JP2000358051A - Method and device for data transmission - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To actualize a GUI by easy transmission when the GUI is actualized by display on another device. SOLUTION: Graphic data of display objects in a GUI picture prepared for a target device 10 are packetized in the format of bit map data etc., for asynchronous transfer mode, transmitted to a controller 20 by asynchronous connection through a bus line 1, and displayed at arbitrary positions in a display picture on a display part 23 which is prepared for the controlling 20. A display position is indicated with a pointing device, etc., constituting an operation part 24 to generate data on an action corresponding to attribute data of the display objects and the data are transmitted to the target device 10 to perform the operation that the display object means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to, for example, IEEE 1
The present invention relates to a data transmission method suitable for a device connected by a 394 system bus line and a data transmission device to which the data transmission method is applied, and particularly to a case where a graphical user interface (hereinafter referred to as a GUI) is executed. Related technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, various devices have been developed that perform various operations by displaying an image called a GUI and inputting instructions into the displayed image using input means. By using this GUI, while watching the display on the screen,
Input operation can be performed simply by operating a pointing device such as a mouse or a cross key for indicating up, down, left and right directions, and various operations can be easily performed without inputting a command or the like using a keyboard or the like.

[0003]

By the way, such an operation using the GUI can be basically performed only by a device having a function of displaying an image, and in a device having no display means for displaying an image, Operation by GUI was not possible. For this reason, for example, it is conceivable to transmit GUI data from a device having no display means to a display means such as a monitor receiver and realize the GUI by display on the display means. However, in this case, it is necessary to always transmit GUI video data from the operated device side to the display means. In addition to the video data, attribute data necessary for control processing as the GUI is also transmitted. Therefore, there is a problem that large-capacity data transmission is always required between a device to be operated and a device for displaying an image.

An object of the present invention is to enable a GUI to be realized by display on another device by simple data transmission.

[0005]

According to the present invention, data for a GUI having a descriptor structure is transmitted between one device and another device connected to a predetermined network in a predetermined asynchronous transfer format. It is something to do.

According to the present invention, GUI data is transmitted as packetized data according to the asynchronous transfer format, and the GUI screen is displayed on a device having a display means, and an operation based on the display is performed. realizable.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
This will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration according to the present embodiment. The target device 10 and the controller 20 are connected by the bus line 1. Here, as the bus line 1, a bus line defined by the IEEE 1394 standard is used. The physical configuration of the bus line includes a signal line for transmitting data and a clock, and a signal line for supplying power as needed. IEEE
The details of the method of performing data transfer on the E1394 standard bus line will be described later.

The target device 10 is a video signal source for transmitting a video signal, for example, a digital satellite broadcast receiver (IRD: Integrated Receiver Decoder).
Use The controller 20 is a device that controls transmission on the bus line 1, and uses, for example, a digital television receiver (DTV).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an IRD 100 as an example of the target device 10 shown in FIG. A broadcast radio wave from a satellite (not shown) is received by the antenna 2, input to the terminal 2 a, and supplied to a tuner 101 provided as a program selection means provided in the IRD 100. IR
Each circuit of the D 100 operates under the control of the central control unit (CPU) 111, and a signal of a predetermined channel is obtained by the tuner 101. The received signal obtained by the tuner 101 is transmitted to the descramble circuit 1
02.

The descrambling circuit 102 includes an IRD 10
0 Based on the encryption key information of the contracted channel stored in the IC card (not shown) inserted in the main unit, only the multiplexed data of the contracted channel (or the unencrypted channel) of the received data. And supplies it to the demultiplexer 103.

The demultiplexer 103 rearranges the supplied multiplexed data for each channel, extracts only the channel specified by the user, sends out a video stream composed of packets of the video portion to the MPEG video decoder 104, An overlap stream composed of audio part packets is sent to the MPEG audio decoder 109.

[0013] The MPEG video decoder 104 decodes the video stream to restore the video data before the compression and encoding.
It is sent to the SC encoder 106. The NTSC encoder 106 converts the video data into a luminance signal and a color difference signal of the NTSC system, and sends them to the digital / analog converter 107 as NTSC video data. The digital / analog converter 107 converts the NTSC data into an analog video signal and supplies it to a connected receiver (not shown).

