Terminal, method for displaying articles in electronic magazines, and electronic magazine program

Abstract

Users can search for articles in digital magazines based on their current location and see at a glance the locations of facilities corresponding to those articles. [Solution] The terminal 10 for viewing electronic magazines comprises a first acquisition unit 130c, a second acquisition unit 130d, and a display control unit 130a. The first acquisition unit 130c acquires location information representing the user's current location. The second acquisition unit 130d acquires one or more first article information representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by the location information, and one or more first location information corresponding to the first article information, from a database that stores article information representing electronic magazine articles about facilities and location information indicating the location of said facilities in association. The display control unit 130a displays on the display device 140 a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article information are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more first location information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a terminal, a method for displaying an article in an electronic magazine, and an electronic magazine program.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for presenting information on facilities and the like around a user.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] With the spread of e-books, as an example of e-books, there is an electronic magazine that digitizes magazines that were conventionally published in paper media. However, current electronic magazines do not have a search means based on "the location where the user is currently located." Therefore, even if a user of an electronic magazine wants to go to a store or the like introduced in an article of the electronic magazine, the user has to memorize the address or the like published in the article and perform a separate search, which is a cumbersome process.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] A terminal according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a first acquisition unit that acquires position information representing a current position of a user, and a database that stores, in association with each other, article information representing an article related to a facility and location information indicating a location where the facility is located. A second acquisition unit that acquires one or more pieces of first article information representing articles related to facilities located around the position indicated by the position information and first location information corresponding to the first article information, and a display control unit that displays, on a display device, a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more pieces of first article information are arranged at positions indicated by each of the one or more pieces of first location information. , has.

[0006] Furthermore, a method for displaying articles in an electronic magazine according to one aspect of this disclosure includes a server having a database that stores article information representing articles about facilities and location information indicating the location of said facilities in association with each other, selecting one or more first article pieces representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by location information representing the current location of a terminal used by a user, and first location pieces corresponding to the first article pieces; the server transmitting the one or more first article pieces and the one or more location pieces to the terminal; and the terminal displaying on a display device a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article pieces are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more location pieces. Includes.

[0007] Furthermore, an electronic magazine program according to one aspect of this disclosure includes: acquiring location information representing the user's current location on a computer; acquiring one or more first article information representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by the location information and first location information corresponding to the first article information from a database that stores article information representing articles about facilities and location information indicating the location of said facilities in association; and displaying on a display device a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article information are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more first location information. Make it run. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to this disclosure, users can search for articles in electronic magazines based on their current location and instantly see the location of facilities corresponding to those articles. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing an example configuration of a communication system 1 including a terminal 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2]This figure shows an example of the contents stored in the article database DB1 on server 20. [Figure 3] This is a block diagram showing an example configuration of terminal 10. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of the first UI screen G1 displayed on the display device 140 of terminal 10. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of the second UI screen G2 displayed on the display device 140 of terminal 10. [Figure 6] This is a sequence diagram showing the processing flow in the method for displaying articles according to this embodiment. [Figure 7] This figure shows an example of the third UI screen G3 in Modification Example 1. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] (A. Embodiment) Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication system 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 1 includes a terminal 10 used by user U and a server 20. As shown in Figure 1, the terminal 10 and the server 20 are connected to a communication network NW. The communication network NW is, for example, the internet.

[0011] Terminal 10 is an information processing device equipped with a communication function for data communication via a communication network NW and a program execution function. Specific examples of terminal 10 include smartphones and tablet devices. As shown in Figure 1, program PR1 is pre-installed. Program PR1 is a program that allows user U to view electronic magazines distributed from server 20 via the communication network NW. Program PR1 is an example of an electronic magazine program in this disclosure.

[0012] Server 20 is an information processing device that distributes electronic magazines via a communication network NW. As shown in Figure 1, Server 20 stores an article database DB1. Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the article database DB1. The article database DB1 stores article information representing articles of electronic magazines distributed by Server 20. In this embodiment, the article information is image data generated by scanning an article from a magazine published in print, i.e., image data representing an image of the article. In this embodiment, the article is image data generated by scanning an article from a magazine that introduces a store such as a restaurant or clothing retailer, a theater or cinema, or a museum. In this embodiment, the article information includes an address representing the location of the facility introduced in the article.

