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Display apparatus and portable information processing apparatus6809724
Abstract
A display apparatus has a display unit for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction. The display apparatus also has an input operation device for physically moving at least the time axis in the first direction. The display apparatus further has a controlling device for controlling the display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of the input operation device. The input operation device includes a rotational operating unit having an axis of rotation extending in second directions which cross the first direction. The rotational operating unit is arranged such that a rotational operation of the rotational operation unit by a first physical amount causes a physical movement of at least the time axis by a second physical amount corresponding to the first physical amount.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A display apparatus, comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction, said display screen being divided into a plurality of display regions;
input operation means for moving at least said time axis in said first direction, said input operation means being further effective for selectively enlarging a predetermined one of said plurality of display regions; and
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means;
wherein said input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in a second direction that crosses said first direction;
wherein said rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of said rotational operation means by a first amount causes a movement of at least said time axis by a second amount corresponding to said first amount;
wherein said rotational operation means is further movable at least in said second direction along its axis of rotation, and causes said enlarging of the predetermined one of said plurality of display regions when moved in said second direction; and
wherein said input operation means is located at one end of said display screen as viewed in said first direction, and said predetermined one of said plurality of display regions is positioned at one end of said display screen as viewed in said second directions.
2. A display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said rotational operation means is arranged such that a direction of rotation of said rotational operation means coincides with said first direction.
3. A display apparatus comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction, said display screen being divided into a plurality of display regions;
input operation means for moving at least said time axis in said first direction, said input operation means being further effective for optionally enlarging selected display regions among said plurality of display regions; and
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means, wherein:
said input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in a second direction that crosses said first direction, and said rotational operation means supports a back-and-forth shifting movement along its axis of rotation in said second direction;
said rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of said rotational operation means by a first amount causes a movement of at least said time axis by a second amount corresponding to said first amount;
said input operation means is located at one end of said display screen as viewed in said first direction; and
moving said rotational operation means in a first shifting direction along its axis of rotation causes enlargement of the display region positioned at one end of said display screen as viewed in said second direction, and moving said rotational operation means in a second shifting direction opposite said first shifting direction along its axis of rotation causes the enlargement of the display region positioned at the other end of said display screen as viewed in said second direction.
4. A display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said input operation means is further movable at least in said first direction, and moving said input operation means in said first direction causes the position of a cursor on said display screen to be moved at least in said first direction.
5. A display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said input operation means includes a first operating portion positioned at one end of said display screen as viewed in said second direction.
6. A display apparatus, comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction, said display screen being divided into a plurality of display regions;
input operation means for moving at least said time axis in said first direction, said input operation means being further effective for selectively enlarging a predetermined one of said plurality of display regions; and
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means;
wherein said input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in a second direction that crosses said first direction;
wherein said rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of said rotational operation means by a first amount causes a movement of at least said time axis by a second amount corresponding to said first amount; and
wherein said first operating portion is movable in said second direction along the axis of rotation of said rotational operation means, moving said first operating portion in said second direction causes the position of a cursor on the display screen to be moved in said first direction, and rotating said rotational operation means after said first operating portion is moved in said second direction causes the position of said cursor on said display screen to be moved in said second direction.
7. A display apparatus, comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction, said display screen being divided into a plurality of display regions;
input operation means for moving at least said time axis in said first direction, said input operation means being further effective for selectively enlarging a predetermined one of said plurality of display regions;
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means; and
a second operating portion;
wherein said input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in a second direction that crosses said first direction;
wherein said rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of said rotational operation means by a first amount causes a movement of at least said time axis by a second amount corresponding to said first amount; and
wherein said controlling means performs, based on the operation of said second operating portion, control of the display screen so as to enlarge the pitch of a time scale of said time axis in said first direction.
8. A display apparatus comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction, said display screen being divided into a plurality of display regions;
input operation means for moving at least said time axis in said first direction, said input operation means being further effective for selectively enlarging a predetermined one of said plurality of display regions;
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means; and
a third operating portion;
wherein said input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in a second direction that crosses said first direction;
wherein said rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of said rotational operation means by a first amount causes a movement of at least said time axis by a second amount corresponding to said first amount; and
wherein said controlling means performs, based on the operation of said third operating portion, control of the display screen so as to contract the pitch of a time scale of said time axis in said first direction.
9. A display apparatus according to claim 1;
wherein said controlling means is further effective for switching between a first display mode in which all of said display regions are displayed substantially at an equal scale and a second display mode in which at least one of said display regions is displayed at a greater scale than others; and
wherein said display apparatus further includes a fourth operating portion for providing a switching instruction to said controlling means for effecting the switching of said display modes.
10. A display comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction, said display screen being divided into a plurality of display regions;
input operation means for moving at least said time axis in said first direction, said input operation means being further effective for selectively enlarging a predetermined one of said plurality of display regions; and
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means;
wherein said input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in a second direction that crosses said first direction;
wherein said rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of said rotational operation means by a first amount causes a movement of at least said time axis by a second amount corresponding to said first amount;
wherein:
said display apparatus maintains a database having a plurality of first category entries, each of said first category entries being associated with a plurality of second category entries;
said rotational operation means supports a back-and-forth shifting movement along its axis of rotation in said second direction;
said display means is further effective for providing a database-display area in said display screen for displaying selective content of said database;
said database-display area being initially divided into showing only a plurality of first display segment regions, with each of said first display segment regions displaying a corresponding one of said first category entries, and a separate one of said first display segment regions is targeted with rotation of said rotational operating means;
wherein said rotational operating means when operated in said second direction causes a targeted first display segment region to be selected; and
in response to a targeted first display segment region being selected by said rotational operation means, said controlling means splits said database-display area into at least a first hierarchical display region and a second hierarchical display region, said first display segment regions being restricted to said first hierarchical display region, and said second hierarchical display region being divided into a plurality of second display segment regions each showing a separate one of the plurality of second category entries associated with the selected first display segment.
11. A display apparatus according to claim 10, wherein each said plurality of first category entries has a different hierarchical structure linking it to its associated plurality of second category entries.
12. A display apparatus comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction, said display screen being divided into a plurality of display regions;
input operation means for moving at least said time axis in said first direction, said input operation means being further effective for selectively enlarging a predetermined one of said plurality of display regions;
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means; and
posture angle detecting means for detecting the posture angle of said display means with respect to a horizontal plane;
wherein said input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in a second direction that crosses said first direction;
wherein said rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of said rotational operation means by a first amount causes a movement of at least said time axis by a second amount corresponding to said first amount; and
wherein said controlling means includes a posture switch control unit which controls, based on the result of detection of said posture angle detecting means, a power supply such as to turn on the power supply when the detected posture angle falls within a predetermined range, and to turn off the power supply when the detected posture angle does not fall within the predetermined range.
13. A display apparatus, comprising:
display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction;
input operation means for enabling operational input of said display image at least on said display screen; and
controlling means for controlling said display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of said input operation means;
wherein said display means displays display segment regions defined by dividing said display screen in a second direction perpendicularly crossing said time axis; and
wherein said controlling means includes a first operating portion which when moved to one end as viewed in said second direction causes a display segment region adjacent to said end to be enlarged on the display and, when further moved again to said one end, causes one of other display segment regions to be enlarged.
14. A display apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said input operation means has a second operating portion which, when moved to one end as viewed in said first direction, enlarges the pitch of time scale of said time axis.
15. A display apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said second operating portion when moved to said one end causes a lower-level menu of icons to be displayed.
16. A display apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said second operating portion comprises a pointing device which moves and sets the position of a cursor on said display screen, thereby designating the position where an icon is to be displayed.
17. A display apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising posture angle detecting means for detecting the posture angle of said display means with respect to a horizontal plane;
wherein said controlling means includes a posture switch control unit which controls, based on the result of detection of said posture angle detecting means, a power supply such as to turn on the power supply when the detected posture angle falls within a predetermined range, and to turn off the power supply when the detected posture angle does not fall within the predetermined range.
18. A portable information processing apparatus comprising a display apparatus set forth in any one of claims 1, 2, 3 to 10, and 11 to 17.
19. A portable information processing apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising a wrist-wearing portion connected to said display apparatus so that said portable information processing apparatus can be worn on a user's wrist.
20. A display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said rotational operation means is an integral part of said first operating portion.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus and a portable information processing apparatus incorporating the display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A standard window system which is one of a screen display system for computers employs a coordinate input device such as a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a track ball, for the purpose of commanding the position and movement of a cursor on a display screen. A program which has been related to an icon displayed at a predetermined coordinate position is started when the user operates a selecting button such as a clock button of, for example, a mouse, after placing the cursor on the icon. The user also can designate a predetermined region or area on the display screen by moving the cursor while continuing pressing of the selecting button.
This type of display system permits scrolling of the display screen by suitably operating the cursor.
The operations such as alteration of the display screen, movement of the cursor, scrolling of the display screen and so forth, however, are difficult to conduct in known wearable device such as wrist-watch-type devices having conventional arrangement of the operating means for inputting instructions for implementing these operations. Such difficulty arises from the posture of the wearable device when used and from the limited size of the operating means. Thus, the user tends to fail to smoothly effect operations such as pointing of a position, scrolling, etc., and to make wrong selection of the functions.
Pointers such as a mouse or a track point in one hand permits a cursor to move in any desired direction but on the other hand poses a problem in that the cursor becomes unstable, hampering smooth and accurate pointing of a position.
For instance, referring to FIG. 57, the cursor may erroneously designate a point P2 at coordinates X2, Y2 on a menu screen 2000 having a plurality of icons 2004, even when the user intended to move the cursor to a point P1 which is at coordinates X1, Y1. This is mainly attributed to the fact that the large degree of freedom of operation of the pointing device, e.g., a mouse, for implementing all-direction movement of the cursor tends to allow errors .DELTA.X, .DELTA.Y to occur with respect to the target point P1. Consequently, the user cannot accurately point the target position in one action. After wrongly pointing the point P2, the user has to operate the operation means once again to move the cursor from P2 to P1.
FIG. 58 shows another type of portable information processing apparatus denoted by 2010. A cursor displayed on the display screen 2014 can be moved in all directions, i.e., up and down and to the left and right, in accordance with instruction input through an operation means 2012.
Obviously, this type of portable information processing apparatus also suffers from the problem explained in the foregoing.
