1. A method for forming guiding lines in a graphical user interface of an electronic device, the electronic device for performing the method comprising at least a processor, a memory, a display and navigating means for navigation within digital material from which only a portion is shown on the display at a time, the digital material to be presented on the display being considerably larger than an area of the display, the method comprising the steps of
setting an origin at any desired point within the digital material,
forming curved guiding lines rounding the origin, the curved guiding lines to cover all the digital material when placed over said material,
displaying in addition to the portion of the digital material shown on the display the parts of the curved guiding lines overlapping said portion wherein a part of at least one curved line is visible on the display, the opening direction of said part pointing towards the origin, whereupon the parts of the curved lines currently visible on the display assist a user to navigate intuitively towards the origin.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the curved guiding lines are formed by concentric circles having the origin as the center, the circumferences of which cover all the digital material.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the area between two concentric circles is used as an active region for starting applications.
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the distance between consecutive circles is constant.
5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the distance between consecutive circles depends on the position of the origin on the digital material.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the curved guiding lines are formed by ellipses having the origin as one of the foci.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the distance between consecutive circles depends on the position of the origin on the digital material.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein assistance marks are introduced on the guiding lines.
9. The method according to claim 8, comprising the further steps of:
zooming in to or out of said user interface area; and
keeping the guiding lines andor the assistance marks independent of the zoom factor.
10. The method according to claim 8, comprising the further steps of:
zooming in to or out of said user interface area; and
accommodating said guiding lines andor said assistance marks along with the zoom factor.
11. A method for forming guiding lines in a graphical user interface of an electronic device, the electronic device for performing the method comprising at least a processor, a memory, a display and navigating means for navigation within digital material from which only a portion is shown on the display at a time, the digital material to be presented on the display being considerably larger than an area of the display, the method comprising the steps of
setting an origin at any desired point within the digital material,
forming radial guiding lines extending fan-like from the origin, the radial guiding lines to cover all the digital material when placed over said material,
displaying in addition to the portion of the digital material shown on the display the parts of the radial guiding lines overlapping said portion so that at least two guiding lines are visible on the display, wherein a user can navigate intuitively towards the direction where said guiding lines are coming closer to each other and, consequently, towards the origin.
12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the distance andor direction to the origin is estimated on basis of the angle between two adjacent radial lines.
13. The method according to claim 11, wherein assistance marks are introduced on the guiding lines.
14. An electronic device having a processor, a memory, a display, a graphical user interface, and navigating means for navigating in digital material, wherein the digital material to be presented on the display is considerably larger than an area of the display and wherein only a portion of the digital material is seen on the display at a time, the electronic device comprising:
means for setting an origin at any desired point within the digital material,
means for forming curved guiding lines around the origin, the curved guiding lines to cover all the digital material when placed over said material, and
means for displaying in addition to the portion of the digital material shown on the display the parts of the curved guiding lines overlapping said portion, the opening direction of said parts pointing towards the origin, whereupon the parts of the curved lines currently visible on the display assist a user to navigate intuitively towards the origin.
15. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein means for forming curved guiding lines generate concentric circles having the origin as the center, the circumferences of which cover all the digital material when placed over said material.
16. The electronic device according to claim 15, comprising means for using the area between two concentric circles as an active region for starting applications.
17. The electronic device as in claim 14, wherein means for forming curved guiding lines generate ellipses having the origin as one of the foci.
18. The electronic device according to claim 14, further comprising means for incorporating assistance marks on the guiding lines.
19. The electronic device according to claim 18, further comprising means for zooming into or out of the user interface area; and
means for keeping the guiding lines andor the assistance marks independent of the zoom factor.
20. The electronic device according to claim 18, wherein the device further comprises:
means for zooming into or out of the user interface area; and
means for accommodating the guiding lines andor the assistance marks along with the zoom factor.
21. An electronic device having a processor, a memory, a display, a graphical user interface, and navigating means for navigating within digital material, wherein the digital material to be presented on the display is considerably larger than an area of the display and only a portion of the digital material is seen on the display at a time,
the electronic device further comprising:
means for setting an origin at any desired point within the digital material,
means for forming straight guiding lines extending fan-like from the origin, the straight guiding lines to cover all the digital material when placed over said material, and
means for displaying in addition to the portion of the digital material shown on the display the parts of the straight guiding lines overlapping said portion, wherein a user can navigate intuitively towards the direction where said guiding lines are coming closer to each other, and, consequently, towards the origin.
22. The electronic device according to claim 21, further comprising means for evaluating the distance andor direction to the origin on basis of the angle between two adjacent radial lines.
23. The electronic device according to claim 21, further comprising means for incorporating assistance marks on the guiding lines.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A data sharing system in which an information processing system composed of one or more computer devices and multiple information processing apparatuses are connected via a network so that the information processing system and the information processing apparatuses can communicate with one another, wherein
each information processing apparatus includes:
a device-specific-information acquiring unit configured to acquire device-specific information;
a connecting unit configured to connect the information processing apparatus to a display device specified on the basis of the acquired device-specific information;
a sharing-target transmitting unit configured to transmit designation information designating a sharing target of data sharing to the information processing system;
a first data transmitting unit configured to transmit, to the information processing system, shared data to be shared with the sharing target designated by the designation information;
a data receiving unit configured to receive, out of the shared data that the information processing system has received and recorded in a storage unit, shared data to be shared with the information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target from the information processing system; and
a second data transmitting unit configured to transmit the shared data received by the data receiving unit to the display device connected by the connecting unit, and
the information processing system includes:
a sharing-target receiving unit configured to receive the designation information from the information processing apparatus; and
a data recording unit configured to record, in the storage unit, the shared data received from information processing apparatus in a manner associated with the sharing target indicated by the designation information received by the sharing-target receiving unit.
