U.S. patent application number 10/793876 was filed with the patent office on 2004-09-02 for method and apparatus for displaying an image and data related to the image conditioned on used identifier.
Invention is credited to Hirasawa, Shigeki, Kuwabara, Tadashi, Morioka, Michio, Ozaki, Tomochika, Yagawa, Yuichi, Yajima, Akio.
Application Number | 20040172661 10/793876 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 18373615 |
Filed Date | 2004-09-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040172661 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Yagawa, Yuichi ; et
al. |
September 2, 2004 |
Method and apparatus for displaying an image and data related to
the image conditioned on used identifier
Abstract
A device and method of displaying images and data on a display
device. The device and method displays still and moving images in
which at least one icon is associated and displayed with each image
on a screen. A single screen may contain several images which
change over time. As the images change so do the icons associated
with them. Upon selection of an icon by a viewer, the device and
method will display one of several possible advertisements or
information associated with the icon. The selection of which
advertisement or piece of information is based on information
stored about the viewer. This information would include data
concerning the viewer's age, income, address and hobbies. A list of
selections made by a viewer is maintained and may be displayed at
the viewer's request. The system may also force the display of
advertisements if desired by advertisers.
Inventors: |
Yagawa, Yuichi;
(Yokohama-shi, JP) ; Morioka, Michio;
(Kashiwa-shi, JP) ; Hirasawa, Shigeki;
(Sagamihara-shi, JP) ; Kuwabara, Tadashi;
(Yokohama-shi, JP) ; Ozaki, Tomochika; (Irvine,
CA) ; Yajima, Akio; (Tokyo, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ANTONELLI, TERRY, STOUT & KRAUS, LLP
1300 NORTH SEVENTEENTH STREET
SUITE 1800
ARLINGTON
VA
22209-9889
US
|
Family ID: |
18373615 |
Appl. No.: |
10/793876 |
Filed: |
March 8, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10793876 |
Mar 8, 2004 |
|
|
|
08997487 |
Dec 23, 1997 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
725/131 ;
348/553; 348/725; 348/E5.002; 348/E5.099; 348/E5.104; 348/E5.108;
348/E5.111; 348/E5.112; 375/E7.024; 725/111; 725/112; 725/139;
725/151 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 21/42204 20130101;
H04N 21/43074 20200801; H04N 21/4316 20130101; H04N 21/812
20130101; H04N 21/25891 20130101; H04N 21/435 20130101; H04N 5/45
20130101; H04N 21/426 20130101; H04N 5/445 20130101; H04N 21/4722
20130101; H04N 21/4782 20130101; H04N 21/478 20130101; H04N 21/235
20130101; H04N 21/458 20130101; H04N 21/8586 20130101; H04N 7/0122
20130101; H04N 21/858 20130101; H04N 21/4622 20130101; H04N 21/47
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/131 ;
725/139; 725/151; 348/553; 348/725; 725/111; 725/112 |
International
Class: |
H04N 007/173; G03B
029/00; G03B 019/00; G03B 017/48; H04N 007/16 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 25, 1996 |
JP |
08-345001 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An apparatus receiving broadcasted data and displaying the data
on a display device, comprising: a receiving module receiving the
data; a memory module storing the received data; a display module
displaying the stored data on said display device; a setting module
setting a first condition and a second condition, said first
condition defining whether or not the data is selectively received
in accordance with at least one of an attribute and preference of a
user and said second condition indicating for displaying the stored
data on said display device, wherein said receiving module receives
data consistent with at least one of the attribute and the
preference of the user in accordance with said first condition; and
wherein said display module editing the stored data in accordance
with said second condition to display the edited data on said
display device.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising, a
deleting module deleting the data from said display device in an
order of low charge for the data.
3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display module
displays high priority data on said display device in accordance
with a predetermined priority when a plurality of data are
conflicted.
4. An apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising, a module
calculating a degree of a vector matching between the data and the
one of the attributes and preference of the user to determine the
priority in an order of high degree.
5. An apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising, a module
determining the priority in an order of a high charge paid for the
data related to a broadcaster by a provide of the data.
6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display module
displays, on said display device, an icon or telop indicating a
content of the data, said display module also displays, on said
display device, the data corresponding to the icon or telop
indicated by the user when a command is entered from the user for
the icon or telop.
7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display module
displays a list of the data on said display device, and said
display module displays the data corresponding to a selection
indicated by the user on said display device when a selection is
entered from the user for the list.
8. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second condition
defines a size of a display area to be displayed the data on said
display device.
9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is data
related to broadcasted images and corresponded to each scene of the
images; and wherein said display module displays the data on a
screen on which the scene of the image has been displayed.
10. An apparatus receiving broadcasted images and data and
displaying the images and data on a display device, comprising: a
receiving module receiving the images and data; a memory module
storing the received images and data; a display module displaying
the stored images and data on said display device; a setting module
setting a first condition and a second condition, said first
condition defining whether or not the data is selectively received
in accordance with at least one of an attribute and preference of a
user and said second condition indicating for displaying the stored
data on said display device, wherein said receiving module receives
data consistent with at least one of the attribute and the
preference of the user in accordance with said first condition; and
wherein said display module editing the stored data in accordance
with said second condition to display the edited data on said
display device.
11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the data is data
corresponding to each scene of the images, the data includes a
timestamp for specifying the scene of the images corresponding to
the data, and said display module displays the data on a screen on
which the scene of the image has been displayed.
12. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the data is data
corresponding to each scene of the images, the data is broadcasted
with the data inserted into a Vertical Blanking Interval between
frames of the images, and said display module displays the data on
a screen on which a scene of the image has been displayed.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus
for displaying an image and data obtained from a broadcast or other
medium, and more particularly, to an image and data display method
and apparatus for displaying data classified or individualized for
each user synchronized with the image.
[0002] Further, the present invention relates to a method of
providing information (hereinafter referred to as contents) on a
network together with information of goods, including
advertisements, and more particularly, to a method of providing the
information of goods classified or individualized for each user in
relation to the contents.
[0003] Recently services of broadcasting data such as characters
and pictures, other than images, have been developed to broadcast
character data using air waves and data delivery services such as
satellite or a CATV. In future, when broadcasting becomes digital,
a large amount of data can be transmitted simultaneously with the
transmission of images using data compression techniques and the
data multiplexing techniques and accordingly it is believed that
these data broadcasting services will increase extensively.
[0004] The displaying methods used in the conventional data
broadcasting will now be described below.
[0005] Regarding character broadcasting, data is multiplexed in an
unoccupied area of the surface waves and air being transmitted and
electric waves received by a receiving terminal are then divided
into images and data. Since the data broadcast is not related to
the images broadcast, the data is displayed separately from the
display images. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a display screen
is divided into two portions so that an image is displayed in one
of the portions and data is displayed in the other. Generally, that
images and data are displayed in a display screen alternately by a
remote control operation. Another display method waits until
reception of the data is completed before displaying it while an
image is viewed. Since a temporary memory area is also provided in
the terminal, it is used to receive and store the data for later
viewing.
[0006] In any event, since the data is independent from the image,
the data can be viewed at any time regardless of the image starting
from the time of completing the reception of the data.
[0007] Further, in the service known as interactive television,
data related to an image is transmitted together with the image.
