JP2001022332A - Indoor output control device and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to easily confirm output contents of small devices. SOLUTION: An indoor output control device 30 connected with a large-scale display device 20 arranged indoors automatically recognizes the one currently used by a user (for instance, a portable terminal device 10-1) among plural, small devices 10 scattered in the room, and receives the information outputted and displayed on the recognized small device 10, and outputs it to be displayed on the large-scale display device 20 connected with the indoor output control device 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an indoor output control device arranged indoors for controlling an output device for outputting output target information to be presented to a user, and an operation of such an indoor output control device. The present invention relates to a computer-readable recording medium storing a program including an instruction to be executed by a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, with the miniaturization of various information devices, one person usually owns a plurality of small devices such as a portable TV phone, a portable personal computer (PC), and a small video camera. I have.

On the other hand, the size of a stationary output device installed in a house, for example, a monitor of a TV or a PC, has been accelerated, contrary to the above-mentioned miniaturization.

[0004]

Various small devices are scattered in a room, but since such small devices have only a poor output section due to space limitations, their output contents are limited. May be difficult to confirm. Therefore, it is considered to use a stationary output device. For that purpose, the user needs to perform an operation such as connecting a small device used to a large output device. However, a series of operations for establishing communication between the two must be performed, which is very troublesome.

[0005] Also, while the user is using the small device, a person other than the user operating the device arranged outside of another room or the like wants to present output information on the external device to the user. In this case, the user must stop using the small device and go to the external device to check the contents.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily confirm the output content of a small device.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to confirm the contents of an output request from the outside without going to the requesting device to confirm the contents. .

[0008]

Means of the present invention are as follows. The recognition means in the indoor output control device connected to the output device arranged indoors recognizes a small device used by the user, and corresponds to, for example, a CPU 31 in a first embodiment described later. The receiving means is for receiving information output from the small device recognized by the recognizing means, and is, for example, a communication interface 37 in a first embodiment described later.
Is equivalent to The output control means outputs the information received by the receiving means by the output device connected to the indoor output control device. For example, the output control means includes a CPU 31 and a communication interface 37 in a first embodiment described later.
Is equivalent to The output device is a display device (for example,
Large-sized display device 20 according to a first embodiment described later)
In this case, it is preferable that the output control means performs output control to display the received information at a magnification corresponding to the display device.

The means of the invention according to claim 4 is as follows. The computer-readable recording medium stores a program including instructions for causing a computer to execute the following processing when outputting information on a small device used by a user. The first process is a process of recognizing a small device used by the user, and corresponds to, for example, steps S11 to S14 in the first embodiment described later. The second process is a process of receiving information output from the recognized small device, and corresponds to, for example, step S20 or step S26 in the first embodiment described later. The third process is a process of outputting the received information by an output device arranged indoors. For example, Step S21 to Step S23 or Step S27 and Step S27 in the first embodiment described later are performed. This corresponds to S28.

The operation of the means according to the first and fourth aspects of the invention is as follows. An indoor output control device connected to an output device arranged indoors recognizes a small device (a portable TV phone, a portable PC, a video camera, or the like) used by a user, and outputs (display, audio output) on the recognized device. )
Receiving and outputting the information.

That is, various small devices are scattered in the room, and the small devices used by the user are automatically recognized,
Since the information from the small device is automatically output by an output device installed in advance indoors, the output content of the device having only a poor output unit is stored indoors in advance in the indoor. It can be confirmed by the installed large-sized output device, and the user can work while checking the output content of the output device. In this case, since the large-sized output device receives and outputs the output contents of the portable device without permission, the user is required to connect the portable device being used to the large-sized output device. You do not need to be aware of anything.

Further, the means of the invention of claim 3 is as follows. Recognition means in the indoor output control device arranged indoors is for recognizing the device used by the user,
For example, a CPU 31 in a second embodiment to be described later
Is equivalent to The output unit is for outputting the output target information to be output which is given from the outside to the device recognized by the recognition unit, and corresponds to, for example, a CPU 31 and a communication interface 37 in a second embodiment described later. I do.

