JP2003023548A - Video repeater - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To open a terminal equipment with ease and enjoyment of a video from a video equipment, even if it is away from the place where the video equipment is installed or even during moving, with no modification of the video equipment which is commercially available. SOLUTION: There are provided a communication control unit 16, which converts the video/voice signal from a video equipment, such as a television set into a prescribed format, and sends it to a network while receives the control signal from a terminal equipment connected to the network such as a personal computer and a portable phone; a conversion part 17, which generates the operation signal in such format as to operate a video equipment based on the control signal received by the communication control part 16; and a light-emitting element 11, which transmits the operation signal generated by the conversion part 17 to the video equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video repeater for remote transmission of image signals output from video equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Video tapes, DVDs (Didital Versati)
It is widely practiced to reproduce images recorded on a medium such as a le disk) or images transmitted through television waves on a video device such as a television receiver. Recently, a medium such as a DVD is inserted into a dedicated drive of a personal computer and an image is reproduced on the screen of the personal computer.

Further, it is also practiced that an image receiving signal of a video device such as a television receiver is converted into a predetermined format and input to a personal computer, and a television image is reproduced by the personal computer.

[0004]

However, a technique of sending an image receiving signal of a video device to a personal computer far away through a network and reproducing a television image by this personal computer has not been realized.
In order to realize such remote transmission of image signals, control of video equipment (power on / off, channel switching, playback, stop, reverse feed, fast forward, take out, etc.)
Must be able to do it on a personal computer.

In reality, video equipment is equipped with a mechanism and software for accepting such control by infrared remote control. Although the infrared remote controller can be operated by hand, it can be operated from a remote personal computer through a network. Not configured to operate. Therefore, the inventor is a video repeater for performing remote transmission of an image signal, and is a video repeater capable of controlling a video device from a distant place through a network by using a remote control function of the video device. Suggest a repeater.

[0006]

A video repeater of the present invention converts a video signal from a video device into a predetermined format and sends it to a network, and receives a control signal from a terminal device connected to the network. Communication control means, conversion means for generating an operation signal in a format capable of operating the video equipment based on the control signal received by the communication control means, and transmitting the operation signal generated by the conversion means to the video equipment. And a transmission means for doing so (Claim 1).

According to the above configuration, when the control signal is transmitted from the terminal device, the video repeater generates an operation signal for operating the video device and transmits the operation signal to the video device, so that the remote control of the video device can be performed. It will be possible. Therefore,
The video output from the video equipment can be viewed by the remote terminal equipment. It is preferable to further include a learning unit for learning the pattern of the operation signal and transmitting it to the conversion unit (claim 2). Since the pattern of the remote control operation signal may differ depending on the video equipment, any video equipment can be supported by learning the pattern for each video equipment.

[0008] The transmitting means may operate the video equipment by using any of a wired, wireless and optical transmission path (claim 3). "Wired" includes coaxial cable, "wireless" includes radio waves such as microwaves, and "light" includes infrared rays. A program for generating control signals for controlling video equipment,
The video repeater and the program storage medium may be sold as a set or the like for this purpose, but it may be possible to distribute only the program through a network (for this purpose, it is necessary to install the program in a terminal device. Claim 5).

The terminal device may be any terminal device having a video display screen. For example, it may be a personal computer, a mobile phone, or a PHS phone (claim 6).

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a usage pattern of a video repeater of the present invention.
The video repeater 1 is externally attached to video equipment such as the video playback device 3 and the television receiver 4. The video repeater 1 is connected to the intranet through a terminal adapter (not shown). The personal computer 2 connected to the intranet allows the user to watch the video.