The data is multiplexed in the unoccupied area of the terrestrial
and air waves to be transmitted in the same manner as the character
broadcasting. When data related to a scene being viewed arrives at
the terminal, a specific icon is displayed at a corner of the image
to notify a viewer of the arrival. When the viewer designates
display of the data, the display screen is divided into two
portions as shown in FIG. 8 and the image and the data is displayed
at the same time. There is also a method that displays an image and
data on one display screen alternately.
[0008] However, recently, Internet television capable of viewing a
home page (discussed below) on the Internet has been developed. The
display method thereof is substantially identical with the
character broadcasting and the home page is displayed without quite
synchronizing with an image. Generally, the display method thereof
involves the method of displaying a television image and the home
page on two display screens at the same time as shown in FIG. 8.
Also, a method of displaying the television image and the home page
on one display screen alternately is used. Further, in recent
television programs, an address of a home page is often displayed
to the viewers, requiring that the user input the address in order
to view the home page by means of the Internet television.
[0009] The prior art pertinent to the interactive television and
the Internet television is described in "The Age of Digital
Televisions Has Come !", Nikkei Trendy, '96, Oct., pp. 54-73 issued
by Nikkei Home Co. in detail.
[0010] Next, there is the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet for
providing contents on a network. In the WWW, contents provided
therein are named in the home page. The home page is generally
described by the script language known as HTML (Hyper Text Markup
Language). Further, in HTML, the relationship among the home pages
is defined as a hyper link. The user designates a WWW server and a
home page by a unified format named the URL (Uniform Resource
Locator). When the WWW server receives a request from the user, the
WWW server transmits a proper home page to the user.
[0011] In a general method of providing information on goods in the
WWW, advertisements (information of goods) relating to the home
page are displayed in the same home page. Since the information of
goods relative to the home page required by the user is provided,
the power of appealing to the user so that the user buys goods is
increased. Generally, the home page and the advertisement often
correspond to each other in advance.
[0012] An information service considered by the present invention
is described below using a definite example.
[0013] Recently, with improvement of the performance of hardware
and the diffusion of network, the interactive information service
can be easily realized. The interactive information service
mentioned here is the information service having bidirectional
characteristics in which not only can an information provider send
information to the user one-sidedly but also the user can access
the information provider positively. For example, the conventional
television broadcasting and the radio broadcasting are one-way
media from a television program provider to viewers and listeners,
while the facsimile and telephone which are bidirectional media are
used to realize the interactive information service such as a
viewer participating in a program. Further, an experimental
television program employing the Internet and the communication
using other communication methods instead of the facsimile and
telephone has also started. Henceforth, it is believed that
information services using television broadcasting and the Internet
together will increased with the boom of the Internet.
[0014] In such a bidirectional information service, an effective
and efficient inquiry from the information provider to the users is
important. Unless an inquiry is first made by the information
provider, interaction is also not started. Considering the merits
of the information provider, it is desirable that large effects are
attained by the inquiry with reduced labor.
[0015] Considering how to provide information effectively,
information (which is sometimes referred to as data since the
information is contrasted with images) is sent together with images
and accordingly it is desirable that both of the information and
the images have relationship. Utilization methods include, for
example, in a television program a questionnaire on the program is
sent simultaneously or more detailed information of goods is sent
in a television commercial. When a television terminal capable of
accessing to the Internet or a CD-ROM is considered, an automatic
access program to an address of a home page or data in the CD-ROM
may be merely sent. In this manner, when the access method from the
image to the information is defined, there is a merit that the
viewers are attracted by the image and move to the bidirectional
media immediately. At the same time, the viewers can know detailed
information pertinent to the image easily.
[0016] As a method of providing information effectively, there is
considered important that information suitable for each individual
user is sent directly. For example, in a current television
commercial and television shopping, the same image information is
provided to all of the users uniformly. However, when it is
realized that information of goods having appeal in fact can be
provided to each individual user together with images on the basis
of customer information (character and taste of users), the
efficiency of marketing is improved remarkably. The customer
information includes characters and taste of the users. At the same
time, since information suitable to the user's Interest is sent to
the user, the efficiency of reference to the information is also
increased. Such individualization technique is called mass
customization or one-to-one marketing. Further, when different
information is sent to each user, the information provider's load
is increased and a load of the network is also heavy. Accordingly,
the users are classified by common characteristics so that
information is provided to each classified user. The concept
"classification" is also contained in the mass customization.
[0017] Problems in case where the above-mentioned interactive
information service is applied to the conventional image and data
display method are now described.
[0018] First, in character broadcasting, relationships are not
specifically defined between images and data. Similarly, it is not
premised that relationships exists between television images and
home pages on Internet television. Accordingly, there was no
problem even if the images and data were displayed in different
display screens independently. Further, in the character
broadcasting, even if the method of displaying data on the image
was performed, it was sufficient only by notifying that preparation
of display was completed after reception of data had been finished.
However, in the information service pertinent to the present
invention, since data relative to the images is treated, it is
necessary to notify the users which scene of the images the data
corresponds to.
[0019] However, data relative to images is displayed together with
the images in the current interactive television. Accordingly, the
display method in which a scene of the images to which the relative
data corresponds is transmitted to the user. However, since it is
not a display method in which the mass customization is premised
and the same data is delivered to the users, data to be viewed
synchronized with the images is all the same for the users.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0020] It is an object of the present invention to solve the above
problems in order to realize the above information service by
providing an image and data display method in which the users are
first notified that data classified or individualized for each user
exists synchronized with images and the data is displayed
synchronized with the images.
[0021] Further, in order to cause the users to access to relative
data, existence of the relative data must be understood more
easily. Since it is considered that a plurality of data are also
sometimes related to a specific image scene, measures for
identifying differences among the plurality of data easily are
required. Accordingly, it is another object of the present
invention to provide an image and data display method of notifying
users which data is related to the image plainly.
[0022] In addition, since the images are media that change with
time, the users have a desire to view the image continuously
without disturbing the image by any obstacle. Accordingly, it is
another object of the present invention to provide an image and
data display method which ensures that relative data is provided to
users without losing the continuity of images.
[0023] Furthermore, since the interactive information service
described above aims at typical families, it is necessary that the
users' terminals can be operated simply and used easily.
Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to
provide an image and data display method which is simple to operate
and easy to use.
[0024] Further, in order to spread the interactive information
service widely into typical families, it is indispensable that the
users' terminals be inexpensive. Accordingly, it is another object
of the present invention to provide an image and data display
method which can use inexpensive terminals.
[0025] Further, in the interactive information service, it is
important that an information provider's intention is satisfied
sufficiently so that information is given to the user of the target
exactly. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention
to provide an image and data display method which can reflect the
information provider's intentions.
[0026] Next, in the service of providing information of goods in
the WWW, generally, the home page and the advertisement are often
provided to the user in a one-to-one correspondence manner.
Accordingly, the service of providing a classified or
individualized advertisement to each user cannot be realized as it
is.
[0027] It is another object of the present invention to provide and
display information on goods classified or individualized for each
individual user in relation to contents while the user refers to
the contents. Particularly, in the case where information of a
plurality of goods is selected and provided to a target user at the
same time, the present invention relates to a method of solving any
conflict that results.