The IRD 100 of the present embodiment has a CPU 11
A GUI data generation unit 108 that generates video data for various displays for a graphical user interface (GUI) based on the control of the first embodiment. This GUI
The video data (display data) for GUI generated by the data generation unit 108 is supplied to the adder 105 and
The video for GUI is superimposed on the video data output from the video decoder 104 so that the GUI video is superimposed on the received broadcast video.

The MPEG audio decoder 109 restores PCM audio data before compression encoding by decoding an audio stream,
The signal is sent to the analog converter 110.

The digital / analog converter 110 is a PC
By converting the M audio data into an analog signal,
Generating an LCh audio signal and an RCh audio signal,
This is output as a sound via a speaker (not shown) of the connected audio reproducing system.

The IRD 100 of the present embodiment converts the video stream and the audio stream extracted by the demultiplexer 103 into the IEEE 1394 interface unit 1.
12, and can be transmitted to the IEEE1394 bus line 9 connected to the interface unit 112. The received video stream and audio stream are transmitted in the isochronous transfer mode. Further, when the GUI data generation unit 108 is generating GUI video data, the video data is supplied to the interface unit 112 via the CPU 111, and the GUI video is supplied from the interface unit 112 to the bus line 9. Data can be sent out. The video data for the GUI is transmitted in an asynchronous transfer mode in a descriptor format specified by, for example, an AV / C command. The details of the transmission process of the GUI video data will be described later.

A work RAM 113 and a RAM 114 are connected to the CPU 111, and control processing is performed using these memories. Further, an operation command from the operation panel 115 and a remote control signal from the infrared light receiving unit 116 are supplied to the CPU 111 so that operations based on various operations can be executed. The CPU 111 can determine a command, a response, and the like transmitted from the bus line 9 to the interface unit 112.

FIG. 3 shows a digital television receiver (DTV) 20 as an example of the controller 20 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a zero. The digital television receiver 200 is a device that receives and displays a digital broadcast.

Digital broadcast data obtained by receiving a predetermined channel by a tuner 201 connected to an antenna (not shown) is supplied to a receiving circuit unit 202 and decoded. The decoded broadcast data is supplied to the demultiplexing unit 203, where it is separated into video data and audio data. The separated video data is supplied to a video generation unit 204 to perform an image receiving process, and a CRT drive circuit unit 205 drives a cathode ray tube (CRT) 206 by the processed signal to display a video. The audio data separated by the demultiplexing unit 203 is supplied to an audio signal reproducing unit 207 to perform audio processing such as analog conversion and amplification, and the processed audio signal is supplied to a speaker 208 for output.

The television receiver 200 is an IE
An interface unit 209 for connecting to an IEEE 1394 system bus is provided, and video data and audio data obtained from the IEEE 1394 bus side to the interface unit 209 are supplied to the demultiplexing unit 203,
The video display and the audio output from the speaker 208 can be performed at T206. Also, the tuner 201
Supplies the video data and audio data received by the interface unit 209 from the demultiplexing unit 203 to the IE unit.
It can be transmitted to the EE1394 bus side.

Display processing in the television receiver 200 and transmission processing via the interface unit 209 are executed under the control of a central control unit (CPU) 210. The CPU 210 is connected to a memory 211 which is a ROM in which programs necessary for the control are stored and a memory 212 which is a work RAM. In addition, the operation information from the operation panel 213 and the control information from the remote control device received by the infrared
It is supplied to the CPU 210 to perform operation control corresponding to the operation information and control information. In addition, IE
Interface unit 2 via EE1394 bus
When 09 receives control data such as an AV / C command to be described later, the data is supplied to the CPU 210,
The CPU 210 can perform the corresponding operation control.

In the case of the television receiver 200 of the present embodiment, an operation functioning as an IEEE1394 bus controller is executed, and the CPU
210 can execute the processing for that.
The data necessary for this is stored in the memory 211, for example.

Next, the target device 10 (for example, IRD
100) and a controller 20 (for example, the television receiver 200) connected to the IEEE 1394 bus line 1 for data transmission. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a cycle structure of data transmission of devices connected by IEEE1394. In IEEE 1394, each device connected to a bus line is called a node. Data transmitted on the bus is divided into packets and transmitted in a time-division manner based on a cycle having a length of 125 μS. This cycle is created by a cycle start signal supplied from a node having a cycle master function (any device connected to the bus).

