JP2012119998A - Monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring device that can easily check an icon image corresponding to a desired operation when operating a remote controller while watching a remote control image to reduce time and effort of operation by a user.SOLUTION: A user operates a TV receiver by operating a remote controller while watching a remote control image displayed on a display. The remote control image includes an icon image representing an operable operation key using a remote controller. When changing the icon image, the user selects an icon image B1 by touching the touch panel of the remote controller at the time of a display state shown by Fig. (a) first. Next, the user moves the icon image B1 in the dotted line arrow direction shown in Fig. (b) to superpose it on an icon image A1. Then, as shown by Fig. (c), an icon image showing an operation key "INFO" is changed into the icon image B1. That is, the icon image representing the operation key "INFO" is changed from a round-shape into a heart-shape.

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitor device that can be operated using a remote controller.

  In recent years, monitor devices such as television receivers that can be operated using a remote controller for remote operation have become widespread. In this type of monitor device, when an operation is performed using a remote control, a remote control image imitating the remote control is displayed on the screen of the monitor device, and the user can perform the remote control operation while viewing the remote control image. . The remote control image displayed on the screen of the monitor device includes an icon image representing an operation key, and the user selects a desired icon image (for example, an “EPG display” icon image) in the remote control image. Thus, an operation (for example, display of EPG) corresponding to the icon image can be instructed.

  By the way, in recent years, there are many monitor devices having various functions, and the number of icon images representing operation keys tends to increase. For this reason, since there are many similar icon images on the remote control image, it is often the case that the operation corresponding to this icon image is not known only by the user looking at the icon image. Therefore, since it is necessary to find an icon image corresponding to a desired operation from similar icon images, there is a problem that the remote control operation is complicated for the user.

  On the other hand, Patent Literature 1 includes a device including a display unit and a remote controller for remotely operating the device, and includes an operation button of the remote controller displayed on the display unit and one or more functions or services. A remote control system having second means for associating is disclosed. However, this remote control system cannot solve the above problem.

  In Patent Document 2, one or a plurality of content icons and device icons are displayed on a monitor screen, and an application corresponding to the device icon is dragged and dropped onto any device icon. An electronic device that can be executed is disclosed. However, even this electronic device cannot solve the above problem.

  Further, in Patent Document 3, button data storage means for storing button data including operation information, button position setting means for setting the display position of the operation button on the display screen, and button position setting means are set. There is disclosed a bidirectional controller including button position storage means for storing a display position and button data stored in button data storage means in association with each other. However, this bidirectional controller can arbitrarily store the display position of the operation button on the display screen, but does not change the icon image corresponding to the operation key at all, so the correspondence between the icon image and the operation can be changed. It is difficult to make it easy to understand, and the above problem cannot be solved.

JP 2005-142675 A JP 2007-104567 A JP 2001-242959 A

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and when operating a remote control while looking at a remote control image, an icon image corresponding to a desired operation can be easily found. It is an object of the present invention to provide a monitor device that can reduce the time and effort of operations by a user.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is a remote controller that has a pointing device operated by a user, transmits a remote control signal according to the operation of the pointing device by the user, and a remote controller transmitted from the remote controller. Receiving means for receiving a signal; display means for displaying a remote control image including an icon image representing an operation key associated with each operation operable by the remote control; and storing the icon image corresponding to the operation key In a monitor device comprising icon image storage means for controlling and control means for controlling each part of the device itself based on a remote control signal received by the receiving means, the remote control is operated by a user operating the pointing device. , Change the icon image representing the operation key When the remote control signal for instructing the change of the icon image representing the operation key is received from the remote control, the control means transmits the content of the remote control signal for instructing the change of the icon image. Based on this, the changed icon image is stored in the icon image storage means.

  The invention according to claim 2 further comprises connection means for connecting an external storage medium in which an icon image is stored in the monitor device according to claim 1, wherein the remote controller operates the pointing device by a user. By means of this, it is possible to transmit a remote control signal instructing to change the icon image representing the operation key to an icon image stored in the external storage medium connected to the connection means, and the control means can be transmitted from the remote control. When the remote control signal instructing to change the icon image representing the operation key to the icon image stored in the external storage medium is received, based on the content of the remote control signal instructing the change of the icon image, An icon image is stored in the icon image storage means.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the monitor device according to the first or second aspect, the pointing device is a touch panel.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a remote control signal instructing to change the icon image representing the operation key is received, the changed icon image is stored based on the content of the remote control signal. Therefore, the icon image representing the operation key can be changed to a user's favorite icon image, so that the correspondence between the icon image and the operation can be easily understood, and the icon image corresponding to the desired operation by the user. Can be easily found. Therefore, the trouble of remote control operation by the user can be reduced.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a remote control signal instructing to change the icon image representing the operation key to the icon image stored in the external storage medium is received, the changed icon is based on the content of the remote control signal. Store the image. Therefore, since the icon image representing the operation key can be changed to an icon image stored in the external storage medium, it can be changed to a user's favorite icon image more easily. Therefore, the correspondence between icon images and operations can be easily understood, and the user can easily find an icon image corresponding to a desired operation, so that the trouble of remote control operation by the user can be reduced.