[0028] According to the present invention, a method of displaying
an image and data relative to a specific scene of the image,
comprises (a) the step of selecting, when one of a plurality of
images is selected, at least one data relative to the image
simultaneously, (b) the step of determining a display condition
including display and non-display of the relative data on the basis
of a previously determined user identifier and utilization
condition, (c) the step of determining, when a plurality of
relative data are determined to be able to be displayed in the step
(b), display priorities among the relative data, (d) the step of
displaying a picture and character string indicative of contents of
each relative data on the basis of the display priorities
determined in the step (c) together with the image during display
of the specific scene, (e) the step of displaying, when a picture
and character string is selected, relative data corresponding to
the selected picture and character string on the basis of the
display condition, and (f) the step of displaying, when a command
for displaying a list is inputted, a list of pictures and character
strings displayed until now and, when at least one in the list is
selected, displaying relative data corresponding to the selected
picture and character string on the basis of the display
condition.
[0029] In steps (a) and (b), the data relative to the image being
displayed and customized for the user is selected. Further, in step
(d), the user can be notified by the picture and the character
string indicative of contents of the relative data that the
relative data exists in the image scene. In addition, in the step
(e), the relative data can be displayed synchronized with the image
in response to the user's request.
[0030] Moreover, in the step (b), the display condition of the
picture and the character string is determined on the basis of the
utilization condition such as a size of the display terminal of the
user. Similarly, in the step (e), when a plurality of relative data
exist in the same image scene, the display priority such as the
order of displaying the relative data is determined. In step (d),
since the picture and the character string are displayed on the
basis of the display priority and the display condition, the
existence of the relative data can be transmitted to the user
plainly.
[0031] Further, in the step (f), when the user inputs a command to
display a list, a list of pictures and character strings displayed
to the present is displayed. The user can select any one in the
list and refer to the relative data. That is, the user can first
view only the images continuously and refer to the relative data
slowly later. Since there is provided a mode that the picture and
the character string cannot be displayed, the mode can cope with
the need of the user who wants to view only the picture on the
whole image.
[0032] Furthermore, in the present invention, in the step (e), the
whole display screen for displaying the relative data is divided
into at least one image display area and at least one data display
area. There is provided a mode for simultaneously displaying the
image and the data relative to the image and a mode for displaying
at least one piece of relative data on the whole display screen.
When a command for changing over the display is input, the display
mode is changed among the image display mode, the image and data
simultaneous display mode and the data display mode. The user can
select the mode in accordance with the user's purpose. In addition,
since the operation of selecting the mode can be made by the button
of the remote controller, there can be provide the function that
the operation is simple and easy.
[0033] Further, in the present invention, in step (f), the number
of relative data displayed in the list is limited and selection of
relative data is made in accordance with the display priority when
the limitation is exceeded.
[0034] Accordingly, the memory area can be kept small and
consequently the cost of the terminal can be reduced.
[0035] Moreover, in the present invention, there is provided a mode
in which the information provider can forcedly display the picture
and the character string indicative of contents of the relative
data. Even if the user sets the picture and the character string of
the relative data not to be displayed, the picture and the
character string are necessarily displayed for the relative data in
the forced display mode and accordingly the intentions of the
information provider can be satisfied sufficiently such that
information can be transmitted to the user of the target
exactly.
[0036] In the information-of-goods providing method according to
the present invention, when the user selects contents, information
of goods relative to the contents is also selected at the same time
and whether the information of goods is displayed or not is
determined for each user on the basis of the display condition of
the information of goods. When a plurality of information items of
goods can be displayed by the above process, the display priorities
are determined among the information items of goods. Further,
during display of the contents, data indicative of the contents of
the information of goods is displayed together with the contents on
the basis of the display priorities determined by the above
processing. In addition, there is provided a memory area for
temporarily storing all information of goods selected for each user
and including the information of goods which cannot be displayed
during reference of the contents by the user since the display
priority thereof is low and the temporarily stored information of
goods can be displayed in accordance with the user's request.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0037] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a functional
block of an image and data display method and apparatus according
to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0038] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system
configuration of an interactive information service according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0039] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hardware
configuration of an image and data display method and apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0040] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing display pictures of
an image and data display method and apparatus according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0041] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing different display
pictures of an image and data display method and apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0042] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing different display
pictures of an image and data display method and apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0043] FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C are explanatory diagrams showing
different display pictures of an image and data display method and
apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0044] FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a display picture
in a prior art image and data display method and apparatus;
[0045] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an external
appearance of a remote controller of an image and data display
method and apparatus according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
[0046] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing conceptually a
construction of transmitting images and data simultaneously;
[0047] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing conceptually
another construction of transmitting images and data
simultaneously;
[0048] FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a data model in an
image and data display method and apparatus according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0049] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure
of an image and data display method and apparatus according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0050] FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall
processing of an image and data display method and apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0051] FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of
processing of a display change-over unit;
[0052] FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of
processing of an image display unit;
[0053] FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of
competition solving processing;
[0054] FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of overlay
processing;
[0055] FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall
system in case where the present invention is applied to a method
of providing advertisement in WWW on the Internet;
[0056] FIG. 20 illustrates a display picture of a WWW browser in a
user terminal;
[0057] FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing processing in a contents
server;
[0058] FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing processing in a user
terminal;
[0059] FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure
of user individual information;
[0060] FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure
of an advertisement list; and
[0061] FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a conceptual structure of a
home page.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0062] An embodiment of the present invention is now described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0063] FIG. 2 illustrates a system configuration of an interactive
information service according to the present invention. The system
includes a subsystem 102 on the side of the information provider,
an information transmission media 101 and a user terminal 1. As
information transmission media 101, broadcasting media such as
terrestrials waves, satellite broadcasting 103 and CATV, network
media such internet 104 and package media such as CD-ROMs 105 and
DVD (Digital Video Disk) are considered. In the subsystem 102 on
the side of the information provider, a module 109 processes
various contents 110 such as images and data into structure
suitable for the transmission media and defines links among the
media. The links among the media means the reference relationship
among information sent to the users by means of the transmission
media. For example, access can be changed from an image produced by
means of broadcasting media to data on a home page on the Internet
or a CD-ROM related to the image. Information is sent from a
broadcasting station 106 to the satellite broadcasting 103, from an
Internet server 107 to the Internet 104, and from a package
preparing subsystem 108 to the CD-ROM 105. The user terminal 1
receives the information to refer thereto.
[0064] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram schematically
illustrating of the user terminal 1. The user terminal 1 includes a
body apparatus 2, a display unit 3 and user input means 4. The body
apparatus 2 receives at least one image source 5 and at least one
data 6. A transmitting method of image and data and a structure of
data are described later.
[0065] The body apparatus 2 can be divided broadly into a
functional block 10 for selectively receiving an image and data
relative to the image, a functional block 11 for displaying the
image and the relative data is synchronized with each other, and a
functional block 12 for accessing to an external resource such as
the internet and the CD-ROM. First, the functional block 10 selects
at least one image in an image selection unit 13 on the basis of a
command from the user input means 4. The selection is the same as
usual selection of a channel in a television, while the present
invention is characterized in that data relative to the image is
selected at the same time as the selection of the image. For
example, when it is assumed that the user selects an image A of the
channel number 1, data a and b relative to the image A are
selected. Then, the image is sent through an image input unit 14 to
an image and data combination unit 22 of the functional block
11.
[0066] On the other hand, the relative data is sent through a data
input unit 15 to a data selection unit 16. The data selection unit
16 of the present invention is characterized to further select
relative data on the basis of previously determined utilization
condition 17. For example, when it is assumed that the user is a
man of 30 years old and the utilization condition 17 is registered
to that effect, the relative data sent to the data selection unit
16 is compared with the utilization condition, so that the data a
is selected. The condition of a plurality of kinds such as address,
hobby, character and the like besides age and sex can be registered
as the utilization condition. At the same time, since an identifier
of each individual user is also registered, the identifier of the
user is set in the utilization condition on the side of the
relative data as information to be sent to only a particular user.