The isochronous packet secures a band (a time unit but called a band) required for transmission from the beginning of every cycle. Therefore, in isochronous transmission, transmission of data within a certain time is guaranteed. However, if a transmission error occurs, there is no protection mechanism and data is lost. Asynchronous transmission, in which the node that has secured the bus as a result of arbitration, sends out asynchronous packets during the time that is not used for isochronous transmission in each cycle, ensures reliable transmission by using acknowledgments and retries. However, the transmission timing is not constant.

In order for a given node to perform isochronous transmission, the node must support the isochronous function. At least one of the nodes corresponding to the isochronous function must have a cycle master function. Further, at least one of the nodes connected to the IEEE 1394 serial bus includes:
It must have the function of an isochronous resource manager.

IEEE 1394 is an ISO / IEC13 standard.
213 is based on the CSR (Control & Status Register) architecture having a 64-bit address space. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the structure of the address space of the CSR architecture. The upper 16 bits are
This is a node ID indicating a node on each IEEE 1394, and the remaining 48 bits are used to specify an address space given to each node. The upper 16 bits further comprise 10 bits of the bus ID and 6 bits of the physical ID (node ID in a narrow sense).
Split into bits. Since a value in which all bits are 1 is used for a special purpose, it is possible to specify 1023 buses and 63 nodes.

Of the 256 terabytes of address space defined by the lower 48 bits, the space defined by the upper 20 bits is the initial register space (2048 bytes) used for CSR-specific registers and IEEE1394-specific registers. The space defined by the lower 28 bits is divided into the initial register space, and the space defined by the lower 28 bits is divided into an initial register space, a private space (Private Space), and an initial memory space (Initial Memory Space). , The configuration ROM (Conf
iguration ROM), initial unit space (Inital UnitSpace) used for node-specific applications, Plug Control Register (P
CRs)).

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining offset addresses, names, and functions of main CSRs. The offset in FIG. 6 is the FF where the initial register space starts.
FFF00000000h (The number with h at the end is 16
(Indicating a hexadecimal notation). Bandwidth Available Register with Offset 220h
ster) indicates a band that can be allocated to isochronous communication, and only the value of the node operating as the isochronous resource manager is valid. That is, although each node has the CSR of FIG. 5, only the isochronous resource manager of the bandwidth available register is valid. In other words, the bandwidth available register has substantially only the isochronous resource manager.
The maximum value is stored in the bandwidth available register when a band is not allocated to isochronous communication, and the value decreases each time a band is allocated.

Channel Available Registers at offsets 224h to 228h
ter) corresponds to each of the channel numbers from 0 to 63, and when the bit is 0, it indicates that the channel has already been assigned. Only the channel available register of the node operating as the isochronous resource manager is valid.

Returning to FIG. 5, a general ROM is stored at addresses 200h to 400h in the initial register space.
A configuration ROM based on the format is arranged. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the general ROM format. A node, which is a unit of access on IEEE 1394, can have a plurality of units that operate independently while using an address space commonly in the node. Unit directory
s) can indicate the software version or location for this unit. Bus info block and root directory (root direc)
tory) is fixed, but the positions of other blocks are specified by offset addresses.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing details of the bus info block, the root directory, and the unit directory. Company in the bus info block
The ID stores an ID number indicating the manufacturer of the device.
The Chip ID stores a unique ID unique to the device and a unique ID in the world that does not overlap with other devices. Also, IEC1
According to the standard of 833, the unit specification ID (unit s) of the unit directory of the device satisfying IEC1883
pec id), 00h for the first octet, Aoh for the second octet, 2 for the third octet.
Dh are respectively written. Furthermore, the first octet of the unit switch version (unit sw version) is 01h, and the LSB of the third octet is
1 is written.

