JP2002149616A - Information retrieval terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To search and browse information more easily using a signal obtained from an acceleration sensor provided in a portable terminal without complicated button operations. SOLUTION: From a signal obtained from an acceleration sensor,
Detect the tilt angle of the mobile terminal and gestures such as “shake” and “tilt”. Next, the movement of the icon group representing the information content is controlled based on the tilt angle of the mobile terminal, and an icon that moves every moment is displayed on the display. When the mobile terminal is kept horizontal, the icon displayed near the center of the display displays the content indicated by the icon on the display. According to the present invention, the user tilts the mobile terminal in the front, rear, left and right directions until the desired icon appears on the screen, and keeps the mobile terminal horizontal when the desired icon is displayed near the center of the screen. , Search and browse information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable information terminal for searching and browsing information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of operating information using the inclination angle of a portable terminal, there is a game in which the direction of movement of a game character is controlled by the inclination of a game terminal. In addition, a method of searching for and browsing information by operating a plurality of buttons provided on a general portable terminal is adopted.

[0003]

The conventional method has been limited to uses such as control of game characters. There is also a problem that the operation of the buttons is complicated.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for easily searching and browsing information by using a signal obtained from an acceleration sensor provided in a portable terminal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of searching for and browsing information without complicated button operations.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, first, a tilt angle of a portable terminal and gestures such as "shake" and "tilt" are detected from a signal obtained from an acceleration sensor. Next, the movement of the icon group representing the information content is controlled based on the tilt angle of the mobile terminal, and an icon that moves every moment is displayed on the display.

When the portable terminal is kept horizontal, the icon displayed near the center of the display displays the content indicated by the icon on the display.

The user tilts the portable terminal back and forth and left and right until the desired icon appears on the screen, and keeps the portable terminal horizontal when the desired icon is displayed near the center of the screen, thereby searching and browsing information. can do.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[1] System Configuration FIG. 1 shows an example of a system configuration of the present invention. 101 is the main body of the portable information search terminal of the present invention, 102 is a cradle for charging 101 and transferring information, 103 is a computer, and 104 is a cable connecting the cradle 102 and the computer 103.

The main body 101 includes a display 110, a central processing unit 111, an image output unit 112, an acceleration sensor 113, an acceleration sensor signal detection unit 114, a content DB storage unit 115, an icon display unit 116, an icon control unit 117, and a content display. Unit 118, content control unit 119, memory 120, communication unit 121,
It comprises a stereo terminal 122 and a power supply unit 123.

The cradle 102 is a device for connecting the main body 101 to the computer 103 or another information source.
0 and a power supply unit 131.

The computer 103 is a device having a communication function such as a personal computer or a PDA, and has software 140 for transferring information to the content DB storage unit 115 of the main unit 101.

In order to search and browse information using the information search terminal of the present invention, the acceleration sensor signal detection unit detects the tilt angle of the main body and “shakes” or “tilts” from the signal obtained from the acceleration sensor. Detect gestures. Next, the icon control unit controls the movement of the icon group representing the information content from the tilt angle of the mobile terminal, and the icon display unit displays an icon that moves every moment on the display.

When the main body is kept horizontal, the content indicated by the icon displayed near the center of the display is displayed on the display in the content display section.

As a result, the user tilts the main body back and forth and left and right until a desired icon appears on the screen, and keeps the main body horizontal when the desired icon is displayed near the center of the screen, thereby searching and browsing information. can do.

When inputting information to the main body, the main body is placed on the cradle 102, and the content DB transfer software 140 of the PC is started. The content DB transfer software collects necessary information contents from information sources such as the Internet, a television, a radio, and a music CD, and transfers them to the content DB storage unit 115 of the main unit via the communication unit 130 of the cradle. When the main body is placed on the cradle, the power supply section 131 of the cradle charges the power supply section 123 of the main body.

[2] External View FIG. 2 shows an example of an external view of the main body 101 of the present invention. 150 is a view from the top, 151, 152 and 153 are views from the side, and 154 shows the internal structure.

[3] Flowchart FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for controlling the main body of the present invention.

First, at 201, after the power is turned on, at 202, the contents list is stored in the contents DB.
The data is loaded from the storage unit 115 to the memory 120. As described in detail with reference to FIG. 5, the content list is a list of icons representing the content and files of the content.