The means of the invention according to claim 5 is as follows. The computer-readable recording medium stores a program including an instruction for causing the computer to execute the following processing when presenting the output target information to the user.
The first process is a process of recognizing a device used by a user, and corresponds to, for example, steps S61 to S65 in a second embodiment described later. The second process is a process of outputting output target information provided from the outside to be output to the recognized device.
This corresponds to steps S68 and S69 in the second embodiment described later.

The operation of the means according to the third and fifth aspects is as follows. The indoor output control device arranged indoors recognizes the device used by the user and outputs output target information (mail reception information and TV reception information) to be output to the recognized device.

That is, various devices are scattered in a room, and when there is an output request from the outside, the device used by the user indoors is automatically recognized, and the output contents requested by the output request are output. Is automatically output to the recognized device, so that the user can know the contents of the output from the external device in the device being used right now, and output requests from the external device. On the other hand, there is no need to go to the requesting device to check the contents.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
(A) to (B) of FIG.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a configuration of an indoor system to which an indoor output control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

That is, in one room, a plurality of small devices 10, for example, a portable terminal device 10-1 called a PDA,
A portable PC 10-2 called a notebook personal computer, a video camera 10-3, and the like are scattered, and at least one large indoor output device, for example, a large display device 20 such as a TV is installed. Here, among the plurality of small devices,
It is assumed that the mobile terminal device 10-1 is in use by the user.

The large-sized display device 20 is connected to the indoor output control device 30 according to the present embodiment.

The indoor output control device 30 is realized by a computer as shown in FIG.

That is, in the figure, reference numeral 31 denotes a computer main body for controlling the whole. 32 is an input device such as a keyboard, 33 is a display device such as an LCD display, and 34 is a printing device such as a printer. Also, 3
Reference numeral 5 denotes a storage device such as a hard disk (HD) or a RAM for storing information such as an operating system (OS) and function programs for implementing various functions described below. Further, the storage device 35 stores a conversion management table as described later in detail.

Here, the computer main body 31 has an internal memory 31A for use as a work memory when executing a program stored in the storage device 35. The internal memory 31A stores the program And other information is expanded.

Reference numeral 36 denotes a recording medium drive for driving a portable recording medium 40 such as a floppy disk (FD) or a memory card, and stores an OS, a program, a file, and the like in the portable recording medium 40. And stored in the storage device 35. And
Reference numeral 37 denotes a communication interface for wirelessly connecting to the plurality of small devices 10 and for preferentially connecting to the large display device 20 to communicate various information. In addition, an OS (not shown) is connected to the OS via the communication interface 37.
, A program, a file, etc.
It is also possible to memorize it.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of the conversion management table 35A stored in the storage device 35. As shown in the figure, the conversion management table 35A describes an output attribute, a conversion table, and a display size enlargement / reduction ratio for each device type of the small devices 10.

Here, the output attribute indicates the attribute of information that can be output from the small device, such as display and sound.

In the conversion table, a data conversion method for outputting output information from the small-sized device with a large-sized indoor output device is written. For example, if the display data is T
In the case of outputting to a large display device 20 such as V, conversion to bitmap data is described as a conversion method.

The display size enlargement / reduction ratio describes what the display size of the converted display data should be, and can be arbitrarily set by the user using the input device 32. . That is, the converted display data is the display size of the original small device, for example, the size of the display unit in the case of the portable terminal device 10-1, and the video camera 10
-3 is equivalent to the size of the liquid crystal viewfinder, so that
If it is displayed on, it will be a small display,
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the display can be enlarged and displayed at a magnification specified by the user.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the indoor output control device 30. A program for realizing each function described in this flowchart is stored in the storage device 35 or the portable recording medium 40 in the form of a program code readable by the computer main body 31.

That is, first, a device detection signal is wirelessly transmitted and output from the communication interface 37 (step S11), and it is determined whether a response to the signal has been received by the communication interface (step S12). As a result, if there is no response, the process returns to step S11. On the other hand, if the user is using any of the small devices 10, a response is returned from the small device 10 in use.

