JP2002073438A - Av network control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a television/STB having conventional AV device control function needlessly imposes load on an AV network during tracking the operation of an external AV device side. SOLUTION: This AV network control device is provided with a device information identifying part 100 that collects device inherent information on the external AV device connected to the AV network, and a device information monitoring part 101 that monitors device status of the external AV device all the time. The maximum number of each type of the external AV devices of which statuses are monitored is restricted. With the total number held within the maximum number, which external AV device is to be a monitoring target is automatically set during the initialization of the AV network, and also can be altered by user's operation. The restriction of the maximum number reduces the load on the AV network and prevents lowering of total processing efficiency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an AV network control device such as a television or an STB for monitoring the status of a plurality of external AV devices connected via an IEEE1394 network and performing control in accordance with the status of the devices. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an IEEE1394 network (hereinafter referred to as 1394) has been developed.
An STB that controls AV devices on an AV network configured using a technology (referred to as a network) has emerged.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram of a conventional STB with an external AV device control function. In FIG. 4, 2 is STB, 200
Is D-VHS (A), 201 is D-VHS (B), 202 is D-VHS
(C) and 203 are D-VHS (D), which are external AV devices.
Four D-VHS are connected by a 1394 network. There are a user interface unit 301 and an external device control unit 300 as processing blocks in the STB2.

[0004] The user interface unit 301 has a
A GUI or the like for controlling an external device is displayed on a monitor to which B2 is connected. GUI "Play" external device
Operation buttons for performing operations such as "stop", "fast forward", and "rewind" are prepared, and the user can select and determine the button on the GUI with a remote controller or the like. For example, when the “play” button for the D-VHS (A) 200 is selected and determined, the user interface unit 301 transmits the content of the GUI operation to the external device control unit 300. The external device control unit 300 controls the 1394 A to realize “playback”.
Create V / C command and send D-C via 1394 network.
Transmit to VHS (A) 200. D-VHS that received the command
(A) 200 shifts to a reproducing operation.

As described above, the external AV equipment is
In addition to the operation from the TB2, there may be an operation in which the STB2 follows a state change of an external AV device. For example, if the D-VHS (A) 200 is "play"
When the state becomes, between STB2 and D-VHS (A) 200,
A process of automatically establishing a data transmission state and taking in data from the D-VHS (A) 200 to the STB 2 is considered. However, when trying to realize this operation, D-VH
The status of all D-VHS from S (A) 200 to D-VHS (D) 203 is transmitted / received to / from D-VHS via the 1394 network. It needs to be monitored.

[0006] The technical contents of IEEE1394 hereinafter are described based on the following documents, so please refer to them. [1] IEEE Std 1394-1995, Standard for a High Perfo
rmance Serial Bus [2] IEC61883, Consumer audio / video equipment-Digi
tal Interface [3] 1394 Trade Association document number 199800
3, AV / C Digital Interface Command Set General Spec
ification, version3.0 [4] 1394 Trade Association document number 199801
2, AV / C Tape Recorder / Player Subunit Specificatio
n, version2.1

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above conventional external AV
In the case of an STB with a device control function, when following a change in the state of an external AV device, which device is to be monitored
No restrictions. Therefore, when a large number of external AV devices are connected, the number of processes on the 1394 network for monitoring those devices increases unnecessarily, and the processing efficiency of the entire 1394 network decreases. as a result,
There are adverse effects such as a reduction in the reaction when the external AV device is controlled from the STB side.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems. In monitoring the status of a plurality of external AV devices connected via a 1394 network, the maximum number of devices to be monitored is limited. When any device selected as a monitoring target enters a playback state in which data is output, an AV network control device (TV) that automatically establishes a data transmission connection state between itself and the device. / S
TB).

[0009]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention identifies and collects device-specific information of a plurality of AV devices connected on an AV network when the AV network is initialized. A device information identification unit that performs monitoring, a device status monitoring unit that constantly monitors the device status of a device specified as a monitoring target among the plurality of AV devices, and device-specific information collected by the device information identification unit and each device. And a non-volatile memory for storing information as to whether the device is monitored by the device status monitoring unit.