In step 203, the position position of the icon is initialized.

At 204, the inclination angles of the main body in the horizontal and vertical directions converted by the acceleration sensor signal detection unit 114 from the information obtained from the acceleration sensor 113 are represented by slopeH and sl.
Substitute opeV.

At 205, it is determined whether the main body is horizontal. Specifically, -CENTER_THRES <slopeH <CENTER_T
Determines whether HRES and -CENTER_THRES <slopeV <CENTER_THRES are satisfied. If it is horizontal, the process moves from 209 to 215; otherwise, the process proceeds to 206 and subsequent steps.

At 206, the position of all icons posit
Update ion. Specifically, the position is updated as in the following equation so that the smaller the icon, the slower the icon, and the larger the icon, the faster the icon. position.h = position.h-size * slope
H * SPEED, position.v = position.v-size * slopeV
* SPEED.

At 207, icons are displayed on the display in ascending order of size.

In step 208, if the power is turned off, the processing is terminated. Otherwise, the processing returns to step 204.

At 209, an icon closest to the center of the display is searched, and the number is stored in id.

At 210, the distance between the position of the id-th icon and the center position of the display is stored in D.

In step 211, if D is smaller than DIST_THRES, the process proceeds to step 212 and subsequent steps.
Return to the processing of.

At 212, the size of the id-th icon is updated.

In step 213, if the size of the id-th icon is larger than SIZE_THRES, the process proceeds to step 214 and thereafter, and if not, the process returns to step 206.

At 214, the content indicated by the id-th icon is displayed. Details will be described later with reference to FIG.

At step 215, the size of the id-th icon is initialized, and the process returns to step 206.

[4] Display Example of Display FIG. 4 shows an example of icons displayed on the display of the main body of the present invention.

Reference numeral 250 denotes the position of the icon, 251 denotes the size of the icon, 252 denotes a character string representing the name of the content drawn on the icon, and 253 denotes a distance D between the position of the icon and the center of the display.

[5] Content DB FIG. 5 shows the structure of the content DB stored in the content DB storage unit 115 of the main body of the present invention.

270 is a character string indicating the name of the content, 271
Is a value indicating the type of content, 272 is image information indicating an image of the icon, 273 is a pointer or file name indicating the content, and 274 is content data. These pieces of information are stored in the content DB storage unit 115 by the number of contents.
Is stored in

[6] Icon Attributes FIG. 6 shows icon attributes of contents stored in the content DB storage unit 115 of the main body of the present invention.

280 is a value representing the size of the icon, 281 is a value representing the horizontal and vertical position of the icon, and 282 is a flag indicating whether the content indicated by the icon has already been displayed. These pieces of information are stored in the content DB storage unit 115 by the number of contents.

[7] Parameters FIG. 7 shows parameters stored in the content DB storage unit 115 of the main body of the present invention.

290 is a threshold value for determining whether the angle of the main body is horizontal, 291 is a threshold value for the distance from the center when displaying the content, and 292 is a threshold value for the size of the icon which determines the timing for displaying the content. , 293 is a value indicating the degree of enlargement of the icon when the main body is kept horizontal, 29
4 is a value indicating the amount of movement of the icon when the main body is tilted, 295 is a value indicating the amount of enlargement of the image when displaying an image described below, and 296 controls the volume of music data and moving image data described below. Here are the values for Regarding these, one type of value is stored in the content DB storage unit 115 regardless of the number of contents.

[8] Content Display Routine FIG. 8 shows a content display routine started when the content is displayed at 214 in FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is "text" in 301, a text display routine is started in 302. The text display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is “mail” at 303, a text display routine is started at 304. For the text display routine,
This will be described later with reference to FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is "still image" in 305, a still image display routine is started in 306. For the still image display routine, see FIG.
0 will be described later.

If the type of the id-th content is "still image album" at 307, a still image album display routine is started at 308. The still image album display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is “music” at 309, a music reproduction routine is started at 310. The music reproduction routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is “music album” in 311, a music album routine is started in 312. The music album routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is “three-dimensional data” in 313, a three-dimensional data display routine is started in 314. The three-dimensional data display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is “moving picture” at 315, a moving picture display routine is started at 316. The moving image display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

If the type of the id-th content is “hypertext” at 317, a hypertext display routine is started at 318. The hypertext display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.