[0013] As shown in Figure 2, the article database DB1 stores location information, genre information, and publication period information associated with the article information. As shown in Figure 2, the article database DB1 stores multiple pairs of article information, location information, genre information, and publication period information.

[0014] Location information represents the location of the facility introduced in the article represented by the article information corresponding to the location information. In this embodiment, location information represents the latitude and longitude of the location of the facility introduced in the article represented by the article information corresponding to the location information. Location information is obtained by converting the address of the facility, which is obtained by converting the image of the article represented by the article information corresponding to the location information into text, into latitude and longitude.

[0015] Genre information represents the genre to which the article represented by the article information corresponding to the genre information belongs. For example, genre information of "gourmet" is associated with the article information representing an article introducing a restaurant, and genre information of "fashion" is associated with the article information representing an article introducing a clothing retail store. In the present embodiment, the genre information is specified based on the words appearing in the article represented by the article information corresponding to the genre information and the photos included in the article, but the genre of the article may be specified based on the genre of the magazine in which the article is published.

[0016] Publication period information represents the publication period of the article represented by the article information corresponding to the publication period information. The publication period refers to the period during which the user can view the article. The publication period is determined by a contract or adjustment with the publisher, which is the publisher of the magazine, and is set, for example, for one year or three months. Depending on the magazine, the publication period may be set so that, for example, back issues for the past three times can be viewed.

[0017] By communicating with the terminal 10 via the communication network NW, the server 20 acquires position information indicating the current position (latitude and longitude) of the terminal 10 and genre designation information indicating the genre specified by the user of the terminal 10. Triggered by the acquisition of the position information and the genre designation information, the server 20 represents articles of facilities located in an area centered on the position indicated by the position information (for example, an area with a radius of 500 meters), and selects a dataset (a set of article information and location information) regarding one or more articles corresponding to genre information indicating the same genre as the genre indicated by the genre designation information, and transmits the selected dataset to the terminal 10.

[0018] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the terminal 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal 10 includes a communication device 110, a storage device 120, a processing device 130, a display device 140, an input device 150, a GPS receiver 160, a timing device 170, and a bus 180 that interconnects these devices. Note that GPS is an abbreviation for "Global Positioning System".

[0019] The communication device 110 includes, for example, a wireless communication circuit. The communication device 110 communicates wirelessly with other devices via the communication network NW. A specific example of another device that communicates with the communication device 110 is the server 20.

[0020] The display device 140 includes a liquid crystal display and a drive circuit for the liquid crystal display. The display device 140 displays various images under the control of the processing device 130. The input device 150 is, for example, a transparent touch sensor that covers the display area of the display device 140. In the present embodiment, a touch panel is formed by the display device 140 and the input device 150. The input device 150 detects a touch operation by the user. The input device 150 provides operation content data representing the detected operation content to the processing device 130. By the exchange of this operation content data, the user's operation performed on the input device 150 is transmitted to the processing device 130. Note that the input device 150 may include, for example, an operator such as a numeric keypad, or may include a pointing device such as a mouse.

[0021] The GPS receiver 160 receives signals transmitted from GPS satellites. The signals transmitted from GPS satellites include information indicating the transmission time of the signals. The GPS receiver 160 measures the position (latitude and longitude) of the GPS receiver 160 based on the time difference between the reception time of the signals transmitted from GPS satellites and the transmission time of the signals. The GPS receiver 160 outputs position information indicating the position of the GPS receiver 160 (that is, the position of the terminal 10 including the GPS receiver 160) to the processing device 130.

[0022] The timing device 170 includes, for example, a real-time clock. The timing device 170 outputs date and time information indicating the current date and time to the processing device 130 in response to a request from the processing device 130.

[0023] The storage device 120 is a recording medium that can be read by the processing unit 130. The storage device 120 includes, for example, non-volatile memory and volatile memory. Non-volatile memory is, for example, ROM (Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory). Volatile memory is, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory). The storage device 120 stores program PR1.

