JP2001297044A - Digital information equipment network device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To acquire physical position information and connection information from an information outlet, and to be able to display a three-dimensional representation network diagram showing physical connection of devices on the screen based on the information. thing. SOLUTION: The information outlet has a digital information device and an information outlet, and the information outlet holds position information indicating position information indicating physical space coordinates where the information outlet exists and connection information indicating connection relation between the information outlet and the network. The digital information device includes a network interface unit, device type information of another information device connected to the network, the above-described position information, and connection information. Using information and
A network diagram creation processing unit for creating a network diagram displayed on a screen in a three-dimensional representation, and a display unit for displaying the network diagram of the three-dimensional expression created by the network diagram creation processing unit are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital information device network device (digital information device network system) in which digital information devices such as digital information home appliances are connected to a network, and more particularly to a connection between devices in a home or office. The present invention relates to a technique relating to a network system that enables a network diagram to be displayed in a form with good discrimination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Not only workstations and personal computers, but also digital information home appliances such as AV devices,
It is increasing that a plurality of devices are connected via a network to construct and use a network system. At present, in offices and homes, network connection using Ethernet (registered trademark) or IEEE 1394 is becoming widespread. It is assumed that information outlets for network connection for connecting digital information devices such as devices to a network will be installed on a wall of a room or the like.

On the other hand, when selecting a control target or designating a data transfer destination from digital information devices connected to a network, a network diagram schematically representing the network is often displayed on a screen. . However, at present, the physical arrangement of the devices and the physical connection of the network cannot be recognized, so the network diagram is appropriately drawn so as to fit on the screen in a two-dimensional expression (planar expression).

[0004] As a prior art relating to a method of recognizing a device installation location for acquiring a physical installation location of a device, there is a technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-248983. In this prior application, a means for holding the position information of the outlet is provided in the power outlet unit, and this position information is automatically taken into the device when the power of the device is turned on, and the position information is obtained from other devices connected to the network. Describes a technique for sending position information in response to a request from a user.

[0005]

However, in the prior art disclosed in the above-mentioned prior application, it is possible to acquire the position information of the power outlet and confirm its physical position, but it is not possible to connect the devices. It is difficult to display a network diagram showing

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and its purpose is to obtain physical location information and the like from an information outlet and use the information to physically connect devices. Is to be able to display a network diagram of a three-dimensional expression on a screen.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in one invention of a digital information equipment network device (digital information equipment network system) according to the present invention, a digital information equipment and this digital information equipment are connected to a network. Information outlet for connecting to a network, the information outlet having position information indicating physical space coordinates where the information outlet is located, and position information holding connection information indicating a connection relationship between the information outlet and the network. A connection information storage unit, and a socket unit to which the digital information device can be connected, wherein at least one of the digital information devices connected to the network via the information outlet includes a network interface unit; Other digital information devices connected to the network A network diagram creation processing unit for creating a network diagram displayed on the screen in a three-dimensional expression using the device type information and the above-described position information and connection information; and a three-dimensional expression created by the network diagram creation processing unit. A display unit for displaying a network diagram,
Take the configuration.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a digital information equipment network device (digital information equipment network system) according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a digital information equipment network system according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes an information outlet for connecting a digital information device to a network 14, which includes a position information / connection information storage unit 12 and a socket 13. Reference numeral 16 denotes a digital information device connected to the network 14 via the information outlet 11, a network interface 17 connected to the socket 13 via the connection line 15, a network diagram creation processing unit 18, and a display unit 19. And an overall processing unit 20 that controls the entire apparatus.

The digital information devices referred to in the present invention include all devices that perform digital input / output so that they can communicate with other devices via the network 14, such as AV devices such as televisions and VTRs, personal computers, and various types of information. It includes terminals, print output devices such as digital printers and digital copiers, image input devices such as image scanners and imaging devices, various storage devices, etc., and not only digital information home appliances but also various digital information devices for offices And various digital information devices for stores and the like.

