The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-041131 describes technology for providing a bookmark on pages in the e-book data. Specifically, images of a barcode as a book identification code and pages intended to be provided with a bookmark among pages of a book using paper as a medium are captured with a user device, image recognition is performed on the acquired image data, the book and a part for the bookmark in the book are identified, and a bookmark is provided in the part in the data of an e-book corresponding to the paper book.
The technology in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-041131 enables a bookmark in the e-book to be synchronized with a bookmark in the paper book but does not enable the bookmark in paper book the to be synchronized with that in the e-book.
Aspects of non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure relate to easy identification of a currently read part of one of a paper book and an e-book that contain the identical work as a currently read part of the other one of the paper book and the e-book.
Aspects of certain non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure overcome the above disadvantages and/or other disadvantages not described above. However, aspects of the non-limiting embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and aspects of the non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure may not overcome any of the disadvantages described above.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an information processing apparatus including a processor configured to acquire first information indicating a currently read part of a paper book, acquire second information indicating a currently read part of an e-book containing a work identical to a work in the paper book, and cause the currently read part of the paper book to be displayed in the e-book. The currently read part is indicated by the acquired first information. The processor is also configured to cause a book image in which the currently read part of the e-book is represented in the paper book to be displayed. The currently read part is indicated by the acquired second information.
An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
The reading assistive device 10 particularly assists reading an e-book in which a work identical to a work in a paper book is contained. In this exemplary embodiment, the reading assistive device 10 also has a function of displaying an e-book, and the user uses the reading assistive device 10 as an e-book reader. The reading assistive device 10 is a computer including a processor 11, a memory 12, a storage 13, a communication device 14, a user interface (UI) device 15, and an imaging device 16.
The processor 11 includes an arithmetic unit such as a central processing unit (CPU), a register, peripheral circuits, and other components. The processor 11 is an example of a processor of the present disclosure. The memory 12 is a recording medium readable by the processor 11 and includes a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), and other components. The storage 13 is a recording medium readable by the processor 11 and includes a hard disk drive, a flash memory, or the like.
The processor 11 controls the operation of the hardware by running a program stored in the ROM or the storage 13 with the RAM used as a work area. The processor 11 runs, for example, an application program (a reading assistive application) for assisting reading by the user and receives input of a character string. The reading assistive application assists reading not only the e-book but also a paper book, that is, a book using paper as a medium.
The communication device 14 includes an antenna, a communication circuit, and other components and performs communications via a communication network (not illustrated). Programs run by the processor 11 may be acquired from an external apparatus communicating via the communication device 14. The UI device 15 is an interface provided for the user using the reading assistive device 10. The interface is a device that receives information input by the user and outputs information from the reading assistive device 10.
The UI device 15 has a touch screen including, for example, a display used for displaying and a touch panel disposed on the surface of the display. The UI device 15 displays an image and receives a user operation. The imaging device 16 includes an optical system such as a lens and an image sensor. The imaging device 16 is a digital camera used for capturing an image in the angle of view. The imaging device 16 provides the processor 11 with image data representing the captured image.
The reading assistive device 10 implements the following functions in such a manner that the processor 11 controls component units by running the program (reading assistive application).
The paper-book information acquisition unit 101 acquires information regarding a paper book (hereinafter, referred to as paper book information). The reading assistive device 10 displays the menu screen of the reading assistive application as a screen for performing operations for the paper book information and the like.
When stopping reading the paper book, the user causes the menu screen M1 to be displayed and performs operations for selecting the operation images F1 and F2. The paper-book information acquisition unit 101 then starts the imaging device 16, and the imaging device 16 becomes ready for capturing an image. The operation image F1 is herein selected first. In this case, the user operates the reading assistive device 10 to capture an image of the cover of the paper book. The paper-book information acquisition unit 101 acquires, as paper book information, the cover image representing the captured image of the cover of the paper book.
The work identification unit 102 stores a table of works in which, for example, the cover images of various paper books are respectively associated with names of works. The work identification unit 102 identifies the work in the paper book by identifying the name of the work associated in the table of works with a cover image having similarity to the supplied cover image, the similarity being higher than or equal to a threshold. Upon identifying the work, the work identification unit 102 supplies the electronic image display controller 103 with the name of the identified work.