In order to control the input and output of the device via the interface, the node stores the IEC1 at addresses 900h to 9FFh in the initial unit space shown in FIG.
PCR (Plug Control Register) specified in 883
Having. This implements the concept of a plug in order to form a signal path logically similar to an analog interface. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a PCR that is a register for implementing a plug. The PCR is an oPCR (output Plu
g Control Resister), iPCR (in
put Plug ControlRegister). In addition, PCR
Is a register oMPR (output Master Plug Register) indicating the information of output plug or input plug specific to each device.
) And iMPR (input Master Plug Register). Each device does not have a plurality of oMPRs and iMPRs, but can have a plurality of oPCRs and iPCRs corresponding to individual plugs depending on the capabilities of the device. The PCR shown in FIG. 9 has 31 oPCRs and iPCRs, respectively. The flow of isochronous data is controlled by manipulating registers corresponding to these plugs.

FIG. 10 shows oMPR, oPCR, iMP
It is a figure showing composition of R and iPCR. FIG.
10A shows the configuration of oMPR, FIG. 10B shows the configuration of oPCR, FIG. 10C shows the configuration of iMPR, and FIG.
(D) shows the configuration of iPCR. The 2-bit data rate capability on the MSB side of the oMPR and iMPR stores a code indicating the maximum transmission rate of isochronous data that can be transmitted or received by the device. oMPR broadcast channel base
Specifies the number of the channel used for broadcast output.

The 5-bit number of output plugs on the LSB side of the oMPR
Indicates the number of output plugs of the device, ie, oPC
A value indicating the number of R is stored. 5 on the LSB side of iMPR
Number of input plugs
input plugs) contains the number of input plugs the device has,
That is, a value indicating the number of iPCRs is stored. non-
persistenceextension field
And persistent extension f
The field is an area defined for future expansion.

The on-line of the MSB of the oPCR and iPCR indicates the usage status of the plug. That is, if the value is 1, the plug is ON-LINE, and if the value is 0, the plug is OFF-LINE.
The value of the broadcast connection counter of oPCR and iPCR is
Indicates whether there is a broadcast connection (1) or not (0). A point-to-point connection counter (po having a 6-bit width of oPCR and iPCR)
The value of the int-to-point connection counter indicates the number of point-to-point connections that the plug has.

The value of a channel number having a 6-bit width of oPCR and iPCR indicates the number of an isochronous channel to which the plug is connected. The value of the data rate (data rate) having a 2-bit width of the oPCR indicates the actual transmission speed of the packet of the isochronous data output from the plug. Overhead ID having 4-bit width of oPCR
The code stored in (overhead ID) indicates the over bandwidth of the isochronous communication. The value of the payload (payload) having a 10-bit width of the oPCR indicates the maximum value of data included in an isochronous packet that can be handled by the plug.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the relationship between plugs, plug control registers, and isochronous channels. AV device (AV-device)
e) 71 to 73 are connected by an IEEE 1394 serial bus. OPCR in which the transmission speed and the number of oPCRs are defined by the oMPR of the AV device 73

[0]
~ OPCR [2], the isochronous data of which channel is designated by oPCR [1] is IEEE1
394 Serious bus channel # 1 (channel # 1)
Sent to IPCR in which the transmission speed and the number of iPCRs are defined by the iMPR of the AV device 71

[0] and iP
In CR [1], the input channel # 1 has the transmission speed and i
PCR

According to [0], the AV device 71
The isochronous data transmitted to channel # 1 of the 394 serial bus is read. Similarly, AV device 7
2 is oPCR

Channel # 2 (ch specified in [0])
send isochronous data to annel # 2)
The device 71 reads the isochronous data from the channel # 2 specified by iPRC [1]. Although the input plug and the output plug for the isochronous transfer have been described here, the input plug and the output plug for the asynchronous transfer are also described at each node (equipment).
Is prepared.

As described above, data transmission is performed between devices connected by the IEEE 1394 serial bus. In the system of this embodiment, the IEEE 1394 serial bus is used.
Using an AV / C command set defined as a command for controlling a device connected via a serial bus, control of each device, determination of a state, and the like can be performed. Next, the AV / C command set will be described.

First, the AV / AV used in the system of this embodiment
Subunit Identifier Descriptor in C command set
The data structure of r) will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 12 shows the data structure of the subunit identifier descriptor. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the descriptor is formed by a hierarchical list. The list represents, for example, a receivable channel in the case of a tuner, and music recorded in the tuner in the case of a disc. The list in the highest layer of the hierarchical structure is called a root list, and for example, list 0 is the root for the lower list. Lists 2 to (n-1) are also route lists. There are as many route lists as objects. Here, the object is, for example, each channel in digital broadcasting when the AV device is a tuner. In addition, all the lists in one hierarchy share common information.