In case of a portable information terminal device, sizes of the display screen, icons and operation means are small as compared with ordinary personal computers (PCs). The portable information terminal device is difficult to use when the operation means are arranged and used in the same way as those on ordinary PCs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a display apparatus which, even when used on a small-sized information processing apparatus such as a wearable device, enables the user to accurately and adequately conduct operations such as pointing and scrolling by means of a cursor, with improved ease of use.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a portable information processing apparatus incorporating such a display apparatus.
To this end, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display apparatus, comprising: display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction; input operation means for physically moving at least the time axis in one of the first direction; and controlling means for controlling the display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of the input operation means; wherein the input operation means includes a rotational operating means having an axis of rotation extending in second directions which cross the first direction; and wherein the rotational operating means is arranged such that a rotational operation of the rotational operation means by a first physical amount causes a physical movement of at least the time axis by a second physical amount corresponding to the first physical amount.
In accordance with these features of the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to arrange such that the direction of scrolling (first direction) of the time axis on the display screen coincides with the direction of rotation of the input operation means. Hitherto, as stated before, operations such as alteration of the display screen, movement of cursor, scrolling of the display screen and so forth could not easily be conducted on wrist-wear type portable device having conventional arrangement of input operation means, due to restriction in the size of the input operation means and the posture of the wrist-worn device when operated. In contrast, according to the invention, the user can easily effect operations using cursor, because the scrolling direction coincides with the direction of rotation of the input operation means.
Conventional all-direction pointer such as a mouse or a track point allows unstable behavior of the cursor in response to the input instruction. In contrast, the display apparatus of the invention can ensure stable movement of the cursor because the cursor is movable only uni-axially. Further, the uni-axial movement of the cursor at high speed is realized by making use of the centrifugal force and inertial of the rotational input operation means. It is therefore possible to accurately command the horizontal movement and position of the cursor, while achieving high speed of cursor movement, with linear relationship between the operational input and the response of the display screen, whereby an interface is implemented which is easy to understand.
In the display apparatus of the first aspect having the described features, the rotational operation means may be arranged such that a direction tangent to the rotational operation means coincides with the first direction.
With this arrangement, the rotational operation means can also be sued for the purpose of setting a greater scale of display, i.e., enlargement of the display. This eliminates the necessity of complicated operation mechanism, thus reducing burden on the user, as well as the cost.
In the display apparatus of the first aspect, the input operation means may be arranged such that the input operation means when operated causes an enlargement of a predetermined display region of the display screen.
With this arrangement, the direction of movement coincides with the direction in which the display region is enlarged, giving an impression to the user as if the input operation means is mechanically linked to the display screen. It is therefore possible to realize a user-friendly operation environment.
When such an enlarging function is implemented, the arrangement may be such that the operation means is movable at least in the second directions, and causes the enlargement of the predetermined display region when moved in one of the second directions.
With this arrangement, the user can easily recognize the enlarged display region at one end of the display screen toward which the input operation means is moved.
This enlarging function may be implemented such that the input operation means is located at one end of the display screen as viewed in the first direction and, by being moved in one of the second directions, causes the enlargement of the predetermined display region which is positioned at one end of the display screen as viewed in the second directions With this arrangement, the user can enlarge the display region and easily recognize the enlarged display region at one end of the display screen, by moving the input operation means in one of the second directions.
In an alternative case, the arrangement is such that the input operation means, by being moved in the other of the second directions, causes the enlargement of the predetermined display region which is positioned at the other end of the display screen as viewed in the second directions.
With this arrangement, the user can enlarge the display region and easily recognize the enlarged display region at the other end of the display screen, by moving the input operation means in the other of the second directions.
In each of these two cases, the arrangement may be such that the input operation means is movable at least in the first direction and, by being moved at least in the first direction, moves and sets the position of a cursor on the display screen at least in the first direction.
With this arrangement, the input operation means serves also as means for commanding the movement and position of the cursor. This eliminates the necessity for any complicated input operation mechanism for commanding the cursor. It is thus possible to reduce the cost, while implementing small-sized input operation means suitable for use on small-sized portable device.
The display apparatus of the first aspect may be implemented such that the rotational operation means comprises a first operating portion which is disposed at one end of the display screen as viewed in the second directions.
With this arrangement, the first operating portion disposed at one end as viewed in the second direction can have an axis of rotation extending in the second direction, thus offering a greater ease of use.
In this arrangement, the first operating portion may be constructed so as to be movable in the second directions to move and set the position of the cursor on the display screen in the first direction when moved in the second directions, and, when rotated, to move and set the position of the cursor on the display screen in a third direction which perpendicularly crosses the time axis.
In this case, the first operating portion serves also as means for inputting instructions for moving and setting the cursor position. This eliminates the necessity for complicated operating mechanism, contributing to reduction in the cost, while adapting the display apparatus to small-sized devices.
When the rotational operation means has the first operating portion as stated above, the display apparatus may further comprise a second operating portion which perpendicularly crosses the time axis. In this case, the controlling means performs, based on the operation of the second operating portion, control of the display screen so as to enlarge the pitch of time scale of the time axis in the first direction.
In this display apparatus, therefore, the user can increase the pitch of the time scale of the time axis, i.e., to have the time axis displayed at a greater scale, by operating the second operating portion.
When the rotational operation means has the first operating portion as stated above, the display apparatus may further comprise a third operating portion which perpendicularly crosses the time axis. In this case, the controlling means performs, based on the operation of the third operating portion, control of the display screen so as to contract the pitch of time scale of the time axis in the first direction.
In this display apparatus, therefore, the user can reduce the pitch of the time scale of the time axis, i.e., to contract the time axis displayed on the display screen, by operating the third operating portion.
The display apparatus, when it comprises the aforesaid first operating portion movable in the second direction to move and set the cursor position in the first direction, may be constructed such that the area of the display screen is divided into a plurality of first display segment regions in the third direction perpendicularly crossing the time axis. In this case, the controlling means includes mode controlling means which performs switching between a first mode in which all the first display segment regions are displayed substantially at an equal scale and a second mode in which at least one of the first display segment regions is displayed in a greater scale than others. In addition, the display apparatus further comprises a fourth operating portion which gives a switching instruction to the mode controlling means for effecting the switching of the display mode.
With these features, the user can enlarge one or more of the first display segment regions, by operating the fourth operating portion. The user therefore can easily recognize the display region which is being used.
This display apparatus having the function to enlarge at least one of the display segment regions may be further modified such that the displaying means has a lower-level mode which is subordinate to the second mode and which sub-divides each the first display segment region into a plurality of second display segment regions in the third direction. Operation of the second operating portion in the second direction causes the cursor to jump between the second display segment regions.
In this modification, therefore, the user can freely effect movement of the cursor between the second display segment regions, by operating the second operating portion. Thus, the cursor can jump to and from any of the hierarchical levels. It is thus possible to eliminate complicated operation which hitherto is necessary when a complicated hierarchical structure is employed.
The above-described modification may be further altered such that the display means divides each the second display segment regions into a plurality of third display segment regions in the first direction. In this case, the second operating portion when rotated causes the cursor to jump between the third display segment regions.
In this case, therefore, the user can freely effect movement of the cursor between the third display segment regions, by operating the second operating portion. Thus, the cursor can jump to and from any of the hierarchical levels. It is thus possible to eliminate complicated operation which hitherto is necessary when a complicated hierarchical structure is employed.
The aforesaid display apparatus having the function to enlarge one of the display segment regions may be constructed such that each second display segment region has a plurality of different hierarchical structures, and the second operating portion permits the cursor to jump between the hierarchical levels.
The display apparatus in accordance with the first aspect may further comprise posture angle detecting means for detecting the posture angle of the display means with respect to a horizontal plane. In this case, the controlling means includes a posture switch control unit which controls, based on the result of detection of the posture angle detecting means, a power supply such as to turn on the power supply when the detected posture angle falls within a predetermined range, and to turn off the power supply when the detected posture angle does not fall within the predetermined range.
With these features, the power is automatically turned on and off in accordance with the angle at which the display apparatus is inclined. Thus, the power is kept off when the user does not look at the display screen, so as to eliminate wasteful display operation, thus contributing to saving of electrical power.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display apparatus, comprising: display means for displaying, on a display screen, a display image containing a time axis formed so as to extend at least in a first direction; input operation means for enabling operational input of the display image at least on the display screen; and controlling means for controlling the display screen based on an operational input given by an operation of the input operation means. The display means displays display segment regions defined by dividing the display screen in a second direction perpendicularly crossing the time axis. The controlling means includes a first operating portion which when moved to one end as viewed in the second direction causes a display segment region adjacent to the end to be enlarged on the display and, when further moved again to the one end, causes one of other display segment regions to be enlarged.
In the display apparatus of the second aspect, the direction of movement, i.e., in the second direction, of the first operating portion coincides with the direction in which the specified display region is enlarged. The degree of enlargement of the display region, therefore, can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of movement of the first operating portion. It is thus possible to obtain a user-friendly display apparatus which is easy to use. Moving the first operating portion two or more times at the above-mentioned one end as viewed in the second direction produces display modes different from that obtained when the first operating member is operated only once. Thus, a single operating portion performs a plurality of functions, contributing to reduction in the overall size of the display apparatus.
The display apparatus of the second aspect may be arranged such that the input operation means has a second operating portion which, when moved to one end as viewed in the first direction, enlarges the pitch of time scale of the time axis.
This feature permits zoom-up operation and data opening operation to be effected by an identical action.
Preferably, the second operating portion when moved to the one end causes a lower-level menu of icons to be displayed.
In this case, the second operating portion serves to means for giving an instruction to display lower-level menu of icons. This eliminates the necessity for the complicated mechanism, thus contributing to reduction in the cost and adapting the display apparatus to small-sized devices.
The above-mentioned second operating portion may comprise a pointing device which moves and sets the position of a cursor on the display screen, thereby designating the position where an icon is to be displayed.
In this case, the second operating portion serves as means for commanding the cursor position and, hence, the position where the icon information is to be displayed. This eliminates the necessity for the complicated mechanism, thus contributing to reduction in the cost and adapting the display apparatus to small-sized devices.
The display apparatus in accordance with the second aspect may further comprise posture angle detecting means for detecting the posture angle of the display means with respect to a horizontal plane. In this case, the controlling means includes a posture switch control unit which controls, based on the result of detection of the posture angle detecting means, a power supply such as to turn on the power supply when the detected posture angle falls within a predetermined range, and to turn off the power supply when the detected posture angle does not fall within the predetermined range.
