smaller than the value of the score data read. In step S106, the control means 160 allows the scoring data classification means 212 to move all the resulting information into a notch and register it again, which is smaller in rank than the resulting information that has the data of score whose value is closer to and smaller than the value of the score data read, in order to record the resulting information (data received) that the storage data has in the determined position. The control means 160 allows the scoring data classification means 212 to update the range. As described above with reference to Figure 17, if the scoring data of certain data received is "200" and the scoring data of two items of the resulting information stored in the memory are "150", "100" ", respectively, and their ranges are" 1"," 2", respectively, then the received data is recorded as resulting information in the memory, and the ranges of the resulting information that have the score data" 200"," 150" , "100", in the memory are "1", "2", "3", respectively. In step S107, the control means 160 allows the scoring data classification means 212 to record the resulting information having the scoring data in an empty position, i.e. the position in which the resulting information is recorded. has the scoring data whose value is closer to and smaller than the value of the scoring data read. As described above, the resulting information having the scoring data whose value is closer to and smaller than the value of the read score data has already been recorded again in a notch below in step S106, and is not will suppress. In step S108, the control means 160 allows the final determination means 214 to determine whether the entire received information has been received in the corresponding positions or not. If the processing on all the resulting received information has not been terminated, then the control returns to step S102 to record the next resulting information at a corresponding position. If the processing on all the resulting received information has not been completed, then the processing sequence of the resulting information processing means 200 is terminated. If the resulting information containing the same ID data as the read ID data is present in step S103, then the control proceeds to step S109 where the control means 160 allows the means for determining the score data 210. compare the score data corresponding to the ID data and the score data of all the resulting information that contains the same ID data as the ID data of the received data. In step S110, the control means 160 allows the scoring data determination means 210 to select the resulting information having the scoring data whose value is greater. The other resulting information that has been compared is deleted. Subsequently, the control goes to step S105 to carry out the processing described above. The present invention offers the following advantages: 1. When the scoring data as a result of a game or the like carried out by the master unit is transmitted to the terminal 100, the terminal 100 adds an inherent ID to the score data and stores them as resulting information. When the resulting information is transmitted from another terminal 100, the resulting transmitted information is received and recorded. The articles of the received information are stored and updated in rank. Therefore, a new range system can be provided which allows the terminal user 100 to easily recognize the range of user achievement among the other terminal users. 2. When the previous resultant information of the user of the terminal 100 is transmitted back to another terminal, the score data of the resulting past transmitted information and the score data of the resulting information currently stored in the user's terminal 100 are compared with the other, and only the resulting information that has the score data whose value is highest remains stored. In the illustrated mode, the resulting information represents scores and the items of the resulting information are classified in the order of scores. However, the resulting information may represent times, numbers or the like. If the resulting information represents a time, then it may indicate a period of time (e.g., one hour) consumed until a game or stage is finished or cleared. The range is higher as the time is shorter. If the resulting information represents a number, then you can indicate the number of stages that have been cleared until the game is over. The range is higher as the number is shorter. In the illustrated mode, the result is transmitted from the master unit to the terminal. However, the result can be transmitted from the terminal 100. While the program data has been shown as being downloaded from the master unit to the terminal 100, the terminal can be a terminal of type only where the program data is initially loaded in the same. Although a certain preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described in detail, it should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (13)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S

1. A portable information terminal comprising: a terminal unit having: a memory means for storing a program and data; a manual control means for admitting manual control inputs; a control means for executing the program and generating at least images based on the manual control inputs admitted by the manual control means to proceed with the program; a presentation means for presenting the images generated by the control means; a transmitting means for transmitting information related to the program; a receiving means to receive information related to the program; a control means comprising an information processing means for adding information supplied from another portable information terminal through the receiving means for information already retained by it and for classifying all the information in accordance with the values thereof.

2. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal unit has inherent identification information, the information comprises resulting information processed and generated by the information processing apparatus as a master unit for the terminal unit and transmitted to the terminal unit. terminal unit, the information is assigned an identification number of the terminal unit after being transmitted thereto.

3. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal unit has inherent identification information, the control means comprises a means for maintaining at least one item of information representative of all the information that has the same Identification number when the information is classified.

4. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the program is downloaded from an information processing apparatus as a master unit for the terminal unit.

5. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the information represents a score, a time or a number generated as a result of program execution.

6. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the information processing means comprises: a means of reading information for if the information that is not retained by the terminal unit in the received information, reading that information; a means of determining information for whether the information that is retained by the terminal unit in the received information selects information related to the information and satisfies a predetermined condition; and a classification means for classifying the information read and the information selected, in accordance with a predetermined rule.

7. A portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the information processing means comprises: means for reading identification information to read the identification information of the received information; a means of screening identification information to determine whether the identification information read is present in the information that is held by the terminal unit; a means of reading information so that if the identification information read is not present in the information that is retained by the terminal unit, read the information corresponding to the identification information from the information received; means for determining the information for whether the identification information read is present in the information that is held by the terminal unit, selecting the information related to all the information corresponding to the identification information and satisfying a predetermined condition; and a sorting means for classifying the information read and the information selected according to a predetermined rule.

8. A recording medium capable of being read by a computer and storing a program and data downloaded from a master unit to a portable information terminal comprising: a terminal unit having: a memory medium for storing a program and a data; a manual control means for admitting manual control inputs; a control means for executing the program and generating at least the images based on the manual control inputs admitted by the manual control means to advance with the program; a presentation means for presenting the images generated by the control means; a transmitting means to transmit the information in relation to the program; and a receiving means to receive information related to the program; the program and the data are capable of being executed by the terminal unit, the program having the step of: processing the information by adding the information provided from another portable information terminal through the receiving means to the information already retained by it and classifying all the information in accordance with the values of the same.

9. A recording medium according to claim 8, wherein the terminal unit has inherent identification information, the information comprises resulting information processed and generated by an information processing apparatus such as the master unit and transmitted to the terminal unit, the information being assigned an identification number of the terminal unit after it has been transmitted to it.

10. A registration means according to claim 8, wherein the terminal unit has inherent identification information, the program comprises the step of maintaining at least one representative item of information of all the information having the same identification number when Classify all the information.

11. A recording medium according to claim 8, wherein the information represents a score, a time or a number generated as a result of the execution of the program.

12. A recording medium according to claim 8, wherein the step of processing the information comprises the steps of: if there is information that is not retained by the terminal unit in the received information, read the information; if there is information that is retained by the terminal unit in the received information, select the information related to the information and satisfy a predetermined condition; and classifying the information read and the information selected according to a predetermined rule.

13. A registration means according to claim 8, wherein the step of processing the information comprises the steps of: reading the identification information of the received information; determining whether the read identification information is present in the information that is held by the terminal unit; if the identification information read is not present in the information that is retained by the terminal unit, read the information corresponding to the identification information from the information received; if the identification information read is present in the information that is retained by the terminal unit, select the information related to all the information corresponding to the identification information and satisfy a predetermined condition; and classifying the information read and the information selected according to a predetermined rule.