[0024] The processing unit 130 includes one or more CPUs (Central Processing Units). One or more CPUs are an example of one or more processors. Each of the processors and CPUs is an example of a computer. When the processing unit 130 is instructed to execute program PR1 by an operation on the input device 150, it reads program PR1 from the storage device 120. Then, the processing unit 130 executes program PR1 that it read from the storage device 120. The processing unit 130, operating according to program PR1, functions as a display control unit 130a, a reception unit 130b, a first acquisition unit 130c, a second acquisition unit 130d, and a third acquisition unit 130e. The functions of each of the display control unit 130a, reception unit 130b, first acquisition unit 130c, second acquisition unit 130d, and third acquisition unit 130e in the processing unit 130 are as follows.

[0025] The display control unit 130a displays various screens on the display device 140 to allow user U to view electronic magazines. The processing unit 130, which has started executing program PR1, first functions as the display control unit 130a and displays the first UI screen G1 shown in Figure 4 on the display device 140. Other screens that the display control unit 130a displays on the display device 140 will be explained later. The first UI screen G1 is a screen for allowing user U to specify the genre of article they wish to view. As shown in Figure 4, the first UI screen G1 is provided with radio buttons R1 corresponding to the genre "Gourmet", R2 corresponding to the genre "Fashion", and R3 corresponding to the genre "Cosmetics". User U specifies the genre of article they wish to view by selecting one of radio buttons R1, R2, or R3 by operating on the input device 150. For example, if user U wishes to view an article belonging to the genre "Gourmet", user U selects radio button R1 on the input device 150.

[0026] The reception unit 130b receives the genre of the article that user U wants to display based on user U's operation on the first UI screen G1, and determines genre specification information indicating the received genre. For example, if the input device 150 selects radio button R1, the reception unit 130b determines the genre specification information to be "Gourmet". Similarly, if the input device 150 selects radio button R2, the reception unit 130b determines the genre specification information to be "Fashionable", and if the input device 150 selects radio button R3, the reception unit 130b determines the genre specification information to be "Cosmetics".

[0027] The first acquisition unit 130c acquires location information representing the current location of terminal 10 (i.e., the current location of user U carrying terminal 10) from the GPS receiver 160 when user U has specified a genre.

[0028] The third acquisition unit 130e acquires date and time information indicating the current date and time from the timing device 170 when a genre is specified by user U.

[0029] The second acquisition unit 130d communicates with the server 20 using the communication device 110 to acquire one or more article information from the server 20, which represents articles that belong to the genre represented by the genre specification information and whose publication period includes the current date and time indicated by the date and time information, and which represent articles relating to facilities located around the location indicated by the location information, along with location information corresponding to said article information. The one or more article information acquired by the second acquisition unit 130d is an example of the first article information in this disclosure. The following describes the case in which four articles, A to D, are acquired by the second acquisition unit 130d.

[0030] The display control unit 130a displays the second UI screen G2 shown in Figure 5 on the display device 140 based on one or more article information and location information acquired by the second acquisition unit 130d. As shown in Figure 5, the second UI screen G2 includes a map image G21 in which icons MB1 to MB4 corresponding to the article information acquired by the second acquisition unit 130d are placed at the positions indicated by each of the location information corresponding to the article information. The display control unit 130a first acquires a map image of a predetermined area (for example, an area with a radius of 500 meters) centered on the location information, and generates image 21 by placing icons MB1 to MB4 on the image. Existing technology may be used as appropriate for acquiring the map image. Icon MB1 corresponds to article A, icon MB2 to article B, icon MB3 to article C, and icon MB4 to article D. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 5, the display control unit 130a places icon MA corresponding to the current location of user U on the map. User U can instantly grasp the location of facilities corresponding to articles searched based on their current location through image G21 included in the second UI screen G2. The second UI screen G2 also includes a list image G22 of icons MC1 to MC4 corresponding to article information. Icon MC1 corresponds to article A, icon MC2 to article B, icon MC3 to article C, and icon MC4 to article D. When user U selects one of icons MC1 to MC4, the display control unit 130a displays the image of the article corresponding to the selected icon on the display device 140. In this embodiment, the list image G22 is arranged above image G21. Through the list image G22, user U can instantly grasp the list of articles searched based on their current location and display the image of the desired article. The above describes the configuration of terminal 10.

