JP2000172404A - User interface device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it easy for a user to understand the operation which can be instructed or the operation which can not be instructed to equipment at present or at a specific point of time in the future. SOLUTION: A part for displaying hardware resource information like 4104 is provided in an operation picture and when a program is booked for video recording in an EPG picture, respective hardware resource pictures change as shown in the enlarged figure 4200 according to the movement of the focus in the operation picture so that it can be decided whether or not they will be necessary for operation indicated by the focus and can be used when the operation is carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a user interface for home electric appliances, personal computers, and the like. In particular, the present invention relates to a user interface device having many functions in a home electric appliance, a personal computer, and the like, and capable of making a reservation for operation of the appliance at a future time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional user interface device in this field will be described with reference to FIG.

[0003] The device displays function switches conventionally held in hardware as button images on a monitor indicated by reference numeral 2300 in FIG. The user shifts the focus from the button image displayed on the monitor to the button image meaning a desired operation by the operation unit 2100, and sends a signal for selecting the button image to the device. Remote control 21
At 00, the upward button 2101 is used to move the focus upward, and the down button 210 is used to move the focus downward.
3. A left button 2102 is used for leftward movement, and a right button 2104 is used for rightward movement. A selection button 2105 is used to select a button image.

The device 2200 understands the desired operation of the user by means of a device operation management software unit 2201, and hardware resources 2203, 2204, and 22 control the internal operation of the hardware unit 2202.
05, 2206 to perform the operation specified by the user.

As described above, the user can instruct the device to perform a desired operation.

[0006]

In recent years, with the increase in the number of home appliances and the number of products having multiple functions, the hardware resources of the devices tend to increase. The "operation reservation" that has not been performed has appeared due to the combination of functions. For these reasons, it is difficult for the user to grasp the current state of the device, the hardware resources of the device currently in use, and the hardware resources of the device reserved for use at some point in the future. . The disadvantages are that it is difficult for the user to understand operations that cannot be commanded in the current state of the device, and it is also difficult to understand operations that cannot be reserved because other reservations have been made at a specific point in the future. There is a problem.

As a solution to this, hardware resources required by each button image and the current state of the device are displayed simultaneously with the button images displayed on the operation screen, or a new screen is provided and a time axis including the present is displayed. A possible solution is to display a hardware resource being used or reserved for use at a time corresponding to the time axis. However, in the former method, it is almost impossible to display everything within the limited resolution, and in the latter method, it is difficult to intuitively and quickly understand the state of the device at the time that the user wants to know when operating the user It is.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of these problems, an object of the present invention is to make it easy for a user to understand an operation that can or cannot be commanded for a device at a current time or a specific time in the future.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an operation receiving means for receiving an operation signal from a user, and a management means for managing an operation screen displayed on a monitor based on the operation signal. A user interface device including the monitor for displaying the operation screen having a button image representing a command to a device and an icon image representing a hardware resource of the device, wherein the icon image is a hardware resource of the device. When the user executes a command to the device indicated by the button image being selected, the button image is an image indicating a hardware resource whose operation is started or whose operation is reserved, and the icon image is changed. .

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows three tuners 3207, 3208, and 3209 as hardware resources and two encoding units 3
201, 3202, one reproducing unit 3203, recording unit 32
Drive units 3210 and 32, which are access means to access the 06
11 is provided. An antenna for terrestrial broadcasting is connected to the two tuners 3207 and 3208, and an antenna for BS broadcasting is connected to the other tuner 3 (3209). The control of the entire device including these hardware is performed by the control unit 3205. The user is generated by the control unit and outputs the monitor 230 through the output device 3204.
With reference to the operation screen displayed at 0, the user presses a button on the remote controller 2100 and sends a signal to the control unit to operate the device.

In the system shown in FIG. 3, a video / audio signal received by a tuner is encoded by an encoding unit, and is recorded in a recording unit through a drive. The recorded signal is sent to a reproducing unit through a drive, returned to a video signal by the reproducing unit, and output to the monitor 2300 through the output unit 3204.

