JPH04302345A - Display control for terminal equipment and transmitting method for display data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display display data transmitted from a host computer on each terminal at need and to improve the communication efficiency of data transmission. CONSTITUTION:A real time clock part 14 to which date data is inputted is provided at the central processing part 10 of terminal equipment 1, and display day and time setting data transmitted from the host computer with the display data is received via a line adaptor part 11, and it is stored in a storage part 13, and the display day and time setting data is compared with the output of the real time clock part 14, and when match is obtained between them, the display data is displayed by operating a display part 12, or the display is interrupted by stopping the display part 12.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling the display of a terminal device connected to a host computer via a telephone line and a method for transmitting display data.

0002

[Background of the Prior Art] In recent years, as shown in FIG. However, so-called home shopping systems have been developed that allow users to shop from the comfort of their own homes.

[0003] In such a system, a terminal device (DT
E) 1 generally consists of a line adapter section, its control section, and peripheral devices such as a display, a printer, and an input device, and the line adapter section is equipped with a modem device (DC
E) 4 is connected to the telephone network 3 via the network control unit (NCU) 5. The modem device 4 has both a modulation function and a demodulation function, converts the DC signal sent by the line adapter into an AC signal and sends it to the telephone network 3, and conversely converts the AC signal sent through the telephone network 3 into an AC signal. Convert it to a DC signal and pass it to the line adapter section. In addition, the network control unit (NCU)
) 5 is a control device at the lowest level in the telephone network 3, which exchanges information according to a predetermined procedure with an exchange installed at a telephone office or the like, and organically connects the terminal device 1 to the telephone network 3. On the other hand, since the center host computer 2 handles multiple lines, the line adapter section is a communication control device CCP6 that can handle multiple lines, and the communication control device connected to the input/output channel is similar to the line adapter. , (1) Serial/parallel conversion of data, (2) Detection and transmission of communication control codes, (3) Error control, (4) Line control, etc. to control telephone lines. The communication control device 6 is connected to the modem device 4 as described above, and is connected to the telephone network 3 via the network control device 5.

The host computer 2 is equipped with, for example, a database of product information, ticket reservations, etc., and a terminal device 1 in each home is activated to connect a telephone line to the host computer 2, and receive information sent from the host computer 2. Users can obtain product information, order products, reserve tickets, etc. from the comfort of their homes by operating the terminal device 1 in a so-called interactive format while viewing the data on the display device.

By the way, in the above system, the terminal device 1
Since the terminal device 1 is installed in the home, it is possible to use the terminal device 1 in a direct mail-like manner using the display section during idle time when the terminal device 1 is not in use. This can be done, for example, by sending a congratulatory message from the host computer 2 to be displayed on the display device on the anniversary of the user of the terminal device 1, or by sending bargain information, event information, etc. to the terminal device 1 of a specific user. It is displayed at any time like a bulletin board, and is intended to promote customer segmentation and provide more detailed customer service.

[0006]

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, since the above display may not be seen by the subscriber at the time of display, it is better to repeat it many times, and by doing so,
It also makes the message more impressive.

However, when the above terminal device attempts to display a message during idle time, the host computer connects to the terminal device via a telephone line, transmits display data, and displays the message on the display device. On the other hand, when the display ends, erasure data is sent to erase the display. During this series of drawing operations, the telephone line between the two must be kept connected, or else the line must be connected and the display data rewritten each time the display data is changed.

Therefore, repeating such a drawing operation increases the line connection time or the number of connections between the host computer and the terminal device, leading to a decrease in communication efficiency and an increase in communication cost. The above is about a host computer and a single terminal device, but in systems where many terminal devices are connected like the above system, the host computer may be busy with the aforementioned display work for a long time. As expected, there is a risk that the original function as an information service may be impaired.

On the other hand, if the display device is left in operation 24/7 even when there is no display data, the clarity of the display screen deteriorates as the display time increases. In particular, liquid crystal display devices with backlights, which are often used in terminal devices, deteriorate significantly and require replacement and repair of the display device within a short period of time. Furthermore, since the power consumption of the display device generally accounts for a large portion of the power consumption of the entire terminal device, it is wasteful to keep the display device operating when there is no display data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to enable a dedicated terminal device to display data transmitted from a host computer at any desired date and time, and to reduce the decrease in communication efficiency and increase in communication costs at that time. The goal is to minimize the deterioration of

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the conventional terminal device is provided with a real-time clock section that inputs date and time data to the central processing section, and the display section is connected to the central processing section. The host computer transmits display data to each terminal device along with display date and time setting data for the display data, and the terminal device stores both data in its storage unit. The central processing unit compares the display date and time setting data with the input data from the real-time clock, and if both data match, turns on the display unit to display the display data, or The structure is such that the display is stopped by turning the section OFF.

