JP2002016619A - Digital network equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To identify each of equipment more clearly for a user by explicitly showing the selected device on its casings connected to the same digital network. SOLUTION: When a user displays a list by means of an operating part 4, according to the instruction of a microcomputer 2, an equipment identification display means 7 reads out information preserved in a memory 3, and the list display data of equipment connected to the same network are prepared by a display data preparing circuit 5 and displayed on a monitor (not shown in the Fig.). Then, when specified equipment is selected by the operating part 4, the display of that equipment is displayed in a different color on the monitor and the equipment identification display means 7 of that equipment emits a light emitting element 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital network device capable of displaying a list of information on devices connected to the same digital network on a monitor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a digital network device such as IEEE1394, a list of devices connected to a digital network can be displayed on the device itself or a monitor such as a television receiver connected to the device.

[0003] In this list display, a manufacturer name, a model name, a device type, and the like of a device are displayed so that a user can identify a device to be operated when operating the own device or another device via a digital network. Is done.

[0004] However, since these displays are attached irrespective of the user's recognition, it is difficult for the user to understand. Therefore, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-212662, a label can be set for each device, and when a list of devices is displayed, a label set by the user is displayed so that a user-friendly display can be performed. Has become.

[0005]

As described above, conventionally, at the time of displaying the list, each device is displayed using the name set by the user, so that the display can be easily understood by the user. However, for example, if it is another model, it is easy to determine which device is installed by just the device name displayed in the list, but devices with similar designs such as when there is the same model from the same manufacturer There is a problem in that it is difficult to determine which device name in the list is actually the installed device.

Further, if the storage of the device information set by the user is uncertain only by displaying the device information in a list, it is difficult to determine which device itself has the device information on the list displayed. There was also a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is necessary for a user to clearly indicate that the device has been selected for a device connected to the same digital network. An object of the present invention is to provide a digital network device capable of more clearly identifying a device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital network device capable of specifying the operated device on a list display of the connected devices when the device connected to the same digital network is operated. And

[0009]

A digital network device according to the present invention is a device connected to a network,
A device connected to the network or a user interface means for operating the device itself, and a device identification for generating a signal for identifying and displaying a device actually arranged from the devices connected to the network And a notifying means for notifying the device identification displaying means of another device or the own device that the device is selected by operating the user interface means.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a digital network to which the present invention is applied is IEEE
Take the E1394 standard as an example.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a digital network device according to the present invention. Also, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of device connection and an example of a list display of connected devices. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the IEEE 1394 interface.

FIG. 1 shows an IEEE 1394 interface 1 shown in FIG. 3, a microcomputer 2 for controlling an interface with an operation unit and the entire digital network device, a memory 3 as storage means, and an operation unit 4 as a user interface. A display data generating circuit 5 for generating various display data such as a list display; a notifying means 6 to be described later; a device identification displaying means 7; and a light emitting element 8 as a displaying means.

In FIG. 2, a total of four television receivers (TVs) equipped with the digital network equipment of FIG. 1 and three digital VTRs (DVTRs) are connected by an IEEE1394 standard cable.

In FIG. 3, the physical layer / link layer 14 comprises:
In the physical layer, encoding and decoding of transmission data, bus arbitration processing, and interface processing with a medium are performed, and in the link layer, transmission and reception of packets and cycle control are performed.

The transaction layer 15 specifies a command transmission and reception protocol, and transmits and receives transmission data according to the specification via the physical layer / link layer 14.

In the IEEE 1394 standard, after a bus reset, a tree identification process for identifying the connection state of each device and a self-identification process for giving a unique physical ID to each device occur. In this self-identification process, each device transmits a self-identification packet once to all other devices.

The microcomputer 2 of the TV 9 counts the number of self-identification packets received via the IEEE1394 interface 1 during the self-identification process after the bus reset, and stores the number of connected devices.

Further, a read request packet for collecting relevant information such as a device ID (hereinafter referred to as a device ID) or / and a model number, which is unique to the world, possessed by each device, is transmitted by an I
The data is transmitted to each device via the IEEE 1394 interface 1. When a response packet is transmitted from each device to the transmitted read request packet, the device identification display means 7
Receives the relevant information such as the device ID and / or model number via the IEEE1394 interface 1 and stores it in the memory 3.

When the user causes the operation section 4 of the TV 9 to display a list, the device identification display means 7 reads out the relevant information such as the device ID and / or the model number stored in the memory 3 in accordance with the instruction of the microcomputer 2, and The display data creation circuit 5 creates list display data, and displays the list display data on a monitor (not shown).

