JP2000270236A - Remote control terminal to remotely control television receiver, receiver and remote control storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a graphical user interface GUI from giving disturbance onto a TV program when a user of a television receiver watches the television program and to display the GUI menu required for an operation of the television receiver such as program selection when the television receiver is operated. SOLUTION: In a remote commander for a television receiver 5 that is controlled by using a remote control terminal 1 and GUI, a grip sensor 2 fitted to the remote terminal 1 detects a grip state of the remote terminal by a user. Then display/non-display of the GUI menu and a pointing cursor is switched on the basis of an output from the grip sensor 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control terminal device and a receiving device for remotely controlling a television receiver, and a storage medium for remote control.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a remote control terminal device and a receiving device used when remotely controlling a television receiver using a GUI (graphical user interface) screen, and a storage medium for remote control. Things.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional remote control device for a television receiver controlled using a remote control terminal and a GUI, when a user starts operating the television receiver, first, a button on the remote control terminal is depressed, and the button is pressed. GUI corresponding to
A screen or a GUI screen and a pointing cursor are displayed on the television receiver. And the displayed GU
The user operates the television receiver using the I screen and buttons and a pointing device of the remote control terminal.

After the operation is completed, G is operated by operating a button or the like.
In some cases, it is necessary to delete the UI screen and the pointing cursor from the screen. Further, in the case where the operation is performed continuously, if the GUI screen disappears from the screen after the previous operation is completed, the function button must be depressed again to display the GUI screen and the pointing cursor.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Remote control terminal and GUI
In the TV receiver controlled by using, when the user transitions from the state of watching the TV program to the state of operating the TV receiver, grasp the remote control terminal,
When shifting from the state of operating the television receiver to the state of watching a television program, an operation of stopping the gripping of the remote control terminal is performed.

[0006] Considering this operation as one of the operations of the remote control terminal, in the conventional remote control device, at the start of the operation of the television receiver, an operation by the user to grip the remote control terminal and an operation by pressing down the button. The following two operations are required. Further, at the end of the operation, two similar operations may be required.

[0007] Particularly, in operations that are frequently performed, such as a selection operation of a television program, the necessity of such a double operation causes a decrease in the operability of the television receiver.

As a method of avoiding the double operation,
It is also conceivable that the GUI screen and the pointing cursor are always displayed on the screen. However, as long as the GUI screen is not very small, it is expected that the GUI screen will interfere with the viewing of the TV program. Also, the GUI
Even if the screen is displayed small, there is a disadvantage that the display area (or display content) of the operation item is reduced or the hierarchical structure of the operation is deepened, so that the operability is significantly reduced.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide
When the user of the television receiver is watching a television program, the GUI screen does not disturb the viewing, and when operating the television receiver such as program selection, a GUI screen necessary for operation can be displayed. An object of the present invention is to provide a remote control terminal device and a receiving device for remotely operating a television receiver, and a storage medium for remote operation.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a remote control terminal device according to the present invention is a remote control terminal device for remotely operating a television receiver, wherein the remote control terminal device is in a gripped state. And a transmitting means for transmitting the holding state signal to the outside together with other control signals.

[0011] Further, a receiving apparatus according to the present invention is a receiving apparatus for receiving a remote control signal transmitted from a remote control terminal apparatus for remotely operating a television receiver. Extraction means for extracting a grip state signal representing the grip state of the device, and control means for instructing whether or not to display a GUI screen on a television display surface in response to the extracted grip state signal It was done. Here, the control unit can display the pointing cursor and the GUI screen on the television receiver only when the remote control terminal device is held.

Further, the storage medium according to the present invention stores a control procedure executed on the receiving device side when receiving a remote control signal transmitted from a remote control terminal device for remotely operating a television receiver. Extracting, from the remote control signal, a grip state signal representing a grip state of the remote control terminal device, and a GUI displayed on a television display surface in response to the extracted grip state signal.
And a control step for instructing whether to display a screen.
This is a storage medium that stores a readable program. Here, in the control step, a pointing cursor and a GUI screen can be displayed on the television receiver only when the remote control terminal device is held.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In an embodiment of the present invention, a sensor for detecting a gripping state of a remote control terminal is arranged on the remote control terminal, and when a user grips the remote control terminal, a GU is detected.
An I screen and a pointing cursor are displayed on the screen to enable operation of the television receiver. On the other hand, when the user stops holding the remote control terminal, the GUI screen and the pointing cursor are erased from the screen so that the television receiver cannot be operated.

However, operations not using the GUI screen are always operable.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a remote control terminal and a television receiver to which the present invention is applied. In this figure, an electrostatic sensor, a pressure sensor, a button switch, or the like is used as a grip sensor 2 attached to a remote control terminal 1 to detect a grip no matter how the remote control terminal operator grips the remote control terminal. To be placed.

A grip state signal a obtained by the grip sensor 2 is a binary signal indicating a grip state and a non-grip state, and is a control signal by a pointing device and operation buttons 3 on the remote control terminal 1. The signal is transmitted to the transmission circuit 4 together with the signal b, and is transmitted to the reception circuit 6 of the television receiver 5 using infrared light (or wirelessly).

