JP2003029895A - Method for compounding menu information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a menu information compounding method capable of compounding menu information related with a plurality of pieces of equipment, and efficiently controlling those pieces of equipment. SOLUTION: A remote controller 2701 transmits a signal to promote he transmission of menu information to a television 2702 or the like, and at receiving the menu information from the television 2702 or the like, a menu information storing part 2714 stores the menu information by distinguishing it for each equipment. A menu information compounding part 2716 compounds the pieces of menu information of a plurality of pieces of equipment. A menu information display control part 2717 displays the compounded menu information at a menu display part 2718. The display of the menu display part 2718 is changed by operating an input accepting part 2711 integrated with the menu display part 2718, and the operation of the television 2702 or the like is controlled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a menu information synthesizing method used in a remote control device for controlling a plurality of devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a menu information synthesizing device used for a remote control device for controlling a plurality of devices
As a first conventional technique, in a composite device in which a TV and a video are integrated, the TV and the video are controlled by menu information defined in the composite device in advance.

As a second conventional technique, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-2
There is a "menu processing method" described in Japanese Patent No. 33660.
This technology makes it possible to select and use the target application program by transitioning the menu screen without paying attention to which terminal or host the target application program is in the distributed computer environment. It is a thing.

Further, there is a multi remote controller as a third technique. The multi remote control is a remote control device that controls a plurality of predetermined devices. Further, as a fourth technique, there is, for example, a television and video menu screen simulation device.

[0005]

By the way, in the first prior art, since the composite device is controlled by the menu information that the device has in advance, the connection state between the devices and the power ON / OFF state. Since the menu information cannot be changed depending on the internal state such as, it is difficult to integrally control a plurality of devices.

In the second prior art, it is necessary to previously describe in each item of the menu which terminal or host has a secondary or tertiary menu, and the connection state of the equipment or the power ON / OFF. Since the menu cannot be changed depending on the internal state of each device such as, it is difficult to control a plurality of devices in an integrated manner. In the third conventional technique,
Since the remote control device controls only a plurality of predetermined devices, it is difficult to display a menu that dynamically changes according to the connection state between the devices.

In the fourth prior art, in order to simulate a tele-video menu screen, the menu information of the TV and the video is synthesized by complicated manual work, or the tele-video menu screen is created manually from the beginning. The simulation was being performed. The present invention is
In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a menu information combining method for combining and displaying menus for controlling a plurality of electric devices.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, in the invention according to claim 1, there is provided a menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information, the first menu extracting the first menu information. An information fetching step, a second menu information fetching step of fetching the second menu information, and a menu information generating step of synthesizing the first and second menu information at the top of the menu to generate new menu information. The menu information composition method consists of

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information,
First to retrieve first menu information having panel information
Of extracting menu information, a second menu information extracting step of extracting second menu information having panel information, and a first panel identifier and a first panel identifier for identifying a first panel included in the first menu information by the composition rule. When the second panel identifier for identifying the second panel included in the second menu information satisfies a certain relationship, the object forming the first panel and the object forming the second panel are included in one panel. The menu information synthesizing method includes a menu information generating step of performing panel synthesizing processing to generate new panel information.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information,
A first menu information extracting step for extracting the first menu information, a second menu information extracting step for extracting the second menu information, and an attribute of the first object included in the first menu information is the second menu. A menu information generating step of generating new menu information in which the attribute value of the second object matches the attribute value of the first object when the attribute value is the same as the attribute of the second object Information synthesis method.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information.
The menu information composition method according to claim 3, wherein the attribute of the object is a shape attribute. According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information, the first menu information fetching step of fetching first menu information,
The second menu information extracting step of extracting the second menu information and the identifier of the first operation information included in the first menu information and the identifier of the second operation information included in the second menu information are in a fixed relationship. In some cases, the second operation information is added to the first operation information to generate new operation information, which is a menu information generating step.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A menu information synthesizing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below based on an embodiment. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of Embodiment 1 of a menu information synthesizing apparatus according to the present invention. This menu information synthesizing apparatus is composed of a television body 101 and a video body 102
The television main body 101 and the video main body 102 are connected by a connection line 103.