Here, as described above, it is considered that the information outlet 11 will be installed on a wall of a room or the like when a building is constructed in the future. Therefore, in the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG.
A, 11B, 11C,..., 11N are installed, and digital information devices 16A, 16B, 16C,.
Are connected, and a plurality of digital information devices
Suppose you have a configuration that connects to the internal network.

As shown in FIG. 2A, when a plurality of digital information devices are connected to a network, the network is schematically displayed when a control target is selected or a data transfer destination is specified. Network diagram is displayed on the screen, but in the prior art,
Since the physical arrangement of the devices and the physical connection of the network could not be recognized, the network diagram was drawn appropriately so as to fit on the screen in a two-dimensional expression (planar expression) as shown in FIG. I was However, in the network diagram as shown in FIG. 8, there is a problem that it is difficult to distinguish when a plurality of devices of the same type exist, and it is difficult to determine where a device installed is specified.

Therefore, in the network system of the present embodiment, the spatial coordinates and the like of each information outlet are grasped.
By displaying a network diagram in a three-dimensional representation, the problems of the prior art are solved.

Next, a procedure for creating and displaying a network diagram according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a processing flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S71 in FIG. 7, when a display process of a network diagram is started by a certain digital information device having the function of FIG. 1 connected to the network, the digital information device 16 is connected. The position information / connection information is obtained from the information outlet 11 (step S72). The information outlet 11 of the present embodiment has a built-in position information / connection information storage unit 12, and stores the position information / connection information from the digital information device 16 via the connection line 15 connected to the socket 13. The information stored in the unit 12 can be read. In the reading here, a dedicated signal line may be provided separately from the normal data line in the connection line 15, and the reading is performed using a normal data line and a transfer method different from the normal data transfer method. However, the method is not limited to the existing Ethernet and IEEE 1394, and thus details of the method are not specified.

For example, in the case of the building 21 shown in FIG. 2A, each information outlet 1 is placed on the spatial coordinates shown in FIG.
, 11N are located. The spatial coordinates can be read from a drawing or the like when designing the building, and the units of the coordinates do not need to be particularly meters if they are unified. For example, the physical space coordinates of the information outlet 11N in FIG. 2A are (11, 12, 11) as shown in FIG.
The position information is stored in the position information / connection information storage unit 12 as shown in FIG.

As the physical connection information, in the case of the information outlet 11N in FIG. 2A, the connection is made in two directions, which are (1, 12, 11), (11, 2, 1).
1). This connection information is shown in FIG.
Subsequent to the previous position information, the number of connections and coordinate information of each connection destination are stored in the position information / connection information storage unit 12. Here, the connection destination information may be physical information at the time of designing and building a building, but it is not always necessary to be the same, and may be any information as long as it is finally a three-dimensional network diagram.

The position information and connection information of each information outlet described above are stored in advance in the position information / connection information storage unit 12 of each information outlet 11 by an installer when the information outlet is installed. Is done.

In step S72 of FIG. 7, when a certain digital information device obtains the position information and connection information as shown in FIG. 6 from the information outlet to which the device is connected, the digital information device is connected to the network. From each digital information device, and obtains the respective position information and connection information from the information outlet to which the device is not connected (step S1). S73). In step S73, information is obtained from another device by using a protocol of the network in use, for example, a message such as "I want to return the location information, connection information, and device type information of each device here". , Each digital information device receiving this reads out the position information and connection information of the information outlet to which each is connected, and adds the respective device type information to the data in the form shown in FIG. This is done by replying to the requesting device via the network. To obtain information from an information outlet to which no device is connected, use the protocol of the network in use, for example, `` Return the location information and connection information of each information outlet to which no device is connected to here. When you send a message such as "I want you to do this", each information outlet that is not connected to the device that received it,
The position information stored in the position information / connection information storage unit 12
This is performed by returning the connection information to the requesting device via the network.