FIG. 13 shows Tha General Subunit Identifi
er Descriptor format is shown. Subunit
In the Identifier Descriptor, attribute information on the function is described in the contents. The generation ID (generation ID) indicates the version of the AV / C command set. Here, "00h"
Means that the data structure and command are AV / C General
This means that the specification is version 3.0. Also, as shown in FIG.
All values except “00h” are reserved and reserved for future specifications.

The size of list ID
) Indicates the number of bytes of the list ID. The size of object ID indicates the number of bytes of the object ID. The size of object position indicates the position (the number of bytes) in the list used for reference at the time of control. The number of root object lists (number of root objectlists) indicates the number of root object lists. The root object list ID (root object list id) indicates an ID for identifying the root object list at the top of each independent hierarchy.

The subunit dependent length (subunit
dependent length) indicates the number of bytes of the subsequent subunit dependent information field. The subunit dependent information is a field indicating information unique to the function. The manufacturer dependent length indicates the number of bytes of a subsequent manufacturer dependent information field. Manufacturer dependent information (manufacturer d
“ependent information” is a field indicating specification information of the vendor (manufacturer). This field does not exist if there is no manufacturer dependent information in the descriptor.

FIG. 15 shows the list ID allocation range shown in FIG. As shown in FIG.
00h to 0FFFh "and" 4000h to FFF "
“Fh” is reserved and reserved as an allocation range for future specifications, and “1000h to 3FFFh” and values after “10000h” are prepared for identifying function type dependent information.

Next, the AV /
The C command set will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 shows a stack model of the AV / C command set. As shown in FIG. 16, the physical layer 81, the link layer 82, the transaction layer 83, and the serious bus management 84
It conforms to EE1394. FCP (Function Contr
ol Protocol) 85 conforms to IEC61883. The AV / C command set 86 complies with the 1394TA specification.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining commands and responses of the FCP 85 of FIG. FCP is IE
This is a protocol for controlling AV equipment on EE1394. As shown in FIG. 17, the controlling side is the controller, and the controlled side is the target. The transmission or response of the FCP command is performed between the nodes using an IEEE 1394 asynchronous transaction write transaction. The target that has received the data returns an acknowledgment to the controller for reception confirmation.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the FCP command and the response shown in FIG. 17 in more detail. Node A and node B are connected via an IEEE 1394 bus. Node A is the controller and node B is the target. Each of the node A and the node B has a command register and a response register prepared for each 512 bytes. As shown in FIG. 18, the controller transmits a command by writing a command message to the command register 93 of the target. Conversely, the target transmits a response by writing a response message to the response register 92 of the controller. Control information is exchanged for the above two messages. The type of command set sent by FCP is described in CTS in a data field of FIG. 19 described later.

FIG. 19 shows the data structure of a packet transmitted in the asynchronous transfer mode of the AV / C command. The AV / C command set is a command set for controlling AV equipment, and CTS (command set ID) = "0000". AV / C command frames and response frames are exchanged between nodes using the FCP. To avoid burdening the bus and AV equipment, the response to the command is 1
It is to be performed within 00 ms. As shown in FIG. 19, the data of the asynchronous packet is
It is composed of two bits (= 1 quadlet). The upper part in the figure shows the header part of the packet, and the lower part in the figure shows the data block. Destination ID
(Destination ID) indicates a destination.

CTS indicates the ID of the command set. In the AV / C command set, CTS = "0000"
It is. The c type / response field indicates the functional classification of the command when the packet is a command, and indicates the processing result of the command when the packet is a response. Commands are broadly divided into (1) commands for controlling functions from outside (CONTROL),
(2) Command for inquiring the status from outside (STAT
US), (3) A command for inquiring externally whether or not control commands are supported (GENERAL INQUIL)
RY (opcode support or not) and SPEC
IFIC INQUIRY (opcode and ope
(4) command for requesting external notification of state change (NOTIFY)
Are defined.

