JP3890880B2 - Information retrieval terminal - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable information terminal that searches and browses information.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As an example of manipulating information using the tilt angle of a mobile terminal, there is a game that controls the direction in which a game character moves according to the tilt of the game terminal. Further, a method of searching and browsing information by operating a plurality of buttons provided in a general portable terminal is used.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the conventional method, it has been limited to applications such as control of game characters. There is also a problem that the operation of the buttons is complicated.
[0004]
An object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of more easily searching and browsing information by a signal obtained from an acceleration sensor provided in a mobile terminal.
[0005]
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for searching and browsing information without complicated button operations.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, first, a tilt angle of the mobile terminal and gestures such as “shake” and “tilt” are detected from a signal obtained from the acceleration sensor. Next, the movement of the icon group representing the information content is controlled from the tilt angle of the portable terminal, and the icon that moves from moment to moment is displayed on the display.
[0007]
When the portable terminal is kept horizontal, an icon displayed near the center of the display displays the content indicated by the icon on the display.
[0008]
The user can search and browse information by tilting the mobile terminal back and forth, left and right until the desired icon appears on the screen, and keeping the mobile terminal horizontal when the desired icon is displayed near the center of the screen. it can.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(Example)
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0010]
[1] System Configuration FIG. 1 shows a system configuration example of the present invention. 101 is a portable information retrieval terminal main body 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.
[0011]
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, a content display unit 118, A content control unit 119, a memory 120, a communication unit 121, a stereo terminal 122, and a power supply unit 123 are included.
[0012]
The cradle 102 is a device that connects the main body 101 and the computer 103 or another information source, and includes a communication unit 130 and a power supply unit 131.
[0013]
The computer 103 is a device having a communication function such as a personal computer or a PDA, and is equipped with software 140 for transferring information to the content DB storage unit 115 of the main body 101.
[0014]
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 gestures such as “shake” and “tilt” from the signal obtained from the acceleration sensor. To do. 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 the icon that moves momentarily on the display.
[0015]
When the main body is kept horizontal, an icon displayed near the center of the display displays the content indicated by the icon on the display in the content display unit.
[0016]
As a result, the user can search and browse information by tilting the main body in the front-rear and left-right directions until the desired icon appears on the screen, and keeping the main body horizontal when the desired icon is displayed near the center of the screen. it can.
[0017]
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 activated. The content DB transfer software collects necessary information contents from information sources such as the Internet, television, radio, and music CD, and transfers them to the content DB storage unit 115 of the main body via the communication unit 130 of the cradle. Further, when the main body is placed in the cradle, the power supply unit 123 of the main body is charged from the power supply unit 131 of the cradle.
[0018]
[2] Appearance FIG. 2 shows an example of the appearance of the main body 101 of the present invention. 150 is a view from above, 151, 152, and 153 are views from the side, and 154 is an internal structure.
[0019]
[3] Flowchart FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of control of the main body of the present invention.
[0020]
First, in 201, after the power is turned on,
In 202, the content list is loaded from the content DB storage unit 115 to the memory 120. As will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5, the content list is a list of icons representing content and content files.
[0021]
In 203, the position position of the icon is initialized.
[0022]
In 204, the horizontal and vertical inclination angles of the main body converted by the acceleration sensor signal detection unit 114 from the information obtained from the acceleration sensor 113 are substituted into slopeH and slopeV.
[0023]
In 205, it is determined whether the main body is horizontal. Specifically, it is determined whether -CENTER_THRES <slopeH <CENTER_THRES and -CENTER_THRES <slopeV <CENTER_THRES are satisfied. If it is horizontal, the process proceeds from 209 to 215, and if not, the process proceeds to 206 and later.
[0024]
In 206, the position positions of all icons are updated. Specifically, the position is updated as shown in the following equation so that the smaller the icon, the slower the icon and the faster the icon. position.h = position.h-size * slopeH * SPEED, position.v = position.v-size * slopeV * SPEED.
[0025]
In 207, the icons are displayed on the display in ascending order of size.
[0026]
If the power is turned off at 208, the process ends. If not, the process returns to 204.
[0027]
At 209, the icon closest to the center of the display is retrieved and the number is stored in id.
[0028]
In 210, the distance between the position of the id-th icon and the center position of the display is stored in D.