When this response is received, the communication interface 37 is next sent to the small device 10.
Request the device type and the output attribute (step S1).
3), the device type and output attribute from the small device 10 are received by the communication interface 37 (step S1).
4). Then, the conversion management table 35A is searched based on the received information (step S16), and it is determined whether or not the output information from the small device 10 can be output to the indoor large output device connected to the indoor output control device 30. (Step S16). This determination can be made, for example, by determining whether the small device 10 is registered in the conversion management table 35A and whether the output attributes match. If the output is not possible, the process returns to step S11.

On the other hand, if it is determined that output is possible, an output request is transmitted to the small device 10 through the communication interface 37 (step S17). Then, the output attribute of the received small device 10 is determined (step S18).

If the output attribute is the "display" attribute, the display format conversion table corresponding to the type is set as the table to be used among the conversion tables corresponding to the small device 10 in the conversion management table 35A. (Step S19). Thereafter, when display information is received from the small device 10 through the communication interface 37 (step S20), the received information is converted according to the set conversion table (step S21). Further, the display size of the converted information is further enlarged according to the corresponding display size enlargement / reduction ratio of the conversion management table 35A (step S21), and the indoor large output device, in this embodiment, the large The data is supplied to and displayed on the display device 20 (step S23). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not an end command has been transmitted from the small device 10 (step S24). If it has not been transmitted, the process returns to step S20 to repeat the above processing. On the other hand, when an end command is received from the small device 10 through the communication interface 37,
The process returns to step S11.

If it is determined in step S18 that the output attribute of the small device 10 is the "display with sound" attribute, the small device 1 in the conversion management table 35A is determined.
Among the conversion tables corresponding to 0, the type conversion table corresponding to the type is set as a table to be used (step S25). Then, the communication interface 37
When the information is received from the small device 10 (step S26), the received information is converted according to the set conversion table (step S27). Then, the converted information is supplied to the indoor large-sized output device, in this embodiment, the large-sized display device 20 through the communication interface 37,
Display output and audio output are performed (step S28).
Thereafter, it is determined whether or not an end command has been transmitted from the small device 10 (step S29). If it has not been transmitted, the process returns to step S26 to repeat the above processing. On the other hand, when an end command is received from the small device 10 through the communication interface 37, the process returns to step S11.

FIG. 5 shows such an indoor output control device 30.
5 is an operation flowchart of the small device 10 that operates in response to the operation of FIG.

That is, when the operation of this flowchart is started by a power-on reset, first, after a predetermined processing wait (step S31), a processing selection by a user is accepted (step S32). Then, the selected processing is executed (step S33), and the processing result is displayed and output (step S34). Thereafter, here, it is determined whether or not to continue the process, for example, whether or not the end of the process is instructed by the user (step S3).
5). Then, when ending the processing, the state of a flag (not shown) is determined (step S36) and the flag is turned on.
If not, the process returns to step S31. As will be described later, this flag is set (ON) when the indoor output control device 30 outputs information with a large indoor output device.

If it is determined in step S35 that the process is to be continued, it is next determined whether a signal from the indoor output control device 30 has been received (step S37). If the flag is not received, the state of the flag (not shown) is determined (step S38).
Return to 3.

On the other hand, the indoor output control device 30
, First, it is determined whether the signal is the device detection signal transmitted in step S11 (step S39). Then, if it is such a device detection signal, after transmitting a response to the indoor output control device 30 (step S40), the process proceeds to step S37.
Return to

If the received signal is not the device detection signal, it is determined whether the received signal is the device type and output attribute request transmitted in step S13 (step S41). If such a request has been made, an output attribute of the current processing content executed in step S33 is acquired (step S42), and this is output together with the type information of the small device 10 to the indoor output control device. 30 (step S43), and then the above-described step S43 is performed.
Return to 37.

If the received signal is not the request, it is further determined whether or not the received signal is the output request transmitted in step S17 (step S44). And
If it is not such an output request, the process returns to step S37.

On the other hand, when such an output request is received, the flag (not shown) is set (step S45), and the output attribute acquired in step S42 is determined (step S46). If the output attribute is the "display" attribute, the display information is transmitted to the indoor output control device 30 (step S47), and the process returns to step S33. If the output attribute is the "display with sound" attribute, the sound information and the display information are transmitted to the indoor output control device 30 (step S48), and the process returns to step S33.

