Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Naoki Urano

Mitsuru Minakuchi

Masafumi Hirata

Azusa Umemoto

Kouichi Kashiwagi

Koichi Kashiwagi

Yasuhiro Nose

Kouji Akasaka

George Borden

An information presentation apparatus is provided presenting an interface suitable for selecting desired information from a plurality of information. The apparatus has three methods of presenting information. The first method is to present information by sequentially playing and presenting a plurality of audio information related to the information in turn. The second method is to present the plurality of audio information at the same time wherein each sound has its directivity. The third method is a combination of the first and second methods wherein user can select desired method between the two depending on kinds of information presented.

Information selection apparatus selecting desired information from plurality of audio information by mainly using audio

In an information retrieval method that allows the user to retrieve information in an intuitive way even when the user only has a vague requirement, information is retrieved from a memory device in which a plurality of information are stored. The information retrieval method includes the steps of determining whether any of a predetermined number of sub-information displayed in advance is selected or not: setting selected information as main information when any of the sub-information is selected; calculating the level of relationship with the main information for each information other than the main information stored in the memory device when any of the sub-information is selected and selecting the predetermined number of sub-information according to the level of relationship; displaying the main information; and displaying the predetermined number of sub-information.

Information retrieval method and apparatus displaying together main information and predetermined number of sub-information related to main information

A method for controlling a data display of the present invention, controlling a display of data including at least one attribute, includes: an attribute conversion step of converting at least one attribute of the data into a display attribute by using at least one mapping function; a display step of displaying the data based on the display attribute; and a parameter changing step of changing a parameter of the mapping function.

Method for controlling data display

A data search method capable of representing a complex search condition with a reduced number of filters and allowing high data visibility is used in a data search system including a storage disposed to store a plurality of data to be administered and attribute values associated with a desired number of attributes and respectively assigned to the plurality of data, a display, an input unit receiving an instruction from a user to perform an operation through a user operation to be performed on an object displayed on the display, and a data operation unit performing an operation on the plurality of data in response to the instruction received by the input unit. The data search method includes the steps of: creating a filter associated with a plurality of attribute values each associated with a predetermined display position; defining a data attribute and a data attribute value associated with the filter for search; using the data attribute and the data attribute value to search data; and displaying a symbol of retrieved data in the filter at a display position corresponding to an attribute value of the data.

Data search method with each data item displayed in a filter at a position associated with an attribute value of the data item

An electronic memo adding and displaying apparatus includes a tablet with integrated display for electronically acquiring an electronic memo to a document input by a user through a virtual transparent input sheet registered to be overlapped with an arbitrary object document and for displaying the electronic memo on the virtual transparent input sheet, and a control unit performing an electronic memo storing process, for storing the electronic memo acquired through the tablet with integrated display in a storage while associating the electronic memo with the object document.

Method and apparatus for electronic memo processing for integrally managing document including paper document and electronic memo added to the document

A data management method of obtaining accurately the number of data satisfying a retrieval condition and the number of data not satisfying a retrieval condition is employed in a data management apparatus including: a storage device storing a plurality of data, each data having an attribute and an attribute value associated with each attribute; a display device; a control circuit for displaying on the display device a region for each attribute value of a certain attribute and a plurality of icons representing the plurality of data, respectively, on each region; and a circuit to retrieve data by a filter to which an attribute and an attribute value are related. The data management method includes the steps of displaying the plurality of icons on a region provided for every attribute value as to a certain attribute; generating a filter overlapping the region; moving or modifying the configuration of the filter on the region arbitrarily; entering a retrieval condition as to an attribute and an attribute value related to the filter; detecting whether the region has an overlapping section with the filter; and detecting data that meets the retrieval condition when the region has an overlapping section with the filter.

Method and apparatus for data retrieval and modification utilizing graphical drag-and-drop iconic interface

A picture search device of the present invention includes: a storage section; a display section; a position input section; and a control section for controlling the storage section, the display section and the position input section. The storage section contains a plurality of pictures respectively provided with labels which are assigned in accordance with a predetermined rule. The position input section detects input information from a user so as to provide a control signal to the control section in response to the input information. The control section displays a scroll bar including a slider in a predetermined area in the display section, determines a position along the scroll bar at which the slider is to be displayed based on the control signal, displays the slider at the position in the display section, determines one of the plurality of labels corresponding to the position as a first label, identifies one of the pictures having the first label as a user-focused picture, identifies one of the pictures having a second label, different from the first label, as a reference picture, displays the reference picture in the display section, and displays the user-focused picture in a display mode different from a display mode of the reference picture.

Picture search device and recording medium readable for the same

A multi-media data display device for displaying a plurality of multi-media data items on a display screen is provided. Each of the multi-media data items has geometric data and attributive data defined by positional information in an n-dimensional space. The multi-media data display device includes: a view area setting section for setting a view area from a multi-media data space, in which the plurality of multi-media data items exist, based on access position information having a predetermined dimension, the view area having been selected as including at least one of the plurality of multi-media data items as an object to be displayed, the access position information having been produced within the multi-media data display device or provided from the outside of the multi-media data display device, and a display control section for independently controlling, based on the access position information, a display style of an individual one of the plurality of multi-media data items existing within the selected view area when the individual multi-media data item is displayed on the display screen.

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Sakai, Japan

Naoki Urano