The television main body 101 includes a first menu storage section 111, a synthesis rule storage section 112, a menu synthesis section 113, a menu reception section 114, a menu display section 115, a device control signal transmission section 116, and It has a television side signal receiving section 117, a television operating section 118, and a remote control signal receiving section 119, and is connected to the display 120.

The video main body 102 has a second menu storage section 121, a menu transmission section 123, a video side signal reception section 124, and a video operation section 125. The remote control device 126 controls the operations of the television main body 101 and the video main body 102. The first menu storage unit 111 stores menu information as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, which includes control information for controlling the operation of the television body 101 and information for changing the display screen of the control information. In FIG. 2, the television is defined as the menu value of the highest-level tag (enclosed in <>), and the menu "TV" includes "basic operation", "child screen", and "adjustment".
It has three submenus. The component for displaying each submenu is defined as <panel>.
For example, the basic operation panel is composed of six types of buttons such as a channel up button. When this basic operation panel is displayed on the display 120, for example, it becomes as shown in FIG.

Further, FIG. 3 defines the type of each "button" displayed on each panel and the event signal when the "button" is pressed. What is an event signal?
A signal that activates a program that controls a certain device or changes the menu display. The synthesis rule storage unit 112 is
A synthesizing rule for synthesizing a plurality of menu information is stored. An example of this synthesis rule is shown in FIG.

In addition to the structural synthesis rule of the menu shown in FIG. 5, the synthesis rule includes a shape selection rule and an action synthesis rule. The shape selection rule defines that one button shape is selected when, for example, the buttons that are the constituent elements of a plurality of menus have different shapes. The operation synthesis rule is that, for example, when a video recording operation is instructed, control is always transferred from the television to the video before recording. That is, in the case of some motion of the video, the motion of always transferring control to the video is defined as the preprocessing.

Upon receiving the notification of the second menu information from the menu receiving unit 114, the menu synthesizing unit 113 stores the notification in the buffer, and the first menu information stored in the first menu storing unit 111 and the synthesizing rule. Storage unit 112
And the composition rule stored in. The first menu information and the second menu information are combined according to the combined rule taken out. The menu display unit 115 converts the synthesized menu information into the bitmap data of the display element.
To notify.

For example, when the synthesizing rule shown in FIG. 5 is read, it is determined whether the document enclosed by () shown in the first if 501 is "true". If the document is "true", It is determined whether or not the sentence enclosed by () indicated by if502 is “true”. When it is "true", the processing of (1) enclosed by {} is performed, and when it is not "true", the processing enclosed by {} of else 503 is performed. if50
When the sentence enclosed by () shown by 1 is not "true", it is determined whether the sentence enclosed by brackets of if505 enclosed by {} of else 504 is "true".
When it is “true”, the processing of (2) enclosed by {} is performed, and when it is not “true”, the processing enclosed by {} of else 506 is performed.

When the notification of the second menu information shown in FIG. 6 which will be described later is received, the first menu information shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is taken out, and the process (1) of the composition rule shown in FIG. 5 is performed. The menu information as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 is combined. The synthesis rule shown in FIG. 5 shows a part thereof, and defines the synthesis rule in the range surrounded by the top <menu> and </ menu> in FIG. 7.

The menu receiving section 114 receives the second menu information transmitted from the menu transmitting section 123, and notifies the menu synthesizing section 113 of it. Menu display section 115
When receiving the notification of the display element converted into the bitmap data from the menu synthesizing unit 113, the display 1
20 to display. For example, the combined menu information of FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 is displayed on the display 120 as shown in FIG. When the user operates the remote control device 126 to select a television, the basic operation panel 1001 of the television is displayed on the display 120, and when the user selects a video, a video playback panel 1002 is displayed on the display 120.