Further, the apparatus includes a device connection management unit, and when the device state monitoring unit detects that any of the monitored AV devices is in a reproduction state of outputting data, the device connection management unit monitors the device connection management unit. The unit establishes a data transmission connection state between the apparatus in the reproduction state and the own apparatus.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an AV network control device having a function of monitoring the status of an externally connected AV device according to the present invention. It is assumed that the AV network control device is a television. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an AV network control device (television) itself according to the present invention;
0 is a device information identification unit, 101 is a device state monitoring unit, 102 is a device connection management unit, 103 is a device information / status display unit, and 104 is a nonvolatile memory. Also, 200 to 203 are externally connected A
V equipment. In this example, four D-VHSs are connected. Note that the user interface unit and the external device control unit described in the conventional example are also included in the present invention and realize the same operations, and thus description thereof is omitted.

The operation of the AV network control device (television) 1 configured as described above will be described below.

First, a device-specific information identification process for an external AV device will be described. In FIG. 1, a television 1 of the present invention
D-VHS (A) 200, D-VHS (B) 2
01. It is assumed that three D-VHS (C) 202 units are already connected via a 1394 network. It is assumed that a D-VHS (d) 203 is newly added to the 1394 network. At this time, initialization of the 1394 network called a bus reset is performed. With this initialization as a trigger, the device information identification unit 100 collects device-specific information of the externally connected AV device.

Specifically, first, the configuration ROMs of all devices on the network are read. Configurati
on ROM is based on IEEE1212 owned by each device.
This is a part of the 64-bit address space where device-specific information is written. Next, among the AV / C commands, a UNIT INFO command, a SUBUNIT INFO command, and the like are sent to each device on the network to collect responses and determine the type of the device. Through the above processing, the device type (type of D-VHS, AVHDD, etc.), the manufacturer name, the model name, and the device unique ID (a unique number assigned to all 1394 devices commercialized) are obtained as the device-specific information. I do.

When the information collection of all connected external AV devices after the bus reset is completed, the contents are
The contents stored in the non-volatile memory 104 storing the device-specific information are matched based on the device's unique ID. The unique ID of the device is a unique number assigned to every 1394 device manufactured as a 1394 device. By comparing the unique ID, it is determined whether the device is already stored in the non-volatile memory 104 or not. You can determine if it is a device.

As a result of the association, the nonvolatile memory
The device stored in 104 is not updated as an existing device. For the device recognized as not existing in the non-volatile memory 104, the contents are added to the non-volatile memory 104.

The non-volatile memory 104 stores, in addition to the above-described device-specific information, information as to whether or not each device to be described later is to be monitored.

In the device information / status display unit, based on the contents of the non-volatile memory 104, in response to a user operation,
Display device information / status on the TV screen. FIG. 2 shows an example of the device information / status display screen. For each device, information indicating the device type, manufacturer name, model name, and whether or not the device is monitored is stored in the nonvolatile memory 104.
The connection status indicates whether the device is currently connected to the 1394 network. Some equipment is currently 13
94 Since the device information identification unit 100 knows whether or not it is connected to the network, the display content is determined according to the information. For example, since D-VHS (A) 200 to D-VHS (D) 203 are currently connected to the 1394 network, they are referred to as “connected” and D-VHS (E) is not connected (past Has been connected), so "Not Connected" is displayed.

As described above, the newly connected external AV
Devices are automatically added and stored in the non-volatile memory 104, but the user can delete unnecessary device information by manual operation.
The deletion is performed via the device information / status display screen shown in FIG. The user can select a device on the display screen by operating a remote controller or the like. When the user selects and determines a device, the screen transitions to a device information change screen shown in FIG. Here, the panel “delete” or “do not monitor” can be selected (“not monitor” will be described later).
Here, when “delete” is selected and determined, the unique information of the selected device is deleted from the nonvolatile memory 104.

However, this "delete" operation is not permitted unless the connection state is "not connected". Bus resets in 1394 networks occur relatively frequently. Therefore,
Even if the device in the “connected” state is “deleted”, immediately after the next bus reset, the device that has just been “deleted” is registered in the nonvolatile memory 104 again by a series of operations described above. The user is confused because the deleted one is back. Therefore, "delete" is limited to devices that the user explicitly removes from the 1394 network and does not use. That is,
In the example of FIG. 3, D-VHS (A) is currently “connected”.
Since it is in state, the "delete" operation is not allowed and will fail. Only when the D-VHS (A) is disconnected from the network and the connection status becomes "not connected", the "delete" operation becomes effective.