[0031] Next, with reference to Figure 6, the method for displaying articles executed in the communication system 1 will be described. Figure 6 is a sequence diagram showing the processing flow in the article display method of this embodiment. When user U instructs the input device 150 of terminal 10 to start the execution of program PR1, the processing unit 130 of terminal 10 reads program PR1 from the non-volatile memory of the storage device 120 into the volatile memory and starts executing program PR1 read into the volatile memory. The processing unit 130, operating according to program PR1, executes the first display process SA110. In the first display process SA110, the processing unit 130 functions as a display control unit 130a and a reception unit 130b. In the first display process SA110, the processing unit 130 first functions as a display control unit 130a and displays the first UI screen G1 on the display device 140.

[0032] User U, upon viewing the first UI screen G1, performs an operation to specify the genre of article they wish to view to the input device 150. This example describes the case where User U specifies the genre "Gourmet". When the user U performs an operation to specify the genre of article they wish to view to the input device 150, the processing unit 130 functions as a reception unit 130b and accepts the genre specification from User U.

[0033] In the acquisition process SA120 that follows the first display process SA110, the processing unit 130 functions as a first acquisition unit 130c, a second acquisition unit 130d, and a third acquisition unit 130e. In the acquisition process SA120, the processing unit 130 first functions as the first acquisition unit 130c and acquires location information representing the current location of the terminal 10 from the GPS receiver 160. Next, the processing unit 130 functions as the third acquisition unit 130e and acquires date and time information indicating the current date and time from the timing device 170. Next, the processing unit 130 functions as the second acquisition unit 130d and sends a communication message MES1 containing genre specification information indicating the genre specified by user U, location information indicating the current location, and the current date and time to the server 20 using the communication device 110.

[0034] When server 20 receives communication message MES1, it selects a dataset (a pair of article information and location information) relating to one or more articles that represent articles about facilities located in an area centered on the location indicated by the location information (for example, an area with a radius of 500 meters), correspond to genre information that is the same genre as indicated by the genre specification information, and whose publication period indicated by the publication period information includes the current date and time, and sends a communication message MES2 containing the selected dataset to terminal 10.

[0035] The processing unit 130, which functions as the second acquisition unit 130d, receives the communication message MES2 and acquires article information that represents articles belonging to the genre indicated by the genre specification information and whose publication period includes the current date and time indicated by the date and time information, as well as article information relating to facilities located around the location indicated by the location information and location information corresponding to said article information.

[0036] In the second display process SA130, which follows the acquisition process SA120, the processing unit 130 functions as a display control unit 130a. In the second display process SA130, the processing unit 130 displays the second UI screen G2 on the display device 140 based on one or more article information and location information acquired in the acquisition process SA120. User U can grasp the location of the facility corresponding to the article searched based on their current location at a glance through the image G21 included in the second UI screen G2. In addition, user U can grasp the list of articles searched based on their current location at a glance through the list image G22.

[0037] As described above, according to this embodiment, user U can search for articles based on their current location, grasp the search results on a map at a glance, and grasp the list of searched articles at a glance.

[0038] (B: Transformation) The above embodiment can be modified as follows. (B-1: Torture 1) Prior to the first display process SA110 when program PR1 is first launched, the processing unit 130 may display the third UI screen G3 shown in Figure 7 on the display device 140. As shown in Figure 7, the third UI screen G3 is a screen that requests permission from the user regarding the use of location information. When a user views the third UI screen G3, they select virtual button B1 if they want to allow the use of location information. Conversely, if they do not want to allow the use of location information, they select virtual button B2. When the user selects virtual button B1, the processing unit 130 should execute the processes from the first display process SA110 onwards.