2. The data sharing system according to claim 1, wherein
a first information processing apparatus out of the multiple information processing apparatuses transmits designation information to the information processing system through the sharing-target transmitting unit,
a second information processing apparatus out of the multiple information processing apparatuses receives shared data to be shared with the second information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target from the information processing system through the data receiving unit, and the second information processing apparatus transmits, by the second data transmitting unit, the received shared data to the display device connected by the connecting unit on the basis of device-specific information acquired by the device-specific-information acquiring unit.
3. The data sharing system according to claim 1, wherein
the information processing system further includes:
a sharing-target registering unit configured to register sharing-target identifying information to identify a sharing target on the basis of received designation information; and
a managing unit configured to manage the received shared data and the sharing-target identifying information in an associated manner, and
the data receiving unit receives, from the information processing system, shared data to be shared with the information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target specified on the basis of information that identifies the information processing apparatus and sharing-target identifying information.
4. The data sharing system according to claim 1, wherein
the device-specific-information acquiring unit acquires the device-specific information by using a generic function that the first and second information processing apparatuses both have.
5. The data sharing system according to claim 1, wherein
the sharing-target transmitting unit transmits, to the information processing system, information designating a sharing target of data sharing set by using a generic function that the first and second information processing apparatuses both have.
6. The data sharing system according to claim 1, wherein
the information processing system further includes a data-specific-information recording unit configured to record, in a storage unit, shared-data-specific information that specifies data to be shared in a manner associated with sharing-target identifying information,
the data recording unit records, in the storage unit, shared data received from the first information processing apparatus, in a manner associated with information that identifies the first information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target,
the data-specific-information recording unit records information that specifies the shared data, which has been recorded in the storage unit in a manner associated with the information that identifies the first information processing apparatus, in a manner associated with information that identifies the second information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target,
the managing unit associates the shared data with the sharing-target identifying information by using the data recording unit and the data-specific-information recording unit, and
the data receiving unit receives the shared data from the information processing system by the information that specifies the shared data specified on the basis of the information that identifies the second information processing apparatus and the sharing-target identifying information.
7. The data sharing system according to claim 6, wherein
the sharing-target identifying information and the shared-data-specific information use common identification information as identification information to identify the first information processing apparatus or a user of the first information processing apparatus and the second information processing apparatus or a user of the second information processing apparatus.
8. The data sharing system according to claim 6, wherein
the sharing-target identifying information and the shared-data-specific information use different identification information as identification information to identify the first information processing apparatus or a user of the first information processing apparatus and the second information processing apparatus or a user of the second information processing apparatus.
9. An information processing apparatus in a data sharing system in which an information processing system composed of one or more computer devices and multiple information processing apparatuses are connected via a network so that the information processing system and the information processing apparatuses can communicate with one another, the information processing apparatus comprising:
a device-specific-information acquiring unit configured to acquire device-specific information;
a connecting unit configured to connect the information processing apparatus to a display device specified on the basis of the acquired device-specific information;
a sharing-target transmitting unit configured to transmit, to the information processing system, designation information to designate a sharing target of data sharing;
a first data transmitting unit configured to transmit, to the information processing system, shared data to be shared with the sharing target designated by the designation information;
a data receiving unit configured to receive, out of shared data that the information processing system has received and recorded in a storage unit, shared data to be shared with the information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target from the information processing system; and
a second data transmitting unit configured to transmit the shared data received by the data receiving unit to the display device connected by the connecting unit.
10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein
after a first information processing apparatus out of the multiple information processing apparatuses has designated a sharing target through the sharing-target transmitting unit and transmitted shared data to be shared with the designated sharing target through the first data transmitting unit, a second information processing apparatus out of the multiple information processing apparatuses receives, through the data receiving unit, the shared data to be shared with the second information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target from the information processing system.
11. A data sharing method for sharing data between first and second information processing apparatuses which are connected to an information processing system composed of one or more computer devices via a network so that the information processing system and the first and second information processing apparatuses can communicate with one another, the data sharing method comprising:
a device-specific-information acquiring step of the first information processing apparatus acquiring device-specific information;
a connecting step of the first information processing apparatus connecting to a display device specified on the basis of the acquired device-specific information;
a displaying step of the second information processing apparatus displaying a screen through which a sharing target of data sharing is designated;
a sharing-target transmitting step of the second information processing apparatus transmitting, to the information processing system, designation information to designate the sharing target;
a first data transmitting step of the second information processing apparatus transmitting, to the information processing system, shared data to be shared with the designated sharing target;
a data receiving step of the first information processing apparatus transmitting sharing-target identifying information that identifies the sharing target to the information processing system and receiving, out of the shared data transmitted at the first data transmitting step, shared data to be shared with the first information processing apparatus designated as a sharing target from the information processing system on the basis of the sharing-target identifying information; and
a second data transmitting step of the first information processing apparatus transmitting the data received at the data receiving step to the display device connected at the connecting step.