[0029]
In 211, if D is smaller than DIST_THRES, the process proceeds to 212 and subsequent steps, and if not, the process returns to 206.
[0030]
At 212, the size of the id th icon is updated.
[0031]
In 213, if the size of the id-th icon is larger than SIZE_THRES, the process proceeds to 214 and subsequent processes, and if not, the process returns to 206.
[0032]
In 214, the content indicated by the id-th icon is displayed. Details will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0033]
In 215, the size of the id-th icon is initialized, and the process returns to 206.
[0034]
[4] Display Display Example FIG. 4 shows an example of icons displayed on the display of the main body of the present invention.
[0035]
250 indicates the position of the icon, 251 indicates the size of the icon, 252 indicates a character string indicating the name of the content drawn on the icon, and 253 indicates the distance D between the position of the icon and the center of the display.
[0036]
[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.
[0037]
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 icon image, 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.
[0038]
[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.
[0039]
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.
[0040]
[7] Parameters FIG. 7 shows parameters stored in the content DB storage unit 115 of the main body of the present invention.
[0041]
290 is a threshold value indicating whether the angle of the main body is horizontal, 291 is a threshold value of the distance from the center when displaying the content, 292 is a threshold value of the icon size that determines the timing of displaying the content, 293 is A value indicating the degree of expansion of the icon when the main body is held horizontally, 294 is a value indicating the amount of movement of the icon when the main body is tilted, and 295 is the amount of expansion of the image when displaying an image described later. A value 296 indicates a value for controlling the volume of music data and moving image data described later. These values are stored in the content DB storage unit 115 regardless of the number of contents.
[0042]
[8] Content Display Routine FIG. 8 shows a content display routine started when content is displayed in 214 of FIG.
[0043]
If the id-th content type is “text” in 301, the text display routine is started in 302. The text display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0044]
If the id-th content type is “mail” in 303, the text display routine is started in 304. The text display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0045]
If the id-th content type is “still image” in 305, a still image display routine is started in 306. The still image display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0046]
If the id-th content type is “still image album” in 307, the still image album display routine is started in 308. The still image album display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0047]
If the type of the id-th content is “music” in 309, the music playback routine is started in 310. The music playback routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0048]
If the type of the id-th content is “music album” in 311, the music album routine is started in 312. The music album routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0049]
If the type of the id-th content is “3D data” in 313, a 3D data display routine is started in 314. The three-dimensional data display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0050]
If the id-th content type is “moving image” in 315, the moving image display routine is started in 316. The moving image display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0051]
If the id-th content type is “hypertext” in 317, the hypertext display routine is started in 318. The hypertext display routine will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0052]
[9] Text Display Routine FIG. 9 shows a text display routine 302 in FIG.
[0053]
In 331, the text data of the id-th content is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory.
[0054]
In 332, offsetH and offsetV indicating the display position of the text are initialized.
[0055]
In 333, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.
[0056]
In 334, when a vibration gesture that causes the main body to be shaken suddenly is performed, the process ends. The vibration gesture will be described later with reference to FIG.
[0057]
At 336, offsetH and offsetV are updated using slopeH and slopeV.
[0058]
In 337, the text is drawn on the display using (offsetH, offsetV) as a base point, and the process returns to 333.
[0059]
[10] Still Image Display Routine FIG. 10 shows a text display routine 306 in FIG.
[0060]
In 350, the still image data is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory.
[0061]
In 351, offsetH and offsetV indicating the display position of the image are initialized.
[0062]
In 352, the horizontal and vertical image sizes of the still image are stored in imgsizeH and imgsizeV.
[0063]
In 353, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.
[0064]
If a vibration gesture is detected at 354, the process ends.
[0065]
In 355, when a right rotation gesture is performed to rotate the main body to the right, the process of 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.
[0066]
In 356, IMGSIZE_MAG is added to imgsizeH and imgsizeV.
[0067]
If a left rotation gesture is detected in 357, IMGSIZE_MAG is subtracted from imgsizeH and imgsizeV in 358.
[0068]
At 359, offsetH and offsetV are updated using slopeH and slopeV.
[0069]
In 360, the image is drawn in a rectangle whose horizontal and vertical sizes are (imgsizeH, imgsizeV) with (offsetH, offsetV) as the base point on the display, and the processing returns to 353.
[0070]
[11] Still Image Album Display Routine FIG. 11 shows a text display routine 308 in FIG.