Although the intranet is equipped with a router and a switch, they are not shown. Further, it may be any network such as the Internet instead of the intranet. The network may be a wired network or a wireless network. FIG. 2 is an external view of the video repeater 1. (a) is a bottom view, (b) is a rear view, (c) is a front view, and (d) is a side view. A light emitting element 11 such as a light emitting diode is attached to the bottom surface of the image repeater 1, and a LAN card 12 serving as a communication interface is attached to the front surface. On the back,
Terminal 13 for capturing video and audio signals from video equipment
Is provided.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the function of the video repeater 1. Video signals and audio signals from the video equipment are input to the video input unit 14 and are compressed in the compression unit 15 into a format such as MPEG2 or MPEG4. The compressed image data is converted into a predetermined data format according to a predetermined protocol through the communication control unit 16 and sent to the network. The control signal for the video equipment sent from the personal computer 2 through the network is input to the conversion section 17 through the communication control section 16, and here, the standard common to each video equipment manufacturer for operating the video equipment, or the specified manufacturer's standard. Converted to a general-purpose standard. The operation signal output from the conversion unit 17 is the light emitting element 1
1 is transmitted to the video equipment.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a learning unit for learning the pattern of the operation signal for the video equipment, and 19 denotes a light receiving element. The learning unit 18 is for learning the pattern of the infrared remote control signal for operating the video equipment, and if the user irradiates infrared rays to the light receiving element 19 from the infrared remote controller 20 dedicated to the video equipment, the learning unit. 18 decodes the signal pattern or the like and sends it to the conversion unit 17. As a result, the conversion unit 17 can generate an appropriate operation signal for the video equipment. This learning is effective when the video equipment does not operate according to the general-purpose standard set as default in the conversion unit 17.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state in which the image repeater 1 is attached to the video reproducing device 3. Video signals and audio signals from the video reproduction device 3 are input to the video repeater 1 through the cable 31. The infrared signal for controlling the video reproducing device 3 emitted from the light emitting element 11 of the video repeater 1 is received by the light receiving unit 32 of the video reproducing device 3. FIG. 5 shows a video repeater 1 for a television receiver 4
It is a side view showing the state where it was attached to. Video signals and audio signals from the television receiver 4 are input to the video repeater 1 through the cable 41, and the infrared signal for controlling the television receiver 4 emitted from the light emitting element 11 of the video repeater 1 is the television signal. Light receiving section 42 of the receiver 4
Is received by.

A method of using the above image repeater 1 will be described by taking a television image as an example. When the user opens the screen of the personal computer and operates certain buttons such as "power on", "channel selection", "volume adjustment", "screen adjustment", the operation signal is input to the video repeater 1 through the network. . The operation function of the personal computer is, of course, realized by the computer executing an application program recorded in a recording medium such as a program ROM. This program may be sold together with the video repeater 1, or may be sold alone, at the store, or through a network.

When the video repeater 1 receives the operation signal,
The conversion unit 17 converts this operation signal into a general-purpose standard format. The converted operation signal is emitted from the light emitting element 11 and causes the television receiver 4 to perform a predetermined operation. The video signal and the audio signal from the video equipment are input to the video input unit 14, the image is compressed in the compression unit 15, and the compressed image data is sent to the network through the communication control unit 16 and received by the personal computer. . Then, the video is reproduced on the screen of the personal computer, and the sound is reproduced from the speaker of the personal computer.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. For example, the present invention can be applied to the case of watching an image on the screen of a mobile phone or a PHS phone instead of a personal computer. Further, although the video repeater controls the video equipment through the infrared light emitting element 11, it may also control the video equipment through radio waves such as microwaves and millimeter waves, or a wired cable (RS232C or the like). Other various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to change the terminal of a terminal, whether it is remote from the installation location of the video device or moving, without changing the video device that is actually on the market. You can open the device and easily get the video from the video device and enjoy it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a usage pattern of a video repeater of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a video repeater 1. (a) is a bottom view,
(b) is a rear view, (c) is a front view, and (d) is a side view.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the function of the video repeater 1.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state in which the video repeater 1 is attached to the video reproduction device 3.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state in which the image repeater 1 is attached to the television receiver 4.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 video repeater 2 personal computer 3 Video playback device 4 television receiver 11 Light emitting element 12 LAN card 13 terminals 14 Video input section 15 Compressor 16 Communication control unit 17 Converter 18 Learning Department 19 Light receiving element 20 infrared remote controller 31 Audio signal is cable 32 Light receiving part 41 cable 42 Light receiving part

Continued front page    F term (reference) 5B014 EB01 FA04 FB03 FB04 GD19                       GD41 HC08                 5C056 AA01 AA07 AA10 BA02 BA03                       BA05 BA08 CA01 CA20 DA11                       DA20                 5K048 BA02 BA12 DA08 EB02 EB15                       GC06 HA03

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A video repeater connected to a video device, which converts a video signal from the video device into a predetermined format and sends it to a network, and receives a control signal from a terminal device connected to the network. Communication control means, conversion means for generating an operation signal in a format capable of operating the video equipment based on the control signal received by the communication control means, and the operation signal generated by the conversion means for the video equipment. A video repeater, comprising: a transmission means for transmitting. 2. The video repeater according to claim 1, further comprising learning means for learning a pattern of an operation signal and transmitting it to the converting means. 3. The video according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmission means transmits the operation signal to the video equipment using any one of the following media (1) to (3). repeater. (1) Wired transmission line (2) Wireless transmission line (3) Optical transmission line 4. The video according to claim 1, further comprising a storage medium installed in the terminal device for storing a program for generating a control signal for controlling the video device. repeater. 5. The video according to claim 1, wherein a program that is installed in the terminal device and that generates a control signal for controlling the video device is distributable through a network. repeater. 6. The video repeater according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is a personal computer, a mobile phone, or a PHS phone.