[9] Text Display Routine FIG. 9 shows a text display routine of 302 in FIG.

At 331, the text data of the id-th content is loaded from the content DB storage unit to the memory.

At 332, the display position of the text is indicated.
Initialize offsetH and offsetV.

At 333, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.

In 334, when a vibration gesture is performed to shake the main body suddenly, the processing ends.
The vibration gesture will be described later with reference to FIG.

At 336, using slopeH and slopeV,
Update offsetH and offsetV.

At 337, (offsetH, o
ffsetV) is drawn as a base point, and the process returns to 333.

[10] Still Image Display Routine FIG. 10 shows a text display routine 306 in FIG.

At 350, the still image data is loaded from the content DB storage unit to the memory.

At 351, offs indicating the display position of the image
Initialize etH and offsetV.

At step 352, the horizontal and vertical image sizes of the still image are stored in imgsizeH and imgsizeV.

At 353, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.

At 354, if a vibration gesture is detected, the process ends.

In step 355, when a right rotation gesture such as rotating the main body to the right is performed, the processing in step 356 is performed. The right rotation and the left rotation, upper rotation, and lower rotation gestures described later will be described later with reference to FIG.

At 356, IMGS is set to imgsizeH and imgsizeV.
Add IZE_MAG.

At 357, if a left rotation gesture is detected, at 358, imgsizeH, imgsizeV to IMGSIZE
Subtract _MAG.

At 359, using slopeH and slopeV,
Update offsetH and offsetV.

At 360, (offsetH, o
ffsetV) and the horizontal and vertical sizes are (imgsizeH,
imgsizeV) draws an image in the rectangle and returns to the processing of 353.

[11] Still Image Album Display Routine FIG. 11 shows the text display routine 308 in FIG.

At 370, the still image album data is loaded from the content DB storage unit to the memory. Nu
The number of images included in the album is stored in m, and i is initialized to 0.

At 371, if a vibration gesture is detected, the processing is terminated.

If a right rotation gesture is detected at 372, i is counted up at 373.

If a left rotation gesture is detected at 374, i is counted down at 373.

At 376, the ith image is drawn on the display.

[12] Music Reproduction Routine FIG. 12 shows a music reproduction routine of 310 in FIG.

At 400, the music data is transferred to the content D
Load from memory B into memory.

At 401, vol indicating the volume is initialized.

At 402, if a vibration gesture is detected, the processing is terminated.

If an upward rotation gesture is detected at 403, the value of vol is increased at 404.

If a downward rotation gesture is detected at 405, the value of vol is reduced at 406.

At 407, the music is reproduced at the volume vol.
It returns to the process of 2.

[13] Music Album Playback Routine FIG. 13 shows the music album playback routine 312 in FIG.

At 410, the music album data is loaded from the content DB storage unit to the memory, the number of songs included in the album is stored in Num, and i is initialized to 0.

At 411, vol indicating the volume is initialized.

At 412, if a vibration gesture is detected, the process ends.

If the upward rotation gesture is detected at 413, the value of vol is increased at 414.

If a downward rotation gesture is detected at 415, the value of vol is decreased at 416.

If a right rotation gesture is detected at 417, i is counted up at 418.

If a left rotation gesture is detected at 419, i is counted down at 420.

At 421, the process returns to the processing of the 412 music on the recycled paper with the volume vol.

[14] Three-Dimensional Data Display Routine FIG. 14 shows the three-dimensional data display routine 314 in FIG.

At 430, the three-dimensional data is loaded from the content DB storage unit to the memory.

At 431, camera data camera used for drawing three-dimensional data is initialized.

At 432, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.

At 433, if a vibration gesture is detected, the process ends.

At 434, camera is obtained from slopeH and slopeV.
To update.

[0098] At 435, the three-dimensional data is drawn on the display from the viewpoint of the camera, and the process returns to 432.

[15] Moving Picture Display Routine FIG. 15 shows the moving picture display routine 316 in FIG.

At 450, the moving image data is
Load from memory B into memory.

At 451, vol indicating the volume is initialized.