When it is determined in step S38 that the flag (not shown) is ON, the process proceeds to step S46. That is, even if a signal is not received from the indoor output control device 30, once it is set to a state where it can be output to the indoor output control device 30, some processing is executed and the result is transmitted to the small device. By displaying the processing result on the display unit 10 and transmitting the processing result to the indoor output control device 30 according to the output attribute, the large display device 20 displays (or displays) the processing corresponding to the processing of the small device 10 (or (Display with sound) will be updated.

If it is determined in step S36 that the flag (not shown) is ON when the processing is not to be continued, an end command is transmitted to the indoor output control device 30 (step S49). ). This end command is used for the determination in step S24. After resetting (OFF) this flag (step S50), the process returns to step S31.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the various small devices 10 are scattered in the room, but the small devices 10 used by the user are automatically recognized, and Since the information from the small device 10 is automatically output by the indoor large output device (large display device 20) installed in advance indoors, the output of the small device 10 having only a poor output unit is provided. The contents can be checked indoors with a large-sized output device installed beforehand in the room, and it is possible to work while viewing the output contents of the output device.

In this case, since the large-sized output device receives and outputs the output contents of the small device 10 without permission, the small device 1 used by the user is used.
There is no need to be conscious of any work such as connecting 0 to a large output device.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
An embodiment will be described.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6A, an indoor output control device 30 is connected to an unillustrated mail terminal device or TV terminal device in another room via an indoor line 50. Etc. are connected. The indoor output control device 30 in the present embodiment is realized by a computer having the same configuration as that of the first embodiment. The indoor line 50 is connected to the indoor output control device 30 by the communication interface 37. What is connected. Further, in the present embodiment, the contents of the conversion management table 35A stored in the storage device 35 are different from those of the first embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6B, the conversion management table 35A in the present embodiment describes the output content attribute and the conversion table for each device type of each small device 10. Here, the output content attribute indicates an attribute of information such as display and audio that can be output by the small device 10. In the conversion table, a data conversion method for outputting output information from a terminal device in another room connected to the indoor output control device 30 via the indoor line 50 by the small device 10 is written. .

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be described. FIG. 7A is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the indoor output control device 30. A program for realizing each function described in this flowchart is stored in the storage device 35 or the portable recording medium 40 in the form of a program code readable by the computer main body 31.

That is, when the operation of this flowchart is started in response to an output request from a terminal device in another room via the indoor line 50, first, a device detection signal is transmitted by the communication interface 37 (step S61). And
When the response is not received by the communication interface 37 (step S62), since none of the small devices 10 scattered in the room where the indoor output control device 30 is installed is being used by the user, the process returns to the step S61. .

On the other hand, if the user is using any of the small devices 10 such as the portable terminal device 10-1, a response from the small device 10 is received. In this case, the device type request is transmitted to the small device 10 through the communication interface 37 (step S).
63), the device type signal from the small device 10 is received by the communication interface 37 (step S64).
Thereafter, the output contents requested to be output, that is, the attributes of the output target information (mail reception information and TV reception information) to be output are obtained (step S65), and the conversion management table 35A is stored in the conversion management table 35A based on the obtained attributes. The small device 10
Then, it is determined whether or not the output target information can be converted and output based on the conversion table of the conversion management table 35A corresponding to the small device 10 by searching the output content attribute corresponding to (step S66). As a result, when it is determined that the conversion output is impossible (step S67),
The process returns to step 61.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the output is possible, the output target information sent from the terminal device in another room via the indoor line 50 is converted by the conversion table (step S68), and the converted information is converted. The transmitted information is transmitted to the small device 10 through the communication interface 37 (step S69). Thereafter, it is further determined whether or not the next output request has been sent via the indoor line 50 (step S7).
0), if there is such a request, step S6
Return to 8.

If it is determined that there is no next output request, an end command is transmitted to the small device 10 through the communication interface 37 (step S71).
End the operation.

FIG. 7B is an operation flowchart of the small device 10 which operates in response to such an operation of the indoor output control device 30.

That is, when the operation of this flowchart is started by a power-on reset, it is first determined whether or not a user has selected a process (step S81). If a process is selected, the selected process is executed. (Step S82). Then, when this process ends (step S83), the process returns to step S81.