The perspective view which shows the TV receiver which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, and the remote control for operating this TV receiver. The block diagram which shows the internal structure of the said TV receiver. The top view which shows the upper surface of the said remote control. The flowchart which shows the process sequence of the remote control image change mode in the said TV receiver. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the display of the display at the time of the said icon image change mode. Explanatory drawing which shows the operation procedure of the remote control in the said icon image change mode. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing which shows another example of the display of the display at the time of the said icon image change mode.

  Hereinafter, a television receiver (monitor device in claims) according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 shows an appearance of a television (hereinafter referred to as TV) receiver 1 operated by a remote controller 2, FIG. 2 shows an internal configuration of the TV receiver 1, and FIG. 3 shows an upper surface of the remote controller 2. . The TV receiver 1 includes a USB port (connection unit) 18 to which a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory (external storage medium) 3 can be connected, and a display 14. The display 14 can display a remote control image imitating a remote control. It is. The remote control image includes an icon image representing an operation key that can be operated using the remote control 2. The user can instruct the TV receiver 1 to perform an operation corresponding to the icon image by operating the remote control 2 while viewing the remote control image and selecting an icon image corresponding to a desired operation (key).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the TV receiver 1 is connected to an antenna 11, a tuner unit 12 that receives a digital broadcast signal, a decoder unit 13, and a display (display unit) 14 that displays a video such as a TV program. A speaker 15 for outputting sound, a remote control signal receiving unit (receiving means) 16 for receiving a remote control signal transmitted from the remote controller 2, an HDMI terminal unit 17 for connecting an external device compliant with the HDMI standard, and a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port (connection means) 18, a memory (icon image storage means) 19 storing various information, and a control microcomputer (control means) 10 for controlling each part of the apparatus.

  The tuner unit 12 receives the digital broadcast signal of each channel distributed from the broadcast station via the antenna 11. The digital broadcast signal includes a video signal and an audio signal of a TV program, and program information such as a program title of the TV program to be distributed.

  The decoder unit 13 performs a demodulation process, an error correction process, and the like on the digital broadcast signal received by the tuner unit 12 and separates a necessary TS (transport stream) packet from the multiplexed signal. (Not shown), a video decoding circuit (not shown) that decodes each separated TS packet, an audio decoding circuit (not shown), a data decoding circuit (not shown), and the like. .

  The video decoding circuit performs a decoding process on the TS packet including the video signal, extracts the video signal, and outputs the extracted video signal to the control microcomputer 10. The audio decoding circuit performs a decoding process on the TS packet including the audio signal, extracts the audio signal, and outputs the extracted audio signal to the control microcomputer 10. The data decoding circuit performs a decoding process on a TS packet including SI (Service Information) data, extracts SI data, and outputs the extracted SI data to the control microcomputer 10.

  The display 14 displays a video of a TV program received by the tuner unit 12 and a remote control image. The speaker 15 outputs the sound of the TV program received by the tuner unit 12.

  The remote control signal receiving unit 16 receives an infrared remote control signal transmitted from the remote controller 2, converts the received remote control signal into an electrical signal, and transfers the electrical signal to the control microcomputer 10. The USB port 18 is connected to a USB memory 3 having a connection terminal 31 conforming to the USB standard, receives image data supplied from the connected USB memory 3, and transfers it to the control microcomputer 10.

  The memory 19 stores a program 19a for operating the control microcomputer 10, an icon image 19b, and icon correspondence information 19c. The icon image 19b is an icon image included in the remote control image. The icon correspondence information 19 c stores correspondence information of the icon image 19 b corresponding to each operation (key) that can be operated using the remote controller 2. Specifically, the correspondence information is, for example, information indicating that the icon image representing the operation key “EPG” (corresponding to the EPG display operation) is “icon image A”.

  The control microcomputer 10 includes a video output unit 10a, an audio output unit 10b, a remote control operation control unit 10c, a data access unit 10d, and an HDMI communication control unit 10e. Based on the operation of the remote control 2 by the user. Performs control processing of own device. Further, the control microcomputer 10 has various operation modes such as a remote control image change mode for changing the icon image 19b representing the operation key.