At 452, if a vibration gesture is detected, the process ends.

If the upward rotation gesture is detected at 453, the value of vol is increased at 454.

If a downward rotation gesture is detected at 455, the value of vol is reduced at 456.

At 457, the moving image is reproduced at the volume vol, and
It returns to the process of 2.

[16] Hypertext Display Routine FIG. 16 shows the hypertext display routine 318 in FIG.

At step 470, the hypertext data is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory, and the number of link locations included in the hypertext is stored in LinkNum.

At 471, the display position of the text is indicated.
Initialize offsetH and offsetV, and assign 0 to Link.

At 472, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.

At 473, if a vibration gesture is detected, the process ends.

If the downward rotation gesture is detected at 474, the link is counted up at 475.

If the upward rotation gesture is detected at 476, the link is counted down at 477.

If the right rotation gesture is detected at 478, the hypertext of the Link-th link destination is loaded at 479, 0 is substituted for Link, and the number of link locations included in the hypertext loaded at LinkNum is loaded. Is assigned.

At 480, using slopeH and slopeV,
Update offsetH and offsetV.

At 481, (offsetH, o
ffsetV) to draw hypertext from the base point,
Highlight the second link.

[17] Content DB Transfer Software The content DB transfer software 140 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 500 denotes a content D stored in the computer.
B transfer software. The content DB transfer software is composed of routines 501 to 505. 50
In one DB setting routine, a content DB is set by a user interface such as 520. The DB read routine 502 reads data from the content DB file 510 into the memory. The DB storage routine 503 stores the content DB in the memory in the file 510. The content update routine of 504 is content D
Internet, TV, radio,
It takes in data from information sources such as teletext, video, and music CDs and stores it in 511 content files. 505
The main body transfer routine transfers the 511 content files to the main body via the cradle.

Next, the user interface when the DB setting routine of 520 is started will be described. 521 is a character string input area indicating the name of the content, 522 is an area selected from a pop-up menu indicating the type of the content, 523 is an area for setting an icon of the content, and 524 is a location or a file name of the information source of the content. An area 525 is a button for activating the content update routine 504 for all the contents to update the information and activating the main body transfer routine 505 to transfer the content file to the main body.

[18] Content Updating Directly in Main Body Referring to FIG. 18, another content updating example different from FIG. 17 will be described. FIG. 18 shows an example in which a communication unit 551 and a content update routine 550 are added to the main body of the present invention shown in FIG. The type of content stored in the content DB storage unit (t
ype) and an information source (contents filename), the content update routine is started, and the content is stored in the contents file 553 of the content DB storage unit via the communication unit 551.

[19] Gesture Detection from Acceleration Sensor A method for detecting a gesture from a signal obtained from the acceleration sensor will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown at 570, the horizontal and vertical angles are detected by the acceleration sensor based on the tilt angle of the main body.

In order to detect a vibration gesture, 58
As shown in 0, when the values in the vertical and horizontal directions of the acceleration sensor are detected at a certain amplitude or more within a certain time, the vibration is determined to have occurred.

In order to detect a right rotation gesture,
As shown in 590, when a pattern in which the horizontal value of the acceleration sensor reaches a certain value or more within a certain time and then attenuates over a certain time, a right rotation gesture is Recognize that it has happened.

The left rotation, the upper rotation, and the lower rotation are also
As shown at 0, 610, and 620, the detection is performed in the same manner as the detection of the right rotation gesture.

[0124]

According to the present invention, the user tilts the portable terminal back and forth and left and right until the desired icon appears on the screen, and keeps the portable terminal horizontal when the desired icon is displayed near the center of the screen. With just this, information can be searched and browsed without performing complicated button operations or input operations.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an information search terminal according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of an information search terminal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a flow of an information search terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a display of the information search terminal according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a content database according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating attribute information of icons according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing parameters of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a content display routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a text display routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a still image display routine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a still image album display routine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a music reproduction routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a music album reproduction routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a three-dimensional data display routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a moving image display routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a hypertext display routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing content database transfer software of the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of directly updating content in the main body of the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of detecting a gesture from an acceleration sensor in the main body of the embodiment.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takeshi Hoshino 1-280 Higashi Koigakubo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo Inside the Hitachi, Ltd.Design Research Laboratories Co., Ltd. 5B019 DA08 DA10 HD09 HD13 HD20 JA04 JA10