Second, monitoring of the state of the external AV device and automatic reproduction processing will be described.

First, the process of selecting which of the external AV devices is to be monitored will be described. Ideally, all connected devices should ideally be monitored. However, if the number of devices to be monitored is increased without limitation, the number of processes for monitoring in the 1394 network increases, resulting in a significant decrease in overall processing efficiency. To prevent this, the maximum number of devices to be monitored is limited for each device type. For example, up to two D-VHS
Up to 2 units, up to 1 DVD recorder, etc. This is the process of selecting which devices to monitor within this maximum number range. When a new device is connected to the 1394 network, if there is room for the maximum number, the device is It is automatically set as "Target."

As described above, basically whether or not to monitor is automatically set, but even after automatic setting,
The settings can be changed by user operation. The change is made via the device information / status display screen shown in FIG.
When the user selects and determines a device, the screen transitions to a device information change screen shown in FIG. At this time, if the device is currently being monitored, the panel changes to "No monitoring".
Conversely, if not monitored, the display automatically switches to "monitor". In this case, the selected device D-
Since VHS (A) is currently being monitored, a “do not monitor” panel is displayed. Here, when “not monitor” is selected and determined, D-VHS (A) is removed from the monitoring target. As a result of this operation, the number of D-VHSs to be monitored is reduced to one, so that D-VHSs to be monitored can be added. For example, if the user wants to monitor the D-VHS (C) 202, it can be set to “monitor” by the above-described user operation. Of course, the setting can be set only within the range of the maximum number described above. If the maximum number has already been set, an error is displayed and the setting cannot be performed.

Next, a specific monitoring process of a device selected as a monitoring target will be described. In FIG. 1, D-VH
It is assumed that S (A) 200 and D-VHS (B) 201 are to be monitored. To monitor the device status of each D-VHS, 139
Triggered by the bus reset of 4 above, TRANSPORT STATE of each D-VHS via the 1394 network
Issue a NOTIFY command. This command is D-VH
This command requests that the device state be notified to S when the device state changes, and the change in the device state can be detected by this notification. However, D-VHS is TRANSPORT
It may not support the STATE NOTIFY command. In that case, a STATUS command of TRANSPORT STATE is issued to the D-VHS. This command
This command inquires about the D-VHS device status.
Since it is a one-shot, it is necessary to issue the same command periodically on the TV 1 side and make continuous inquiries. By detecting a change in the response to the inquiry, a change in the device state can be detected.

Although the D-VHS has been described here, other AV devices are also defined for each device.
Monitoring is performed using a similar 1394 AV / C command (defined in the future).

Next, the automatic reproduction process will be described. Automatic playback refers to a function of, when an external AV device enters a playback state for outputting data, automatically taking in the data to a television and outputting an image.

When transmitting a signal on the 1394 network, it is necessary to establish an "AV signal connection" defined in IEC61883 in advance. For this connection, do not set one-to-one devices (plugs) that exchange signals.
There are an oadcast connection and a point-to-point connection in which devices (plugs) for exchanging signals are set one-to-one. In the present invention, the latter point-to-point connection is used.

As described in the above monitoring process, all the devices set as the monitoring targets change their statuses on the television.
Monitoring from one side. For example, the status of each of the D-VHS (A) 200 and the D-VHS (B) 201 is monitored.
In this state, for example, it is assumed that the user operates the “play button” of the D-VHS (A) 200 device. Then D-
The fact that the VHS (A) 200 has been reproduced is detected on the television 1 side. With the detection of the change as a trigger, the device connection management unit 102 sets a point-t between the D-VHS (A) 200 and the television 1.
Automatically establish o-point connections. When the connection is established, the MPEG stream can be captured from the D-VHS (A) 200 to the television 1, so that the data is captured and output.