Upon receiving the notification of the remote control signal from the remote control signal reception unit 119, the device control signal transmission unit 116
Convert to device control signal. The device control signal is TV 1
If the control signal No. 01 is to be controlled, the television control unit 118 is notified of the device control signal via the television signal reception unit 117. When the device control signal is for changing and controlling the menu display, the menu combining unit 113 is notified of the device control signal. The device control signal is the video body 10
When controlling the operation of No. 2, the device control signal is transmitted to the video side signal receiving section 124.

The television side signal receiving section 117 notifies the television operating section 118 of the device control signal notified from the device control signal transmitting section 116. The television operating unit 118 controls the television main body 101 according to the device control signal notified from the television-side signal receiving unit 117. Remote control signal receiver 1
19 receives the remote control signal transmitted from remote control device 126, and notifies device control signal transmission unit 116.

The second menu storage section 121 stores the second menu information as shown in FIG. 6, which is composed of control information for controlling the operation of the video main body 102 and information for changing the display screen of this control information. Store. In FIG. 6, video is defined as the value of the highest level menu. When the reproduction panel shown in the submenu of the second menu information shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display 120, it becomes as shown in FIG. 11.

Now, when the menu information used for creating the video table of contents shown in FIG. 12 is additionally stored as the second menu information in the second menu storage section 121, the menu synthesizing section 113 operates as shown in FIG. When having the combined menu information shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the menu combining unit 113
Creates the menu information shown in FIGS. 13, 14, and 15 by combining the menu information for the video table of contents creating function with the previously combined menu information. At this time, the menu synthesizing unit 113 is performing the process (2) of the synthesizing rule shown in FIG. The new menu information is displayed on the display 120 as shown in FIG. When a video is selected from the remote control device 126 and a table of contents creation is selected as a submenu, a table of contents creation menu 1601 is displayed on the display 120.

When the menu transmission unit 123 detects that the menu transmission unit 123 is connected to the menu reception unit 114 of the television body 101 by the connection line 103, the second menu storage unit 1
The second menu information stored in 21 is retrieved,
It is transmitted to the menu receiving unit 114. Upon receiving the device control signal from the device control signal transmission unit 116, the video signal reception unit 124 notifies the video operation unit 125 of the signal.

Upon receiving the notification of the device control signal from the video side signal receiving section 124, the video operating section 125 controls the operation of the video main body 102 according to the signal. The remote control device 126 transmits a remote control signal to the television body 101. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 17 and 18.

The menu transmission unit 123 of the video body 102
Detects that the video main body 102 and the television main body 101 are connected (S1702). Menu transmission part 1
23 retrieves the second menu information stored in the second menu storage unit 121 (S1704). The second menu information extracted by the menu transmission unit 123 is transmitted to the menu reception unit 114 of the television body 101 (S17).
06). The menu receiving unit 114 is the menu transmitting unit 123.
The second menu information sent from the server is received, and the menu combining unit 113 is notified of the information (S1708).

The menu synthesis unit 113 retrieves the first menu information stored in the first menu storage unit 111 (S1710). The menu composition unit 113 extracts the composition rule stored in the composition rule storage unit 112 and combines the first menu information and the second menu information based on the composition rule (S1712). The menu display unit 115 displays the menu information combined by the menu combining unit 113 on the display 120 (S1714).

From the remote control device 126 to the television main body 101
The remote control signal is transmitted to (S1816). The remote control signal receiving unit 119 receives the remote control signal transmitted from the remote control device 126 (S1818). The device control signal transmission unit 116 converts the remote control signal received by the remote control signal reception unit 119 into a device control signal (S1820). The device control signal transmission unit 116 determines whether or not the control signal operates the video main body 102 (S1822). When it is determined that the control signal operates the video main body 102,
The device control signal is transmitted to the video side signal receiving unit 124, and the video side signal receiving unit 124 receives the device control signal (S
1824). The video operation unit 125 is provided in the video main body 102.
Is controlled according to the signal (S1826).