With these features, the power is automatically turned on and off in accordance with the angle at which the display apparatus is inclined. Thus, the power is kept off when the user does not look at the display screen, so as to eliminate wasteful display operation, thus contributing to saving of electrical power.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable information processing apparatus comprising a display apparatus which may be of any of the foregoing aspects and arrangements.
Hitherto, as stated before, operations such as alteration of the display screen, movement of cursor, scrolling of the display screen and so forth could not easily be conducted on wrist-wear type portable device having conventional arrangement of input operation means, due to restriction in the size of the input operation means and the posture of the wrist-worn device when operated. In contrast, in the portable device of the invention, the user can easily effect operations using cursor, because the scrolling direction coincides with the direction of rotation of the input operation means.
Conventional all-direction pointer such as a mouse or a track point allows unstable behavior of the cursor in response to the input instruction. In contrast, the portable information processing apparatus of the invention can ensure stable movement of the cursor because the cursor is movable only uni-axially.
The portable information processing apparatus as described above may further comprise a wrist-wearing portion connected to the display apparatus so that the portable information processing apparatus can be worn on a user's wrist.
This portable information processing apparatus therefore can be implemented as a very small wearable device like a wrist-watch-type device.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description of the preferred embodiments when the same is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of display on a display screen of an embodiment of the display apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 1B is a schematic illustration of a main display screen displayed on the display apparatus shown in FIG. 1A;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing hardware architectures of a portable information processing apparatus such as that shown in FIG. 1A, and a personal computer;
FIG. 3 is a function block diagram showing a software architecture of a portable information processing apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
FIGS. 4A and 4B are a function block diagram showing the detail of the block diagram shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is schematic illustrations of upper-level menus, lower-level menus and a definition screen, that are displayed in accordance with hierarchical order by the operation of a control system of the display apparatuses shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIGS. 6A to 6C are schematic illustrations of examples of the content of display displayed by a display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic illustrations of examples of the contents of display on the display unit of the display apparatuses shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIGS. 8A to 8C are schematic illustrations of examples of the contents of display on the display unit of the display apparatuses shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIGS. 9A to 9C are schematic illustrations od examples of display screens displayed on the display apparatus of FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIGS. 10A to 10C are schematic illustrations of examples of the contents of display on the display unit of the display apparatuses shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIGS. 11A to 11C are additional examples of the contents of display on the display unit of the display apparatuses shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of an example of the content of display on the display unit of the display apparatuses shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIG. 13 is a function block diagram showing a software architecture of a portable information processing apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 14 is a schematic illustration of a memory map showing the hierarchy of information stored in a storage section of a portable information processing apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 15 is an illustration of the concept of an electromagnetic signal of data transmitted and received through a communication unit or between internal devices;
FIG. 16A is an illustration of an example of a table which defines correlation between character data stored in the storage section of a portable information processing apparatus and function programs;
FIG. 16B is an illustration of an example of a table which shows character data stored in a storage section of the portable information processing apparatus, as well as positions of display data on the screen and menu forms, for each of a plurality of menu modes;
FIGS. 17A and 17B are illustrations of the background screen character data that are displayed on the display screen of the display apparatus of FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of control performed by a control system;
FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the detail of the processing "A" of the flow shown in FIG. 18;
FIG. 20A is a flowchart showing the detail of Step 3 of the flow shown in FIG. 18;
FIG. 20B also is a flowchart showing the detail of Step 3 in the flow shown in FIG. 18;
FIG. 21A is a flowchart showing details of Steps 32 and 42 in the flowcharts of FIGS. 20A and 20B;
FIG. 21B is a flowchart showing the detail of a routine for executing Steps 32 and 42 of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B;
FIG. 21C also is a flowchart showing the detail of a routine for executing Steps 32 and 42 of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B;
FIG. 22A is a flowchart showing the procedure of operation executed by means of an operation system of the display apparatuses shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;
FIG. 22B is a flowchart showing the detail of Sep 101 of the flow shown in FIG. 22A;
FIG. 22C is a flowchart showing the detail of Sep 104 of the flow shown in FIG. 22A;
FIG. 23A is a schematic illustration of the content of display on a display screen of another embodiment of the display apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 23B is a schematic illustration of the content displayed in the main screen of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 23A;
FIG. 24 is a schematic illustration of upper-level menus, lower-level menus and setting screen which are displayed in stages under the control of a control system of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIG. 25 is a schematic illustration of the content of display on a display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIGS. 26A to 26D are schematic illustrations of examples of the display screens displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIGS. 27A to 27D are schematic illustrations of examples of the display screens displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIG. 28 is a schematic illustration of an example of the display screens displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIGS. 29A and 29B are schematic illustrations of examples of the display screens displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIGS. 30A to 30C are schematic illustrations of examples of the display screens displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIGS. 31A and 31B are schematic illustrations of examples of the display screens displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIGS. 32A to 32C are schematic illustrations of examples of the display screens displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIG. 33A is a flowchart showing a process executed by an operation system in the display apparatus shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B;
FIG. 33B is a flowchart showing the detail of Step 131 in the flow shown in FIG. 33A;
FIG. 33C is a flowchart showing the detail of Step 134 in the flow shown in FIG. 33A;
FIG. 34 is a schematic illustration of a display screen used in still another embodiment of the display apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 35 is a schematic illustration of a lower-level menu screen (window) which is opened when an icon on the display screen of FIG. 34 is clicked;
FIG. 36 also is a schematic illustration of a lower-level menu screen (window) which is opened when an icon on the display screen of FIG. 34 is clicked;
FIG. 37 is a perspective view of a portable information processing apparatus of the present invention and a personal computer which in combination form a network system, arranged to perform synchronization of data;
FIG. 38 is a front elevational view of a portable information processing apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 39 is a schematic illustration of a main screen displayed on a display unit of the portable information processing apparatus shown in FIG. 38;
FIGS. 40A to 40F are schematic illustrations of lower-level menus shown in a lower-level menu of the main screen of FIG. 39;
FIGS. 41A to 41E are schematic illustrations of contents of display on the display unit of the portable information processing apparatus of FIG. 38;
FIG. 42 is a schematic illustration of upper-level menus, lower-level menus and a definition screen, that are displayed in accordance with hierarchical order by the operation of a control system of the display apparatuses of this embodiment;
FIG. 43 is a flowchart showing the process executed by an operation system;
FIG. 44 is a schematic illustration of a different embodiment of the display apparatus of the present invention;
FIGS. 45 is a schematic illustration of upper-level menus, lower-level menus and a definition screen, that are displayed in stages by the operation of a control system of the display apparatuses shown in FIG. 44;
FIGS. 46A and 46B are schematic illustrations of an example of the display screen on a display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 44;
FIGS. 47A and 47B are schematic illustrations of examples of display contents displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 44;
FIGS. 48A to 48F are schematic illustrations of examples of display contents displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 44;
FIGS. 49A to 49F are schematic illustrations of examples of display contents displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 44;
FIGS. 50A to 50F are schematic illustrations of examples of display contents displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 44;
FIGS. 51A to 51F are schematic illustrations of examples of display contents displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 44;
FIG. 52A is a schematic illustration of the content of display on a display screen of a different embodiment of the display apparatus in accordance with the present invention;
FIGS. 52B and 52C are schematic illustrations of examples of contents displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 52A;
FIGS. 53A to 53D are schematic illustrations of an example of display screen displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 52A;
FIGS. 54A to 54C are schematic illustrations of an example of display screen displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 52A;
FIGS. 55A to 55C are schematic illustrations of an example of display screen displayed on the display unit of the display apparatus shown in FIG. 52A;
FIGS. 56A to 56C are schematic illustrations of a portable information processing apparatus of the present invention and a personal computer which in combination form a network system, arranged to perform synchronization of data;
FIG. 57 is a schematic illustration showing a problem encountered when a cursor is moved by a conventional input operation unit; and
FIG. 58 is a perspective view of a conventional portable information processing apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Embodiments of display apparatus in accordance with the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First Embodiment
(Overall System Configuration)
FIG. 2 shows a system which suitably incorporates the present invention. The system includes one or more wearable, e.g., wrist-type, portable devices 1 serving as user terminals or PDAs and functioning as first information processing apparatus, and a personal computer (referred to as "PC", hereinafter) 140 serving as a host computer that provides predetermined services and functions as a second information processing apparatus. A network is formed by the PC 140 and the portable devices 1, such that they can communicate with each other. The PC 140 is installed in, for example, a home or an office, while the portable device 1 is worn by a user by being wound around a wrist.
The PC 140 comprises, as known in the art, a computer having high performance and incorporates therein various parts or components as shown in FIG. 2: namely, a time measuring unit 141 for measuring time; a storage unit 142 for storing various kinds of data; a display unit 143 for displaying data; operating unit 144 which permits various operations to be executed on various kinds of information displayed on the display unit 143; communication unit 145 which permits exchange of information between the PC 140 and another information processing apparatus such as the portable device 1; a voice output unit 146 that outputs voice information; a voice input unit 147 which permits input of voice information; and a CPU 148 that control these units.
The storage unit 142 stores various programs and data, including an exclusive software for running the PC 140 itself, an exclusive application software for generating display screens peculiar to the present invention, a web browser and a protocol which enable downloading of data to the portable device 1, and so on. Preferably, the software which generates the display screen peculiar to the invention is formed in the form of, for example, an exclusive PC card, independently from the storage area of the PC 140.
(Synchronization of Data)
The portable device 1 is used independently but may be synchronized with the PC 140 so as to form a system together with the PC 140.
Various techniques are available for the purpose of synchronization of data. For instance, data updating means (not shown) is provided in each of the PC 140 and the portable device 1. The data updating means performs comparison between the data in the portable device 1 and the data stored in the PC 140 and, based upon the result of the comparison, performs updating and synchronization of the data. Preferably, the data updating means is provided in each of the communication unit 145 of the PC 140 and the communication unit 15 of the portable device 1, shown in the block diagrams of FIG. 2.
In another technique for synchronizing the data, data stored in the storage unit 142 of the PC 140 is downloaded to a storage unit 12 of the portable device 1, in response to a request which is produced by the portable device 1 simultaneously with the start-up of the system upon turning on of the power supply of the portable device 1. Data in the storage unit 142 of the PC 140 is rewritten when updating of the data is required. Thereafter, as the portable device 1 is turned on, the portable device 1 set in the same state as the PC 140 in accordance with the updated data.