When the user selects the DVTR 10 on the list display using the operation unit 4 of the TV 9, the device identification display means 7
DTVR 10 on the list display in the display data creation circuit 5
Display data to be colored on the display portion is displayed on the monitor. The notifying means 6 creates selected device information of the device selected by the user, and selects the selected device and the device ID or the node I stored in the memory 3.
D or the physical ID to specify the transmission destination, and the IEEE
The selected device information is transmitted to the DVTR 10 via the E1394 interface 1.

The device identification display means 7 of the DVTR 10
It receives the selected device information via the IEEE 1394 interface 1 and determines that the own device has been selected, generates a signal for causing the light emitting device of the own device to emit light, and causes the light emitting device 8 to emit light (blinks or turns on).

When the user selects the TV 9 itself on the list display, the notifying means 6 of the TV 9 causes the light emitting element of the TV 9 to emit light (flashing or lighting) by directly notifying the device identification displaying means 7 of the TV 9. Let it do).

When the user selects the DVTR 11 or DVTR 12 on the list display, the DV
The light emitting elements of R11 and DVTR 12 can emit light (blink or light).

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

When the user displays a list using the operation unit 4 of the TV 9, the list is displayed on the monitor of the TV 9 in the same manner as described above.

When the user performs an operation such as reproduction using the operation unit 4 of the DVTR 10, the device identification display means 7 of the DVTR 10 generates a signal for causing the light emitting element of the own device to emit light, and causes the light emitting element 8 to emit light (flashing or lighting). Let it do).

The device identification display means 7 of the TV 9 is, for example,
The operation state of each device can be known by transmitting a packet for inquiring the operation state of each device periodically via the IEEE1394 interface 1 and receiving a response packet of each device.

Also, a packet indicating a list of devices in advance for each device is transmitted via the IEEE 1394 interface 1 to notify each device, and when each device performs any operation, A packet indicating that the operation has been performed is transmitted to the devices displayed in the list, and the device identification display unit 7 of the TV 9 transmits the packet to the IEEE 1394.
By receiving the packet via the interface 1, the operation state of each device can be known.

When the device identification display means 7 recognizes that the DVTR 10 is being reproduced, it causes the display data generation circuit 5 to generate data for coloring the display portion of the DVTR 10 on the list display, and displays the data on the monitor. To be displayed.

If the user has the DVTR 11 or DVTR 1
2 in the same manner as described above,
9, the display part of the DVTR 11 or DVTR 12 on the list display can be colored.

Note that, in the first embodiment, the TV
When a device on the list display of No. 9 is selected, the light emitting element provided in the device is made to emit light. However, when a display device is provided, the device name or / and its related information may be displayed thereon. .

For example, the user inputs the data from the operation unit 4 and stores it in the memory 3.
After determining that the own device has been selected from the selected device information received from V9 via the IEEE 1394 interface 1, the device name or / and related information is read from the memory 3 and provided in place of the light emitting element. It can be displayed on display means.

Here, each device has a device name or /
And its related information, the memory 3 of the TV 9
The device name or / and its related information input in a lump is stored, and when the user selects the device after the list is displayed, the device name or / and its related information is transmitted to the selected device from the TV 9. The transmitted device name and the related information received by the selected device can be displayed on the display means.

When the user inputs the device name and / or related information as described above, the user can input the name corresponding to the actual installation position of the device, and as shown in FIG. An easy-to-understand display of the actual installation position can be provided.

When a digital network device is provided with a speaker, sound may be generated. For example, the device identification display means 7 can determine that the own device has been selected from the selected device information received from the TV 9 via the IEEE 1394 interface 1, generate an audio signal, and sound the speaker.

In the first embodiment, the TV 9
After the device on the list is selected, the light emitting element provided on the device is made to emit light (blinks or lights up), but the display means is provided as described above, and the device name or / and its related information is displayed thereon. In this case, the device identification and display means 7 receives the bus reset from the IEEE 1394 interface 1, reads out the device name and / or related information from the memory 3, and outputs it to the display means provided in place of the light emitting element to output the device name. Or, by displaying the related information, it is possible to automatically display the device regardless of whether the device on the list display of the TV 9 is selected.

In the second embodiment, D
After the VTR 10 is reproduced, the display portion of the reproduced device on the list display of the TV 9 is colored. At the time of the coloring, the device identification display means 7 knows the operation state of the device by the method described above, and displays it. It is also possible to make the data creation circuit 5 create data for displaying the operation state of the device on the list display and display it on the monitor.

In the second embodiment, D
After the VTR 10 is reproduced, its own light emitting element is made to emit light (blinking or lighting), but it is not always necessary to make the light emitting element emit light.