In the system shown in FIG.
(3207), EPG by tuner 2 (3208)
Since information can be obtained, the recording reservation can be set by selecting a program information column displayed on the monitor. The case where the user interface device of the present invention is applied to this recording reservation will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows a software block diagram of the control unit. The operation receiving unit 1101 is a part that receives an operation signal from a user. The operation screen content management unit 1102 is a part that manages operations indicated by button images in the operation screen displayed on the monitor. Reservation operation management unit 1103
Is a part for managing future operations reserved by the user. The device status information management unit 1104 is a unit that manages the current usage status of the hardware resources of the device.
The hardware resource image selection unit 1106 outputs an image indicating whether the operation is necessary and whether the operation is in use or reserved for use in accordance with the operation content indicated by the button image indicated by the focus in the operation screen. This is a part selected from the resource image data storage unit 1202. The hardware control command unit 1105 is a unit that issues a command to hardware resources of the device in accordance with an operation received from the user, or selects appropriate button image data from the button image data storage unit 1201 to change the display. The image data storage unit 1200 is a unit that holds image data to be displayed on the operation screen, and includes a button image data storage unit that holds button image data and a hardware resource image data storage unit.

The operation of the control unit 3205 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the power of the device is turned on, an initial screen is displayed in step 8001 when the content management unit 1102 of the operation screen instructs to display an image in the image data storage unit 1200. Subsequently, in step 8002, selection of the button image indicated by the current focus by the operation screen content management unit 1102 means transition of the operation screen, operation instruction to hardware of the device, or reservation of operation. Judge whether to do. In step 8002, if selecting the button image indicating the focus means transition of the operation screen, step 8
Fly to 005. In step 8002, when the button image indicated by the focus is selected by the user, if the operation is reserved or there is a hardware resource to start the operation, the information is stored in the content management unit 1102 of the operation screen.
Is sent to the hardware resource image selection unit 1106, and in step 8003, the outer frame of the image representing those hardware resources is thickened on the operation screen. Next, in step 8004, it is determined whether the hardware resource starts operating immediately when the user selects the button image by the content management unit 1102 of the operation screen. If the hardware resource starts operating immediately, step 8
In 005, information on the hardware resource currently in use is sent from the device state information management unit 1104 to the hardware resource image selection unit, and an image on the operation screen representing the hardware resource is colored. When the operation of the hardware resource is reserved, in step 8006, information on the hardware resource reserved to operate at the time when the operation is reserved is sent from the reservation operation management unit to the hardware resource image selection unit, The images on the operation screen representing the hardware resource images for which the operations have already been reserved are colored. After the steps 8005 and 8006, the process goes to a step 8007 to wait for a remote control signal input from the user. Here, when the remote control signal is received from the user, it is determined in step 8008 whether the remote control signal sent from the user indicates that the device is to be turned off. It is turned off (step 8009). Otherwise, in step 8010, the instruction from the user is determined by the content management unit 1102 of the operation screen, the instruction is sent to the hardware control instruction unit, and the instruction from the user is executed. Thereafter, the process jumps to step 8002 and repeats this loop.

Next, the operation of FIG. 1 will be described according to an example of the transition of the operation screens from FIG. 4 to FIG. A reproduction button image 4101 in FIG. 4 indicates a transition to a screen for selecting information to be reproduced from the recording unit. Recording reservation button image 41
02 indicates a transition to a screen for selecting a program for which a recording reservation is to be made in order to make a recording reservation. The monitor 4100 includes a hardware resource image display unit 4104 in which a hardware resource image is displayed. An image 4200 is an enlarged view of the hardware resource image display unit 4104. An image 4201 shows the state of the tuner 1 (3207).
Reference numeral 202 denotes an image of the tuner 2 (3208) as an image 4203.
Represents the state of the tuner 3 (3209), the image 4204 represents the state of the encoding unit 1 (3201), the image 4205 represents the state of the encoding unit 2 (3202), and the image 4206 represents the state of the playback unit 32.
03 are shown. Setting button image 41
03 indicates a transition to a screen for performing various settings of the device.
The program 1 button image 5101 in FIG. 5 to FIG.
This means that the program of ch1 is reserved for recording until time. Similarly, the program 2 button image 5102 shows the ch2 program from 8:00 to 9:00, the program 3 button image 5103 shows the ch1 request set from 9:00 to 10:00, and the program 4 button image 5104 shows the ch2 program from 9:00 to 10:00. Means to make a recording reservation for each of the programs. The current status of the device is the tuner 13207.
It is assumed that the program is being recorded by using the encoding unit 13201.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below according to the flow of user operations. Assume that the user moves the focus between the three button images in FIG. In this case, the operation that the button image indicating the current focus indicates from the operation receiving unit 1101 is understood by the content management unit 1102 of the operation screen in FIG. Since the button images in FIG. 4 all indicate transitions of the operation screen, there is no hardware resource that operates or is reserved for operation even when those button images are selected. Therefore, even if the focus is moved, there is no hardware resource image indicated by a thick frame indicating that the operation is being performed or the operation is reserved. Further, the information on the hardware resources of the device currently used is transmitted from the device state management unit 1104 to the hardware resource image selection unit 1104.
The hardware resources currently used are sent to 106 and are displayed in different colors.