Thus, inputting or changing basic data in one of the PC 140 and the portable device 1 causes the other to be automatically updated. In the described embodiment, the portable device 1 and the PC 140 can be synchronized without requiring any specific attention of the user, even when the portable device 1 and the PC 140 are spaced a long distance from each other.
The user can edit the content of the information displayed on the display unit 13 of the portable device 1, by suitably operating the PC 140 while monitoring the display on the display unit 143 of the PC 140. In order to assist the user conducting the editorial work, an image of the portable device 1 appears on a part of the display unit 143 of the PC 140 (see FIG. 52). It is therefore possible to take-up a desired image from the PC 140 into the portable device 1, by clipping the image information at the PC 140 and pasting the information into the window opened on the PC 140. This operation will be described later in more detail in conjunction with a fifth embodiment of the present invention. This feature is particularly useful in the case where a PC card is incorporated in the PC 140, because the content of the displayed information can be inspected.
In the described system, the size of the display area of the display unit 143 of the PC 140 is much greater than that of the display unit 13 of the portable device 1. Therefore, a mere synchronization produces only an effect to compress the image displayed on the PC 140 and to display the compressed image on the display unit 13 of the portable device 1. This embodiment is arranged such that the display unit 143 and the display unit 13 have identical images, and employs the following unique features in order that the user can naturally recognize the two devices, i.e., the PC 140 and the portable device 1, as being an identical device.
More specifically, in this embodiment, character patterns different from those generated in the PC 140 are formed in the portable device 1 so that display of icons on the portable device 1 is performed in such a manner as to facilitate understanding by the user, although the images on both devices are the same. In addition, both the PC 140 and the portable device 1 employ the same background image and icon character image, thus providing a user interface which permits easy visual recognition by the user, even when the user is a beginner.
(Hardware Architecture of the Portable Device)
FIGS. 1A and 1B schematically show the appearance of the portable device 1. The portable device 1 used in this embodiment is small-sized and light-weight so that it can be worn by a user, for example, by being wound around a user's wrist. More specifically, the portable device 1 has a wrist band portion (not shown) adapted to be wound around the user's wrist, a display unit 13 having, for example, a liquid crystal display and serving as displaying means, connected to the wrist band portion, and an input operation unit 14 serving as an input operating means and having operating portions arranged on side edges of the display unit 13.
The input operation unit 14 has operating portions including a cursor button 14A having an oval form resembling that of a Rugby ball, serving as a first operation button constituting rotary input portion, a tab switch 14B as a second operation button, an option button 14C as a third operation button, and a recording button 14D which functions as a fourth operation button.
The cursor button 14A is capable of performing three types of operations: namely, a rotational operation in the directions indicated by a double-headed arrow .theta. about an axis Y shown in FIG. 1B, a push-up operation in which the cursor button 14A is once pressed in the direction of the arrow "o" and then pushed upward in the direction of the arrow "P", and a push-down operation in which the cursor button 14A is once pressed in the direction of the arrow "o" and then pushed downward in the direction of the arrow "Q".
Thus, when the cursor button 14A is rotationally operated by a first physical amount (e.g., distance, angular velocity or angular acceleration), the time axis displayed on the display screen is moved by a second physical amount (e.g., distance, velocity or acceleration). Conversion between the first and second physical amounts can easily be achieved by using a conversion table stored in a storage unit which will be described later.
The tab switch 14B is arranged so as to be pushed up and down in the directions perpendicular to the plane of the drawing sheet.
Referring now to FIG. 2, the portable device 1 further has a CPU 18 which performs overall control of the portable device. 1. The input operation unit 14 and the display unit 13 are connected to a BUS line of the CPU 18. Various functions shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are implemented by a display driving function of the CPU 18 and a display interface (not shown) in the display unit 13.
To the BUS line of the CPU 18, also connected is a storage unit 12. As shown in FIG. 14, the storage unit 12 has a control section 22A storing a control program, and real data section 22B which stores various types of data. The real data section 22B will be described later in detail, but it is to be understood here that the real data section 22B preferably has a ROM and a RAM that store the data. The ROM has a data memory that stores various kinds of data such a icon character data, background character (image) data, font data and position data defining positions of the icons relative to the background image. The ROM also has a program memory which contains various programs including a menu displaying program for displaying various menus used in those embodiment, a function program which defines various functions of this embodiment, a boot program which activates the CPU 18 in response to turning on of the power supply of the portable device 1 to start the latter, a display program which is determined by first to fourth display setting portions which will be described later. When the power of the portable device 1 is turned on, the boot program makes access to the storage unit 142 of the PC 140 so as to read the web browser, various communication protocols and other data, and loads them down into the RAM.
The RAM stores information which has been input through various kinds of setting screen. Thus, the functions of the first to fourth display setting portions are implemented by the display setting function of the CPU 18, the storage unit 12, and a memory interface (not shown) which is provided in the storage unit 12.
To the BUS line of the CPU 18, further connected are a time measuring unit 11, voice input unit 17 and a voice output section 16 having a microphone which is not shown.
A communication unit 15 which serves as the communicating means for communication with the PC 140 also is connected to the BUS line of the CPU 18, as will be seen from the block diagram in FIG. 2. The communication unit 15 includes an infrared communicating portion (IRDA) 15D which performs communication by way of infrared rays, a radio communicating portion 15C for wireless radio communication, a MODEM 15B connected to these communicating portions to perform modulation and demodulation, a telephone 15E and a communicating portion 15A which incorporate the telephone 15 as a serial interface and which is connected to the MODEM 15B. The connection to the CPU 18 is made through this communicating portion 15A. The infrared communicating portion (IRDA) 15D has a transmitting portion (port) for infrared rays. The MODEM 15B is configured in the form of a soft MODEM through which a serial bit train is received by the CPU 18. The MODEM 15B has an interface for infrared rays. The CPU 18 conducts various processings relating to the MODEM 15B and the communicating portion 15A. Thus, the portable device 1 is capable of communication via infrared rays and transmission/receipt of electronic mails.
A notification unit 19B for notifying the user of the presence of information is connected to the CPU 18. The notification unit 19B may be implemented by various means such as vibration generating means capable of generating vibration of magnitude variable in a stepped manner to stimulate the user, a smell generating means for generating smell of intensity variable in a stepped manner, alarming tone changing means which generates tone of a level variable in a stepped manner, light generating means capable of generating light adjustable in a stepped manner, an electric discharging means which gives an electrical shock to the user in a manner adjustable stepwise, or the like. A battery capacity detecting unit 19A for detecting the remaining capacity of a battery as the power supplying means is connected to the CPU 18.
It is possible to connect to the CPU 18 a detection means (not shown) that detects posture of the display unit with respect to a horizontal plane. In this case, the CPU serves also as a posture switch control means which controls the power supply in response to the detection output from the posture detection means in such a manner as to turn the power supply on when the detected posture angle falls within a predetermined range and turns the power off when the posture angle is outside the above-mentioned range. With this arrangement, power is turned on or off in accordance with the posture of the display device itself. For instance, when the user does not wish to look into the display, the power is kept off to save wasteful operation, thus achieving a reduction in the power consumption.
(Display Screen of Portable Device)
FIG. 1A illustrates an initial screen (default view) 20 which appears in response to turning on of the power supply. This initial screen 20 is constructed so as to be able to provide a day-of-week display area 20A which appears at an upper portion of the display on the display unit 13 and indicating what day of the week is it today, a time display area 20B which appears at a intermediate region of the display unit 13 and indicating the present time, and a date display area 20C which appears at the lowermost end portion of the display unit 13 and indicates the present date.
In operation, the display unit 13 displays the initial screen 20 as shown in FIG. 1A, in response to turning on of the power supply. Then, as the user operates the tab switch 14B, the schedule display mode screen 30A as shown in FIG. 1B appears as the main screen.
The display screen 30A of the schedule display mode has an uppermost data display area 42, a schedule display area 50 having vertical time lines and serving as a calendar, a time axis display area 60A indicating a time axis that provides time reference to the vertical time lines displayed in the above-mentioned schedule display area 50, and the lowermost icon display area 70.
A black bar 44 having an arrow head giving a present time indication to the display on the schedule display area 50 is provided at the lower end of the date display area 40. The black bar 44 with its arrow head serves as a cursor.
Thus, one of the vertical lines 54 which is pointed by the arrow head of the black bar 44 indicates the present time which separates the "past" time region and the "future" time region. The past time region is displayed as a background-colored display area 52 in which the background image is colored in, for example, gray color.
The schedule display area 50 has schedule icons 56 positioned in accordance with the desired scheduled time. By operating each schedule icon 56, it is possible to inspect the schedule which is shown in a lower-level menu.
The time axis display area 60A is prepared as a non-colored schedule occupied/non-occupied displayed area 62. Portions of the time axis corresponding to the schedule icons 56 are colored to indicate the presence of schedules events or actions, i.e., to indicate that the schedule has been occupied. In the display screen shown in FIG. 1B, the schedule icons are formed over a time region from 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock. It will be seen that the corresponding portion of the schedule occupied/non-occupied display area 62 constituting the time axis are also colored over this time region of from 9 to 12 o'clock. The user therefore can visually recognize whether or not the schedule has been occupied at a glance of the time axis. This permits the user to visually understand the most current schedule of events and actions, without difficulty.
The icon display area 70 displays microphone icons 72 indicating that voice memos have been registered and envelope icons 74 indicating that messages have been received as electronic mails. These icons can be operated in the same way as that for the above-described schedule icons 56, so that the user can listen to the voice memos or read the electronic mails by referring to lower-level menus.
Pushing down of the tab switch 14B causes the time axis of the schedule display mode screen 30A to be switched over a 6-hour mode, 12-hour mode, 1-week mode and a 1-month mode. Zooming-in (magnification) of the display image of the time axis is possible in each of these modes.
Pushing up of the tab switch 14B causes zooming out (de-magnification) of the displayed image. FIG. 1B shows the display screen in the 6-hour mode. FIGS. 7A and 7B show the display screens in the 12-hour mode and 1-week mode, respectively.
Referring now to FIG. 8A, pressing down of the cursor button 14A causes the display screen to be switched from the schedule display mode to the memo mode. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8B, the date display area 40 skips down to the position below the icon display area 70, when the cursor button 14A is pushed down. Then, the user can move the cursor to point a desired icon, by rotating the cursor button 14A. For instance, the user moves the cursor to put it on the microphone icon 72A, and pushes the tab switch 14B, so that the user can listen to the recorded voice memo via the voice output unit.