[0039] (B-2: Variation 2) Specifying a genre is not mandatory and may be omitted. In the configuration where specifying a genre is omitted, the display of the first UI screen G1 may be omitted, and the reception unit 130b may be omitted. Also, in the configuration where specifying a genre is omitted, genre information may be omitted from the article database DB1. In the configuration where specifying a genre is omitted, the second acquisition unit 130d communicates with the server 20 using the communication device 110 to acquire one or more article information from the server 20, which represents article information that includes the current date and time indicated by the date and time information within the publication period, and which represents article information relating to facilities located around the location indicated by the location information, along with location information corresponding to that article information. Also, filtering articles by publication period is not mandatory and may be omitted. In the configuration where filtering by publication period is omitted, publication period information may be omitted from the article database DB1. In the configuration where filtering by publication period is omitted, the third acquisition unit 130e may be omitted. In an embodiment where filtering by publication period is omitted, the second acquisition unit 130d communicates with the server 20 using the communication device 110 to acquire one or more article information from the server 20, which represents articles belonging to the genre represented by the genre specification information, and which represents articles relating to facilities located around the location indicated by the location information, as well as location information corresponding to said article information.

[0040] (B-3: Modification 3) In the above embodiment, program PR1 was pre-stored in the storage device 120 of terminal 10, but program PR1 may be manufactured or sold as a standalone product. When selling program PR1, possible methods of providing program PR1 to buyers include writing program PR1 to a computer-readable recording medium such as flash ROM and distributing it, or distributing it by download via a telecommunications line.

[0041] (B-4: Modification 4) In the above embodiment, the display control unit 130a, the reception unit 130b, the first acquisition unit 130c, the second acquisition unit 130d, and the third acquisition unit 130e may be composed of electronic circuits such as ASICs. The terminal 10 may be composed of a combination of these electronic circuits.

[0042] (C: Other) (1) In the embodiments described above, ROM and RAM were given as examples of the storage device 120, but the storage device 120 may be a flexible disk, magneto-optical disk (e.g., compact disk, digital multipurpose disk, Blu-ray® disk), smart card, flash memory device (e.g., card, stick, key drive), CD-ROM (Compact Disc-ROM), register, removable disk, hard disk, floppy® disk, magnetic strip, database, server, or other suitable storage medium.

[0043] (2) In the embodiments described above, the information, signals, etc. may be represented using any of the various different techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0044] (3) In the embodiments described above, the input and output information may be stored in a specific location (e.g., memory) or managed using a table. The input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or appended to. The output information may be deleted. The input information may be transmitted to other devices.

[0045] (4) In the embodiments described above, the determination may be made by a value represented by 1 bit (0 or 1), by a boolean value (true or false), or by a numerical comparison (for example, a comparison with a predetermined value).

[0046] (5) The processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc., exemplified in the embodiments described above may be reordered, as long as they do not contradict each other. For example, in the methods described herein, the elements of various steps are presented using an exemplary order and are not limited to the specific order presented.

[0047] (6) Each function illustrated in Figure 3 is implemented by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Furthermore, the method of implementing each function block is not particularly limited. That is, each function block may be implemented using one device that is physically or logically coupled, or it may be implemented using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are directly or indirectly connected (for example, using wired, wireless, etc.). A function block may also be implemented by combining the one or more devices with software.

[0048] (7) The programs illustrated in the embodiments described above should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, functions, etc., whether they are called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages ​​or by other names.

[0049] Furthermore, software, instructions, information, etc., may be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using at least one of wired technology (coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), etc.) and wireless technology (infrared, microwave, etc.), at least one of these wired and wireless technologies is included in the definition of a transmission medium.

[0050] (8) In each of the above-mentioned forms, the terms “system” and “network” shall be used interchangeably.

[0051] (9) The information, parameters, etc. described in this disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values ​​from a given value, or other corresponding information.

[0052] (10) In the embodiments described above, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or any variation thereof, mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are “connected” or “coupled” with each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, “connection” may be read as “access.” As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be “connected” or “coupled” with each other using at least one of one or more wires, cables, and printed electrical connections, and, in some non-limiting and non-exclusive examples, electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency domain, microwave domain, and optical (both visible and invisible) domain.