  The video output unit 10 a outputs the video signal of the TV program received from the decoder unit 13 to the display 14. The audio output unit 10 b outputs the audio signal of the TV program received from the decoder unit 13 to the speaker 15.

  The remote control operation control unit 10 c performs processing for displaying a remote control image including the icon image 19 b on the display 14 and processing for determining an operation (key) corresponding to the icon image 19 b selected by the user using the remote control 2. In addition, the remote control operation control unit 10c performs processing for displaying the icon image 19b in the remote control image change mode and the icon image received by the data access unit 10d on the display 14.

  The data access unit 10 d reads and writes data from and to the USB memory 3 connected to the USB port 18. The HDMI communication control unit 10e transmits / receives a CEC command and response data based on HDMI-CEC, and receives a video signal and an audio signal to / from an external device connected to the HDMI terminal unit 17.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the remote control 2 includes a pointing device 21 and a remote control signal transmission unit 20 for transmitting a remote control signal according to a user operation. The pointing device 21 is configured by a touch panel (tablet), and includes a first touch panel 21a and a second touch panel 21b.

  When the user touches the upper surface of the touch panel (pointing device) 21, the remote controller 2 transmits a remote control signal based on the signal from the touch panel 21 to the TV receiver 1 using the remote control signal transmission unit 20. Therefore, the user can perform various operations of the TV receiver 1 by touching the touch panel 21. Specifically, for example, the user can perform a selection operation by quickly touching the touch panel 21. In addition, the user can perform a confirmation operation by touching the same part for several seconds. In addition, the user can perform a confirmation operation by moving the finger to a desired position and then releasing it while touching the touch panel 21.

  Next, a processing procedure in the remote control image change mode of the TV receiver 1 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that an icon image is stored in the USB memory 3.

  First, the user connects the USB memory 3 to the USB port 18 of the TV receiver 1 (S1), and operates the remote controller 2 to switch the operation mode of the TV receiver 1 to the remote control image change mode (S2).

  Then, the control microcomputer 10 reads the icon image stored in the USB memory 3 using the data access unit 10d (S3), and then represents the operation key at that time using the remote control operation control unit 10c. The icon image 19b (corresponding to the operation key) and the icon image read from the USB memory 3 are displayed on the display 14 (S4).

  When the user operates the remote controller 2 to instruct the icon image representing the operation key to be changed to the icon image stored in the USB memory 3 (S5), the control microcomputer 10 displays the contents of the change instruction by the user. Based on the above, the changed icon image is stored in the icon image 19b of the memory 19, and the content of the icon correspondence information 19c of the icon image representing the operation key is updated (S6).

  Next, an example of display on the display 14 in the remote control image change mode and operation of the remote control 2 by the user will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The correspondence with the processing procedure in the remote control image change mode shown in FIG. 4 will be described as appropriate. Each of (a) to (c) of FIG. 5 shows an example of an icon image 19 b representing an operation key displayed on the display 14 and icon images B 1 and B 2 read from the USB memory 3. FIG. 6 shows an example of a user operation on the first touch panel 21 a of the remote controller 2.

  Here, an icon image 19b such as an icon image A1 and an icon image A2 is displayed in an area N in FIG. 5, and an icon image B1 and an icon image B2 read from the USB memory 3 are displayed in an area M. It shall be. The icon image A1 represents the operation key “INFO”, and the icon image A2 represents the operation key “EPG”. In this example, it is assumed that the user changes the icon image A1 representing the operation key “INFO” to the icon image B1.

  First, in the display state shown in FIG. 5A (corresponding to S4), the user selects the icon image B1 by touching the first touch panel 21a of the remote controller 2. Then, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), when the icon image B1 is moved in the direction of the dotted arrow in FIG. 5 (b) and superimposed on the icon image A1 (corresponding to S5 above), FIG. As shown, the icon image representing the operation key “INFO” is changed to the icon image B1 (corresponding to S6). That is, the icon image representing the operation key “INFO” is changed from a round shape to a heart shape.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the user operates the remote controller 2 at this time by first touching the point F1 for selecting the icon image B1 on the first touch panel 21a with the finger to select the icon image B1. . Then, while touching the first touch panel 21a, the finger is traced (dragged) from the point F1 to the point F2 indicating the position of the icon image A1. That is, the icon image B1 is moved to the position of the icon image A1 (corresponding to S5 above). Then, when the user speaks his / her finger from the first touch panel 21a, confirmation of changing the icon image A1 representing the operation key “INFO” to the icon image B1 is instructed, and the control microcomputer 10 changes the icon image B1 to the icon image. The content of the icon correspondence information 19c is updated (corresponding to S6).