The response is returned according to the type of the command. Responses to the CONTROL command include NOT IMPLEMENTED (not implemented), ACCEPTED (accept), and REJECT.
ED (rejection) and (INTERIM (provisional). The response to the STATUS command includes N
OT IMPLEMENTED, REJECTED, I
N TRANSITION (migrating) and STAB
There is LE (stable). GENERAL INQUIRY
Responses to the SPECIFIC INQUIRY command include IMPLEMENTED (implemented) and NOT IMPLEMENTED. In response to the NOTIFY command,
NOT IMPLEMENTED, REJECTED,
INTERIM and CHANGED (changed).

The subunit type is
It is provided to specify a function in the device, and for example, a tape recorder / player, a tuner, and the like are assigned. In order to determine when a plurality of subunits of the same type exist, a subunit ID is used as a determination number.
(Subunit id) is addressed. opcode
Represents a command, and operand represents a parameter of the command. Additional op
“erands” is a field added as necessary. The padding is also a field added as needed. data CRC (Cyclic redundancy Check)
) Is used for error checking during data transmission.

FIG. 20 shows a specific example of the AV / C command. FIG. 20A shows ctype / response.
A specific example of se is shown. The upper part of the figure represents a command, and the lower part of the figure represents a response. "000
CONTROL for "0" and STATU for "0001"
S, "0010" is SPECIFIC INQUIR
NOTIFY is assigned to Y and “0011”, and GENERAL INQUIRY is assigned to “0100”. “0101 to 0111” are reserved and reserved for future specifications. "1000" has NOT I
NPLEMENTED, "1001" is ACCEPT
ED, “1010” has REJECTED, “101”
“1” is IN TRANSITION, “1100” is IMPLEMENTED / STABLE, “110”.
"1" is CHNGED, "1111" is INTERI
M has been assigned. “1110” is reserved and reserved for future specifications.

FIG. 20B shows a specific example of the subunit type. "00000" contains Video M
monitor, "00011" is Disk reco
rder / Player, “00100” is Tape
recorder / Player, “00101” is Tuner, and “00111” is Video Cam
era, Vendor uniqu in "11100"
e, “11110” has Subunit type e
xtended to next byte is assigned. Note that a unit is assigned to “11111”, which is used when it is sent to the device itself, for example, power on / off.

FIG. 20C shows a specific example of the opcode. There is an opcode table for each subunit type, where the subunit type is T
op in case of ape recorder / Player
code. Also, for each opcode,
rand is defined. Here, "00h" is VENDOR-DEPENDENT, and "50h" is S
EACH MODE, TIMECOD for "51h"
E, ATN for "52h", OPEN for "60h"
MIC, “61h” has READ MIC, “62h”
For WRITEMIC and for "C1h" LOAD ME
DIUM, RECORD is assigned to “C2h”, PLAY is assigned to “C3h”, and WIND is assigned to “C4h”.

FIG. 21 shows a specific example of an AV / C command and response. For example, when a playback instruction is given to a playback device as a target (consumer), the controller sends a command as shown in FIG. 21A to the target. Since this command uses the AV / C command set, CTS = "0000". c
The type includes a command (CO) for externally controlling the device.
NTTYPE), so ctype = “0000”
(See FIG. 20A). Since the subunit type is Tape recorder / Player, the subunit type = "00100"
(See FIG. 20B). id indicates the case of ID0, and id = 000. opco
The de is “C3h” meaning reproduction (FIG. 20).
(C)). The operand is “75h” meaning FORWARD. And when played,
The target returns a response as shown in FIG. Here, access
Because pted enters response, response
se = "1001" (see FIG. 20A). Except for the response, the other components are the same as those in FIG.

Next, the target device 10 connected as shown in FIG. 1 by using the IEEE1394 bus line 1 set to perform the above-described transmission processing.
A process for transmitting video data and the like between the (IRD 100) and the controller 20 (the television receiver 200) will be described.

The equipment constituting the target equipment 10 does not have a means for displaying an image here. Target device 1
0 includes an AV / C panel subunit 11 for performing data transmission with a network connected by the bus line 1 using an AV / C command. The AV / C panel subunit 11 is defined by the AV / C command. The transmission data having the descriptor structure is generated. For example, when the target device 10 is the IRD 100 shown in FIG.
The processing of the AV / C panel subunit 11 is executed in 111.

