This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-334417, filed on Dec. 26, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The embodiments discussed here are related to communication system, apparatus, and method.
Recently, with the development of cell phones and Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), information provision such as information communications and information retrieval has advanced greatly. For example, there is a technique for extending a display screen by connecting two display apparatuses (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-205933). Also, there is a technique for two-way communications between a displayed poster and cell phone (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-138765). Also, there is a technique for causing a mobile body or robot to display various facial expressions and designs by applying flexibility of a flexible display to a casing skin of a robot (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-149442).
However, with increases in the number of double-income households and in the penetration rates of cell phones and personal computers among home users, reduced communication among family members has become an issue. Also, large amounts of information have become available with the development of cell phones, personal computers, and installed application programs, but this raises the problem of an increase in the complexity of their operation. Consequently, there arises a problem: namely, those who cannot keep pace with the evolution and development of technology are left behind and unable to communicate with those who can.
According to an aspect of the invention, an apparatus includes a board, a storage unit for storing information, a portable display apparatus comprising a memory for storing identification information, a first transmitter for transmitting information, first receiver for receiving information, a display unit for displaying information, the portable display apparatus having portability such that the board allows the portable display apparatus to be placed at an arbitrary position upon the board, and a housing, and a communication apparatus comprising a second receiver for receiving the identification information from the portable display apparatus when the portable display apparatus is placed upon the board, an acquisition unit for acquiring from the storage unit the information related to the identification information which is received from the portable display apparatus, and a second transmitter for transmitting to the portable display apparatus the information which is acquired by the acquisition unit. The portable display apparatus, when placed on the board, receives the information acquired by the acquisition unit from the second information by the first receiver, and displays the acquired information on the portable display apparatus.
The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
The memo device 101 is configured to be capable of Bluetooth (registered trademark), RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification), or other contactless communications with a communications device 102 of the board 100. Information can also be written on the board 100 using a marker as in the case of an existing white board.
The contactless communications between the memo device 101 and communications device 102 may be configured to be conducted only when the memo device 101 is attached to the board 100. Specifically, for example, a push switch may be installed on the rear face of the memo device 101 to permit communications with the communications device 102 when the memo device 101 is attached to the board 100, pressing the push switch.
(External Appearance of the Memo Device 101)
Similarly, an extended screen with a portrait display area results upon the male connector 201 on the upper end face of one memo device 101 is connected to the female connector 202 on the lower end face of another memo device 101. Also, connecting two memo devices 101 enables their intercommunications. In that case, the male connector 201 and female connector 202 may be convex-shaped.
(System Configuration of Information Providing System)
Next, description will be given of a system configuration of information providing system which includes the memo devices 101 and board 100. The information providing system is used at homes and offices.
It is assumed that various applications such as a browser, mailer, and scheduler have been installed on the home server 301 and are linked to software according to the present embodiment. Also, e-mails exchanged among users' portable terminals are set to be transferred to the home server 301.
Also, the home server 301 has a database 302 to save various data. The home appliances 303 are electrical appliances used in the home, including, for example, a refrigerator, microwave oven, and washing machine. Besides, according to the present embodiment, the home appliances 303 include a stand-alone phone and personal computer.
(Home Server 301)
The CPU 401 performs overall control of the home server 301. The ROM 402 stores a boot program and other programs. The RAM 403 is used as a work area of the CPU 401. The magnetic disk drive 404 controls data reads and writes from/to the magnetic disk 405 under the control of the CPU 401. The magnetic disk 405 stores data written under the control of the magnetic disk drive 404.
The optical disk drive 406 controls data reads and writes from/to the optical disk 407 under the control of the CPU 401. The optical disk 407 stores data written under the control of the optical disk drive 406 and causes a computer to read the data stored on the optical disk 407.
The display 408 displays a cursor, icons, and a tool box as well as documents, images, functional information, and other data. The display 408 may be, for example, a CRT, TFT liquid crystal display, or plasma display.
The communications I/F 409 is connected to networks 414 such as the LAN 310, a WAN (Wide Area Network), and the Internet via communication lines. The communication I/F 409 provides an internal interface with the networks 414 and controls input and output of data from/to external apparatuses. The communications I/F 409 may be, for example, a modem or LAN adaptor.
The keyboard 410 is used to enter data, being equipped with keys for use to enter characters, numerals, commands, and the like. Alternatively, touch panel input pad or numeric keypad may be used. The mouse 411 is used to move a cursor, select a range, or move or resize a window. Another device such as a trackball or joystick may be used alternatively as long as the device has similar functions of a pointing device.