If it is determined in step S1822 that the signal is not the device control signal for the video main body 102, the television main body 101
It is determined whether the device control signal is the device control signal (S182).
8). When it is determined that the device control signal is for the television body 101, the television operation unit 118 is notified of the device control signal, and the television operation unit 118 performs control according to the signal (S1830). When it is determined that it is not the device control signal of the television body 101, the menu combining unit 113 is notified of the control signal of the instruction to change the menu display, and the menu combining unit 113 controls the menu display unit according to the signal (S).
1832).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the video is connected to the television, the operation of the television and the video can be integrated with the same user interface. In the present embodiment, an example of integrating menus and controls when a video is connected to the television is shown, but menu information such as audio, air conditioner, fan, washing machine, and microwave oven, which are devices other than video, is displayed. May be integrated and controlled by the same user interface.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of a remote control device which is a menu information synthesizing device according to the present invention. This remote control device includes a menu information transmission prompting unit 1901, a menu receiving unit 1902, a menu combining unit 1903, a menu display unit 1904, and a device control signal transmitting unit 1905.

The menu information transmission prompting unit 1901 sends a signal for prompting the transmission of menu information by using infrared rays or the like by pointing the remote control device to an external device such as a television, a video, an air conditioner or the like. Upon receiving this signal, the external device (not shown) transmits menu information to the remote control device. For example, the television transmits the menu information shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the first embodiment, and the video transmits the menu information shown in FIG. The air conditioner also transmits the menu information shown in FIG.

When the menu receiving section 1902 receives the menu information transmitted from these external devices, the menu receiving section 1902 notifies the menu synthesizing section 1903 of the information. The menu composition unit 1903 is the composition rule storage unit 11 of the first embodiment.
2 is provided in its own storage unit to store the synthesis rule shown in FIG. When receiving the notification of the menu information from the plurality of external devices from the menu receiving unit 1902, the menu information is synthesized based on the stored synthesis rule. When receiving the notification of the menu information from the television, the video, and the air conditioner, the menu information as shown in FIGS. 21, 22, and 23 is combined. The combined menu information is converted into bitmap data and notified to the menu display unit 1904.

The menu display unit 1904 has a touch panel overlaid on the liquid crystal panel, and the menu composition unit 19
The menu information notified from 03 is displayed as shown in FIG. When the user selects "TV" from the top menu, the basic operation panel 2402 of the TV is displayed, when "video" is selected, the video playback panel 2403 is displayed, and when "air conditioner" is selected, the setting panel 2404 is displayed. . When the setting panel 2404 is displayed, the user presses the “power” button 2
When 405 is pressed, the device control signal transmission unit 1905 is notified of the operation signal of the power supply of the air conditioner.

Upon receiving the notification of the operation signal from the menu display unit 1904, the device control signal transmission unit 1905 transmits the device control signal to the external device. When the control signal of the power supply of the air conditioner is notified, the control signal of the power supply is transmitted to the air conditioner. As a result, the power supply of the air conditioner is switched from OFF to ON or from ON to OFF.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of. The menu information transmission prompting unit 1901 prompts the external device to transmit the menu information (S2502). One or more external devices receive the signal for urging the transmission of the menu information transmitted from the menu information transmission urging unit 1901 (S2504). The external device that has received the signal prompting the transmission of the menu information transmits the menu information (S2506). Menu receiving unit 1902
Receives menu information transmitted by one or more external devices (S2508). The menu synthesizing unit 1903 synthesizes one or more menu information received by the menu receiving unit 1902 (S2510). The menu display unit 1904 displays the menu information combined by the menu combining unit 1903 (S2512).