[0071]
In 370, the still image album data is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory. Further, the number of images included in the album is stored in Num, and i is initialized to 0.
[0072]
If a vibration gesture is detected at 371, the process ends.
[0073]
If a right rotation gesture is detected at 372, i is incremented at 373.
[0074]
If a left rotation gesture is detected at 374, i is counted down at 373.
[0075]
At 376, the i-th image is drawn on the display.
[0076]
[12] Music Playback Routine FIG. 12 shows the music playback routine 310 in FIG.
[0077]
At 400, the music data is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory.
[0078]
In 401, vol indicating the volume is initialized.
[0079]
If a vibration gesture is detected at 402, the process ends.
[0080]
If an upper rotation gesture is detected at 403, the value of vol is increased at 404.
[0081]
If a downward rotation gesture is detected at 405, the value of vol is decreased at 406.
[0082]
At 407, music is played at the volume vol, and the process returns to 402.
[0083]
[13] Music Album Playback Routine FIG. 13 shows a music album playback routine 312 in FIG.
[0084]
In 410, music album data is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory, the number of songs included in the album is stored in Num, and i is initialized to zero.
[0085]
In 411, vol indicating the volume is initialized.
[0086]
If a vibration gesture is detected at 412, the process ends.
[0087]
If an upward rotation gesture is detected at 413, the value of vol is increased at 414.
[0088]
If a downward rotation gesture is detected at 415, the value of vol is decreased at 416.
[0089]
If a right rotation gesture is detected at 417, i is incremented at 418.
[0090]
If a left rotation gesture is detected at 419, i is counted down at 420.
[0091]
In 421, the i-th music is returned to the recycled paper with the volume vol, and the processing of 412 is returned.
[0092]
[14] Three-dimensional data display routine FIG. 14 shows the three-dimensional data display routine 314 in FIG.
[0093]
In 430, the three-dimensional data is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory.
[0094]
In 431, camera data camera used when drawing three-dimensional data is initialized.
[0095]
In 432, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.
[0096]
If a vibration gesture is detected at 433, the process ends.
[0097]
At 434, the camera is updated from slopeH and slopeV.
[0098]
In 435, the three-dimensional data is drawn on the display from the viewpoint from the camera, and the processing returns to 432.
[0099]
[15] Moving Image Display Routine FIG. 15 shows a moving image display routine 316 in FIG.
[0100]
In 450, the moving image data is loaded from the content DB storage unit into the memory.
[0101]
In 451, vol indicating the volume is initialized.
[0102]
If a vibration gesture is detected at 452, the process ends.
[0103]
If an upper rotation gesture is detected at 453, the value of vol is increased at 454.
[0104]
If a downward rotation gesture is detected at 455, the value of vol is decreased at 456.
[0105]
In 457, the moving image is reproduced at the volume vol, and the process returns to 452.
[0106]
[16] Hypertext Display Routine FIG. 16 shows the hypertext display routine 318 in FIG.
[0107]
In 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.
[0108]
In 471, offsetH and offsetV indicating the display position of the text are initialized, and 0 is assigned to Link.
[0109]
In 472, the inclination angle obtained from the acceleration sensor is detected and stored in slopeH and slopeV.
[0110]
If a vibration gesture is detected at 473, the process ends.
[0111]
If a downward rotation gesture is detected at 474, Link is counted up at 475.
[0112]
If an upward rotation gesture is detected at 476, Link is counted down at 477.
[0113]
If a right rotation gesture is detected at 478, the hypertext of the Link-th link destination is loaded at 479, 0 is assigned to Link, and the number of link locations included in the loaded hypertext is assigned to LinkNum. .
[0114]
At 480, offsetH and offsetV are updated using slopeH, slopeV.
[0115]
In 481, hypertext is drawn on the display using (offsetH, offsetV) as a base point, and the Link-th link location is highlighted.
[0116]
[17] Content DB Transfer Software The content DB transfer software 140 in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0117]
Reference numeral 500 denotes content DB transfer software stored in the computer. The content DB transfer software is composed of routines 501 to 505. In the DB setting routine 501, the content DB is set by a user interface as shown at 520. The 502 DB read routine reads data from the 510 content DB file into the memory. The DB storage routine 503 stores the content DB in the memory in the file 510. The content update routine 504 fetches data from information sources such as the Internet, television, radio, teletext, video, and music CD while referring to the content DB, and saves it in a content file 511. The main body transfer routine 505 transfers the content file 511 to the main body via the cradle.