In order to register the recorded information at the schedule display area 50, the user pushes the tab switch 14B up to move the microphone icon upward into contact with the black bar 64, as shown in FIG. 8C. Then, the user pushes up the cursor button 14A upward as shown in FIG. 9A, so that the date display area 40 moves upward as shown in FIG. 9B. The user then rotates the cursor button 14A, so as to move the microphone icon 72A to the position of a desired time, e.g., 6 pm, as shown in FIG. 9C. A subsequent pressing down of the tab switch 14B causes the microphone icon 72A to move apart from the cursor, whereby the microphone icon 72A is pasted on the schedule display area 50. It is thus possible to correlate the voice memo indicated by the microphone icon to the time axis.
The user can then switch the display mode by operating the option button 14C one time, as shown in FIG. 10A. Pressing this button one more time causes the display to be reset to the original normal mode, i.e., to the schedule display mode.
FIG. 10B shows the display screen which is displayed when the mode has been changed to the database mode 100. The database mode 100 is classified into four categories: namely, "Clients" 110, "Vendors" 111, "Personal" 112 and "Setting" 113. The "Setting" mode is used for time adjustment or other types of adjusting operations.
The user can move the black bar (cursor) 103 horizontally by operating the cursor button 14A to point desired one of these categories. The user then selects, for instance, the "Clients" list 110, by operating the tab switch 14B, as shown in FIG. 10C. As a consequence, a display screen as shown in FIG. 11A appears. The user then rotates the cursor button 14A to move the selector bar (cursor) 103 horizontally, so a to point, for example, an initial "K".
As a result, a vertically movable virtual cursor 122 is displayed on one side of the list of the names, as shown in FIG. 11B. The user can point and select any desired name in the list by moving the virtual cursor, by pushing up or down the cursor button 14A. The display screen is automatically scrolled when the cursor 122 has reached an end of the display area 502.
The user can inspect information given by the name shown in FIG. 11C, through an operation of the tab switch 14B. The user then moves the virtual cursor 122 up or down by pushing the cursor button 14A up or down so as to scroll the display, in order to reach the desired information.
A notification window 80 as shown in FIG. 6C is displayed when an electronic mail is received. This notification window 80 can display the photograph of sender's portrait, name of the user, and the time of transmission.
When the received electronic mail is not urgent, the notification of arrival of the mail is not conducted but an envelope icon 74 is automatically pasted thereto. The user therefore can look into the electronic mail by selecting the icon 74 at his convenience.
Recording of a voice memo is conducted by operating the recording button 14D. Recording is possible when the display screen 90 as shown in FIG. 12 is being displayed.
In the schedule display mode as shown in FIG. 1B, the user can scroll the display screen in the direction of the time axis by rotating the cursor button 14A. If the arrangement of the input operation unit is the same as that of conventional wrist-type wearable instrument such as a wrist watch, it is not easy for the user to conduct various operations such as switching of the display screen, movement of the cursor and scrolling, because of the posture of the device on the wrist and because of the size of the input operation device. In this embodiment, however, this problem is overcome and the user can easily conduct these operations because the cursor button of the input operation unit is rotatable in the same direction as the scrolling.
Pointers such as a mouse or a track point, which enables a cursor to move in any desired direction, tends to inconveniently allow unstable movement of the cursor. In contrast, in the illustrated embodiment, stable and accurate movement of the cursor is ensured because the cursor is movable only uniaxially. In addition, the uniaxial movement of the cursor can be performed at a high speed, by making use of the centrifugal force and inertia of rotation of the rotational operation of the input operation unit. Therefore, accurate positioning and high-speed horizontal movement of the cursor are achieved by the rotational operation of the input operation unit. It is thus possible to provide a feasible interface which is easy to understand by virtue of the coincidence between the operation of the input operation device and the response of the display screen.
In addition, the described embodiment has a catch-net metaphor function for displaying data outside the display frame. A memo (or an object) pasted to the time axis moves in accordance with the movement of the time axis as the time elapses. However, necessary memo remains in the display area even when the time on which the memo has been pasted has come out of the display frame as a result of the movement of the time axis.
To this end, a catch-net area is provided at the left end region, i.e., at the end of the "past" time region, of the display area on the display unit 13, and the data which has come off the time axis are "caught" by the catch-net and pasted to the end of the "past" time region. Thus, the catch-net area has a function to retain on the time axis display area any icon information which otherwise would be extinguished by being moved out of the display area.
FIG. 21C is a flowchart showing the display processing with the catch-net function.
Determination as to whether an icon has come into the catch-net area is conducted each time the update processing is conducted for moving the time axis in accordance with the lapse of time (S70). If any icon has fallen into the catch-net area, a processing is conducted to stack the icon in the catch net area regardless of the movement of the time axis (S71), otherwise the icon is continued to be displayed by being moved together with the time axis. Any schedule icon stacked in the catch-net area is deleted (S72) from the catch-net area of the display screen at a moment which is "K" hours from the scheduled time, i.e., when the time difference between the input schedule time and the present time exceeds "K" hours. Thus, icons are extinguished after lapse of "K" hours.
(Software Architecture of Portable Device)
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration for implementing the described hierarchical structure in the portable device.
Referring to this Figure, the portable device has a display control system including the input operation unit 14, a voice input unit 17, the first to fourth display setting units 210A to 210D, a display control unit 260, the display unit 13, the voice output unit 16, and a voice control unit 270. In this embodiment, the input operation unit 14 includes the cursor button 14A and associated interface. The arrangement is such that the cursor moves on the display screen in response to rotation of the cursor button 14A, in accordance with display control which will be described later. It is possible to select one of menus on the display screen by this operation.
The detail of the first to fourth display setting units 210A to 210D will be described with specific reference to FIG. 4.
The first display setting unit 210A sets up an initial screen which is displayed when the power is turned on. In this initial screen, font data indicative of the time are synthetically displayed against a background which is displayed by a specific metaphor. A main screen then appears in response to an operation of the input operation of the tab switch 14B.
The second display setting unit 210B sets up a group of menus of upper hierarchical level. In this embodiment, three modes, i.e., "schedule", "memo" and "database" are available as the items. These three mode groups are set up via the step of displaying the initial screen which is performed when the power of the display unit 13 is turned on. A desired mode can be selected on the main screen by operating the option button 14C. The selected mode is then displayed.
The selected information is delivered from the second display setting unit 210B to the third and forth display setting units 210C, 210D.
The main screen described above displays icons such as those denoted by 56, 72 and 74 in an icon display region of the "schedule" mode, as well as a time axis scaled by hour. When there is a schedule on this time axis, the background is colored. To this end, the background color is displayed in a schedule occupied/nonoccupied background color display area region. The "database" mode displays regions for various items which are used when the database is retrieved. Any of these icons and regions (characters) can be selected by operating the cursor button 14A to move the cursor on the main screen so as to point the icon of interest. The selected information is delivered from the second display setting unit 210B to the third and fourth display setting units 210C, 210D.
Based on the output from the second display setting unit 210B, the third display setting unit 210C sets up upper-level menus such as the icon and characters selected in the second display setting unit 210B. If there are a plurality of lower-level menus, such lower-level menus also are set up as information to be displayed. For instance, when the microphone icon 72 indicative of the voice memo has been selected in the second display setting unit 210B, a "voice memo display screen" which is a group of lower-level menus under this icon 72 is set up as the display information. These lower-level menus are displayed in, for example, a window which is opened in the main screen on the display unit 13, by the operation of the display control unit.
A subsequent operation of the cursor button 14A causes the cursor to move on each mode screen, so that one of the lower-level menus is selected in each mode screen. Information concerning this selection is delivered from the third display setting unit 210C to the fourth display setting unit 210D.
Based on the output from the second (or third) display setting unit 210B (or 210C), the fourth display setting unit 210D sets up information to be displayed. More specifically, the fourth display setting unit 210D sets up a display screen for displaying the selected upper-level menu (only when there is no lower-level menu corresponding to this upper-level menu), or a setting screen for setting lower-level menu (if any) under the selected upper-level menu.
When a screen is set up by the fourth display setting unit 210D, the display control unit performs the display control so as to display, on the display unit 13, the lower-level menu screen instead of the mode screen.
For instance, when a name selection screen 120 (see FIG. 11B) has been displayed by the third display setting unit 210C in the database mode, an individual data display screen 130 (see FIG. 11C) is displayed by the operation of the fourth display setting unit 210D.
Thereafter, various pieces of information corresponding to the selected item can be input by an operation of the track ball. The condition information set by the operation of the input operation unit is displayed by being superposed on the setting screen which is displayed on the display unit 13, so that the user can confirm the set information.
Fifth, sixth and further display setting units may be employed as required if there are a plurality of lower-level menus.
(Display Setting Unit)
The detail of each of the display units 210A to 210D (collectively represented by numeral 210, hereinafter) will be described with reference to FIG. 4. The display setting unit 210 has a data processing unit 230 that performs processing of data mainly based on time information derived from the time measuring unit 11 and communication information derived from the communicating unit 15. The display setting unit 210 also has a UI processing unit 240 which operates based on the data from the data processing unit 230 and operational input from the input operation unit 14, so as to generate background image and icon character data to be displayed and to set the display screen itself, thereby processing the user interface. The display setting unit 210 further includes the storage unit 22 which stores data to be processed by the data processing unit 230 and the data to be processed by the UI processing unit 240. The data processing unit 230 and the UI processing unit 240 communicate with each other for processing the input from the input operation unit 14.
The data processing unit 230 has various processing sections corresponding to functions of various applications, including a mail processing section 230A for processing mail data, a memo processing section 230B for processing memo data, a database data processing section 230C for processing data in the database, a voice memo processing section 230D for processing voice memo data, and so forth.
The information processed by the data processing section 230 includes communication information from the communication unit 15, time information from the time measuring unit 11 and input/output information produced in accordance with the operation of the input operation unit 14. The communication information includes, for example, electronic mail information transmitted and received through the communication unit 15, and receipt time information included in a header accompanying the electronic mail information and indicating the time at which the mail was received. The combination of the receipt time information and the electronic mail information is stored in a data administrating unit 220 of the storage unit 12. When the communication information is voice information, the voice information includes voice mail information and receipt time information stored in a header accompanying the voice mail information and indicating the time at which the voice mail information was received.