In the present embodiment, the signal from the menu information transmission prompting unit 1901 is transmitted by directing the remote control device to the external device, but only the device which is powered on and operable can operate the menu information transmission prompting unit. 1
Alternatively, the signal of 901 may be received, or a device in the same room as the remote control device (controllable by the remote control device) may receive the signal of the menu information transmission prompting unit.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to dynamically integrate menus of a plurality of devices and provide a remote control device for controlling a plurality of devices with the same user interface. Further, in the present embodiment, the names of controllable devices are displayed on the menu display unit 1904 of the remote control device as the highest level menu, but as another example, the remote control device detects the installation position of each device. 26 (a pattern virtually showing the device layout in the room where the device is installed) as shown in FIG. 26 may be displayed on the menu display unit 1904 of the remote controller as the highest-level menu. In this case, the remote controller is provided with a position sensor and each device transmits a signal for detecting the installation position. The position sensor receives the signal from each device,
Detect their position. The menu composition unit 1903
The position information of each device detected by the position sensor is taken out and displayed on the menu display unit 1904 based on this.

(Embodiment 3) FIGS. 27 and 28 are block diagrams of Embodiment 3 of the menu information synthesizing apparatus according to the present invention. A menu information synthesizing apparatus according to the present embodiment is a remote control device 2701 and a television 2702 that receives a remote control signal from the remote control device 2701 and controls the operation of the device.
And a stationary video (hereinafter referred to as “video”) 2703.

The TV 2702 has a TV menu information storage unit 2721 and a TV remote control signal reception unit 2722.
And a television device control unit 2723 and a television menu information transmission unit 2724. The TV menu information storage unit 2721 is a TV menu configuration data storage element 2
811, a television display element data storage element 2812,
It is composed of a television composition instruction data storage element 2813 and stores television menu information.

The menu information consists of menu configuration data, display element data, and synthesis instruction data. The television menu configuration data storage element 2811 stores the menu configuration data shown in FIGS. 29 to 33, which is data instructing the configuration of the menu screen. The television display element data storage element 2812 stores display element data which is shape data of objects (hereinafter, referred to as “menu parts”) such as buttons and panels that configure the menu screen. The display element data is displayed on the display screen as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, it has different shape data depending on the selection state of the menu part. For example, button shape A3401
Indicates that the button is selected, and button shape B3402 indicates that the button is not selected. This shape data is the image data, graph data, etc. shown in FIG. In the television display element data storage element 2812, this image data and the identifier of this image data are stored as a pair.

Television composition instruction data storage element 2813
Stores combination instruction data that is a rule for combining a plurality of menu configuration data and display element data to synthesize one menu configuration data and display element data. As shown in FIG. 35, the composition instruction data includes rules “TOP composition” and “panel composition” for composition of menu configuration data, and rule “PRIORTY” for composition of display element data.

Here, the menu structure data and the composition instruction data are described based on the object-oriented concept according to the SGML grammar. Each menu part is described as an object and belongs to one of the classes. This SGML is "Standard.
Generalized Markup Langua
"ge", which is an international standard language (ISO standard) for electronic publishing and document processing. The SGML is described in detail in "Introduction to SGML" (ASCII publication).

