Electronic apparatus, page display method, program, and storage medium
View Patent ↗An electronic apparatus capable of displaying linked pages in turn by an easy operation for users is provided. In a <body> element in an SMIL document, the attribute ??dur=t is added to URI description for specifying a media element. The resulting notation implies that a file name placed before ?? indicates a designated page and a link destination of the designated page is displayed. A numerical value following dur= indicates the duration for which a given link contained in the designated page can be activated. An SMIL player interprets an SMIL document having such a description, so as to allow auto-linking to the link destinations of the designated page with the defined link intervals.
1. An electronic apparatus comprising:
a display unit having a display screen;
means for reading a program, the program comprising:
allocation information for defining a display region to be allocated in the display screen,
page specification information identifying a desired page, wherein the desired page includes one or more links to linked pages, and
linking information for at least linking to the linked pages without referencing addresses of the one or more links, wherein the linking information includes an address of a source page and a separate indicator, the indicator indicating that the source page corresponds to the desired page that includes the one or more links;
means for configuring the display region in the display screen based on the allocation information;
means for obtaining the desired page based on the linking information;
means for parsing the desired page to obtain the one or more links;
means for sequentially and automatically accessing the linked pages of over the Internet from the obtained one or more links when required for display, and displaying the accessed linked pages in the display region,
wherein the means for configuring the display region is operable to:
produce a first sub-region and a second sub-region within the display region;
display a list of links to the linked pages in the first sub-region, a first link in the list of links being visually distinguished from the other links in the list of links; and
subsequently after a first linked page corresponding to the first link is retrieved over the Internet, displaying the first linked page in the second sub-region;
wherein the linking information further includes information defining a link time interval, and
the means for obtaining allows the linked pages displayed in the display region to be changed based on the link time interval, wherein the link time interval is determined based on a link duration and a number of links.
2. An electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the linking information further includes information for defining a link range, and
the means for accessing the linked pages allows the linked pages displayed in the display region to be changed within the link range.
3. An electronic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the link range includes a hierarchical link depth.
4. An electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the linking information further includes information for defining the number of linked pages to be concurrently displayed, and
the means for accessing the linked pages allows the defined number of linked pages to be concurrently displayed in different display regions which are configured in the display screen.
5. An electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the means for sequentially displaying the linked pages in the second sub-region is controlled by a user instruction.
6. An electronic apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the instruction comprises one of:
an instruction to start the displaying;
an instruction to interrupt the displaying;
an instruction to restart the displaying;
an instruction to step forward through the displaying; and
an instruction to step back through the displaying.
7. A page display method for a display unit having a display screen, a control unit, and a storage unit, the method comprising the steps of:
reading a program and storing the program in the storage unit, the program comprising:
allocation information for defining a display region to be allocated in the display screen,
page specification information identifying a desired page, wherein the desired page includes one or more links to linked pages, and
linking information for at least linking to the linked pages without referencing addresses of the one or more links, wherein the linking information includes an address of a source page and a separate indicator, the indicator indicating that the source page corresponds to the desired page that includes the one or more links;
configuring the display region in the display screen based on the allocation information;
obtaining the desired page based on the linking information;
parsing the desired page to obtain the one or more links;
sequentially and automatically accessing the linked pages over the Internet from the obtained one or more links when required for display;
displaying the accessed linked pages in the display region, further comprising:
producing a first sub-region and a second sub-region within the display region;
displaying a list of links to the linked pages in the first sub-region, a first link in the list of links being visually distinguished from the other links in the list of links; and
subsequently after a first linked page corresponding to the first link is retrieved over the Internet, displaying the first linked page in the second sub-region;
wherein the linking information further includes information defining a link time interval, and
allowing, by the control unit, the linked pages displayed in the display region to be changed based on the link time interval, wherein the link time interval is determined based on a link duration and a number of links.
8. A page display method according to claim 7 , wherein the linking information further includes information for defining a link range, and
further comprising changing the linked pages displayed in the display region within the link range.
9. A page display method according to claim 8 , wherein the link range includes a hierarchical link depth.
10. A page display method according to claim 7 , wherein the linking information further includes information for defining the number of linked pages to be concurrently displayed, and
further comprising concurrently displaying the defined number of linked pages in different display regions which are configured in the display screen.
11. A page display method according to claim 7 , wherein the sequential displaying of the linked pages is controlled by a user instruction.
12. A page display method according to claim 11 , wherein the instruction comprises one of:
an instruction to start the displaying;
an instruction to interrupt the displaying;
an instruction to restart the displaying;
an instruction to step forward through the displaying; and
an instruction to step back through the displaying.
13. A page display method according to claim 7 wherein the program is described in an extensible markup language.
14. A computer readable storage media comprising instructions that cause a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
reading a program, the program comprising:
allocation information for defining a display region to be allocated in the display screen,
page specification information for identifying a desired page, wherein the desired page includes one or more links to linked pages, and
linking information for at least linking to the linked pages without referencing addresses of the one or more links, wherein the linking information includes an address of a source page and a separate indicator, the indicator indicating that the source page corresponds to the desired page that includes the one or more links;
configuring the display region in the display screen based on the allocation information;
obtaining the desired page based on the linking information;
parsing the desired page to obtain the one or more links;
sequentially and automatically accessing the linked pages over the Internet from the obtained one or more links when required for display;
displaying the accessed linked pages in the display region, further comprising:
producing a first sub-region and a second sub-region within the display region;
displaying a list of links to the linked pages in the first sub-region, a first link in the list of links being visually distinguished from the other links in the list of links; and
subsequently after a first linked page corresponding to the first link is retrieved over the Internet, displaying the first linked page in the second sub-region;
wherein the linking information further includes information defining a link time interval, and
allowing the linked pages displayed in the display region to be changed based on the link time interval, wherein the link time interval is determined based on a link duration and a number of links.