The input/output information includes: schedule information indicating a schedule; designated time information indicating the time designated by the user as the time at which the schedule is to be executed, stored in a first header of a header section accompanying the schedule information; and input operation time information determined in accordance with the output from the time measuring unit 11 and indicating the time at which the user input the schedule, stored in a second header of the above-mentioned header section. The schedule information, designated time information and input operation time information are stored as a set of information in the data administration unit 220 of the storage unit 12. When the input/output information is voice information, the voice input information includes voice memo information containing input voice information, and input time information indicating the time at which the user input the voice memo and stored in a header accompanying the voice memo information.
The UI processing unit 240 includes: a content analyzing unit 242 which analyzes appendix data appended to the data to be processed by the data processing unit 230, such as the receipt time information included in the header, file size, number of files and so forth; update processing unit 244 which updates the display screen in accordance with the time information from the time measuring unit 11 and the input operation unit 14; a data control unit 250 having a background character data control section 250A for generating background screen, icon character data control section 250B for generating icon information, and a font data control section 250C for generating font information, and a screen synthesizing unit 252 having a state holding section which synthesizes data derived from one of these data control sections 250A to 250C.
The content analyzing unit 242 has a header analyzing section 242A for analyzing contents of a plurality of headers 1, 2, . . . of the header section, a file size analyzing section 242B for analyzing sizes of files, a file number analyzing section 242C for analyzing the number of files, and so forth. When the receipt time information is stored in the header section, the header analyzing section 242A also functions as a receipt time analyzing section, whereas, when the header section stores designated time information, the header analyzing section 242A functions also as a designated time analyzing section.
The background character data control section 250A, serving as metaphor environment generating means, operates in accordance with a control signal given by an operation input control unit 280, so as to receive the results of processing performed by the data processing unit 230 and to generate a background screen using metaphor (character data) which simulates scenery or event of actual environment that can be sensed and recognized by users in their daily life. The background screen thus generated is delivered to the display unit 13.
The icon character data control section 250B receives the results of analysis performed by the content analyzing unit 242, and instructs the screen synthesizing unit 252 to alter the state of operation of the display screen, in accordance with data which is derived from the storage unit 12 and which has been selected from a group of functions prepared beforehand in the storage unit 12. For instance, if receipt time information is stored in the header section, icon character data stored in the icon character data storage section 222B of the data storage unit 222 are displayed on the display screen of the display unit 13 in the order of the receipt time, in accordance with the results of the analysis (comparison of receipt time) performed by the header analyzing section 242A. Similarly, if designated time information is stored in the header section, icon character data stored in the icon character data storage section 222B of the data storage unit 222 are displayed on the display screen of the display unit 13 in the order of the scheduled time, in accordance with the results of the analysis (comparison of designated time) performed by the header analyzing section 242A.
Thus, the information such as the electronic information includes text data as the body of the data, and appendix data appended to the text data and stored in the header section of the information. The appendix data includes, for example, receipt time, file size and so forth. The content analyzing section 242 performs determination as to whether or not any appendix data exists and, if any, extracts such appendix data, e.g., receipt time. Therefore, the header analyzing section 242A (receipt time) and the file size analyzing section 242B (data size) identify the file by the file name contained in the appendix data, taking into consideration a characteristic extension identifier such as TXT, GRP graphic, Exls, or the like.
Based on the extracted information, the character data control section 250B extracts character data corresponding to the information and causes the extracted data to be reflected on an object based on, for example, receipt time which indicates degree of urgency.
The state holding section in the screen synthesizing unit 252 holds the present state of operation and delivers this operation state to the display unit 13 via a display control unit 260.
The storage unit 12 has the data administration unit 220 for storing the data processed by the data processing unit 230 and the data storage unit 222 which stores data to be processed by the UI processing unit 240.
The data administration unit 220 has various levels such as a mail data storage section 220A for administrating data that processes data such as directory, a memo data storage section 220B for administrating memo data, a vice memo storage section 220C for administrating voice memo data, and so on.
The data storage unit 222 has the background character storage section 222A for storing a plurality of types of background character data, e.g., time axis, metaphor of sky, etc., the icon character data storage section 222B for storing a plurality of types of icon character data corresponding to a plurality of kinds of icon information; and the font data storage section 222C for storing a plurality of types of font data. The background character data storage section 222A stores display image of the applied metaphor, e.g., scenery or looking of the sky of a sky metaphor.
The data storage unit 222 of the storage unit 12 has, in addition to the background character data storage section 222A, icon character data storage section 222B and the font data storage section 222C, a metaphor rule accumulating section that accumulates therein rules concerning the applied metaphor such as, for instance, range of movements of the characters and method of display of these characters on a display screen constituted by a time axis representing the environment of operation.
The operation input control unit 280 has the following sections corresponding to various kinds of operations: a voice input control section 280A which controls, based on the operational input from the input operation unit 14, transmission of voice input information derived from the voice input unit 17 to the data processing unit 230; a key-input assignment control section 280B which controls correlation between the states of the operation buttons 14A, 14B, 14C, and icon information and cursor displayed on the display unit 13; a data input control section 280C which correlates input information other than the voice information, e.g., hand-written alphabetic character input information, to the fonts on the display unit 13; a hierarchy control unit 280D which performs switching between hierarchical level of the display screen, e.g., from a screen of higher level to that of lower level and vice versa, as well as alternative selection of the hierarchical levels; a mode change-over control section 280E which performs change-over of modes of display of the display screen; a zoom-in/out control section 280F for magnifying or de-magnifying part or whole of the display screen, e.g., variably changing the scale of time axis and variably changing the size of icons in accordance with the change of the scale of the time axis; a scroll control section 280G for controlling scrolling of the display screen; an icon move control section 280H for controlling movement of icon information on the display screen; and so forth.
When the data input control section 280C functions for example, the operation input control unit 280 also performs such functions as to detect the coordinate position of the operational input and to deliver the coordinate position data to the UI processing unit 240, in accordance with the state of the display screen.
The display control unit 260 receives the present state of display from the screen synthesizing unit 252 and reads necessary display images to form a display screen. The display screen thus formed is delivered to the display unit 13.
Thus, the data administration unit 220 serves as the first storage means of the display apparatus in accordance with the invention, while data storage unit 222 including various storage sections serves as the second storage means.
The data administration unit 220 is capable of storing a plurality of kinds of information having different attributes, e.g., mail data (communication information), memo data (input/output data), voice memo data, and so forth. To this end, the data administration unit 220 has a function to sort these plurality of types of information according to the attributes, and is provided with storage sections such as a mail data storage section 220A, memo data storage section 220B, voice memo data storage section 220C, and so on. Each of these storage sections stores, in addition to the display data, attribute information for identifying the type of information such as an extension identifier exclusively used for files containing mail data, an extension identifier exclusively used for files containing memo data, an extension identifier exclusively used for files containing voice memo data, and so forth. The display data also contains a plurality of pieces of time information accompanying the plurality of pieces of information.
The icon character storage section 222B of the data storage unit 222 stores a plurality of types of icon information corresponding to the plurality of types of attributes. The background character storage section 222A stores time axis display data for displaying the time axis, background display data for displaying a time axis display area as a part of the background, background coloring data for coloring the background of the time axis display area, and time-axis coloring data for coloring a region of the time axis corresponding to icon information.
The time axis display data includes: a first hierarchical-level display time axis data which is scaled by hour and used for the display screen of the first hierarchical level; a second hierarchical-level display time axis data which is scaled by day and used for the display screen of the second hierarchical level; a third hierarchical-level display time axis data which is scaled by week and used for the display screen of the third hierarchical level; and a fourth hierarchical-level display time axis data which is scaled by month and used for the display screen of the fourth hierarchical level.
Thus, the controlling means 210 selects, in accordance with the attribute information, icon information corresponding to the attribute of each type of the information, and controls the display on the display screen based on the time information related to each type of information, such that the selected pieces of icon information are arranged along the time axis in accordance with the time determined by the time information. The background character data control section 250A and the display screen synthesizing unit 252 in cooperation form a background display screen generating portion.
If the information is electronic mail information. transmitted or received through the communication unit 15, the header section of the information has receipt time information relating to the time of receipt of the electronic mail. Therefore, the controlling means 210 serves to display icons of electronic mails on the display screen in the order of receipt time.
If the information is memo information which has been input through an input operation, the header section of the information has input time information relating to the time of the input operation. Therefore, the controlling means 210 serves to display icons of memo information on the display screen in the order of the time of drafting of the memo.
If the information is "To do" list information, the header section of the information has designated time information relating to the time of receipt of the electronic mail. Therefore, the controlling means 210 serves to display the icons of the schedule on the display screen in the order of the designated time at which the schedule is to be executed.
Thus, the display apparatus in accordance with the present invention has first storage means, second storage means, displaying means and controlling means.
(Display Processing for Menu Screen)
Referring to FIG. 1B showing an example of the display screen, the background screen is formed by laying out objects around the time axis, and the objects in the background are constituted by envelope icons 74 which give instructions to start up application programs. The content analyzing unit 242 analyzes the contents of appendix information appended as appendix data to the header section of the electronic mail information, e.g., receipt time, file size, and so forth. Then, the character data control unit 250 performs icon display processing based on the appendix information, e.g., receipt time, file size or the like, so as to array the icons in the order of receipt time to indicate degree of urgency or to vary the configuration of the icon in accordance with the file size.
The user can operate these objects by selecting (pointing) one of them by means of the input operation unit 14.
Selection of an envelope icon 74 starts up a corresponding application program related to electronic mails, so that a display window (lower-level menu, lower-level instruction screen) of this application program is opened.
More specifically, when the user selects the envelope icon 74 in an operation world or condition displayed on the display unit 13, the input coordinates with respect to the display on the display unit 13 are detected by the operation input control unit 280, so that corresponding data (application start-up request) is generated based on the present state of the display screen (the fact that the envelope icon 74 is displayed at the input coordinate position). The data thus generated is delivered via the character data control unit 250 to the data processing unit 230. The data processing unit 230 then executes a processing selected from the application programs (programs for electronic mails), and outputs the results of the execution (e.g., completion of start-up of the application).
The character data control unit 250 receives the results of the processing from the data processing unit 230, and determines a state of display, with reference to the rules concerning application start-up accumulated in the metaphor rule accumulating section. More specifically, fonts are synthetically displayed against the background image by the font data control section. The screen synthesizing unit 252 operates in response to instruction given by the character data control unit 250 so as to change the state of operation, and delivers the new state of operation to the display control unit 260. In accordance with this new state of operation, the display control unit 260 reads a required display image, e.g., application start-up screen, and forms the display screen using this image. The display screen thus formed is delivered to the display unit 13. Thus, the application program start-up screen is displayed as a result of the selection of the envelope icon 74 by the user.