With such structure, the information provider side can narrow the
users down to provide information effectively and at the same time
since the user side can refer to only data relative to the specific
user himself, the efficiency of reference to information is
increased.
[0067] At the same time, when the condition concerning utilization
environment is registered, the display condition 18 of relative
data is prescribed on the basis of the condition. For example,
processing so that a display area of the relative data conforms to
the size of the display screen is considered. Further, the method
that the display condition is prescribed for each utilization
environment condition and the user terminal side selects the
prescribed condition such that the relative data conforms to a
display condition a under a condition A.
[0068] It is necessary that the functional block 11 displays an
image and data so that the user can understand the relationship of
the image and the data. Accordingly, the functional block 11
provides display means of three kinds including: an image display
unit 26; a combination display unit 27; and a data display unit 28.
Examples of pictures by the display means are described in detail
with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7. Briefly, the image display unit 26
displays an image mainly on the whole display screen. The
combination display unit 27 displays an image and data together.
The data display unit displays only data on the whole display
screen. Further, display screens are changed over by means of a
display change-over unit 29 in response to a command from the user
input means 4.
[0069] As far as the image display unit 26 outputs only an image to
the display unit 3, the relation of the image and data cannot be
transmitted to the user. Accordingly, the present invention is
further characterized by the provision of a synchronization control
unit 21 and the image and data combination unit 22 in order to
display data relative to a specific scene of an image by an icon or
telop indicative of contents thereof on the image. Particularly,
the image and data combination unit 22 includes data overlay
processing 24 for combining to superpose an icon or telop on an
image. The icon is used to show a kind of relative data. For
example, the icon represents that the relative data is present
information, limited information for members or the like. Further,
the telop represents a headline of the relative data. It is
desirable that contents of the telop can be understood at a glance
like a big headline of a newspaper.
[0070] At the same time, a data editing unit 20 is provided in
order to edit the icon and the telop in advance on the basis of the
display condition 18 when the display condition 18 is prescribed in
the relative data.
[0071] For example, when the size of a display screen is small, the
size of the icon and the telop is also created similarly small and
the length of the telop is created short. As described above, the
icon and the telop can be used to notify the existence of the data
relative to the image to the users plainly and effectively.
[0072] Through processing 25 in the image and data combination unit
22 displays an image as it is without superposing the icon and
telop on the image. The through processing is used when there is no
data relative to the image or when the user turns off display of
the icon and telop.
[0073] The combination display unit 27 displays the image and the
relative data together. The combination display method includes a
method of superposing the image on the relative data by image
overlay processing 23, a method of superposing data on the image by
the data overlay processing 24, a method of dividing a display
screen of the display unit 3 into an image display area and a data
display area and the like. Examples of pictures are described with
reference to FIGS. 4 to 7. The present invention is characterized
in that when relative data is present in a specific scene of the
displayed image, the icon and telop are displayed to be superposed
on the image in the same manner as the image display unit 26 and
when the user inputs a command for data display, relative data is
displayed in the data display area. A benefit is realized since the
user can view images of continuous media continuously without
disturbing the images by displaying data and can refer to relative
data on the same display screen simultaneously.
[0074] The data display unit 28 displays only relative data. In
this case, when the display condition 18 is prescribed, the data
editing unit 20 processes and edits data so that the data conforms
to the condition. The functional block 11 includes a data temporary
memory area 19, in which relative data selected by the data
selection unit 16 is stored temporarily. The relative data is sent
to each processing unit in response to a request from each display
unit.
[0075] Relative data is described briefly. In the present
invention, as the relative data, characters and images having a
so-called link structure exist similar home page on the Internet.
Operation on a data display picture corresponds to operation of
following links. Accordingly, the functional block 12 includes a
data operation unit 32 for designating a link destination and a
data search unit 33 for searching for the link destination.
Further, the present invention is characterized in that relative
data is not only sent but also taken out from transmission media
such as the Internet 104 and the CD-ROM 105. Accordingly, the data
search unit requests searching not only the data temporary memory
area 19 but also an Internet access unit 34 and a CD-ROM access
unit 35 for data in accordance with information relative to an
access method of relative data. The Internet access unit 34
receives an URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a home page on the
Internet 104 and obtains the home page corresponding to the URL to
store it in the data temporary memory area 19. The CD-ROM access
unit 35 has substantial identical processing, while since there is
a possibility that an access method is different for each CD-ROM
title, it is necessary to previously determine an access protocol
to the CD-ROM used in the information service. In the embodiment, a
home page is described as a representative of contents of data
relative to images hereinafter.
[0076] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a hardware of the user
terminal 1. The user terminal 1 includes the body apparatus 2, the
display unit 3 and the user input unit 4. Further, the body
apparatus 2 includes a central controller 111, a memory unit 113, a
display control unit 114, an input control unit 115, a broadcasting
receiving unit 116, a disk control unit 117 and a communication
control unit 118 connected to one another through a bus 112. The
memory unit 113 includes the data temporary memory area shown in
FIG. 1 and stores a processing program and data therein. The
display control unit 114 controls output to the display unit 3. The
input control unit 115 receives the command input from the user
through the user input means 4 and sends the command to the central
controller. The central controller interprets contents of the
command and executes an instruction for realizing the command. The
broadcasting receiving unit 116 receives images and data sent from
a broadcasting station through an antenna 119. The disk control
unit 117 accesses data in package media such as the CD-ROM 15 or
the like. Similarly, the communication control unit 118 accesses to
various information sources such as home pages on the internet 4
and the like.
[0077] FIGS. 4 to 7 show the transition of display pictures of an
embodiment according to the present invention.
[0078] The transition of pictures is described with reference to
FIG. 4 as an example. First, only an image is displayed in a
display picture 200. When a time stamp is started during display of
the image, the picture changes to a display picture 201 or 203.
Incidentally, the time stamp is a structure for relating a specific
image scene to data relative to the scene and represents a time
from a beginning of the related image scene to the termination
thereof. When any command is not input by the user during the time
stamp, the display picture 201 or 203 is returned to the display
picture 200.
[0079] An icon 202 representative of a kind of related data is
displayed in the display picture 201 and a telop 204 representative
of contents of related data is displayed together with the icon.
The icon 202 and the telop 204 are included in the related data.
The present invention is characterized in that the icon and the
telop indicate that there is data related to the image scene.
Further, in the present invention, since data classified or
individualized for each user is displayed, it is characterized that
the icon or the telop is used to notify a kind or contents of data
to the user plainly. In this embodiment, whether the telop is
displayed or not can be set by the information provider. In
addition, there is a mode in which the user can turn off display of
the icon and the telop so that the user enjoys the image without
disturbing the image by the icon or the telop. However, there is
related data which is desired to be necessarily notified to the
user depending on contents of the related data and accordingly
there is provided a forced display mode of the icon and the
telop.
[0080] Next, in the state of the display picture 200, when the user
instructs to change over the display, the display is moved to a
display picture 205, so that a home page viewed last or a default
home page is displayed. On the other hand, when the user instructs
to change over the display in the state of the display picture 201
or 203, the display is moved to a display picture 213 in which a
home page 214 relative to the image is displayed. As described
above, the embodiment is characterized in that when the change-over
of the display is instructed during display of the icon or telop,
the home page relative to the image scene is displayed.