On the other hand, if there is no process selection by the user, it is further determined whether there is a signal from the indoor output control device 30 (step S84), and if not, the process returns to step S81.

When a signal is received from the indoor output control device 30, the signal is transmitted to step S61.
It is determined whether or not the received signal is the device detection signal transmitted in (step S85). If it is such a device detection signal, a response signal is transmitted (step S8).
6), and return to step S84.

If the received signal is not the device detection signal, it is determined whether or not the received signal is the device type request transmitted in step S63 (step S8).
7). If the request is such a device type request, the device type of the small device 10 is transmitted (step S8).
8) Return to step S84.

If the received signal is not a device type request, it is determined whether or not the received signal is the output information transmitted in step S69 (step S69).
89). If it is not this output information, the process returns to step S84.

On the other hand, in the case of output information,
The output information is received (step S90), and the received content is output (step S91). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the end command transmitted in step S71 has been received (step S92). If such an end command has not been received, the process returns to step S90. It returns to step S81.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, various small devices 10 are scattered in a room, but when there is an output request from outside, the user can use the device indoors. The small device 10 is automatically recognized, and the output content requested to be output is automatically output to the small device 10 that has been recognized. In the small-sized device 10, it is possible to know the output content from the outside, and it is unnecessary to go to the terminal device of the request source to check the content in response to the output request from the outside.

It is needless to say that the indoor output control device 30 according to the second embodiment may have the same functions as those of the first embodiment. The mail terminal device and the TV terminal device in another room may be connected to the indoor line 50 via the indoor output control device 30.

[0062]

According to the present invention, various small devices are scattered in a room, but a small device used by a user is automatically recognized, and information from the small device is previously set indoors. The output contents of a small device that has only a poor output unit are output to a large output device that is installed in the room in advance, because the output is automatically performed by a large indoor output device. It is also possible to work while viewing the output contents of the output device. In this case, the large-sized output device automatically receives and outputs the output contents of the small-sized device, so that the user can connect the small-sized device used to the large-sized output device. There is no need to be conscious of any work.

Further, according to the present invention, various small devices are scattered in a room, but when an output is requested from the outside, the small devices used by the user indoors are automatically recognized, Since the output content requested to be output is automatically output to the recognized small device, the user is required to use the small device which is being used now.
It is possible to know the contents of the output from the outside, and for the output request from the outside, there is no need to go to the requesting terminal device to check the contents at all.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an indoor system to which an indoor output control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating the indoor output control device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer for realizing the computer.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing contents of a conversion management table in the indoor output control device according to the first embodiment.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams for explaining enlargement of a display size.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the indoor output control device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the small device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an indoor system to which an indoor output control device according to a second embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the indoor output control device of FIG. It is a figure showing the contents of a conversion management table.

FIG. 7A is an operation flowchart of the indoor output control device according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 7B is an operation flowchart of a small device according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 small device 10-1 portable terminal device 10-2 portable PC 10-3 video camera 20 large display device 30 indoor output control device 31 computer main unit 31A internal memory 32 input device 33 display device 34 printing device 35 storage device 35A conversion management table 36 Recording medium drive 37 Communication interface 40 Portable recording medium 50 Indoor line

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An indoor output control device connected to an output device arranged indoors, comprising: a recognition unit for recognizing a small device used by a user; and information output from the small device recognized by the recognition unit. And an output control means for outputting the information received by the receiving means with the output device connected to the indoor output control device. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output device includes a display device, and the output control means performs output control to display the received information at a magnification corresponding to the display device. The indoor output control device as described in the above. 3. An indoor output control device disposed indoors, comprising: recognition means for recognizing a device to be used by a user; and output target information to be output provided from outside, which is recognized by the recognition means. An output means for outputting to the indoor output control device. 4. A process for recognizing a small device used by a user when outputting information on a small device used by a user, a process for receiving information output from the recognized small device, A computer-readable recording medium storing a process including a process of outputting information by an output device disposed indoors and a program for causing a computer to execute the process. 5. A process of recognizing a device used by a user when presenting output target information to a user, and a process of outputting output target information to be output from the outside to the recognized device. A computer-readable recording medium that stores a program including instructions for causing a computer to execute the following.