During execution of the application program, the user conducts selection of item from a list in the display screen or objects such as soft button, by means of the cursor, thereby inputting information to the application program. Then, the user gives instructions for processing by selecting objects appearing on successive display screens. When the execution of the application program is finished, the window is closed and the metaphor display screen that was displayed before the start up is recovered. Consequently, details of contents and states are displayed on the display screen, so that the user can visually understand the state of selection and execution of the application program.
In accordance with the received new state of operation, the input operation unit 14 generates data (input of application, etc.) based on the coordinate positions of subsequent inputs made by the user. This data is received by the data processing unit 230 as in the case of the operation following the selection of the electronic mail icon, and is processed as being input data under running of the application program. As a result, the font data control section 250C acquires corresponding font data with which the state of operation is changed by the display screen synthesizing unit 252. The new state of operation thus obtained is supplied to the display control unit 260, whereby the content of display on the display unit 13 is changed.
Instruction given by the user for terminating the running of the application program causes the display screen synthesizing unit 252 to change the state of operation, whereby the window is closed and the main display screen is recovered. The display control unit 260 receives the state of operation changed by the display screen synthesizing unit 252, and changes the state of display of characters (change in image or movement of characters). The state of display thus changed is delivered to the display unit 13. With this series of operations, the user can visually recognize the state of execution of the instruction.
Thus, the described embodiment provides an operation world or condition standardized by the metaphor. This permits easy understanding by the user of the states of execution of the application program. Namely, the user can easily understand the content of the display and operation of the system, based on common knowledge that the user can obtained in his daily life.
By way of example, the scrolling processing is conducted generally based on instruction given through the input operation unit 14. Namely, the scroll control section 280G operates based on the instruction given by the input operation unit 14 so as to cause the update processing unit 244 to update the data, so that the display screen on the display unit 13 is progressively rewritten. It is, however, preferred that this updating operation is conducted in such a manner that the time scale is put one hour ahead to update the time data, while keeping the background image stationary. More specifically, the entire display screen is flushed and the background screen is displayed. Then, data are generated based on a time which is one hour ahead of the present time, and various characters are synthesized in accordance with the data. Consequently, the display screen is moved in one direction, by repetition of update processing performed by the update processing unit 244. In this case, it is also preferred that data is generated only for the display region which has become vacant as a result of the movement. More specifically, it is preferred to prepare and use such an algorithm that the display content common to the display screen before the scrolling and that after the scrolling are held and displayed also after the scrolling, while the area which has become vacant as a result of the scrolling is filled with newly formed display data.
In order to conduct a display processing for changing the color of the background of a certain period of time in which an event is scheduled, it is necessary to conduct an analysis to determine the time of start and the time of end of such a period. Namely, it is necessary to attach the starting time and ending time as appendix data to the body of the data. Alternatively, the starting time and the scheduled time period may be appended in combination. In general, information concerning a scheduled event has a plurality of headers indicating various data such as the number of participants of a meeting, in addition to the data indicative of the degree of importance. It is therefore possible to display the title of the scheduled event and the scheduled time. This display enables the user to grasp the degree of tightness of the schedule.
For the purpose of magnifying/de-magnifying processing, a plurality of magnified or de-magnified character patterns are prepared by the operation of the zoom-in/out control section 280F and the update processing unit 244, and thee character patterns are put on display one by one to change the display screen in accordance with the instruction given from the input operation unit.
A description will now be given of various tables used for displaying menus in connection with the display processing of the initial screen which is displayed in response to turning on of the power and display processing of the main screen, with specific reference to FIGS. 16A to 17B.
FIG. 16B shows a menu data table (table 2) containing menu name data for identifying each menu data, menu form data indicating the form in which the menu is to be displayed, background character data pointers BI1 to BI7, etc., indicative of addresses of background character data to be used as background shown in FIG. 17A, and icon position data indicating the position where the icons are to be placed, in terms of X and Y coordinate values. Preferably, this table further contains lower-level menu number data indicative of menus set in the next hierarchical level and icon number data indicative of icons that are used in the menus of the lower level.
This menu data table defines menus of the main screen and modes of the hierarchical level next to these menus. Icons corresponding to the functions of the scheduler used in this embodiment are displayed in a desk menu.
FIG. 16A shows an icon data table (Table 1) which holds a plurality of pieces of icon data. This table contains function name data showing names of functions of the respective icons, character data pointers DI1 to DI7, etc. that are pointers for pointing addresses of the character data corresponding to the icons shown in FIG. 17B, and function program pointers for pointing addresses of function programs F1 to F9 of FIG. 14 that define the functions of the icons.
Display of the menus is performed based on the data contained in these tables, by a display processing which will now be described briefly.
A reference is made to the menu data table (Table 2 shown in FIG. 16B) to find the menu form of the menu to be displayed. If the menu form is "full screen", the background character data (see FIG. 17A) pointed by the background character data pointer such as BI1 to BI7 is displayed over the entire area of the display screen. When the menu display mode is "pop-up", a window framework of a pop-up window is displayed, and the background character data pointed by the above-mentioned pointer is displayed in this pop-up window. A reference is further made to the menu table (table 2) to find the icon to be synthesized and the icon position data. Then, a reference is made to the icon table (table 1) to find character data (see FIG. 17B) pointed by the character data pointer DI1, DI7, etc., of the icon data corresponding to the above-mentioned icon, thereby assembling the icon to be displayed. The icon thus assembled is displayed on the display screen at the position determined by the icon position data (X1, Y1) shown in the menu table.
When an icon is selected, a reference is made to the function program pointers F1-F8 to find the function program corresponding to the selected icon and the corresponding function program (one of F1 to F9 shown in FIG. 14) is started.
(Mail Processing Section)
The mail processing section 230A of the data processing unit 230 incorporates various means which are not shown, including mail input/output means, mail sending/receiving control means, addressee list administration means, and so on. The mail input/output means has a mail forming processing portion for newly forming a mail, sending operation processing portion for sending the mail, and a mail editorial processing portion for changing the mail addressee list. The mail sending/receiving means includes a mail sending processing portion for sending the mail in accordance with the addressee list, and a mail receiving processing portion which informs the user of receipt of a mail. The addressee list administration means includes an addressee list initializing processing portion for initializing the addressee list, an addressee list addition processing portion for newly adding addressees, and an addressee deleting processing portion for deleting addressees.
(Data Architecture)
A description will now be given of the architecture of data which is stored in the mail data storage section 220A of the storage unit 12 and which is used by the program for performing the above-described display of the window.
FIG. 14 shows the hierarchical architecture of the data stored in the mail data storage section 220A.
Referring to FIG. 14, the storage unit 12 has an administration section 22A, application programs F1 to F9, various tables inclusive of the tables 1 and 2 described above, data storage section 222 containing character data 222A, 222B and font data 220C, and the data administration unit 220.
An information recording medium in accordance with the present invention for storing at least information for generating display image can be implemented by a medium that contains at least various types of information shown in FIG. 14.
A plurality of pieces of attribute information for identifying a plurality of types of information, a plurality of pieces of time information relating to a plurality of pieces of information and so forth are stored in the header sections. A plurality of types of icon information corresponding to the plurality of pieces of attribute information are stored as icon character data 222B, while the time axis display data representing the time axis is stored as the background character data 222A. Pieces of icon information corresponding to attributes of a plurality of types of information are selected based on the attribute information. The selected pieces of icon information are arranged along the time axis at positions in accordance with the time based on the time information related to each of the plurality of types of information. A program for implementing such selection and display is stored as an administration program 22A.
The data administration unit 220 includes the mail data storage section 220A, memo data storage section 220B, database data storage section 220C, and so forth.
The mail data storage section 220A includes a plurality of files 1, 2 and so on. Each file has header portions 220A-1, 220A-2, 220A-3 and so on, and an actual data portion 220A-15 which pertains to the content of the file. The header portion 220A-1 (header 1) stores receipt time information, header portion 220A-2 (header 2) contains file size information, and the header portion 220A-3 (header 3) contains a name (ID).
The mail data storage section 220A is provided for each of nodes formed in the display window. The mail data storage sections 220A thus provided are stored in the storage unit 12. More specifically, the mail data stored in the mail data storage section 220A includes various pieces of information such as the file size, time and data of receipt, name (ID), bit map data of photograph (or pictorial letter) of the sender's portrait, position of display of the photograph, size of the photograph, time and data at which the mail was read, time and date of transfer, position of display of the mail display window, size of the mail display window, position of the time display to be made at a lower part of the mail display window, size of the region of the time display, size of the fonts indicating the time, size of the fonts of the alphabetic characters showing the content of the mail, actual data related to the content of the mail (data body), list of senders, transfer destination list (directory, addressees, etc.), attributes, pointer for pointing an icon, comments, and so forth. In this embodiment, these various kinds of attribute information other than the actual data (body of the data) are stored in headers 1, 2 and so on in the order of the hierarchical level and the above-described header analyzing section 242A analyzes the contents of these headers.
Preferably, additional tables are provided such as a window administration table for mail display window, addressee list administration table, or the like.
The name (ID) is the identifier that identifies the user. Usually, user's actual name or nickname is used as this identifier. The address to which the mail is to be sent is set up as the addressee. In ordinary electronic mail, the mail address is the information that appoints a position in the storage portion where the mail is to be stored. The user can grasp the state of arrival of mails directed to the user, by making access to this storage position. The time and data at which the mail was read are given by means of the real time clock available from the time measuring unit 11. The data and time at which the mail was read for the first time are set as the data of the time and date of reading. If the mail is sent (transferred or sending back) in accordance with a predetermined addresses list, the time and date of such sending are stored as the time and date of transfer. A flag indicating whether or not the receiving party as the node corresponding to the data architecture is capable of editing the addressee list, or whether or not such a receiving party is present, is set as the attribute. The coordinate positions at which a train of alphabetic characters, icon or the like shown by the node corresponding to the data architecture are to be displayed in the display window, as well as the size of the character train and the icon, are set as the display coordinates and size. The pointer pointing the region storing the icon image (image information or character data) of the icon corresponding to the data architecture displayed in the display window is set as the pointer for the icon. Any comment which the user would like to input is set as the comment. The number of these entrants may be variable.
The window administration table is a group of data sets used for displaying the windows on the display screen, and is stored in the storage unit. The window administration contains items concerning each window such as the name of the window, coordinates of the window and breadth and height of the window determined in terms of number of pixels. The data sets constituting the window administration table includes the items described above for a plurality of types of windows such s the message display window, directory display window, and so forth.