The user subsequently selects the operation image F2. In this case, the user captures an image of the paper book by pointing the last part of sentences already read by themselves in the opened page of the paper book. The last part is pointed as a currently read part with a tool such as a finger or a pen. The paper-book information acquisition unit 101 acquires the captured image representing the image of the paper book as paper book information.
When the user stops reading the paper book, the paper-book information acquisition unit 101 acquires, as the paper book information, the captured image as illustrated in
When an operation is performed on the operation image F3 illustrated in
At this time, the electronic image display controller 103 causes an image representing the currently read part of the paper book indicated by the paper book information acquired by the paper-book information acquisition unit 101 to be displayed in the e-book. Specifically, the electronic image display controller 103 recognizes the currently read page on the basis of the captured image and causes a section including the part pointed in the recognized page to be displayed in the e-book containing the work identified by the work identification unit 102.
The electronic image display controller 103 stores character position data in advance. The character position data indicates, for example, the position of each of characters in the sentences in each page of the paper book A11. If the captured image G2 in
The electronic image display controller 103 identifies a character pointed at the recognized position of the pen point D2 as a character indicating the currently read part in the character position data read out. In the example in
The pointing image E1 is composed of a rectangular image including the character string “currently read” and a part pointing at the character identified as the currently read part. In the example in
Changing the size of the characters in the e-book leads to a large or small difference of the page number from the page number in the paper book and accordingly leads to a positional change of the character identified as the currently read part. In this case, the electronic image display controller 103 changes the display position of the pointing image E1 to remain pointing at the position of the identified character. Displaying the pointing image E1 in this manner causes a currently read part of the paper book to be displayed more minutely than in a case where a pointing image is not displayed.
The e-book information acquisition unit 104 acquires information regarding an e-book (hereinafter, referred to as e-book information). For example, when the user stops reading the e-book A21 illustrated in
When the reading of the e-book is stopped, the electronic image display controller 103 causes an operation image for confirming the stopping to be displayed.
When the user performs an operation for selecting the Yes button, the electronic image display controller 103 causes a stop image H31 and an Enter button to be displayed as illustrated in
After the operation is performed on the confirmation button, the e-book information acquisition unit 104 acquires, as information indicating the currently read part, paragraph information indicating the stop image H31 displayed at that time. The paragraph information is information indicating the order of, for example, the paragraph indicating the currently read part out of all paragraphs for the sentences of the e-book. Note that a stop image is not limited to the information regarding a paragraph indicating the currently read part and may be, for example, information regarding a character indicating the currently read part. In this case, for example, an image surrounding the character may be used as the stop image, and the number of characters from the top of the sentence to the character indicating the currently read part may be used as the information indicating the currently read part.
The e-book information acquisition unit 104 supplies the book image display controller 105 with the information (in this exemplary embodiment, the paragraph information indicating the acquired currently read part). If the user stops reading the e-book and thereafter uses the paper book to continue the reading, the user performs an operation on the operation image F4 illustrated in
After the operation is performed on the operation image F4, the book image display controller 105 causes the image in which the currently read part of the e-book is represented in the paper book to be displayed as the paper book image on the display. The currently read part is indicated by the e-book information acquired by the e-book information acquisition unit 104.
The paper book image G3 reproduces the layout of a page of the paper book A11. The paper book image G3 also represents a paragraph image H41 surrounding a paragraph corresponding to the paragraph having the currently read part of the e-book. As described above, the book image display controller 105 causes, to be displayed as the paper book image G3, an image in which among the pages of the paper book, the layout of the page including the currently read part indicated by the acquired e-book information is represented and the image (paragraph image H41) in which the currently read part is represented in the layout.
With the configuration described above, the reading assistive device 10 executes a reading assistive process for assisting the user with their reading. The reading assistive process includes an e-book reading assistive process in which a currently read part is represented in the e-book and a paper book reading assistive process in which a currently read part is represented in the paper book.
On the basis of the acquired cover image, the reading assistive device 10 (work identification unit 102) identifies a work contained in the paper book from which a cover image is captured (step S12). The reading assistive device 10 (paper-book information acquisition unit 101) acquires information indicating the currently read part of the paper book (step S13). The reading assistive device 10 (electronic image display controller 103) causes an image (currently-read-part image) indicating the currently read part of the paper book indicated by the acquired paper book information to be displayed in the e-book (step S14).