When the device 16 is connected to the information outlet 11, the two communicate with each other, and the information outlet acquires the type information of the device and adds the device type information to the position information / connection information. The information may be stored in the position information / connection information storage unit 12 in a rewritable form. In such a case, in step S73, by requesting data transfer to each information outlet, it becomes possible to obtain location information / connection information and device type information, or location information / connection information.

Next, the position information / connection information and device type information of the own device, the position information / connection information and device type information of other devices obtained through the network, and the position of the information outlet to which no device is connected Using the information and the connection information, the physical space coordinates are converted into relative coordinates on the screen, and a three-dimensional network diagram, which is a network diagram drawn in a three-dimensional expression, is created (step S74). FIG.
In the example shown in (a), since six digital information devices are connected to each information outlet, six pieces of information and device type information as shown in FIG. 6 are collected. Since no device is connected, two pieces of information as shown in FIG. 6 are collected, and a three-dimensional network diagram is created using them. The coordinate conversion here is no different from a method of drawing normal three-dimensional data on a screen. Of course 3
Since it is dimensional data, it can be displayed in the user's preferred orientation or rotated in a direction that is easy to see.

The digital information device that has created the three-dimensional network diagram in this way displays the three-dimensional network diagram on the screen of the display unit, and the processing flow of FIG. 7 is completed (step 75).

The user viewing the three-dimensional network diagram on the screen displayed as described above can select a device to be controlled or designate a data transfer destination from the three-dimensional network diagram. It is possible to operate while imagining the position of the space in the actual building.

For example, two VTs on the first and second floors of a house
In the case of performing a dubbing operation using R, in the conventional network diagram as shown in FIG. 8, it is difficult to specify where to copy to which VTR.
In the network diagram of the three-dimensional expression as shown in (b), since it is the same as the actual positional relationship of the room, it is possible to specify at a glance.

In an office or the like, for example,
When searching for a device in which a trouble has occurred, a position in a building can be immediately specified by using a three-dimensional network diagram instead of searching for a device from a number or the like.

Here, in the three-dimensional network diagram 23 of FIG. 2B, the information outlet is represented by a black circle, the network is represented by a thick straight line, and the connected digital information equipment is represented by a rectangle. If you can display a three-dimensional network diagram, you are not particular about these shapes.

The position information / connection information storage section 12 can hold additional information other than the position information / connection information shown in FIG. That is, information for indicating the information outlet such as the direction of the information outlet and the image data of the information outlet is stored as the additional information, and such information is used to store the information as shown in FIG. The three-dimensional network diagram can be displayed more specifically.

Further, in the present invention, a device connected to a wireless network, which is considered to become more widespread in the future, can be similarly displayed as a three-dimensional network diagram. FIG. 4 is an example of a three-dimensional network diagram including such wirelessly connected devices.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 41 denotes a digital information device which is wirelessly connected to a network;
Is a wireless port for connecting the device 41 to a network by wireless communication. In the case of such a device 41 connected to the network by radio, FIG.
In step S73 of the processing flow, when the device 41 is requested to transfer the position information / connection information of the information outlet and the device type data to the device 41, the device 41 performs its own device type information and the position information of the information outlet. In addition to the connection information, information indicating that it is wirelessly connected and the device type information of the wirelessly connected wireless port are transmitted to the request source. Thus, when drawing a three-dimensional network diagram, in addition to the device connected by the same wired network as above, the wireless port connected to the information outlet and the device wirelessly connected to the information outlet are displayed together. As shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to display a three-dimensional network diagram including the wired network and the wireless network so that the position of the device can be recognized at a glance. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the wireless connection is indicated by a dotted-line circle, but any expression method can be adopted.