The mail data storage section 220A has an addressee list administration table that holds various kinds of information concerning all the registered users. Various kinds of information thus held are displayed in a window in the form of a list or tale. The table has items such as names, addressee's addresses and so on. Thus, the table is constituted by data sets each containing the above-mentioned items of each registered user.
(Operation of the Portable Device)
FIG. 18 shows a flowchart illustrative of the operation of the portable device. When the CPU is started up by turning on of the power supply, the CPU of the portable device operates in accordance with the boot program stored in the storage unit, so as to make access to the PC via the communication unit, thereby reading necessary data stored in the storage unit including the OS for the terminal device, protocols and so forth.
Then, the display unit 13 of the portable device 1 displays an initial screen as shown in FIG. 1A. Then, a main screen is displayed in which icons to which functions have been assigned in accordance with the data are displayed as characters within the display area of the main screen. The user therefore can visually and instantaneously understand the functions. It is thus possible to obtain a portable device which is easy to use. The characters displayed in this embodiment may be still pictures or, if necessary, moving pictures.
More specifically, when the power is turned on, the initial screen is displayed (Step S1, hereinafter simply represented as "S1"). In response to an operation through the input operation unit (S2), the main screen is displayed (S3). The display of the main screen is conducted in accordance with display information given by the first display setting unit 210A shown in FIG. 3. More specifically, the CPU 18 shown in FIG. 2 reads the display information concerning the main screen stored in the storage unit 12 and transfers the display information to the display unit 13, whereby the main screen is displayed.
The appearance of the main screen is as shown in. FIG. 1B. The user can select any one of the menus which divides the main screen.
More specifically, Step S3 which displays the main screen performs processing which is shown by flowcharts in FIGS. 20A and 20B. If any operation has been performed, a situation occurs requesting updating of the display screen. Then, whether or not the main screen is to be updated is determined (S30) and, if the main screen is to be updated, a background display processing is conducted (S32) in order to update the screen. This processing is to process the background display for the purpose of generating a main screen and, therefore, can be executed by pasting the background screen character data BI1, B17, etc. of FIG. 17A to the screen at specified positions.
A question is posed (S33) inquiring whether there is any mail. If the answer is "Yes", a window as shown in FIG. 12A is displayed on the display screen, thereby notifying the user of the presence of the mail information. This notification is conducted only when the mail is received by the portable device. Therefore, whether or not the display is made for the first time is determined (S34a) and the photograph of the mail sender and the topic are temporarily displayed for a predetermined period, e.g., one second or so, followed by automatic extinction processing to extinguish the display (S34b).
The content of the mail is then analyzed (S35). More specifically, the body of the data which is the content of the mail message is processed (S35a). To this end, for example, the data is stored in the mail data storage section 220A of the data administration unit 220 of the storage unit 12. As in the case of an electromagnetic signal shown in FIG. 15, the data is headed by a plurality of header sections (220A1,220A-2 to 220A-N). Various kinds of information, e.g., name of the sender of the mail, receipt time and so forth carried by these header sections are then read and analyzed by a header analyzing section 242A (S35b). The size of the file, which also is included in the appendix data, is analyzed (S35c).
Although not described in detail, further analysis of the header information is conducted to identify, for example, the name of the sender of the mail.
The background character data control section 250A and the icon character data control section 250B shown in FIG. 4 then operate so that corresponding characters in the form of bit map images are selected from among a plurality of characters constituted by bit map images, whereby an electronic mail icon is synthetically displayed against a background image (S36).
Then, a check is conducted as to whether there is any other mail (S37) and, if any other mail exists, Steps S34 to S36 are repeated, whereas, if thee is no other mail, the process pauses (Steps S30 and S31 are repeated) until any update operation is conducted. Thus, the program is held in a waiting condition until any key-input is received. These Steps are repeated until all the mails are processed. Consequently, electronic mail icons are displayed against the background image.
The program may be such that Step S35 determines the degree of urgency based on the order of receipt time and assigns a first type of icon to a mail which has a high degree of urgency and a second type icon to a mail which has a low degree of urgency. To this end, the header analyzing section 242A sets a threshold time which is a predetermined length of time aback from the instant time, and sorts the mails such that the mails received after the threshold time have higher degree of urgency, while the mails received before the threshold time are of lower degree of urgency. Based on this analysis and sorting, the character data control section 250 performs a control so as to display the desired types of electronic mail icons.
The header section of each electronic mail carries time information such as the time of drafting of the electronic mail, so that the plurality of electronic mail icons can be pasted on the time axis in accordance with the time information.
FIG. 21B shows a flow for processing a memo (schedule). As in the case of the processing of electronic mail, an inquiry is made as to whether or not a demand exists for changing the main screen (S41) and, if such a demand exists, a background display processing is performed (S42).
Then, an inquiry is made as to whether or not a memo exists (S43). If the answer is "Yes", a window for displaying a memo is set up on the display screen (S44).
Step S43, inquiring whether there is any memo, may include a sub-step which poses a question "What type of memo?".
Then, analysis of the content is executed (S45) as in the case of the aforesaid Step S35 which analyzes electronic mails. Since the header section of the memo carries time information such as the time at which the memo was written, schedule icons corresponding to a plurality of memos can be pasted on the time axis at positions corresponding to the times. If the memo data includes text data as the body of the data, such a body of the data is delivered to the font data control section 250C which, in cooperation with the font data storage section 222C and the data processing section 230, extracts font data corresponding to the body of the data, and delivers the font data to the screen synthesizing unit 252. The font data storage section contains font data such as 1,2,3,4 etc. and A,B,C,D, etc. These font data are extracted one by one and pasted on the schedule icon, whereby alpha-numeric character information is produced (S46). The font data stored in the font data storage section are not limited to "Mincho" fonts and "Gothic" fonts. For instance, various fonts data simulating various hand-written letters may be stored in the font data storage section.
Subsequently, a determination is made as to whether or not any other memo exists (S47) and, if any, Steps S44 to S46 are repeated, whereas, if there is no other memo, the process waits (S40 and S41 are repeated) until any update request is received. These Steps are executed until processing of all existing memos is completed, whereby a plurality of schedule icons are displayed side by side, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.
The processes described hereinbefore with regard to the processing of electronic mails and memos can be applied to the display processings for icons of different kinds of information, e.g., memo icons, schedule icons, voice memo icons, etc. Detailed description is omitted with regard to such processings.
The icon character data control section may be arranged such that it selects, based on the file size analysis, either one of a first type of icon and a second type of icon. For instance, when the file size exceeds a predetermined size, the first type icon is selected, otherwise the second type of icon is selected. Thus, first type of icons and second type of icons are displayed according to the sizes of the files.
In the background processing performed in each of Steps S32 and S42, the time axis is displayed on the main screen. A description will now be given of a flow for generating this time axis, with specific reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 21A.
Step S50 poses a query as to whether or not any request for updating exists. If there is any instruction given through the input operation unit, such as scrolling, zoom-in/out, switching of display mode or the like, a display region (display scale) in a standard-size display is determined (S51) and the time axis is synthesized and displayed on the background in accordance with this scale (S52). Subsequently, the present time is confirmed (S53). Then, the time to be displayed at one end of the time axis, the time to be displayed at the other end of the time axis, and the position of an arrow indicating the present time are determined based on the display scale and the present time (S54). Thereafter, the portion of the background image which is aback from the present time, i.e., the past region, is colored (S55). The present time advances by the operation of the time measuring unit. Obviously, the display of the time axis is momentarily updated in accordance with the lapse of time measured by the time measuring unit. This gives an impression to the user as if the time axis and various kinds of information on display are moved on the display screen in accordance with the lapse of the time.
In this embodiment, the time axis is displayed in the form of a train of a plurality of consecutive squares each corresponds to a unit time. The portion of the background image corresponding to a square containing a scheduled time is colored. This operation is conducted in the background processing shown in FIG. 21B, corresponding to Step S32 or S42 in the flowchart of FIG. 20A or FIG. 20B. More specifically, as shown in a flowchart in FIG. 21B, characters are synthesized and displayed at positions corresponding to the scheduled times along the time axis (S60), and the corresponding squares of the time axis and the corresponding portions of the schedule display area are colored (S61).
Referring again to FIG. 19, once the main screen is set up through the process described hereinbefore, the program holds "waiting state" until any new operation is made through the input operation unit. If an operation is made to reset the display screen, the display returns to the initial screen (S4).
If an instruction is given through the input operation unit for changing the mode of the display (S6), the mode change-over section 280E shown in FIG. 4 operates to display the background image in each display mode (S7). This mode changing instruction is input through the input operation unit, more specifically by moving up and down a slider of the input operation unit. The background image processing in Step S7 is materially the same as the main screen display processing (S3). More specifically, the processings for synthesizing and displaying the icons and the time axis are substantially the same as those in Step S2 (more specifically Steps S30 to S37 of FIG. 20A and Steps S40 to S47 of FIG. 20B), although Step S7 employs background characters different from those used in Step S3. The processing of Step S7 is therefore not described in detail.
If an instruction is given through the input operation unit for resetting the display, the main screen is recovered (S8), otherwise the present state is held until a further input is made through the input operation unit.
If a scrolling instruction is input through the input operation unit (S110), the scroll control section 280G shown in FIG. 4 operates to display a new background image corresponding to the state after the scroll (S11). This scrolling instruction is input by moving the cursor on the display screen, through the operation of the input operation unit. In this case also, the background processing of Step S11 is materially the same as the main screen display processing (S3). Namely, processings for synthesizing and displaying the icons and the time axis are the same as those of Step S2 (more specifically Steps S30 to S37 of FIG. 20A and Steps S40 to S47 of FIG. 20B), although Step S11 employs background characters different from those used in Step S3. The background processing of Step S11 is therefore not described in detail.
If an instruction is given through the input operation unit for resetting the display, the display screen of the selected mode is recovered (S12), otherwise the present state is held until a further input is made through the input operation unit.
If a zoom-in/out instruction is input through the input operation unit (S14), the zoom-in/out control section 280F shown in FIG. 13 operates to display a new background image corresponding to the state after the zooming-in or zooming-out (S15). The zoom-in/out instruction is input through the operation of the input operation unit by operating a predetermined portion of the input operation unit. In this case also, the background processing in Step S15 is almost the same as the main screen display processing (S3). More specifically, processings for synthesizing and displaying the icons and the time axis are the same as those in Step S2 (more spe |