When the D-VHS (A) 200 is in the reproduction state and a point-to-point connection has been established with the D-VHS (A) 200, it is detected that the D-VHS (B) 201 has been reproduced from the stop. In this case, first, after disconnecting the point-to-point connection between the own device and the D-VHS (A) 200, a point-to-point connection between the own device and the D-VHS (B) 201 is newly performed. The point connection is established, and the mode shifts to the automatic playback mode on the D-VHS (B) 201 side.

As described above, in the AV network control device according to the present invention, when monitoring the device status of an external AV device and performing automatic reproduction, the maximum number of devices to be monitored is limited. No load on 1394 network. As a result, the AV
It does not cause adverse effects such as a decrease in the response of the control operation of the external AV device from the network control device.

Further, the process of selecting a monitoring target is automatically performed at the time of initialization of the 1394 network within a range not exceeding the maximum number, so that no trouble is required for the user.

Further, whether or not a certain device is selected as a monitoring target is stored and stored in a non-volatile memory, so that the state is maintained unless the user explicitly changes it, so that the user is confused. Never give.

In the above description, the embodiment in which the AV network control device of the present invention is a television has been described.
In a 94 network, the functions of the present invention can be similarly implemented by incorporating the functions of the present invention into another AV device (for example, STB or D-VHS) that can be a controller.

As an external AV device, D-VHS
However, the present invention is similarly applied to a case where AV devices such as an AV HDD and a DVD recorder are connected.

[0036]

As described above, the AV network control device of the present invention monitors the device status of an external AV device, and detects when the device enters a playback state in which data is output by operating the device. However, in the operation for realizing the automatic playback of capturing and outputting the data, the maximum number of devices to be monitored is limited, so that an excessive load is not applied to the 1394 network, and as a result, the processing efficiency of the entire 1394 network is reduced. A remarkable effect of preventing lowering can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an AV network control device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a device information display screen by the AV network control device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a device information operation screen by the AV network control device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional television having an AV device control function.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 AV network control device of the present invention 2 Conventional STB with external AV device control function 100 Device information identification unit 101 Device status monitoring unit 102 Device connection management unit 103 Device information / status display unit 104 Nonvolatile memory

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 5B089 GA23 HA18 JA35 JB22 KA06 KA07 KB06 KC52 KG05 LB25 MB02 5C025 CA02 CA09 CB10 DA08 5K033 AA03 BA08 CB14 DA01 DB20 EA07 5K048 AA00 BA02 DA02 DC04 EB12 GB10 HA01 HA02

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of A connected to an AV network
A device information identification unit that identifies and collects device specific information of the V device when the AV network is initialized, and a device status monitoring unit that constantly monitors the device status of a device specified as a monitoring target among the plurality of AV devices And a non-volatile memory for storing device-specific information collected by the device information identification unit and information on whether each AV device is monitored by the device status monitoring unit.
V network control equipment. 2. When the device status monitoring unit detects that any of the devices to be monitored has entered a playback state in which data is output, the device status monitoring unit switches between the device in the playback state and the AV network control device. 2. The AV network control device according to claim 1, further comprising a device connection management unit for establishing a data transmission connection state. 3. When a data transmission connection state is established with the first AV device, and when it is detected that another second AV device has entered a reproduction state for outputting data, the data is connected to the first AV device. The AV network control device according to claim 2, wherein after disconnecting the transmission connection state, a data transmission connection state is newly established with the second AV device. 4. The AV network according to claim 1, wherein the AV network is a network using IEEE1394 technology, and the device-specific information includes a device type, a manufacturer name, a model name, and a device unique ID. 3. The AV network control device according to item 2. 5. The AV according to claim 2, wherein the data transmission connection state is a point-to-point connection defined by IEC61883 for connecting one output plug and one input plug. Network control equipment. 6. The maximum number of devices to be monitored by the device status monitoring unit is defined for each device type, and when a new AV device is connected to an AV network, the new number is set within a range not exceeding the maximum number. The AV device is registered in the non-volatile memory as a device whose status is monitored by the device status monitoring unit. For an AV device already registered in the non-volatile memory,
3. The AV network control device according to claim 1, wherein whether or not to be a monitoring target can be changed within a range not exceeding the maximum number by a manual operation of a user. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein device-specific information in the non-volatile memory can be deleted for each device by manual operation of a user, but cannot be deleted for an AV device currently connected to the AV network. The AV network control device according to claim 1 or 2.