[0081] Further, in the display pictures 205 and 213, reduced image
207 of a currently selected image is displayed to be superposed on
the home page. As described above the present invention is
characterized in that the user can view the image continuously
without disturbing the image by display of data and at the same
time the user can refer to the relative data.
[0082] In addition, the reduced image 207 usually has the same
function as the display picture 200 of the image. Accordingly, in
the display picture 205, when a time stamp is started, the display
picture is moved to a display picture 9 in which a telop 211 and an
icon 212 are displayed on a reduced image 210. In this state, when
the user instructs to change over the display, the display picture
is then moved to the display picture 213 in which a home page
synchronized with the image is displayed. In this manner, since the
user can be notified that there is new data relative to the image
during simultaneous display of the image and the relative data, the
user can refer to the relative data immediately.
[0083] Next, when the display is instructed to be changed over
again in the state of the display picture 205, the display picture
is moved to a display picture 215 in which the reduced image 207
disappears from the picture and only the currently displayed home
page is displayed. Similarly, when the display is instructed to be
changed over in the state of the display picture 209, the display
picture is moved to a display picture 218 in which the reduced
image 210 disappears and at the same time a home page synchronized
with the image is displayed. This display mode is suitable for the
case where the user wants to view the home page without disturbing
it by the image on the contrary to the combined display mode of the
image and the home page. Incidentally, operation of the home page
is made by a menu 208. Further, when the display is instructed to
be changed over again, the display picture is returned to the
display picture 200 in which only the image is displayed.
[0084] The menu 208 has an item of "re-display of automatically
preserved icon and telop". That is, icons and telops viewed by the
user until now are automatically preserved as a list and when there
is an indication from the user, the list is converted into a home
page format (that is, format of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
to provide it to the user. For example, when the indication to that
effect is inputted in the display picture 215, the display picture
is moved to a display picture 217. A list of icons and telops
automatically preserved until now is displayed in the display
picture 217. In the present invention, it is supposed that there is
a need that the user overlooks relative data while the user is full
of enthusiasm about the image and the user wants to view the
relative data again later, and the above function of displaying the
list of icons and telops is provided to cope with such need.
Further, when all of icons and telops are preserved, the capacity
of the memory unit 113 becomes insufficient at any memory capacity.
Accordingly, priority is given to the relative data so that
unnecessary data can be eliminated from the data having the lower
priority. For example, when it is assumed that the priority is
determined in accordance with the cost required for provision of
information, the data is eliminated in order of a lower cost.
[0085] As described above, the transition of pictures has been
described with reference to FIG. 4. There are three kinds of
display pictures including the display mode of only the image, the
combined display mode of the image and the home page and the
display mode of only the home page. In FIG. 4, the modes are
changed in order of the image display mode, the combined display
mode and the home page display mode and return to the image display
mode. On the other hand, FIG. 5 shows a different example of
display pictures of the present invention, in which the modes are
changed in order of the image display mode, the home page display
mode and the combined display mode. The transition of pictures of
FIG. 5 is suitable for mainly viewing the home page. Similarly,
FIG. 6 also shows a different example of display pictures of the
present invention, while the picture example does not contain the
combined display mode. In order to display the combined image and
home page, it correspondingly cost. However, the picture example of
FIG. 6 can suppress the cost low.
[0086] Further, as the combined display mode of the image and the
data, there are some other picture examples as shown in FIGS. 7A,
7B and 7C. For example, in FIG. 7A, a display screen 230 is divided
into two areas. One of the areas is defined as an image display
area 231 and the other is defined as a home page display area 232.
In the image display area 231, existence of a relative home page is
notified by an icon 234 and a telop 233. At this time, when the
user instructs to change over the image, a home page 235
synchronized with the image is displayed in the home page display
area 232.
[0087] In FIG. 7B, a display screen 240 is divided into one home
page display area 241 and three image display areas 242, 243 and
244. The user selects an image from the image display areas and
when data relative to the image exists, the existence is indicated
by an icon 245 and a telop 246. A home page synchronized with an
image B can be displayed in response to an input command for
changing over the display.
[0088] FIG. 7C shows a display example in which it is assumed that
there are a plurality of data relative to a specific image scene.
An image 251 is displayed now and a list 252 of relative data such
as titles of relative data is displayed. When the user selects
relative data from the list, a pertinent home page 253 is
displayed. As another display method in the case where there are a
plurality of data relative to a specific image scene, there is a
display method in which in the display picture 201 or 203 of FIG. 4
the display time of the icon and telop is time-divided among the
relative data or all of icons and telops of the relative data are
arranged on the picture.
[0089] Further, in FIGS. 4 to 7A, 7B and 7C, it is premised that
the existence of relative data is indicated to the user and the
user selects data to be displayed. When the image and the relative
data can be viewed on the same picture like the display picture 209
of FIG. 4 and the display pictures of FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C, there is
a utilization form that display of the relative data is also
changed automatically when a time stamp of the image is
changed.
[0090] FIG. 9 shows a remote controller 260 of an example of the
user input means in the present invention. The remote controller
260 includes a power button 261, a channel change-over button 262,
a volume change button 264, a channel direct selection button group
263 and the like in the same manner as a usual television remote
controller. The present invention is characterized in that the
remote controller 260 includes a display change-over button 265 and
a home page display button 266. The display change-over button
controls the transition of states by the change-over of display in
the display pictures of FIG. 4. That is, when the user pushes the
display change-over button, the display picture moves among the
display pictures of FIG. 4. Further, in FIG. 4, the transition from
the display picture 209 to the display picture 213 and the
transition from the display picture 201 or 203 to the display
picture 218 are performed by the home page display button 266.
[0091] Further, in this embodiment, since processing for
designating a link destination in the home page is required, cross
keys 267, 268, 269 and 270 for moving a cursor up and down and
right and left and a decision button 271 are provided. In the
embodiment, the cross keys are used not only to designate a link
destination in the home page but also to select relative data
desired to be viewed by the user among a plurality of data relative
to a specific image scene, for example, when the relative data are
displayed as a list as shown in FIG. 7C. The cursor may be moved by
different means other than the cross keys. Further, selection may
be made without using the cursor.
[0092] FIG. 10 shows arrangement of simultaneous transmission of
image and data in terrestrial wave. Images are usually sent for
each image frame 280 in surface wave, while an area 281 named a VBI
(Vertical Blanking Interval) for taking synchronization in the
vertical direction is provided between frames. Recently, it is
permitted that empty portion of this area can be used for the data
broadcasting. Data 282 are embedded in the area 281 in the
broadcasting station and the data are taken out in the user
terminal.
[0093] FIG. 11 shows arrangement of data broadcasting in the
digital satellite broadcasting.
[0094] In the common analog satellite broadcasting, one transponder
of a satellite is used to transmit one channel. However, in the
digital satellite broadcasting, the image compression technique and
the data multiplexing technique can be used to transmit images for
four programs per transponder. At the same time, since some empty
areas can be produced, this areas can be used to transmit data to
the user terminal. At present, these areas are used to transmit a
program guide or the like.
[0095] FIG. 12 illustrates a data model of relative data in the
present invention. Data 291 holds a utilization condition 291 which
prescribes users who can refer to the data. At the same time, the
data has a time stamp 293 to be able to specify a related image
scene 292. Further, the data holds an icon 294 and a telop 295
displayed to be superposed on an image in order to notify the
existence of relative data to the user. At the same time, the data
holds data contents 296 or an access method to data entity.
[0096] The above data structure is materialized as shown in FIG.