In the case of this example, GUI data is handled as one of the data of the descriptor structure generated by the AV / C panel subunit 11. That is, the GUI required to operate the target device 10
The data is packetized by the AV / C panel subunit 11 into the descriptor structure of the AV / C command described above, and the data is transmitted from the interface unit 12 to the bus line 1 in the asynchronous transfer mode. Here, the GUI data packetized into the descriptor structure includes at least graphic data (video data: for example, bitmap data, etc.) to be displayed by the GUI, and attribute data necessary to execute the processing as the GUI. included. These GUI data are, for example, the target device 10 shown in FIG.
In the case of the IRD 100 shown in FIG.
It is packetized into a descriptor structure of the AV / C command in U111.

After transmitting these GUI data from the interface unit 12, the AV / C panel subunit 11 determines the data transmitted in the asynchronous transfer mode to the target device 10 via the bus line 1, and the GUI When it is determined that the data of the action by the user's operation based on the video display is transmitted in the asynchronous transfer mode, the target device 10 is operated in the state indicated by the data of the action.
This data is also transmitted, for example, in the format of the AV / C command described above.

The controller 20 connected to the target device 10 via the bus line 1 has an interface unit 21 connected to the bus line 1 connected to the AV / C panel subunit controller 22. When the data transmitted on the bus line 1 is the data packetized for the GUI, the AV / C panel subunit controller 22 extracts and accumulates the video data included in the data. Is controlled to display the image (GUI screen) on the display unit 23 provided in the. As the display unit 23, display means such as a liquid crystal display and a CRT is used.

The controller 20 includes an operation unit 24. When the GUI screen is displayed on the display unit 23, when the operation unit 24 is operated, an instruction corresponding to the display on the screen is performed. The data of the instruction on the GUI by the operation of the operation unit 24 is determined by the AV / C panel subunit controller 22, and is used as the data of the action of the GUI. The data of the determined GUI action is transmitted to the target device 10 using the bus line 1 as a packet for the asynchronous transfer mode. When the target device 10 receives the data of the GUI action, the operation instructed by the data is performed by the target device 10.
Will execute.

For example, when the controller 20 is the television receiver 200 shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 210 executes necessary processing as the AV / C panel subunit controller 22. The display unit 23 includes a CRT 20
6 and its driving circuit. The operation unit 24 of the controller 20 is connected to the operation panel 21 of the television receiver 200.
3 or a remote control device (not shown) that transmits a remote control signal to the infrared light receiving unit 214.

FIG. 22 shows an example of transmission of a GUI screen. Here, the graphic data of the display object 10b in the GUI screen 10a prepared in the target device 10 is packetized for the asynchronous transfer mode in a format such as bitmap data, and transmitted to the controller 20 through the asynchronous connection via the bus line 1. The display object 20b is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display screen 20a of the display unit 23 prepared in the controller 20 by transmission. Then, for example, by indicating the display position of the display section 20b with a pointing device or the like constituting the operation section 24, action data corresponding to the attribute data of the display object 20b is generated, and the action data is stored in the target data. The operation is transmitted to the device 10 and the operation indicated by the display object 10b is executed on the target device 10.

As described above, the GUI data can be efficiently transmitted by packetizing the GUI data into the descriptor structure of the AV / C command and transmitting the packet in the asynchronous transfer mode (asynchronous transfer mode). If the GUI data has a large data size, the GUI data is divided into a plurality of packets (frames) and
By transmitting the I data, the data can be reliably transmitted.

In the above description, when transmitting the GUI data, the transfer is performed using the descriptor structure of the AV / C command as it is.
The data and the attribute data may be collectively transferred to a position called an Info Block of the descriptor. In this case, analysis processing of GUI data and attribute data (separation and interpretation of data)
Performs the data in the Info Block using external means different from the AV / C panel subunit. It is not necessary for the descriptor itself to have data other than Info Block.

Further, the descriptor type may be optimized. FIG. 23 shows an example of a part of the frame format of the asynchronous connection.
In this example, the descriptor ID (General descriptor
Data optimization is performed by arranging a subunit type and an object ID (object ID) at predetermined address positions in addition to the ID).