The scanner 412 optically reads an image and sends image data into the home server 301. Incidentally, the scanner 412 may be provided with an OCR (Optical Character Reader) function. The printer 413 prints image data and document data. The printer 413 may be, for example, a laser printer or inkjet printer. Processing steps of the home server 301 are either carried out when a program stored in the storage device is executed by the CPU or carried out by the communications I/F 409 (the processing steps are described in examples below).
(Memo Device 101)
The speaker 504 outputs audio information (e.g., recorded data and sound effects) stored in the memory 502, as sound. The touch sensor 505 detects whether the surface of the memo device 101 is touched. The communication I/F 506 conducts contactless communications with the communications device 102 on the board 100. The connectors 507 (201 and 202) are used to connect to another memo device 101, as illustrated in
(Communications Device 102)
(Data Structure)
The related information is information about the attribute. For example, in the case of an attribute which concerns the type of user, the related information includes an e-mail address and cell phone number of the user. On the other hand, in the case of an attribute which concerns the type of information provided on the memo device 101, the related information includes location information about a storage area of the provided information. For example, when the information provided on the memo device 101 has been captured into the home server 301, the related information represents a directory which saves the captured information. When the information provided on the memo device 101 is uploaded to a Web site, the related information represents the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the Web site.
A first example involves attaching the memo device 101 to the board 100 and displaying information on the memo device 101.
Upon receiving the ID, the home server 301 identifies the attribute of a record corresponding to the received ID with the ID stored in the attribute information table 700 illustrated in
The communications device 102 transmits the received ID and output data to the memo device 101 which corresponds to the ID (Step S906). The memo device 101 saves the output data received from the communications device 102 in the memory 502 (Step S907). Then, the memo device 101 outputs the output data saved in the memory 502 (Step S908). When the output data is visible data such as image data, moving-image data, icons, or character string data the output data is displayed on the electronic paper 503.
On the other hand, if the output data is voice data, when the touch sensor 505 detects that the memo device 101 has been touched by the user, the memo device 101 plays back the voice data saved in the memory 502 (Step S908). Moving-image data may also be read out of the memory 502 and played back when the touch sensor 505 detects touch.
For example, as illustrated in
This makes it possible to convey or provide various information such as a calendar or messages, with memo devices 101 being associated with users, by freely writing something in margins of the board 100, the margins containing no memo device 101. In this way, the first example eliminates the need for complicated computer operations, making it possible to provide information in much the same way as affixing paper on a message board or affixing paper on a white board or black board using a magnet.
A second example involves applying data received externally to the memo device 101.
For example, if the mother mails a message “Thaw the meat, okay?” from the road to a mail address assigned to the home server 301 using a cell phone, the character string data “Thaw the meat, okay?” is displayed on the Mother's memo device 101, as illustrated in
Then, in the attribute information table 700, the home server 301 identifies an ID which has the sender address of the e-mail as related information (Step S1103). The home server 301 transmits the ID identified in Step S1103 and the data extracted in Step S1102 to the communications device 102 (Step S1104). The communications device 102 transmits the received data to the memo device 101 using the received ID as an address (Step S1105).
The memo device 101 saves the data (the character string data “Thaw the meat, okay?”) received from the communications device 102 in the memory 502 (Step S1106) and outputs the output data saved in the memory 502 (Step S1107). In this case, the memo device 101, which has been displaying image data of the mother as illustrated in
In this way, according to the second example, desired information can be sent from the road to make the memo device 101 output the information. Thus, even when it is not possible to convey information to a desired person (e.g., when the person does not have a cell phone, when the person is located out of service range even if the person has a cell phone, when the phone has run out of battery power, or when the person does not check his/her cell phone), if a message is sent to the memo device 101, the a message can be conveyed to the child who returns home. In this way, even when away from home, family members can use the memo device 101 as a message board as if they were at home. In addition to transmission of e-mails, the memo device 101 can similarly be used to update weather information.
The memo device 101 displays tomorrow's weather using an umbrella mark. In this way, if the memo device 101 is simply attached to the board 100, the weather forecast, which is updated automatically on the board 100, comes into sight as the family members lead a normal life at home even if they do not check weather information by themselves.
A third example involves providing information by mounting a camera device on the memo device 101.
First, in
In this case, video data of Mother who is the subject is displayed. Then, when a trigger is given to the memo device 101 by remote control from the camera device 1300 or by touch on the memo device 101, a shutter of the camera device 1300 is released to capture image data. When attached to the board 100, the memo device 101 conducts contactless communications with the communications device 102, and consequently the captured image data is transmitted to an e-mail address of the Child's cell phone. When the camera device 1300 is subsequently removed from the memo device 101 (
Subsequently, when removal of the camera device 1300 from the memo device 101 is detected (Step S1405), the data originally displayed before the mounting of the camera device 130 is displayed on the display screen 200 of the memo device 101 (Step S1406). On the other hand, upon receiving the ID and image data from the memo device 101, the communications device 102 transfers them as they are to the home server 301 (Step S1407).