Further, in the above example, when creating and displaying a three-dimensional network diagram, a device which intends to display the three-dimensional network diagram obtains information individually from other devices or information outlets each time. However, it is also possible to collectively obtain information for drawing a three-dimensional network diagram from a certain device. In this case, the device that provides the information collectively may be the device that is the main host or the device that first draws the three-dimensional network diagram. By providing at least one device that collectively stores the information in the network, it is possible to collectively obtain the information. That is, when another device displays the three-dimensional network diagram, the process proceeds to step S7 in the processing flow of FIG.
2. Instead of S73, request data transfer to a device that collectively holds information for drawing a three-dimensional network diagram, and collectively obtain information for drawing a three-dimensional network diagram. A three-dimensional network diagram is created and displayed based on. By adopting such a method, it is not necessary to obtain information from each device or each information outlet each time a three-dimensional network diagram is displayed, so that the process for obtaining data can be reduced, A three-dimensional network diagram can be displayed with a small number of procedures.

A device which collectively holds information for drawing a three-dimensional network diagram is used to update and hold the latest information even when other devices connected to the network are changed. When a new device is connected to the information outlet, when a device connected to the information outlet is replaced, or when the device is disconnected from the information outlet, information is obtained from the device or information outlet accordingly. It is desirable to always keep the latest data. Alternatively, a device that collectively holds information for drawing a three-dimensional network diagram obtains information from other devices or information outlets at regular time intervals or at a timing at which data can be collected, so that information is always obtained. It is desirable to keep the latest data.

In the above-described embodiment, only the network, the information outlet, and the device are shown in the three-dimensional network diagram.
It is also possible to display the outline of the building, the room assignment, the room name (or room number), etc. together,
The identifiability of the arrangement of the devices on the three-dimensional network diagram is further improved. Note that information such as the outline of the building, the room assignment, and the room name (or room number) may be stored in advance in a device serving as a host on the network.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, physical location information and connection information are acquired from an information outlet, and a network diagram of a three-dimensional representation showing physical connection of devices based on the information is obtained. Is displayed on the screen, the arrangement of each device on the screen corresponds to the actual physical arrangement, and therefore, the position of each device can be intuitively grasped at a glance, and the device connected to the network From among
The discrimination when selecting a control target or specifying a data transfer destination is improved, and a user-friendly system can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration outline of a digital information device network system according to an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an information outlet in an actual building and a three-dimensional network diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing spatial coordinates of an information outlet in an actual building.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a three-dimensional network diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of position information stored in an information outlet.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of position information and connection information stored in an information outlet.

FIG. 7 is a processing flowchart showing a processing flow according to an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a network diagram according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Information outlet 12 Location information / connection information storage part 13 Socket 14 Network 15 Connection line 16 Digital information equipment 17 Network interface 18 Network diagram creation processing part 19 Display part 20 General processing part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A digital information device comprising a digital information device and a network connection information outlet for connecting the digital information device to a network, wherein the information outlet comprises at least a physical Storage means for holding position information indicating spatial coordinates, and a socket unit to which the digital information device can be connected, at least one of the digital information devices connected to the network via the information outlet. One is a network diagram for creating a network diagram displayed on a screen in a three-dimensional representation using the network interface unit, the device type information of the other digital information device connected to the network, and the position information described above. The creation processing unit, and the tertiary created by this network diagram creation processing unit Digital Consumer network device being characterized in that comprising a display means for displaying a network diagram representation. 2. The connection device according to claim 1, wherein the storage means of the information outlet includes a connection indicating a connection relationship between the information outlet and the network, in addition to the position information indicating a physical space coordinate where the information outlet exists. Holding the information, wherein the network diagram creation processing unit of the digital information device creates a network diagram displayed on a screen in a three-dimensional representation using the device type information, the position information, and the connection information. Digital information equipment network equipment. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the network diagram creation processing unit relates to the information outlet obtained through the network in addition to the device type information and the location information and / or the connection information. A digital information equipment network device for creating a network diagram displayed on a screen in a three-dimensional representation using additional information. 4. The network diagram creation processing unit according to claim 1, wherein the network diagram creation processing unit includes a screen displayed in a three-dimensional representation including a wireless network device wirelessly connected to the network. A digital information device network device for creating a network diagram. 5. A specific digital information device collectively manages each piece of information for creating a network diagram displayed on a screen in a three-dimensional representation as described in claim 1. A digital information device network device characterized in that the information is held.