[0053] (11) In the embodiments described above, the phrase “based on” does not mean “based solely on” unless otherwise specified. In other words, the phrase “based on” means both “based solely on” and “based at least on.”

[0054] (12) The terms “determining” and “determining” as used in this disclosure may encompass a wide variety of actions. “Determining” may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiry (e.g., searching in a table, database or other data structure), ascertaining, etc. “Determining” may also include, for example, receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), etc. Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering something as having been "judged" or "decided" after resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include considering something as having been "judged" or "decided" after some action. Also, "judgment (decision)" can be reinterpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

[0055] (13) Where the terms “include,” “including,” and variations thereof are used in the embodiments described above, these terms are intended to be inclusive, as is the term “comprising.” Furthermore, the term “or” as used in this disclosure is not intended to be exclusive OR.

[0056] (14) Where articles are added in translation, for example, a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include the fact that the noun following these articles is plural.

[0057] (15) In this disclosure, the term “A and B are different” may mean “A and B are different from each other.” The term may also mean “A and B are each different from C.” Terms such as “separate” and “combine” may be interpreted in the same way as “different.”

[0058] (16) Each aspect / embodiment described herein may be used individually, in combination, or switched between as needed in practice. Furthermore, notification of certain information (e.g., notification that "X is") is not limited to explicit notification, but may also be implicit (e.g., by not providing such notification).

[0059] (D: Aspects understood from the above-described embodiments or modifications) Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims. Accordingly, the descriptions in the present disclosure are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be restrictive in any way. The following forms can be understood from at least one of the embodiments or modifications described above.

[0060] A terminal according to the first aspect of this disclosure includes: a first acquisition unit that acquires location information representing the user's current location; a second acquisition unit that acquires one or more first article pieces of information and first location pieces of information corresponding to the first article piece from a database that stores article information representing articles about facilities and location information indicating the location of the facilities in association with each of the first or more first article pieces of information; and a display control unit that displays on a display device a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article pieces of information are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more first location pieces of information. According to this aspect, the user can search for articles based on their current location and grasp the location of the facility corresponding to the relevant article at a glance.

[0061] In a terminal according to a second aspect of this disclosure (an example of the first aspect), the display control unit displays the list of icons on the display device alongside the map. According to this aspect, the user can grasp at a glance the list of articles searched based on their current location.

[0062] In a third aspect of this disclosure (an example of the first aspect, or an example of the second aspect), the article information stored in the database includes the genre to which the article belongs, the terminal in this aspect further comprises a receiving unit that receives the genre of the article to be displayed by the user, and the second acquisition unit acquires the first article information selected from the article information corresponding to the genre received by the receiving unit. According to this aspect, the user can specify the genre of the article and search for articles based on their current location.

[0063] In a fourth aspect of this disclosure (an example of the first aspect, an example of the second aspect, or an example of the third aspect), the database stores period information indicating the publication period of an article in association with the article information and the location information. The terminal in this aspect includes a third acquisition unit that acquires date and time information indicating the current date and time. The second acquisition unit acquires the first article information selected from the article information to which the current date and time indicated by the date and time information belongs within the publication period indicated by the period information. According to this aspect, a user can search for articles whose current date and time belong within the publication period based on their current location.

[0064] A method for displaying articles in an electronic magazine according to a fifth aspect of this disclosure includes: a server having a database that stores article information representing articles about facilities and location information indicating the location of said facilities in association with each other; selecting one or more first article pieces representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by location information representing the current location of a terminal used by a user, and first location pieces corresponding to the first article pieces; the server transmitting the one or more first article pieces and the one or more location pieces to the terminal; and the terminal displaying on a display device a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article pieces are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more location pieces. A method for displaying articles in an electronic magazine. According to the terminal of this aspect, the user of the terminal can search for articles based on their current location and grasp the location of the facility corresponding to the article at a glance.