Further, the communication monitoring means provided in the host computer detects the presence or absence of data on the line between the host computer and the terminal device during communication, and when the data is not transmitted, the communication monitoring means from the host computer to the terminal device Display date/time setting data can also be transmitted along with the display data.

The real-time clock section has calendar functions such as year, month, day, day of the week, hour, minute, and second.

[0014]

[Operation] In the terminal device control method configured in this way, each dedicated terminal device decodes the display date and time setting data added to each display data, and displays or erases the display data at the set date and time. do. Therefore, for example, the display data to be displayed on the next day or later is transmitted all at once during a time slot when the telephone line is idle, such as late at night, and the display data is displayed at the display setting time of each display data on the next day and then erased.

[0015] Furthermore, in the case where the presence or absence of data on the line is detected by the communication monitoring means of the host computer, the display data is transmitted during the idle time of communication, so it is possible to improve the communication efficiency and reduce the communication cost. .

[0016]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained based on FIGS. 1 to 4. In this method of controlling the display of the terminal device 1 and transmitting its display data, the host computer 2 is connected to the terminal device (hereinafter referred to as the terminal) 1 via the telephone network 3, as shown in FIG. 4, as in the conventional case.

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 1 uses a microprocessor 10 as a control section, and a serial transmission UA built in the microprocessor 10 as a line adapter.
RT output 11 is used. Further, a liquid crystal display panel 12 with a backlight is used for the display section, and the backlight is provided by the I/O control 1 of the microprocessor 10.
It is turned on/off by 5. On the other hand, the liquid crystal display panel 1
VRAM memory 16 for graphics is used for displaying 2.
A ROM memory 17 for kanji characters and kanji characters is provided, and kanji characters and graphics are displayed by a VRAM control circuit 18 and a liquid crystal display circuit 18'. Said,
The microprocessor 10 is provided with a keyboard 20', a touch key 20 provided on the liquid crystal display panel 12, a magnetic card reader, an IC card reader 21, etc. as input devices, and further includes a control monitor program as a storage section. A read-only ROM memory 19 for stored programs and a rewritable SRAM memory 13 for storing data transmitted from the host computer 2 are connected. The processor 10 also includes a real-time clock 14 having a calendar function such as year, month, day, day of the week, etc.
is connected, and the date and time data is sent to microprocessor 1.
Output to 0. These SRAM memory 13 and real-time clock 14 are equipped with a backup battery 22.
is connected, and measures against momentary power interruptions and power outages are taken.

Next, the display date/time setting data will be explained. Normally, data transmission between the host computer 2 and each terminal 1 is performed using various communication procedures. For this reason,
Here, a case will be described in which, for example, an HDLC procedure is used.

As shown in FIG. 2(b), in the HDLC procedure, one message (frame) consists of five fields,
In other words, flag 30, address 31, control 32,
Each field of information 33 and the frame
It consists of a check sequence FCS 34, and one frame is sandwiched between an opening 30 and a closing flag 30 that set boundaries between frames. In the address field 31, an address indicating a frame transfer destination, that is, each terminal device is written. The control field 32 controls frame exchange. This control field 32 is followed by a frame check sequence FCS 34 via an information field 33. In this field 34 is written a CRC for determining whether or not the frame has been correctly transmitted.

In the information field 33, so-called transmission data is written. The length of this field 33 may be any number of bits, and the length of each character constituting it may also be arbitrary. Therefore, the host computer 2 adds display date and time data to the information field 33 together with the display data and transmits the data. This display date/time setting data is as shown in Figure 2(a).
For example, save command field 20, start field 2
1. Date and time setting fields 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
, a message data field 23, and a message end field 22.
This command instructs the SRAM memory 13 to store a series of data fields up to . Therefore, even if the display date/time setting data is listed and described in the information field 33, it can be distinguished from other setting data, and even if it is mixed with other transmission data, its transparency is not lost.