Claims (26)

[Claims] An acceleration sensor, a display, a content storage unit for storing information content, an icon display unit for displaying an icon representing the information content on the display, and control of the movement of the icon based on information obtained from the acceleration sensor. An information search terminal comprising: an icon control unit; a content display unit that displays information content on a display; and a content control unit that controls content display based on information obtained from an acceleration sensor. 2. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 1, further comprising an icon control unit for converting acceleration information obtained from the acceleration sensor into a tilt angle of the terminal, and controlling an icon movement based on the tilt angle. 3. An icon control section for gradually increasing the size of an icon displayed at the center of the display when the terminal is held horizontally, and a content for displaying information content represented by the icon when the size of the icon exceeds a certain value. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 2, further comprising a display unit. 4. The information according to claim 2, further comprising a touch panel provided on the display, and a content display section for displaying an information content represented by the icon by touching a position of the icon displayed on the display. Search terminal. 5. An icon display unit having a flag indicating whether or not the content represented by the icon has been displayed in the past, and having a function of changing the color or shape of the icon according to the flag. 2. The information search terminal described in 2. 6. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 2, wherein the terminal is used as a command for executing a function by a pattern of information from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved. 7. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a content control unit for converting acceleration information obtained from the acceleration sensor into a tilt angle of the terminal and controlling content display based on the tilt angle. 8. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a content control unit for interrupting browsing of the content according to an information pattern obtained from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is rapidly moved. 9. The information search terminal according to claim 7, further comprising a content control unit for controlling a display area of a still image based on a tilt angle of the terminal. 10. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 7, further comprising a content control section for controlling a magnification ratio of a still image based on a tilt angle of the terminal. 11. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 7, further comprising a content control unit for controlling a text display area based on a tilt angle of the terminal. 12. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 7, further comprising a content display section for sequentially displaying images on a display in accordance with a pattern of information from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is rapidly moved. 13. The content display section according to claim 7, further comprising a content display section for fast-forwarding and rewinding and playing music according to a pattern of information from the acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is rapidly moved. Information retrieval terminal. 14. A content display unit for sequentially changing music to be reproduced according to a pattern of information from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved, and for reproducing the music. Information search terminal. 15. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a content display unit for reproducing music by increasing or decreasing the volume according to a pattern of information from the acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is rapidly moved. Terminal. 16. The content display section according to claim 7, further comprising a content display section for fast-forwarding and rewinding according to a pattern of information from the acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is rapidly moved and playing back a moving image. Information retrieval terminal. 17. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a content display unit for setting viewpoint information for drawing the three-dimensional shape data from the inclination angle of the terminal and displaying the three-dimensional shape data on a display. Information retrieval terminal. 18. A hypertext is displayed on a display, one of the link areas set in the hypertext is highlighted and displayed, and the link area to be sequentially emphasized is changed from the inclination angle of the terminal. 8. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 7, further comprising a content display unit for displaying another hypertext pointed to by the link area when the URL is rapidly moved. 19. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 1, wherein a switch is provided in the terminal, and when the switch is turned on, information from the acceleration sensor is not used. 20. The information retrieval terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a terminal for connecting to the outside, and transferring the content information from an external information source to the content storage section by wire. 21. The information search terminal according to claim 1, further comprising communication means for wirelessly transferring content information from an external information source to a content storage unit. 22. A content database transfer software including a database setting routine for setting an information source to be transferred to the content storage unit, a content update routine for taking in the information source, and a transfer routine for transferring the database to the main unit. An information search terminal system, wherein the information processing terminal according to claim 1 is connected to a mounted computer. 23. The information retrieval terminal system according to claim 22, wherein the information source is digital data on the Internet. 24. The information retrieval terminal system according to claim 22, wherein the information source is a video of a television. 25. The information retrieval terminal system according to claim 22, wherein text information of teletext is used as an information source. 26. An object for transmitting content information to the information retrieval terminal according to claim 21. In addition to the content information, attributes such as icon information and content type are added and stored in a server. An information server for an information search terminal, wherein the information is downloaded to the terminal via the terminal.