[0065] In the sixth aspect of this disclosure (an example of the fifth aspect), the multiple article information stored in the database is image data representing an image of an article that includes a description of a location, and prior to obtaining the current location, the server converts the article represented by the image of the article information stored in the database into text and determines the location information based on the text. According to this aspect, the server can determine location information indicating the location of a facility from an image of an article about the facility.

[0066] An electronic magazine program according to the seventh aspect of this disclosure causes a computer to perform the following actions: acquire location information representing the user's current location; acquire one or more first article pieces representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by the location information, and first location pieces corresponding to the first article pieces, from a database that stores article information representing articles about facilities and location information indicating the location of the facilities in association; and display on a display device a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article pieces are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more first location pieces. According to this aspect, a user of the electronic magazine program can search for articles based on their current location and grasp the location of the facility corresponding to the relevant article at a glance. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0067] 1...Communication system, 10...Terminal, 20...Server, NW...Communication network, 110...Communication device, 120...Storage device, 130...Processing device, 140...Display device, 150...Input device, 160...GPS receiver, 170...Timer, 180...Bus, 130a...Display control unit, 130b...Reception unit, 130c...First acquisition unit, 130d...Second acquisition unit, 130e...Third acquisition unit, PR1...Program.

Claims

1. A first acquisition unit that acquires location information representing the user's current location, A second acquisition unit acquires one or more first article information and first location information corresponding to the first article information from a server having a database that stores article information representing articles about facilities and location information indicating the location of the said facilities in association with each other. A display control unit that displays on a display device a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article information items are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more first location information items, It includes a third acquisition unit that acquires date and time information indicating the current date and time, The database stores period information indicating the publication period of the article, associated with the article information and the location information. The second acquisition unit acquires the first article information selected from the article information to which the current date and time indicated by the date and time information belongs within the publication period indicated by the period information. Terminal.

2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit displays the list of icons on the display device alongside the map.

3. The article information stored in the aforementioned database includes the genre to which the article belongs. The system further includes a reception section that accepts the genre of articles that the user wishes to display, The second acquisition unit acquires the first article information selected from the article information corresponding to the genre received by the reception unit. The terminal according to claim 1.

4. A server having a database that stores article information representing articles about a facility and location information indicating the location of the facility in association with each other, acquires location information representing the current location of a terminal used by a user from the terminal, and selects one or more first article pieces representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by the location information acquired from the terminal and first location pieces corresponding to the first article pieces, The server transmits the selected one or more first article information and the selected one or more location information to the terminal. The terminal displays on a display device a map in which icons corresponding one-to-one to each of the one or more first article information obtained from the server are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more location information obtained from the server. Includes, The database stores period information indicating the publication period of the article, associated with the article information and the location information. The server obtains date and time information indicating the current date and time from the terminal, along with the location information. From among the article information whose publication period indicated by the aforementioned period information corresponds to the current date and time indicated by the aforementioned date and time information, a first article information is selected that represents an article relating to a facility located near the location indicated by the location information obtained from the terminal. How articles are displayed in digital magazines.

5. The plurality of article information stored in the database is image data representing an image of an article that includes a description of location, Prior to acquiring the location information, the server converts the article represented by the image in the article information stored in the database into text, and determines the location information based on the text. The display method according to claim 4.

6. A computer, Obtaining location information representing the user's current location, From a server having a database that stores article information representing articles about a facility and location information indicating the location of the said facility in association, one or more first article information representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by the location information and one or more first location information corresponding to the first article information are obtained. To display on a display device an icon that corresponds one-to-one with each of the one or more first article pieces of information, and a map in which icons are placed at the locations indicated by each of the one or more first location pieces of information, and to perform the following actions: The database stores period information indicating the publication period of the article, associated with the article information and the location information. Obtaining one or more first article information representing articles about facilities located around the location indicated by the aforementioned location information, and first location information corresponding to the first article information, means obtaining date and time information indicating the current date and time, and obtaining the first article information selected from article information to which the current date and time indicated by the date and time information belongs within the publication period indicated by the aforementioned period information. Electronic magazine program.

Images