Next, the user sets the recording reservation button image 4 shown in FIG.
The operation of the device when the screen transitions to FIG. 5 when the button image is selected by focusing on 102 will be described. When the recording reservation button image 4102 is selected, an instruction to transition to the recording reservation selection screen is issued from the content management unit 1102 of the operation screen in FIG. 1 to the hardware control instruction unit 1105, and the hardware control instruction unit 1105 stores image data. A command is issued to unit 1200 to output appropriate image data. At the same time, the content of the hardware resource display unit 4104 is also changed according to the content of the button image that is focused at the change destination. Information on hardware resources necessary for the operation content of the button image focused at the transition destination is given by the hardware control command unit 1105, and the tuner 1 (3207) and the encoding unit 1 (3
201). Information on the hardware resources being used in the time zone indicated by the button image is provided from the reservation operation management unit 1103, and the tuner 3 (3209) and the encoding unit 1 (3201) are reserved for use in the time zone. Suppose you have These pieces of information are collected by the hardware resource image operation selection unit 1106, from which appropriate image data is selected for each hardware resource and output as an image. As a result, the screen changes to FIG.

Next, when the user performs a selection operation, the operation is reserved in the reservation operation management unit 1103, and the display of the hardware resource display unit 4104 is updated by the hardware resource image selection unit 1106 accordingly (FIG. 6). . Next, consider a case where the user moves the focus to program 2 (5102). In this case, the operation content indicated by the button image indicated by the focus is sent from the hardware control command unit 1105 to the hardware resource image selection unit 1106. In this case, the necessary hardware resource is the tuner 2 (320).
8), the encoding unit is displayed on the hardware resource image display unit 4104 from the hardware resource image selection unit 1106 via the image data storage unit 1200 (FIG. 7). In this case, it is necessary to use the encoding unit 1 (3201), but it is impossible to select the program 2 button image 5102 because the use is already reserved by another operation reservation. As described above, the image of the hardware resource display unit 4104 changes according to the operation content and the operation time indicated by the button image indicated by the focus in the operation screen. By looking at the hardware resource display unit 4104, the user can easily understand the current device status, the device status at the time indicated by the button image, and the hardware resources required for the operation indicated by the button image.

By viewing the state of the image representing the hardware resources displayed on the screen as described above, the user can indicate the hardware resources operating at the current time or a specific time in the future and the current focus. It is possible to know what hardware resources are necessary for instructing the operation indicated by the button image. Therefore, it is easy to understand the operation that can be commanded to the device and the operation that cannot be performed. Further, the present invention displays hardware resource information of only the button image indicated by the focus, and therefore requires only a small resolution, and is effective in a user interface device with a limited resolution.