The home server 301 receives the transferred ID and image data, and identifies the e-mail address of a record corresponding to the received ID among items of related information in the attribute information table 700 using the received ID (Step S1408). The identified e-mail address is the e-mail address (destination) of Child, which is the attribute of the record corresponding to the received ID. Then, the home server 301 transmits the image data received in Step S1407 to the e-mail address identified in Step S1408 (Step S1409).
In this way, the third example makes it possible to photograph with the camera device 130 mounted on the memo device 101 and then send image data shot by the camera device 130 to the e-mail address of the user of the memo device 101, by simply attaching the memo device 101 to the board 100. This eliminates the need for complicated operating procedures such as destination setting and allows information to be provided through intuitive operation.
A fourth example involves connecting two memo devices 101 together to extend a display area.
Next, the female connector 202 on the left end face of the Mother's memo device 101 and the male connector 201 on the right end face of the Child's memo device 101 are connected with each other. Consequently, in
(Data Structure)
The connection flag identifies whether the given memo device 101 is connected with another memo device 101. The connected ID is the ID of the other memo device 101 connected. The connecting position is position relative to the connected device. For the Mother's memo device 101 in
The connecting-position pair is a combination of the connecting position for the first attribute and connecting position for the second attribute. Each of the connecting positions is linked to the connecting position in the attribute information table 700 illustrated in
The pointers to the common image data are a combination of a pointer to an image data-half of the first attribute and a pointer to an image data-half of the second attribute. The image data-half is each half obtained by splitting the common image data in two.
In the example illustrated in
Next, by exchanging IDs, the connected IDs are received (Step S1802). Then, when attached to the board 100, each of the connected memo devices 101 conducts contactless communications with the communications device 102, and thereby transmits the ID, connected ID, and connecting position to the communications device 102 (Step S1803). The communications device 102 transfers the received IDs, connected IDs, and connecting positions to the home server 301 (Step S1804).
The home server 301 receives the IDs, connected IDs, and connecting positions transmitted from the communications device 102. Then, the home server 301 identifies the attributes of records corresponding to the received IDs in the attribute information table 700 illustrated in
At this time, in the attribute information table 700, the record with the first attribute (Mother) has its connection flag set to ON, the connected ID set to the ID of the memo device 101 of the second attribute, and the connecting position set to Right. Similarly, in the attribute information table 700, the record with the second attribute (Child) has its connection flag set to ON, the connected ID set to the ID of the memo device 101 of the first attribute, and the connecting position set to Left.
Next, the home server 301 identifies an attribute pair and connecting-position pair whose connection flags have turned on in the attribute information table 700 and identifies the pointers to the common image data (pointer to the image data-half of the first attribute and pointer to the image data-half of the second attribute) in the common image information table 1700. In the example described above, in a record whose attribute pair is Mother and Child and whose connecting-position pair is Right and Left, the home server 301 identifies the pointer to the image data-half of the first attribute (Mother) and pointer to the image data-half of the second attribute (Child). Using the two pointers, the image data-half of the first attribute and image data-half of the second attribute are extracted from the database 302 (Step S1807).
Once the image data-halves are extracted, the home server 301 transmits the image data-halves to the communications device 102 together with the IDs used to identify the respective attributes (Step S1808). Specifically, for example, the home server 301 transmits a set of the image data-half of the first attribute and the ID of the memo device 101 of the first attribute as well as a set of the image data-half of the second attribute and the ID of the memo device 101 of the second attribute to the communications device 102.
Using the ID attached to each image data-half as an address, the communications device 102 transfers the image data-halves to the memo devices 101 of the respective IDs (Step S1809). Specifically, for example, the communications device 102 transmits the image data-half of the first attribute to the memo device 101 of the first attribute, and the image data-half of the second attribute to the memo device 101 of the second attribute.
Upon receiving the image data-halves, the memo device 101 displays the received image data-halves on the display screen 200 (Step S1810). Specifically, for example, as illustrated in
With the common image data being displayed, data received externally may be displayed in superposition as illustrated in the second example. For example, the home server 301 may receive an e-mail from Mother that is the first attribute and display the mail body on the display screen 200 of the memo device 101 of the first attribute.
Upon receiving an e-mail (Step S1901), the home server 301 identifies the attribute which has the sender address of the e-mail as related information, in the attribute information table 700. Similarly, the home server 301 identifies the attribute which has the destination address of the e-mail as related information, in the attribute information table 700 (Step S1902).