The classes to which the objects belong are an entity class, a panel class, a button class, and a page button class, and have a hierarchical relationship as shown in FIG. Next, the menu configuration data stored in the television menu configuration data storage element 2812 will be described. FIG. 29 shows the definition of a class. For example, a button class has a shape,
There are behavior and parent class attributes. The default value of the shape is the button shape, the default value of the operation is the button operation, and the parent class of the button class is the entity class. The class attribute values such as shape and behavior are inherited by the object according to the concept of object-oriented class inheritance. That is, as for the attribute value of an object, the corresponding attribute value defined in the object is valid when it is defined in the object, and when it is not defined in the object, the corresponding attribute value of the class to which the object belongs. The value becomes valid. Further, when there is no definition of the corresponding attribute value in the class to which the object belongs, the corresponding attribute value of the class immediately above the class to which the object belongs is set as the attribute value of the object. When there is no definition of the corresponding attribute value in the one higher class, the attribute value of the higher class is taken out and so on. Then, the attribute value is set as the attribute value of the object. The button shape is defined in FIG. When the selected state is ON, the figure data is named button shape A,
When the selection state is OFF, it indicates that the figure data is button shape B. Button shape A34
01 and the button shape B3402 graphic data are as shown in FIG.
Are stored in the television display element data storage element 2812 as shown in FIG. When the selected state is ON, it means that the button is pressed (selected). When the selection state is OFF, it means that no button is pressed. Therefore, it is indicated that the normal button has the appearance of button shape B3402 and the appearance of the button shape A3401 when the button is pressed.

The definition of the panel class is described in FIG. 29. The default shape is the panel shape, and the character string indicates that it is the menu screen. The attribute value of the string attribute is a panel heading attached to the top level of the panel. FIG. 30 shows the definition of the panel object. The definition of the panel is based on the information described between <panel> and </ panel>. For example, the setting panel includes a video adjustment button, an audio adjustment button, a BS input level setting button, a reception channel setting button, a previous page button, and a next page button in the panel. Also, <v>, </ v>, <
h> and </ h> are information regarding the arrangement, and <v> and <>
/ V> indicates that the objects defined between them are arranged vertically, and <h> and </ h> indicate that the objects defined between them are arranged horizontally. Therefore, in the setting panel, the previous page button and the next page button are arranged horizontally, and the image adjustment button, the audio adjustment button, the BS input level setting button, the receiving channel setting button, and the horizontally arranged previous page button and next page button. Arrange the areas vertically.

Next, the definition of the operation will be described with reference to FIG. For example, in the definition of the setting button, there is “operation = setting button operation”, and this setting button operation is defined in FIG. The action definition controls the action (the message to send and the destination of the message) to be executed when the button that refers to the action is pressed. Therefore,
The setting button operation defines the operation when the setting button is pressed. The operation content is an operation content of transmitting a message "open panel" to the "setting panel". By performing the setting button operation, the "setting panel" is displayed.

The television combination instruction data is shown in FIG. The interpretation of the combination instruction data “<combination instruction operation = TOP combination, connection method = UNIQ connection>” will be described. The operation "operation = TOP composition" means composition of the menu configuration data of the panel identified by the identifier "top panel" in the definition of the panel object shown in FIG. The top panel is a panel located in the highest hierarchy in the menu structure having a hierarchical structure. In other words, it is the panel that is normally displayed first when the menu is displayed.

The "combining method = UNIQ combining" means that when a plurality of menu structure data are combined in the hierarchy of the top panel, if there are the same objects such as buttons included in the panel, they are made one. means. “</ Coupling instruction>” means that one synthesis instruction ends.
With this TOP combination, when a plurality of menu screens having a hierarchical structure are combined, a menu screen having one hierarchical structure can be generated.

Next, "<Composition instruction operation = Panel composition
Interpretation of “combining method = UNIQ coupling>” will be described.
“Operation = panel composition” means composition of a plurality of panels having the same identifier. “Combining method = UNIQ combining” defines a method of combining a plurality of panels. “UNIQ combination” means a composition that prevents two or more objects having the same identifier from existing in objects such as buttons included in a plurality of panels.
By combining by this "UNIQ combination", it is possible to prevent objects that can be presumed to have the same function from appearing in duplicate.

Next, "<Composition instruction operation = PRIORI
The interpretation of the synthesis instruction data of "TY>" will be described.
<Composite instruction> and <// by "calculation = PRIORITY"
It means that the menu configuration data included in the TTT identified by “device = TTT” described in “Composition instruction” has priority over the menu configuration data transmitted from another electric device. That is, in the case of FIG. 35, it means that the button shape and the page button shape preferentially use the shape included in the menu configuration data of the television 2702. By doing so, the appearance of the menu screen after composition can be unified.