13. That is, data is managed by an identifier (id) number and
includes: an image identifier (id); a utilization condition; a
starting time; an end time and a duration of a time stamp; an image
expressive of an icon; a character string displayed as a telop; and
data contents. The image identifier (id) represents an identifier
of a program image and uses a G code, for example. Further, an
image scene related to data can be specified by the image
identifier (id) and the starting time and the end time of the time
stamp. As the utilization condition, an attribute value is set for
each of previously determined attributes.
[0097] For example, the priority for selecting one of a plurality
of relative data corresponding to one image is also included as one
of the attributes. Alternatively, when the data is individualized,
an identifier of the user is stored in this area. With regard to
data contents, there is a possibility that the data is present in a
home page on the Internet or a CD-ROM. In this case, an access
method to the data is stored in the area.
[0098] A processing flow chart for implementing the image and
display method of the present invention is now described with
reference to a PAD diagrams shown in FIGS. 14 to 18. Programs
corresponding to processing shown in FIGS. 14 to 18 can be stored
in a memory medium such as a floppy disk and be read in a memory
upon start of the programs to be executed. The memory medium may
store the programs and is not limited to a floppy disk.
[0099] FIG. 14 shows a processing flow of a main program 300 in the
image and data display method. First, in step 301, it is detected
that the user pushes the power button 261 of the remote controller
260 to turn on a switch. In step 302, a channel used when the
switch was turned off last time is displayed. This processing in
step 302 corresponds to processing in the image display unit and is
described later. In step 303, processing in steps 304 and 305 is
repeated until the switch is turned off. In step 304, a button of
the remote controller 260 operated by the user is detected. In step
305, processing corresponding to each button is performed. When the
display change-over button 265 is selected, processing 306 in the
display change-over unit is performed.
[0100] Next, when the home page display button 266 is selected,
home page display processing 307 is performed. In the home page
display processing, the mode is moved to the data display mode when
the existence of relative data in the image display mode is
indicated by an icon and a telop in FIG. 4 and data synchronized
with the image is displayed. Similarly, in the combined display
mode, when a telop and an icon are displayed in the reduced image
picture and the existence of relative data is indicated to the
user, the display is changed over to a home page synchronized with
the image in the combined display mode. Next, when the channel
button 262 or the channel direct selection button group 263 is
selected, processing 308 in the image selection unit 13 is
performed. The present invention is characterized in that data
relative to the image is also changed over differently from
change-over of the channel of the usual television.
[0101] A data operation button means the cross key having the
buttons 267 to 271. When the data operation button is selected,
processing 309 in the data operation unit is performed. For
example, the processing includes processing that a link destination
on the home page is designated. Next, when the power button 261 is
selected, the program 300 detects switching off and escapes from a
loop 303. In step 311, a channel upon switching off is recorded so
as to be able to display a television program immediately upon
switching on next time.
[0102] In step 312, the program is terminated. Operation such as,
for example, adjustment of volume is considered else, while such
operation departs from the gist of the present invention, it is
omitted.
[0103] FIG. 15 shows a processing flow 306 in the display
change-over unit 29. First, in step 321, a display mode at the
present time is detected. In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4,
there are three kinds of display modes including: the image display
mode; the combined display mode of image and data; and the data
display mode. In step 322, when the current display mode is the
data display mode, processing 302 in the image display unit 26 is
performed and the mode is moved to the image display mode. When the
current mode is the image display mode, processing 323 in the
combined display unit 27 is performed and the mode is moved to the
combined display mode. When the current mode is the combined
display mode, processing 324 in the data display unit 28 is
performed and the mode is moved to the data display mode. Finally,
in step 325, the processing 306 is terminated.
[0104] The processing 324 of the data display unit in the
embodiment is processing for displaying a home page. In the
processing 323 of the combined display unit 27, display of a home
page relative to an image scene is prepared on a rear side of the
image upon change-over of the picture. In this case, when there is
no relative data, display of a finally viewed home page or default
home page is prepared. After the completion of preparation, the
image display area is reduced successively and at the same time the
data display area is viewed to the user successively. The reason
why animation or the like is used such that the image display area
is reduced successively is that it is prevented that the user feels
that it is difficult to understood since display of image and data
is divided in a moment.
[0105] FIG. 16 shows a processing flow 302 in the image display
unit 26. The method of FIG. 10 is considered as the arrangement of
the simultaneous transmission of image and data. Since data is
stored for each frame of the image, it is necessary to take out the
data for the frame unit. Steps 331 to 344 are repeated every
predetermined period (in the embodiment, every one frame unit) in
step 330.
[0106] First, in step 331, one frame image is input in the image
input unit. In next step 332, data embedded between frames is
extracted. Since it is considered that data is not embedded,
whether data is present or not is determined in step 333 and when
data is present, steps 334 to 338 are performed. Processing in step
334 corresponds to processing of the data input unit 15 and in step
334 data is extracted to be decoded. Processing in step 335
corresponds to processing in the data selection unit 16 and in step
335 the registered utilization condition is collated with the
utilization condition in the data. In next step 336, when both the
utilization conditions are coincident with each other, the data is
stored in the temporary memory area 19 in step 337. When both the
utilization conditions are not coincident, the data is not stored
in step 338. In step 335, the display condition of data such as a
size of the icon and a font size of the character string is
prescribed on the basis of the condition of utilization environment
such as a size of picture screen. Since an amount of data received
in one frame unit is not so much, operation that data is divided to
be sent is considered. In this case, it is necessary to combine
data divided for each segment to unify the data after the data
preserving processing 337.
[0107] Processing in next step 339 corresponds to processing in the
synchronization control unit 21 and in step 339, data corresponding
to the current time zone in the currently displayed television
program is retrieved. When the data structure of FIG. 13 is
examined, the identifier (id) of the image and the time stamp are
also previously prescribed and accordingly the identifier of the
image and the time are compared with the identifier of the
currently displayed image and the current time. In step 340, when
coincident data are present, steps 341 to 342 are performed and
when coincident data are not present, step 343 is performed. In
step 341, since there is a possibility that a plurality of data are
selected at the same time, processing for solving such conflict is
required. After solving the conflict, in step 342 the icon and the
telop are overlay-displayed on the image. Each processing is
described in detail later.
[0108] Thereafter, the displayed icon and telop or the icon and
telop which have low display priority and cannot be displayed are
recorded. These icons and telops are converted into a home page in
response to a request from the user and are prepared to be always
accessed. In step 343, since there is not pertinent data, the image
is outputted to the display unit. In step 344, the combined image
of icon and telop or the image is displayed for one frame unit.
Processing in steps 339 to 343 may be repeated every predetermined
period. The processing in steps 339 to 343 is not necessarily
required to be performed for each frame, while in the embodiment
the processing is embedded in the loop 330 of one frame unit. When
the mode is changed to the data display mode or when the switch is
turned off, the processing is terminated in step 345.
[0109] FIG. 17 shows a processing flow for conflict solving
processing 341. In step 350, whether any other data relative to the
same time zone is present or not is examined. In this embodiment,
the case where a plurality of data is assigned in the same time
zone is named the competition. As shown in FIG. 7C, when a list of
relative data can be displayed in the form of list, the list of
relative data may be displayed as it is, while when an icon and a
telop indicative of contents of each individual relative data are
displayed, it is necessary to decide an order of display, a display
time and the like. Thus, whether there is a conflict or not is
detected in step 351 and when there is no competition, the
processing is terminated as it is (step 352). When there is a
conflict, the display priority of data is determined and scheduling
is prepared again so that the icon and the telop are displayed in
order of the priority. Finally, the processing 341 is terminated in
step 354.