In the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which a television receiver (TV) provided with a digital network device and three digital VTRs (DVTRs) are connected. It is apparent that any device that can display an image on an external monitor without any device is required, and at least one device may be a device that can display an image on its own device or an external monitor.

Further, two or more devices equipped with TVs or monitors may be connected. In such a case, among the devices equipped with a TV or a monitor that do not display the above-mentioned list, if the light emitting element 8 or the display means is provided in addition to the original image display portion, it is determined whether the user has selected the own device. Can be made easier.

Of course, a device for displaying a list may be provided with a light-emitting element or a display means, and by using the same method as described above, the light-emitting element is made to emit light even when its own device is selected on the list. (Blinking or lighting) or the display means may display the device name and / or its related information.

In FIG. 5, (a) shows an example in which a list of devices is displayed in a tree shape, (b) shows an example in which, in addition to (a), it is displayed in correspondence with the actual installation position of the device, and (c) shows an example. It is an example showing an installation position of an actual device.

When the user causes the operation section 4 of the TV 9 to display a list, the device identification display means 7 reads the device name or / and the related information stored in the memory 3 according to the instruction of the microcomputer 2, and displays the display data. The creating circuit 5 creates tree-like list display data, and displays the
It is displayed as shown in FIG.

Here, when the user moves each device on the display data using the operation unit 4 of the TV 9 and registers the installation position, the device identification display means 7 is instructed by the microcomputer 2.
Saves the installation location information in the memory 3 in association with the stored device name and / or its related information.

The next time the user causes the operation unit 4 to display a list, the device identification display means 7
Reads the installation position information and the device name or / and related information from the memory 3 and causes the display data creation circuit 5 to create display data in which the connected devices and their installation positions are associated with each other, and display the data on the monitor. The display as shown in FIG. 5B can be performed.

The operation unit 4 in the above embodiment is not limited to the one installed on the housing of the device, but may be a remote controller, a mouse, or the like.

[0047]

As described above in detail, according to the digital network device of the present invention, it is clearly indicated that the device is selected for the housing of the device connected to the same digital network, so that the user is required The device can be clearly identified.

Even when a plurality of the same models of the same maker do not exist in the same digital network, the user sets the information of the device set by himself / herself to the device set in any of the listed devices. This has the effect that it is possible to determine whether there is any information without tracing the memory.

Further, when the device is operated, the operated device can be specified in a list display of devices connected by the same digital network.

Further, the operation status of each device connected by the digital network can be displayed in correspondence with the actual installation position, so that the user can easily understand which device is operating what. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a digital network device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a device connection example and a list display example of connected devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an IEEE1394 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an interface 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a device list display using names associated with installation positions according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which actual equipment installation positions and the equipment are displayed in association with each other in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 IEEE1394 interface, 2 microcomputer, 3 memory, 4 operation unit, 5 display data creation circuit, 6 notification means, 7 device identification display means,
8. Light emitting element.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/765 H04N 5/782 K F term (Reference) 5B089 GA21 HA18 KA02 KB04 KC22 LB11 LB15 5C018 FA03 FB04 5C025 AA28 BA11 BA22 BA25 CA09 CA16 CB03 CB10 DA05 5K033 AA05 BA01 DA01

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A device connected to a network, a device connected to the network or a user interface means for operating the device itself, and a device actually arranged from the devices connected to the network. Device identification display means for generating a signal to be identified and displayed to specify, Notification means for notifying that the device has been selected by the operation of the user interface means, to the device identification display means of another device or own device, A digital network device comprising: 2. A display means for emitting light or displaying characters in response to a signal from the device identification display means, wherein the user interface means allows a user to select one of devices connected to a network listed on a monitor. Means for selecting a device, wherein the device identification display means is a means for generating a signal indicating that the device is selected when the device is selected, and the notifying means is connected to a network listed on the monitor. The digital network device according to claim 1, wherein the digital network device is means for notifying a device selected from among the selected devices. 3. The device identification display means includes: a device connected to a network listed on a monitor;
The digital network device according to claim 1, wherein the digital network device is means for generating a signal for displaying the operated device on the monitor while distinguishing the operated device from other devices in the network. 4. The user interface means comprises:
Means for allowing a user to input the name and position of the device to the device, wherein the device identification display means displays the name and position input by the user when displaying the devices connected to the network listed on the monitor. 2. The digital network device according to claim 1, wherein the digital network device is means for generating a signal to be displayed on a monitor. 5. The digital network device according to claim 2, wherein the device identification display unit further generates a signal for displaying an operation state of another device.