The TV remote control signal reception unit 2722 receives the transmission signal from the remote control device 2701 and sends the signal to the TV device control unit 2723. TV equipment control unit 2
723 receives the signal sent from the television remote control signal receiving section 2722, and determines whether it is a signal for prompting the transmission of menu information or a signal for operation control of the television 2702. When the signal is a signal prompting the transmission of the menu information, the television menu information transmitting unit 2724 is instructed to transmit the menu information. When the signal is a television operation control signal, the control operation of the television 2702 corresponding to the signal is performed.

Upon receiving the menu information transmission instruction from the television device control section 2723, the television menu information transmission section 2724 reads out the television menu information stored in the television menu information storage section 2721 and transmits it to the remote control device 2701. . The video 2703 includes a video menu information storage unit 2731, a video remote control signal reception unit 2732, a video device control unit 2733, and a video menu information transmission unit 2734.

The video menu information storage section 2731 comprises a video menu configuration data storage element 2821, a video display element data storage element 2822, and a video composition instruction data storage element 2823, and stores the menu information of the video 2703. . Video 2703 and TV 27
02 is different from the stored content of the TV menu information storage unit 2721 in the video menu information storage unit 2731, and is almost the same in the other components. Therefore, the description of the video 2703 will be limited to the menu information of the video 2703 stored in the video menu information storage unit 2731.

Video menu configuration data storage element 282
1 stores menu configuration data of the video 2703 shown in FIGS. 29 and 37 to 40. The video display element data storage element 2822 stores the video 2703 shown in FIG.
The display element data of is stored. The video composition instruction data storage element 2823 stores composition instruction data of the video 2703 shown in FIG.

"Calculation = PRIOR" of this synthesis instruction data
As described above, "ITY" means that the menu configuration data described between <synthesis instruction> and </ synthesis instruction> is prioritized when the menu configuration data is synthesized. , And that the shape of the menu configuration data of the video 2703 is preferentially used.

Further, "calculation = ADD" means that additional information is added when the menu configuration data is combined. This is a unit of information to which "message transmission" information, which is the value indicated by "<target>", is added. The "message transmission" information includes information on a message to be transmitted and a destination to which the message is transmitted. The target (“message transmission” information) is specified by “destination = video control”. That is, when there is "message transmission" information matching "<destination> video control", the designated information is added to the designated position. “Before <addition destination>” indicates the position where information is added. In this example, "<other party>"
Indicates that "additional information" is added as preprocessing of "send message" information that matches "video control".
In addition to “before <additional destination>”, there is “after <additional destination>” as a definition of post-processing.

"<Additional information message = video switching
"Destination = TV control> message transmission" indicates the unit of information to be added and the content of the information. That is, in this example, it indicates that additional information regarding "message transmission" is added.
The contents are “<message> video switching”, “<destination> T
Therefore, "<combination instruction calculation = ADD>" and the like in FIG. 42 are the same as the message transmission information of "<message> video switching" and "<destination> TV control". If there is "message transmission" information that matches "<destination> video control", it is indicated that it is added as preprocessing information.

The remote control device 2701 includes an input receiving section 27.
11, a remote control signal transmission unit 2712, a menu information reception unit 2713, a menu information storage unit 2714, a display element data storage unit 2715, and a menu information synthesis unit 2
716, a menu information display control unit 2717, and a menu display unit 2718. The input reception unit 2711 is
A transparent or semi-transparent touch panel on the menu display portion 2718 and input buttons fixedly provided,
Receives input operation from the user. When the transmission request for the menu information of the television 2702 or the video 2703 is accepted by pressing the fixedly provided input button, the remote control signal transmission unit 2712 is notified of the transmission request for the menu information. Similarly, when an instruction to synthesize menu information is received by pressing the input button, the menu information synthesizer 27
16 is notified of the synthesis instruction. In addition, when a touch panel operation (holding down a menu component displayed on the menu display unit 2718 with a finger) is accepted, and when the menu display is changed, the menu information display control unit 2717 is notified of a change instruction corresponding to the menu component. When it is an operation instruction for the television 2702 or the video 2703, the control signal corresponding to the menu component is notified to the remote control signal transmission unit 2712.