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the control procedure stored in the memory (ROM) 8a of the television receiver 5.

Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the receiving circuit 6 of the television receiver 5 receives the infrared ray c transmitted from the remote control terminal 1 (step S1). The receiving circuit 6 separates the control signal d not using the GUI screen from the control signal f using the GUI screen. At the same time, the grip state signal e is extracted (step S2). The grip state signal e corresponds to the grip state signal a output from the grip sensor 2 of the remote control terminal 1.

GU for turning on / off the power of the television receiver 5
The control signal d not using the I screen is directly received from the receiving circuit 6.
The data is sent to the television receiver control circuit 7 and predetermined control is performed (step S3).

The grip state signal e extracted by the receiving circuit 6
Is sent to the display control circuit 8. This display control circuit 8
Turns on the control switch 9 when the remote control terminal 1 is being held (step S4: YES), and
A control signal f using the I screen is sent to the television receiver control circuit 7 (step S5). The TV receiver control circuit 7 is a GU
When the control signal f using the I screen is received, a GUI screen display signal g is sent to the GUI screen display circuit 10, and the operation using the GUI screen becomes possible (step S6).

The display control device 8 controls the remote control terminal 1.
Is not gripped (Step S4: N
O), the control switch 9 is turned off (step S7), and a GUI screen erasure signal h is sent to the GUI screen display circuit 10 to erase the GUI screen (step S8).

FIG. 4 shows the appearance of the remote control terminal 1 shown in FIG. In this figure, (A) is a top view of the remote control terminal 1, (B) is a side view of the remote control terminal 1, and (C) is a bottom view of the remote control terminal 1.

The power button 12 and the mute button 13 of the remote control terminal 11 are operation buttons that do not use the GUI screen, and generate a control signal d that does not use the GUI screen of FIG. Trackball 14 moves the pointing cursor to G
There is a pointing device to move on the UI screen,
Used for operation of the television receiver using the GUI screen together with the selection button 15. The trackball 14 and the selection button 15 generate a control signal f using the GUI screen of FIG.

As the grip sensor 16, an electrostatic sensor panel is used, and is attached to the upper surface, the side surface, and the lower surface of the remote control terminal 11. Thus, the grip state can be detected no matter how the operator grips. The grip state of the grip sensor 16 is sent to the display control circuit 8 as the grip state signal e via the reception circuit 6 of the television receiver 5 to turn on / off the GUI screen display.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in the remote control device of the television receiver controlled using the remote control terminal and the GUI, the gripping state of the remote control terminal by the user is detected by the sensor attached to the remote control terminal. The display / non-display of the pointing cursor and the GUI screen is switched based on the TV screen.
The UI screen does not disturb the viewing, and the GUI screen necessary for the operation can be displayed at the time of operating the television receiver such as selecting a program.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a user of a television receiver is watching a television program, the GUI screen does not disturb the watching and the television receiver for selecting a program or the like. At the time of the operation, a GUI screen required for the operation can be displayed.

More specifically, the operation start / end instructions to the television receiver are given only by the operation of gripping or not gripping the remote control terminal, so that the effect of improving the operability is obtained. In addition, in a state where the user is holding the remote control terminal, the state has been shifted from a state in which the user is already watching a television program to a state in which the television receiver is operated. A GUI screen with good operability and visibility can be designed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a remote control terminal and a television receiver to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control procedure stored in a memory (ROM) 8a of the television receiver 5.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control procedure stored in a memory (ROM) 8a of the television receiver 5;

4 is a top view, a side view, and a bottom view of the remote control terminal 1. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Remote control terminal 2 Grasping sensor 3 Pointing device / operation button 4 Transmission circuit 5 TV receiver 6 Receiving circuit 7 TV receiver control circuit 8 Display control circuit 8a ROM 9 Control switch 10 GUI screen display device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A remote control terminal device for remotely controlling a television receiver, comprising: a grip state detecting means for detecting a grip state of the remote control terminal apparatus and outputting a grip state signal; And a transmission means for transmitting the control signal to the outside together with the control signal. 2. A receiving device for receiving a remote control signal transmitted from a remote control terminal device for remotely operating a television receiver, comprising: a grip state representing a grip state of the remote control terminal device from the remote control signal. A receiving apparatus comprising: extracting means for extracting a signal; and control means for instructing whether or not to display a GUI screen on a television display surface in response to the extracted grip state signal. . 3. The receiving device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit displays a pointing cursor and a GUI screen on a television receiver only when the remote control terminal device is held. Receiving device. 4. A storage medium storing a control procedure executed on a receiving device side when receiving a remote control signal transmitted from a remote control terminal device for remotely operating a television receiver, wherein: Extracting a grip state signal representing the grip state of the remote control terminal device from the remote control signal; and responding to the extracted grip state signal, displaying a G on the television display surface.
A control step for instructing whether to display a UI screen or not, as a readable program. 5. The storage medium according to claim 4, wherein the control step is performed only when the remote control terminal device is gripped.
A storage medium for displaying an I screen on a television receiver.