[0110] FIG. 18 shows a processing flow of overlay display
processing 342. In step 360, a display mode of icon and telop by
the user and a forced display mode of icon and telop by the
information provider are detected. When the forced display mode is
on even if the display mode of icon and telop is off, data and a
telop are forcedly displayed on the image to be overlapped on each
other. Accordingly, in order not to perform the overlay processing,
it is necessary to turn off the display mode of icon and telop and
also turn off the forced display mode by the information provider.
In step 362, the icon and the telop are individualized for each
user on the basis of the previously determined display condition.
In next steps 363 and 364, when the telop is present, processing
364 for superposing the telop on the image is performed. Similarly,
in step 365, when the icon is present, processing 366 for
superposing the icon on the image is performed. The processing
method of superposing a character string and a-picture on the image
conforms to the processing for superposing data on usual image to
be displayed.
[0111] The embodiment of the present invention has been described
laying stress on the broadcasting media, while the present
invention can be used as the image and data display method using
package media and communication media.
[0112] Next, a second embodiment in which the present invention is
implemented in the utilization form in which contents on a network
are provided together with information of goods such as
advertisement or the like is described. More particularly, the
present invention is applied to a method of providing information
of goods in the WWW on the internet.
[0113] FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall
system of the embodiment. The system includes a contents server 400
and a user terminal 410 both of which are connected to the internet
415.
[0114] The contents server 400 includes a WWW server 401 and an
advertisement management program 403, which are interlocked with
each other by means of a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) conforming
to the standard of WWW.
[0115] The WWW server 401 provides a home page 402 in response to a
request from the user terminal 410. As described above, in the
embodiment, the home page constitutes contents.
[0116] The advertisement management program 403 manages
advertisement and provides information 404 of goods suitable for
the user. More particularly, an area (hereinafter referred to as an
advertisement area) in which the advertisement can be displayed is
previously ensured in the home page 402 and suitable advertisement
is embedded in the area. Further, as described later, since user's
individual information is sent from the user terminal 410, suitable
advertisement is selected on the basis of the user's individual
information. At this time, when a plurality of information items of
goods are selected, the display priority of each advertisement is
prescribed and the advertisement is displayed in accordance with
the priority.
[0117] The user terminal 410 includes a WWW browser 411, a timer
management program 412, and an individual information management
program 413. The timer management program 412 and the information
management program 413 prescribe inter-program interfaces with
respect to the WWW browser 411 and are interlocked with the
browser. Alternatively, it is considered that the WWW browser 411
includes the timer management program 412 and the information
management program 413, while the embodiment deals with the above
structure.
[0118] The WWW browser 411 requires the home page from the WWW
server 401 and receives the home page sent from the WWW server to
be displayed.
[0119] The timer management program 412 manages the duration of
display of each home page and sends a display request command of
next information (in the embodiment, particularly, information of
goods) to the WWW browser 411 every predetermined time. When the
WWW browser 411 can cope with the request by the fact that
information pertinent to the request is stored in a cache or a
buffer, the WWW browser 411 copes to that extent and when it is
necessary to make inquire to the server side, the WWW browser sends
a command to the server.
[0120] The individual information management program 411 manages
the user's individual information 413 and sends the individual
information to the WWW server 401 through the WWW browser 411 if
necessary. Since the WWW server 401 selects information of goods on
the basis of the individual information, the individualized or
classified information of goods is sent to the user.
[0121] The individual information is information concerning
characters such as age, sex, address and the like and taste such as
hobby, the likes of the user. There is considered implementation
including: for example, (1) when the WWW browser makes inquiry to
the WWW server, a network address of the user terminal is informed
to the WWW server and accordingly this address is used as the
individual information; (2) a file or program for taking custody of
and managing the individual information is prepared separately; and
(3) the individual information is managed by a third party agency
collectively and the WWW server makes inquiry to the agency on the
basis of the user's identifier. Particularly, in the above items
(2) and (3), in many cases, the user previously decides the
individual information which has no problem if it is opened to the
public in view of protection of privacy. In this embodiment,
implementation (2) is herein described.
[0122] The utilization image or outline of the embodiment is now
described.
[0123] FIG. 20 shows a picture configuration of the WWW browser 411
in the user terminal 410. The WWW browser 411 includes a window 420
having a menu 421. The window includes an advertisement area 422
for displaying an advertisement (information of goods) 423 and a
home page display area for displaying contents required by the
user. Definitely, there is considered implementation such as (1)
the window is divided into an area in which a home page by one HTML
file is displayed and an area in which an advertisement is
displayed, and (2) the advertisement 423 is also set as one home
page and a frame tag of the HTML is used to display a plurality of
home pages in one window. Further, in the case of (2), a parent
home page for deciding an arrangement of the home page in the
window is required, while it is assumed that the home page
including the contents has the function of the parent home page and
the home page for the advertisement is included in the home page
for contents.
[0124] Generally, the advertisement 423 is often called a burner
advertisement, while the present invention is characterized in that
a plurality of advertisements can be displayed with respect to one
home page and even if the home pages are identical, the
advertisement is individualized or classified for each user. In
other words, in FIG. 20, even if contents displayed in the home
page display area 424 are identical, there is a possibility that
contents displayed in the advertisement area 422 are different for
each user. Further, a plurality of advertisements are assigned to
the home page 424 and the advertisement 423 in the advertisement
area 422 is changed to another advertisement every predetermined
time.
[0125] Methods of displaying a plurality of advertisements, is
implemented as (1) the duration for displaying one advertisement is
provided as described above and advertisement is changed every time
period, and (2) when the advertisement area 422 is sufficient, the
advertisements are displayed as a list. In this embodiment,
implementation (1) is discussed below.
[0126] The flow (FIG. 21) of processing in the contents server is
now described.
[0127] First, the WWW server 401 receives a content request command
from the WWW browser 411 (step 430). Then, the command is analyzed
to retrieve pertinent contents (step 430). As described above, in
this embodiment, the home page constitutes the contents. Further,
since the advertisement area has been previously provided in the
home page and advertisement is embedded in the advertisement area
by later processing, the retrieved contents are preserved
temporarily.
[0128] Then, in step 432, the WWW server 401 obtains individual
information from the WWW browser 411. Individual information is
sent from the WWW browser together with the content request
command, while generally the WWW server receives a content request
command and request the individual information to the WWW
browser.
[0129] FIG. 23 shows a data structure of the individual
information. The individual information includes attribute values
462 for each user defined for previously prescribed attributes 460.
The individual information is managed as arrangement including a
combination of attributes 460 and attribute values. The attributes
460 include characters such as age, sex and address and taste such
as hobby, favorite music genre, favorite movie genre and kinds of
favorite books of the user. The attributes are not required to be
unified for each service and can be prescribed on the side of the
user or the service provider newly. Further, since conventional or
fixed information may be selected as the characters in inputting of
the attribute values, a structure such as a pull-down menu which is
easy to select the attribute values is adopted. In addition, a
simple structure is adopted so that taste can be input by
presenting questions to the user and accepting responses.
[0130] Next, the information-of-goods management program 403
retrieves information of goods coincident to the user's individual
information and preserves the coincident information of goods
temporarily (steps 433 to 436).