Specifically, for example, when the sender is a Mother's portable terminal, the attribute Mother which has the e-mail address of the Mother's portable terminal as related information is identified. Similarly, the attribute Child which has the destination e-mail address of the Child's portable terminal as related information is identified.
Then, the home server 301 determines whether or not the identified attribute pair has been registered in the common image information table 1700. If the attribute pair has been registered in the common image information table 1700, the home server 301 identifies the ID which corresponds to the attribute of the sender, in the attribute information table 700 (Step S1903). Specifically, for example, if an attribute pair Mother and Child has been registered in the common image information table 1700, the home server 301 identifies the ID of the memo device 101 used by the attribute Mother, in the attribute information table 700.
Subsequently, the home server 301 transmits the ID identified in Step S1903 and the received data (only the mail body, in this case) to the communications device 102 (Step S1904). The communications device 102 transfers the received data to the memo device 101 of the first attribute (Step S1905). The memo device 101 of the first attribute displays the received data, i.e., the character string data of the mail body on its display screen 200 (Step S1906).
Areas available to display character string data may be specified in advance, for example, as areas other than those for portrait images. Since the character string data is displayed only on the memo device 101 of Mother that is the first attribute, it can be seen intuitively which user the message has originated from and which user the message is directed at.
A fifth example involves using the board 100 as a calendar.
Specifically, when a memo device 101 is attached to an arbitrary cell illustrated in
Upon receiving the ID, the communications device 102 transmits the received ID together with the detected-position information to the home server 301 (Step S2603). Upon receiving the ID and detected-position information, the home server 301 identifies the attribute of the received ID with reference to the attribute information table 700 (Step S2604). Then, the home server 301 identifies the date which contains the received detected-position information with reference to the coordinate table 2500 (Step S2605). Specifically, the home server 301 identifies the date's region which includes the coordinate values of the detected-position information.
Also, the home server 301 acquires data for the date identified in Step S2605 (Step S2606). Specifically, for example, if an application which acquires weather information has been installed on the home server 301 or when the home server 301 is monitoring a Web site on which weather information has been uploaded, the home server 301 acquires weather information for the date identified in Step S2605. In this case, the home server 301 acquires weather information for Dec. 25, 2008.
Then, the home server 301 transmits the ID received in Step S2603 and data received in Step S2606 to the communications device 102 (Step S2607). The communications device 102 transfers the data (weather information) received in Step S2607 to the memo device 101 of the received ID (Step S2608). The memo device 101 saves the data received from the communications device 102 in the memory 502 (Step S2609) and outputs the data (displays the weather information) (Step S2610).
Consequently, as illustrated in
Thus, by simply selecting a memo device 101 of a specific attribute type (e.g., Weather, Sports, News, or the like) and attaching the selected memo device 101 to the cell of a desired date on the board 100, the user can obtain information of the selected attribute type for the given date. Consequently, the user can automatically acquire information specialized to the attaching location by the act of attaching the memo device 101, which is hard to imagine to be a computer operation. Thus, even if there is someone in the family who is computer illiterate, all the family members can use the information.
A sixth example is an example of use at an office. It is assumed that users are company employees and that a memo device 101 is provided for each employee. Also, it is assumed that in addition to the ID of the memo device 101, the memo device 101 stores an employee identification number unique to the given employee as an attribute.
It is assumed that an existing application which analyzes physical conditions based on the biomedical information has been installed on the home server 301. Analysis results of physical conditions produced by the application is transmitted to the memo device 101 of the analyzed employee using a sequence similar to the one illustrated in the second example. The analysis results transmitted are displayed on the display screen 200 of the memo device 101.
That is, the employees whose memo devices 101 are attached are present at the office while the employees whose memo devices 101 are not attached are yet to come to the office. Also, if arrival time is displayed on the display screen 200 of the memo device 101, the memo device 101 can be used as a time recorder. Such provision of information can also be implemented using a sequence similar to the one illustrated in the second example.
In this way, by simply looking at the display screen 200 of an employee's memo device 101, it can be seen what message the employee wants to convey, without starting mailer or messenger software or searching for the sender. Also, since voice data of another employee can be played back by simply touching the memo device 101 of the other employee, it is possible to listen to the message of the other employee any number of times without the need for a recorder.
As described above, the present embodiment can implement traditional communications in much the same way as affixing a memo on a white board or black board without making the users aware of computer processing or computer operation. Thus, the present embodiment provides an interface that all members can use intuitively even if there are computer-illiterate persons in the family or corporate organization, and thereby facilitates communications.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-334417 | Dec 2008 | JP | national |