In this exemplary embodiment, the currently read part of the paper book or the e-book is represented by a corresponding one of the currently-read-part image and the paper book image as described above. The currently read part of one of the paper book and the e-book that contain the identical work is thereby identified as the currently read part of the other one of the paper book and the e-book more easily than in a case where the currently read part is not displayed. In addition, in this exemplary embodiment, the use of the captured image having the pointed currently read part of the paper book leads to the identification of the currently read part, eliminating the need for typing, for example, a character indicating the currently read part of the paper book.
In addition, in this exemplary embodiment, the paper book image representing the layout and the currently read part is displayed as illustrated in
The exemplary embodiment described above is merely an example for implementing the present disclosure and may be modified as below. The exemplary embodiment and the modifications may be combined and implemented as necessary.
The electronic image display controller 103 recognizes the currently read page by recognizing the number image representing the page number in the exemplary embodiment; however, the method for recognizing a currently read page is not limited thereto. The electronic image display controller 103 may store, for example, the layout of each page of the paper book and then may recognize a page in the layout matching the layout in the acquired captured image of the paper book. The page number of a page even without a printed page number is thereby recognized.
The book image display controller 105 may cause a book image different from that in the exemplary embodiment to be displayed. In this modification, the book image display controller 105 causes the following images to be displayed as the paper book image: an image of a side view of a paper book (an image representing a specific side of the paper book and hereinafter referred to as a side image); and an image (hereinafter, referred to as a current-reading position image) representing the position of the page including the currently read part represented in the side image.
In the exemplary embodiment, the book image display controller 105 causes the paper book image to be displayed when an operation is performed on the operation image F4 illustrated in
As long as a period of time leads to a determination that the e-book is not to be used not only temporarily but also for some time (for example, approximately five or ten minutes), the period of time may be set as the threshold. If the user stops reading an e-book and starts reading a paper book after a while, the paper book image is displayed without performing an operation on the operation image because the threshold is set as described above. The paper book reading subsequent to the e-book reading is started more quickly than in a case where the paper book image is displayed only in response to the user operation.
In the exemplary embodiment, the book image display controller 105 causes the image (paragraph image H41) representing the currently read part to be displayed as the paper book image G3 in the layout of the page including the currently read part as illustrated in
To display the currently read part in the page as in the exemplary embodiment, the layout of the page, in other words, information indicating the respective positions of characters needs to be held. However, displaying only the page as in this modification leads to a smaller amount of data regarding the paper book than in the case where the specific position of the currently read part in the page is displayed as in the exemplary embodiment.
The method for implementing the functions illustrated in
The functions implemented by the reading assistive device 10 may be implemented by two or more apparatuses (such as apparatuses respectively for display and operations or apparatuses respectively held by the user and accessed via a communication network in cloud computing or the like). As described above, the information processing apparatus of the present disclosure may have all the components in one housing or may have the components in two or more separate housings. In the case of two or more separate housings, the components may be referred to as an information processing system.
Moreover, for example, in the examples above, the electronic image display controller 103 recognizes the currently read page from the captured image; however, the function of the recognition may be separately provided. In addition, for example, operations of the paper-book information acquisition unit 101 and the work identification unit 102 may be performed by one function. In sum, as long as the functions illustrated in
In the embodiment above, the term “processor” refers to hardware in a broad sense. Examples of the processor include general processors (e.g., CPU: Central Processing Unit), and dedicated processors (e.g., GPU: Graphics Processing Unit, ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array, and programmable logic device).
In the embodiment above, the term “processor” is broad enough to encompass one processor or plural processors in collaboration which are located physically apart from each other but may work cooperatively. The order of operations of the processor is not limited to one described in the embodiment above, and may be changed.
The present disclosure is regarded as not only the above-described information processing apparatus (including the case where the information processing apparatus is referred to as the information processing system) but also an information processing method for implementing the processing performed by the information processing apparatus and a program causing a computer controlling the devices to function. The program may be provided by using a recording medium storing the program, such as an optical disk, or in such a manner as to be downloaded by the computer via a communication network such as the Internet and then be made usable by being installed thereon.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2020-041689 | Mar 2020 | JP | national |
This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-041689 filed Mar. 11, 2020.