Further, as this optimization, an entry specific information (entr
y specific information) (length = 0), a list type (list type) for a list composed of only objects is newly provided. This type of object entry descriptor is different from the data of the descriptor format of the AV / C command already described, and extracts the data length (length) and the attribute data (attribute) to obtain the object ID (Obje).
ct ID) and a child list ID (Child list ID). This greatly simplifies the structure for simply setting a child list. By doing so, when updating the GUI data, it is possible to limit the data to two types of information, that is, the whole list or the contents of the object (data such as text, icon, OSD, etc.). Transfer efficiency can be measured.

In the embodiment described so far,
Although an example is described in which two devices are connected by an IEEE 1394 bus line to form a network, the present invention is applied to a network in which a plurality of devices are connected by communication means of another system capable of asynchronous transfer. Of course, you can.

[0069]

According to the present invention, GUI data is transmitted as packetized data in the asynchronous transfer format, and a screen having the GUI is displayed on a device having a display means. The operation can be realized and the data transmission with small data amount by asynchronous transfer,
The operation of the GUI of a specific device can be performed by using the display on another device.

In this case, as long as the network is connected in a format that allows asynchronous transfer, both devices can be connected using a network connected by a general-purpose bus line, and a general-purpose bus line for performing various data transmissions. Is used to transfer the data for the GUI in the format defined by the bus line, so that both devices can be accessed with a small number of transaction processes, and the GUI processing can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a main part of the television receiver according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an IRD according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a cycle structure of data transmission on an IEEE 1394 bus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the structure of an address space of the CRS architecture.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of positions, names, and functions of main CRSs.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a general ROM format.

FIG. 8 is a bus info block, a root directory,
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a unit directory.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a PCR.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of oMPR, oPCR, iMPR, and iPCR.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a relationship among a plug, a plug control register, and a transmission channel.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure based on a hierarchical structure of a descriptor.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data format of a descriptor.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a generation ID in FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a list ID in FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a stack model of an AV / C command.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between FCP commands and responses.

18 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the command and the response in FIG. 17 in further detail.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure of an AV / C command.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of an AV / C command.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of a command and a response of an AV / C command.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram showing a transfer example of GUI data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an asynchronous connection frame header according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Bus line, 10 ... Target device, 10a ... GUI screen prepared for target device, 11 ... AV / C panel subunit, 12 ... Interface part, 20 ...
Controller, 20a: GU displayed on controller
I screen, 21 interface unit, 22 AV / C panel subunit controller, 23 display unit, 24 unit
Operation unit, 100: Digital satellite broadcasting receiver (IRD),
108 GUI data generation unit 111 Central control unit (CPU) 112 Interface unit 200
Digital television receiver (DTV), 206 ... CR
T, 209: Interface unit, 210: Central control unit (CPU)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A data transmission method for transmitting data for a graphical user interface having a descriptor structure in a predetermined asynchronous transfer format between one device and another device connected to a predetermined network. . 2. The data transmission method according to claim 1, wherein said descriptor structured data for the graphical user interface is such that at least data attributes and graphic data are stored in predetermined blocks. . 3. The data transmission method according to claim 1, wherein data for the graphical user interface of the one device is transmitted to the other device, and the transmitted data for the graphical user interface is transmitted to the other device. According to the data, the other device displays a predetermined image, transmits operation data based on the display from the other device to the one device in an asynchronous transfer format, and transmits the transmitted operation data. A data transmission method for controlling the operation of the one device. 4. A data transmission device connected to a predetermined network, wherein the data for the graphical user interface is data having a predetermined descriptor structure, and the predetermined data processed by the data processing means. A data transmission device which asynchronously transmits data having the descriptor structure to the network and receives input / output data obtained from the network by the asynchronous transmission based on the transmission. 5. The data transmission device according to claim 4, wherein a predetermined operation is performed based on the data received by said input / output means. 6. A data transmission device connected to a predetermined network, comprising: an input / output means for transmitting and receiving data asynchronously transferred on the network; and a predetermined descriptor structure received by the input / output means. A display means for performing display based on the data for the graphical user interface; and an input based on the display for the graphical user interface on the display means, and the input data is supplied to the input / output means. A data transmission device comprising: an operation unit for transmitting the data to the network.