[0131] A list of advertisements as shown in FIG. 24 is used to
retrieve information on goods. In the list of advertisement, the
user's attribute of a target is prescribed for each advertisement
(470 to 477 of FIG. 24). Items (480 to 486 of FIG. 24) of the
attributes are the same as the individual information of FIG. 23.
Further, since the attribute values increase a width of the target
user, a range or a plurality of attribute values are often input.
For example, in advertisement 470, the attribute of age 480 is
prescribed to a range from 20 to 35 years old. In FIG. 24, "Don't
Care" means that the attribute value may be any value. That is, as
the retrieval condition, reference is not made to the item of
"Don't Care". Further, although not shown in FIG. 24, logical
symbols such as "NOT", "AND" and "OR" may be used to prescribe
complicated conditions for each item.
[0132] In step 433, an advertisement corresponding to the contents
is first retrieved from the list of advertisements. As shown in
FIG. 24, since the list of advertisements include an item 487 in
which URLs of home pages can be recorded, a pertinent advertisement
is retrieved on the basis of the URLS. Since an advertisement
relative to contents can be displayed by causing contents to
correspond to advertisements, there is a merit that the appealing
power of goods to the user can be increased. It is a matter of
course that it is considered that specific contents do not
correspond to THE advertisement.
[0133] Next, a vector matching to the received individual
information of the user is taken for each advertisement. In vector
matching, each advertisement and individual information are both
regarded as sets (vectors) of attribute values and the degree of
matching is calculated between the two vectors. As the calculation
method, there are methods as follows: (1) whether the attribute
value of the individual information is coincident with the
condition of the advertisement list or not is calculated for each
attribute item and the calculated results are ANDed; and (2) to
what extent the attribute value of the individual information is
coincident with the condition of the advertisement list is
calculated for each attribute item and the calculated results are
combined. In the embodiment, method (1) is described below.
[0134] In step 434, when the advertisement is coincident with the
individual information, the advertisement is temporarily preserved
(step 435) and when the advertisement is not coincident with the
individual information, operation proceeds to step 436. The display
priority of the advertisement preserved temporarily in step 435 is
determined later. In step 436, the processing is repeated for a
next advertisement.
[0135] There are many cases where there are a plurality of
advertisements coincident with the user's individual information.
For example, in the case of FIGS. 23 and 24, the advertisements 470
to 477 are coincident with all of the user's individual
information. As described above, since the display area of
advertisement has a limitation, all of advertisements cannot be
displayed at a time. Accordingly, in the present invention the
display priority is prescribed and advertisements are changed
successively in accordance with the priority.
[0136] In step 437, the display priorities among the temporarily
preserved information for goods are determined. As definite
methods, the following methods are used: (1) degrees of importance
as previously determined among all advertisements and the display
priorities conform to the degrees of importance, (2) when the
vector matching of the user's individual information and the
advertisement is taken, the degree of matching of both is
calculated and the display priorities are determined in order of
the degree of matching, and (3) the methods (1) and (2) are
combined so that the degrees of importance degrees are weighted in
accordance with the degrees of matching and the degrees of weighted
importance are used as the display priorities. In this embodiment,
method (1) is described below. Definitely, as shown in FIG. 24, an
item 487 of the degree of importance is provided in the
advertisement list and the display priorities are determined in
order of advertisements having higher degree of importance. For
example, in FIGS. 23 and 24, the display priorities are in order of
advertisements 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476 and 477. Further,
when the degree of importance are the same, the display priorities
are determined on the basis of other factors, while in the
embodiment, the display priorities are determined simply in order
of description in the advertisement list.
[0137] The degree of importance corresponds to the advertisement
charge. Accordingly, an advertisement of goods for which increased
an advertisement charge is paid is displayed preferentially.
[0138] In next step 438, the advertisements are embedded in the
home page in order of priority. A conceptual structure of the home
page in which advertisements are embedded is shown in FIG. 25. The
home page 490 includes a content portion 491 and advertisements
arranged in order of the display priority. The reason the structure
of the home page is described conceptual is that a home page
generally has only information displayed simultaneously and when
display of a part of the home page such as, for example, the
advertisement area is desired to be changed, an inquiry is made to
the server at any time. However, improvement of the current WWW can
cope with the structure shown in FIG. 25 and accordingly in the
embodiment description is made as it is.
[0139] Finally, in step 439, the home page 490 is transmitted to
the user terminal.
[0140] Next, the flow (FIG. 22) of processing in the user terminal
is described.
[0141] First, in step 450, the WWW browser transmits a request
command of the home page to the WWW server. At the same time, the
WWW browser sends the individual information to the WWW server in
cooperation with the individual information management program. The
contents server receives the information and performs the
processing shown in FIG. 21. Accordingly, the WWW browser waits
until the home page is completely received (step 451).
[0142] In next step 452, the home page is displayed. At this time,
the advertisement is also displayed in accordance with the display
priority besides the contents. The display picture in this case is
as shown in FIG. 20, for example.
[0143] The processing in steps 453 and 454 are repeated at
predetermined times. In step 453, whether another advertisement is
displayed or not is examined. Since the duration of display of each
advertisement is previously prescribed, the timer management
program examines the duration. When it is time to change the
advertisement, operation is returned to step 452 in which only the
advertisement is changed to an advertisement having a next display
priority. Otherwise, operation is moved to step 454.
[0144] When it is assumed that the duration also corresponds to the
advertisement charge, the advertisement of goods to which the
increased advertisement charge is paid can be displayed for a long
time.
[0145] In step 454, whether a request for changing contents is
issued from the user is determined. When there is a request for
changing contents, operation is returned to step 450 and the
operation starting from the transmission of the content request
command is repeated. Otherwise, operation returns to step 453.
[0146] The method of providing the information of goods in the WWW
on the Internet has been described, while the present invention is
not limited to the Internet and the WWW and can be used in other
communication media such as, for example, the communication using
the personal computer.
[0147] According to the above embodiments, the existence of data
classified or individualized for each user in relation to the
displayed image scene can be presented to the user by the picture
or character string indicative of contents of the relative data. At
the same time, the relative data can be displayed synchronized with
the image in response to a request of the user. In this manner, the
possibility of accessing from the image to the relative data simply
brings the information provider a benefit that the viewers are
drawn in by a broadcasting image to move to the bidirectional media
such as the Internet immediately. At the same time, the viewer can
know detailed information relative to the image more simply.
Further, since information suitable for the individual user can be
sent directly, information can be provided and referred
effectively.
[0148] Further, according to the embodiments, since the display
condition and the display order of the picture and the character
string indicative of the existence of the relative data are
determined on the basis of the utilization environment condition,
the existence of the relative data can notified to the user clearly
and understandably.
[0149] Furthermore, in the embodiments, since there is provided the
mode for displaying the image and the data simultaneously, access
can be made to the image and the data freely to refer to
information.
[0150] In addition, when the user inputs a command for displaying a
list, a list of pictures and character strings displayed until now
is displayed. When the user selects any one in the list, the
relative data is displayed. Accordingly, the user can first view
only the images continuously and refer to the relative data slowly
later.
[0151] Moreover, in the embodiments, the number of relative data to
be displayed as a list is limited and when the number of data
exceeds the limitation, the data is selected in accordance with the
priority. Accordingly, the memory area can be maintained to be
small and consequently the cost of the terminal can be reduced.
[0152] Further, in the embodiments, since there is provided the
mode for forcedly displaying the picture and the character string
indicative of contents of the relative data, the intention of the
information provider can be transmitted to the user of the target
exactly.
* * * * *