The start field 21 sets boundaries between the following date and time setting fields 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, the message data field 23, and the save command field 20. date and time setting field 24,
25, 26, 27, and 28 are divided into five fields, including display start year/month/day 24 and time field 25.
In addition to writing the date and time data to start displaying message data in the display period field 26,
Write data such as the message data display period, display repeat count, and repeat time. When displaying the same data multiple times, these fields related to display may be written as many times as the number of times the data is displayed. On the other hand, a message to be displayed is written in the message data field 23. In the message deletion year/month/day 27 and time field 28, the year, month, day, and time at which this display date/time setting data is to be deleted from the SRAM memory 13 are written.

The display date/time setting data written in the information field 33 configured as described above and transmitted from the host computer 2 is decoded by the microprocessor 10 of the terminal 1 using the monitor program, and is read as the current time of the real-time clock 14. If the set time matches the set time, the liquid crystal display panel 12 is turned on and the message data written in the message data field 23 is displayed.

[0023] At this time, the display can be emphasized by simultaneously sounding a buzzer. Further, for example, when the display time of the display period field 26 is reached, the liquid crystal display panel 12 is turned off and the display is stopped. When the message deletion year/month/day 27 and the deletion date/time in the time field 28 are reached, the display data and display date/time setting data in the S-RAM memory 13 are erased.

[0024] Therefore, if the display data for the next day or later is transmitted during a time when the telephone line is relatively idle, such as late at night, the display data can be displayed from the next day. On the other hand, the host computer 2 also usually
This work can be done late at night when there is less communication with
Processing efficiency is improved and the number of connections is reduced, so
It is possible to improve communication efficiency and reduce communication costs. Furthermore, since the liquid crystal display panel 12 does not operate except when displaying information, there is less deterioration and less power consumption.

[0025] Furthermore, the host computer 2 and the terminal 1 are
Data transmission is performed in an interactive manner as shown in FIG. That is, when the host computer 2 transmits the data, the data is displayed on the terminal 1 and waits until the operator responds by operating the input device while looking at this display. Meanwhile, the terminal 1 waits until the host computer 2 processes the transmitted data and returns the results. Therefore, in such communication, as shown in the figure, there is no data frame F on the line, resulting in idle time t when the line is not used. For this reason, the host computer 2 detects the idle time t by, for example, the communication monitoring means of the communication control device 6 or the network control device 5, by detecting a communication control code, detecting the end of a transmission frame from the terminal 1, etc. Then, the display data and display date/time setting data are transmitted during the idle time t. At this time, if the data cannot be transmitted within one period of idle time t, it may be possible to transmit the data using a plurality of idle times t.

[0026] In this way, by making it possible to transmit the data by using the communication gap between the two, communication efficiency can be further improved and communication costs can be further reduced.

[0027]

[Effects] Since the present invention is configured as described above, the terminal device can display data transmitted from the host computer at any time without reducing communication efficiency or increasing cost. Further, in this case, deterioration of the display device can also be reduced.

[0028] Furthermore, by utilizing idle time for communication, communication efficiency can be increased and costs can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a terminal device according to the present invention.

[Figure 2] Schematic diagram of display date/time setting data

[Figure 3] Communication schematic diagram

[Figure 4] Block diagram of conventional example

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Terminal device 2 Host computer 3 Telephone line (switched network) 5 Network control device 6 Communication control device 10 Central processing unit (microprocessor) 11 Line adapter (UART output) 12 Display unit (liquid crystal display panel) 13 Storage unit (SRAM) 14 Real-time clock 20-28 Display date/time setting data

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: A host computer at a center and a plurality of terminal devices are connected via a telephone line, and the terminal devices include a line adapter unit that controls communication with the host computer, and a central processing unit that controls the communication. Display control of a terminal device comprising: a display section operated by the central processing section; an input section for inputting data to the central processing section; and a storage section for storing input data from the host computer and the input section. In the method, the terminal device includes:
A real-time clock unit is provided to input date and time data to the central processing unit, and the display unit of the terminal device is turned on/off by commands from the central processing unit, and the host computer displays information on each terminal device. The display date and time setting data of the display data is added and transmitted together with the data, and the terminal device stores both of the data in a storage unit, and the central processing unit uses the display date and time setting data and the real-time clock. A display control method for a terminal device, comprising the steps of: comparing input data, and when both data match, turning on a display section to display the display data, or turning the display section off to stop displaying. . 2. The display control method for a terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the communication monitoring means provided in the host computer detects the presence or absence of data on a line between the host computer and the terminal device during communication. A method for transmitting display data of a terminal device, characterized in that, when the data is not being transmitted, display date/time setting data is transmitted from the host computer to the terminal device together with the display data.