[0118]
Next, the user interface when the DB setting routine 520 is activated will be described. 521 is a character string input area indicating the content name, 522 is an area selected from a pop-up menu indicating the content type, 523 is an area for setting a content icon, 524 is a location of the information source of the content, a file name, etc. An area 525 is a button for starting the content update routine 504 to update information for all contents and starting the main body transfer routine 505 to transfer the content file to the main body.
[0119]
[18] Updating content directly in main body An example of content updating different from that shown in FIG. 17 is shown using FIG. 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 content update routine is started from the content type (type) and information source (contents filename) stored in the content DB storage unit, and the content is stored in the content file 553 of the content DB storage unit via the communication unit 551. To do.
[0120]
[19] Gesture detection from acceleration sensor A method of 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 according to the inclination angle of the main body.
[0121]
In order to detect a vibration gesture, as shown in 580, when the vertical and horizontal values of the acceleration sensor are detected within a certain time and a certain amplitude is detected more than a certain number of times, vibration occurs. Authorize.
[0122]
In order to detect a right-turn gesture, as shown at 590, there is a pattern in which the horizontal value of the acceleration sensor reaches a certain value within a certain time and then decays over a certain time. When detected, it is determined that a right turn gesture has occurred.
[0123]
The left rotation, the upper rotation, and the lower rotation are also detected by the same method as the detection of the right rotation gesture as indicated by 600, 610, and 620.
[0124]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the user simply tilts the mobile terminal in the front-rear and left-right directions until the desired icon appears on the screen, and simply keeps the mobile terminal horizontal when the desired icon is displayed near the center of the screen. Information can be searched and browsed without any button operation or input operation.
[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 an 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 an embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating icon attribute information according to the embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating parameters of an example.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a content display routine of the embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a text display routine of the embodiment.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a still image display routine according to the embodiment.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a still image album display routine according to the embodiment.
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a music playback routine according to an embodiment.
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a music album playback routine according to an embodiment.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a three-dimensional data display routine according to the embodiment.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a moving image display routine according to the embodiment.
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a hypertext display routine of the embodiment.
FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating content database transfer software according to an embodiment.
FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example in which content is directly updated in the main body of the embodiment.
FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram for detecting a gesture from the acceleration sensor in the main body of the embodiment.

Claims (9)

An acceleration sensor, a display, a content storage unit for storing information content,
Obtained from an icon display unit for displaying an icon representing information content on the display, an icon control unit for controlling the movement of the icon by information obtained from the acceleration sensor, a content display unit for displaying information content on the display, and an acceleration sensor A content control unit that controls content display according to information,
The icon display unit converts acceleration information obtained from the acceleration sensor into a tilt angle of the terminal, controls the movement of the icon in the icon display unit based on the tilt angle or acceleration information,
When the device is held horizontally, the size of the icon displayed in the approximate center of the display is gradually enlarged,
The information search terminal, wherein the content display unit selects the icon when the size becomes a certain size or more.   2. The information search terminal according to claim 1, wherein the icon control unit controls the icon display unit to move faster as an icon to be displayed is larger. 3.   2. The information search terminal according to claim 1, wherein the information search terminal is used as a command for executing a function according to a pattern of information from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved.   The information search terminal according to claim 1, wherein the content control unit interrupts browsing of content according to a pattern of information obtained from the acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved.   The information search terminal according to claim 1, wherein the content display unit sequentially displays images on a display according to a pattern of information from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved.   The information search according to claim 1, wherein the content control unit performs fast-forwarding and rewinding according to a pattern of information from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved to reproduce music or a moving image. Terminal.   2. The content control unit according to claim 1, wherein the music or the moving image is sequentially changed according to the information pattern from the acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved, and the music or the moving image is reproduced. Information retrieval terminal.   The information search terminal according to claim 1, wherein the content display unit reproduces music by increasing or decreasing the volume according to a pattern of information from an acceleration sensor obtained when the terminal is suddenly moved.   2. The information search terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a terminal or a communication unit for connecting to the outside, and transferring content information from an external information source to the content storage unit by wire or wirelessly.

Images