  Next, another example of display on the display 14 in the remote control image change mode will be described with reference to FIG. Each of (a) to (c) of FIG. 7 is another example of an icon image 19 b representing an operation key in the remote control image R displayed on the display 14 and icon images B 1 and B 2 read from the USB memory 3. Indicates.

  Here, in the region R in FIG. 7, the icon images D1 to D3 among the icon images 19b representing the operation keys are displayed, and in the region M, the icon image B1 and the icon image B2 read from the USB memory 3 are displayed. Is displayed. The icon image D1 represents the operation key “INFO”, the icon image D2 represents the operation key “EPG”, and the icon image D3 represents the numeric keys “0” to “9”. In this example, it is assumed that the user changes the icon image D1 representing the operation key “INFO” to the icon image B1.

  First, in the display state shown in FIG. 7A, the user selects the icon image B1 by touching the first touch panel 21a of the remote controller 2. Then, as shown in FIG. 7 (b), when the icon image B1 is moved in the direction of the dotted arrow in FIG. 7 (b) and superimposed on the icon image D1 in the remote control image R, it is shown in FIG. 7 (c). Thus, the icon image D1 representing the operation key “INFO” is changed to the icon image B1. That is, the icon image representing the operation key “INFO” is changed from a round shape to a heart shape.

  As described above, in the TV receiver 1 according to the present embodiment, when the remote control signal instructing the change of the icon image representing the operation key is received while operating in the remote control image change mode, the remote control signal is displayed. On the basis of the contents, the changed icon image is stored in the icon image 19b of the memory 19, and the icon correspondence information 19c is updated. Therefore, the icon image representing the operation key can be changed to a user's favorite icon image, so that the correspondence between the icon image and the operation (operation key) can be easily understood, and the user can perform a desired operation. An icon image representing a key can be easily found. Therefore, the trouble of remote control operation by the user can be reduced.

  Further, when a remote control signal instructing to change the icon image representing the operation key to the icon image stored in the USB memory 3 is received while operating in the remote control image change mode, based on the content of the remote control signal. The changed icon image is stored in the icon image 19b of the memory 19, and the icon correspondence information 19c is updated. For this reason, the icon image representing the operation key can be changed to the icon image stored in the USB memory 3, so that the icon image can be changed to the user's favorite icon image more easily. Therefore, the correspondence between the icon image and the operation (operation key) can be easily understood, and the user can easily find the icon image representing the desired operation key, thereby reducing the trouble of remote control operation by the user. it can.

  In addition, this invention is not restricted to the structure of the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible in the range which does not change the meaning of invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the monitor device shown in the claims is a TV receiver has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a device that can be operated by selecting a remote control image displayed on a display using a remote If it is.

  In the above embodiment, the external storage medium indicated in the claims is a USB memory. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an optical disk such as a CD or DVD storing icon images may be used. Although an example in which the icon image is changed to the icon image stored in the USB memory 3 is shown here, the present invention is not limited to this, and the icon image may be changed to an icon image stored in advance in the TV receiver. Alternatively, the icon image may be changed to an icon image supplied from an external device connected to the HDMI terminal unit.

1 TV receiver (monitor device)
2 Remote control (remote control)
3 USB memory (external storage medium)
10 Microcomputer for control (control means)
14 Display (display means)
16 Remote control signal receiver (receiving means)
18 USB port (connection means)
19 Memory (icon image storage means)
R Remote control image

Claims (3)

A remote controller having a pointing device operated by a user and transmitting a remote control signal according to the operation of the pointing device by the user;
Receiving means for receiving a remote control signal transmitted from the remote control;
Display means for displaying a remote control image including an icon image representing an operation key associated with each of the operations operable by the remote control;
Icon image storage means for storing the icon image corresponding to the operation key;
In a monitor device comprising control means for controlling each part of the device based on a remote control signal received by the receiving means,
The remote controller is capable of transmitting a remote control signal instructing to change an icon image representing the operation key when the pointing device is operated by a user.
When the control means receives a remote control signal instructing to change the icon image representing the operation key from the remote controller, the control means converts the icon image after the change to the icon based on the content of the remote control signal instructing to change the icon image. A monitor device that stores the image in an image storage means. A connection unit for connecting an external storage medium storing the icon image;
The remote controller can transmit a remote control signal instructing to change an icon image representing the operation key to an icon image stored in the external storage medium connected to the connection means by a user's operation of the pointing device And
When the control means receives a remote control signal instructing to change an icon image representing the operation key to an icon image stored in the external storage medium from the remote control, the remote control signal instructing to change the icon image The monitor device according to claim 1, wherein the icon image after the change is stored in the icon image storage unit based on the contents of the icon.   The monitor device according to claim 1, wherein the pointing device is a touch panel.

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