[0021]

As described above, the user interface device of the present invention comprises an operation receiving means for receiving an operation signal from a user, a management means for managing an operation screen displayed on a monitor based on the operation signal, and A user interface device comprising the monitor for displaying the operation screen having a button image representing a command of the instruction and an icon image representing hardware resources of the device, wherein the icon image is a user resource among hardware resources of the device. When executing a command to the device indicated by the button image being selected is an image indicating a hardware resource for which operation is started or operation is reserved, wherein the icon image is changed, It is important for the user to understand the actions that can and cannot be commanded to the device at this point in time or at a specific point in the future. Is it possible to to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a control unit of a user interface device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a conventional user interface device.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a user interface device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen of the user interface device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of an operation screen of the user interface device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of an operation screen of the user interface device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of an operation screen of the user interface device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control unit in the user interface device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1101 operation reception unit 1102 operation screen content management unit 1103 reservation operation management unit 1104 device status information management unit 1105 hardware control command unit 1106 hardware resource image selection unit 1200 image data storage unit 1201 button image data storage unit 1202 hardware resources Image data storage unit 2100 User operation terminal 2101 Button for moving the focus of the operation screen up 2102 Button for moving the focus of the operation screen to the left 2103 Button for moving the focus of the operation screen to the bottom 2104 Move the focus of the operation screen to the right Button for moving 2105 Button for executing the operation indicated by the button image indicated by the focus of the operation screen 2200 Device 2201 Device operation management software unit 2202 Device hardware unit 2203 Device hardware Hardware resource 2204 Another hardware resource of the device 2205 Another hardware resource of the device 2206 Another hardware resource of the device 2300 Monitor 3200 Configuration diagram of the device 3201 Encoding unit 1 3202 Encoding unit 2 3203 Playback unit 3204 Output 3205 Control Unit 3206 recording unit 3207 tuner 1 3208 tuner 2 3209 tuner 3 3210 drive 1 3211 drive 2 3300 antenna 1 3400 antenna 2 4100 monitor 4101 button image 1 4102 button image 2 4103 button image 3 4104 hardware information display unit 4200 of the device Enlarged view of hardware information display section 4201 Hardware resource image representing tuner 1 4202 Hardware resource image representing tuner 2 4203 Representing tuner 3 Hardware resources image 5101 button image 4 5102 button image 5 5103 button image 6 5104 button image 7 representing a hardware resource image 4206 reproduction unit representing the hardware resources picture 4205 coding unit 2 which represents the Dowea resources picture 4204 encoding section 1

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiaki Mori 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture F-term (reference) in Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 5C025 CA09 CB08 CB09 DA05 5E501 AA02 AA19 AC16 AC37 BA05 CA02 CC02 EA03 EA10 EB05 FA03 FB21 FB28 5K048 AA04 BA02 DA01 DC01 EB02 FB08

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An operation receiving unit for receiving an operation signal from a user, a management unit for managing an operation screen displayed on a monitor based on the operation signal, a button image representing a command to the device, and hardware resources of the device. A user interface device including the monitor that displays the operation screen having an icon image representing the icon image, wherein the icon image is a hardware resource of a device.
A user interface, wherein when the user executes a command to the device indicated by the button image being selected, the icon image is changed, the image indicating hardware resources to be started or reserved for operation. apparatus. 2. An operation receiving means for receiving an operation signal from a user, a management means for managing an operation screen displayed on a monitor based on the operation signal, a button image representing a command to the device, and hardware resources of the device. A user interface device including the monitor for displaying the operation screen having an icon image representing the icon image, wherein the icon image is used at a time when a device performs an operation represented by the button image selected by the user. A user interface device indicating hardware resources. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the icon image indicates a hardware resource used at a time when a device performs an operation represented by the button image selected by the user.
A user interface device as described. 4. A button image data storage unit for storing button image data for instructing an operation on a device by a user selecting and deciding, and a button image data storage unit necessary for an operation on a device corresponding to the button image selected by the user. A hardware resource image data storage unit for storing a hardware resource image indicating whether or not and whether or not it is in use or reserved for use; an operation receiving unit for receiving an operation signal from a user; and A content management unit that manages an operation screen to be displayed on a monitor; a reservation operation management unit that manages the operation screen reserved by a user in accordance with an instruction of the content management unit; A device status information management unit that manages the status of hardware resources of the current device;
A hardware resource image selection unit that selects the operation image according to the instructions of the reservation operation management unit and the device state information management unit; and a hardware control instruction that selects the button image according to the instruction of the content management unit. A user interface device comprising: a unit; and the monitor that displays the operation image and the button image.