Upon receiving the notification of the menu information transmission request from the input reception unit 2711, the remote control signal transmission unit 2712 transmits a remote control signal urging the transmission of the menu information to the television 2702 or the video 2703. Further, when receiving the notification of the control signal from the input reception unit 2711, the notification is converted into a remote control signal and transmitted to the television 2702 or the video 2703.

When the menu information receiving unit 2713 receives the transmission of the menu information of the TV 2702 or the video 2703 from the TV menu information transmitting unit 2724 or the video menu information transmitting unit 2734, the menu information storage unit 271.
4 stores the menu information separately for each electric device such as the television 2702 and the video 2703. The menu information storage unit 2714 stores the menu information received by the menu information receiving unit 2713.

Display element data storage unit 2715 stores display element data that remote control device 2701 has in advance. This display element data is default display element data used when there is no display element data in the received menu information when receiving the menu information of the electric device such as the television 2702 and synthesizing the menu screen.

The menu information synthesizing unit 2716 comprises a read judging unit, a synthesizing instruction counting unit, a TOP synthesizing unit, a panel synthesizing unit, a PRIORITY unit, an ADD unit, and a temporary storage unit. When the read determination unit of the menu information combination unit 2716 receives the notification of the combination instruction from the input reception unit 2711, the read determination unit reads the menu information from the menu information storage unit 2714 and stores the menu information in the temporary storage unit, and the menu information of the plurality of electric devices is stored. Determine if it exists. When it is determined that the menu information of a plurality of electric devices exists, the synthesis instruction counting unit is notified of an instruction for initial value setting. When it is determined that the menu information is for a single electric device, a combination end notification is sent to the menu information display control unit 2717. It is determined whether or not the combination instruction data exists in the menu information. When it is determined that the synthesis instruction data exists, the Nth synthesis instruction data indicated by the counter of the synthesis instruction count unit is taken out, and the operation type “XXX” of “operation = XXX” in the fetched synthesis instruction data is “T”.
"OP composition" operation, "panel composition" operation, "PRIORI"
It is determined whether it is a TY "operation, an" ADD "operation, or neither of them.When it is determined to be a" TOP composition "operation, the TOP composition section is activated, and when it is determined to be a" panel composition "operation, a panel is selected. Start the synthesis section,
When it is judged to be a "PRIORITY" operation, PRIO
When the RITY section is activated and it is determined that the operation is "ADD", the ADD section is activated. If none of them, the combination instruction counting unit is notified of the increment of the counter.

The synthesis instruction counting section counts the number of synthesis instruction data. When receiving the instruction notification of the initial value setting from the read determination unit, N = 1 is set in the counter. Read determination section, TOP combining section, panel combining section, PRIORI
When receiving the increment notification from the TY unit and the ADD unit, the counter is incremented by "1". The TOP synthesizing unit, when activated by the read determining unit, determines whether or not “YYY” of “coupling method = YYY” is either “UNIQ coupling” or “simple coupling”. "U
When it is determined to be "NIQ coupling" or "simple coupling", the electric device number counter is set to M. 1. The menu configuration data of the electric device is sequentially read from the temporary storage unit, and the electric device number counter is incremented by "1". To do.
The definition data of the panel identified by the "top panel" in the menu configuration data of the Mth electrical device is taken out. The attribute definition in the extracted definition data of the top panel is added to the menu configuration data in the temporary storage section as a definition item of the attribute of the panel after composition. Here, the attribute definition is “ααα = β of“ <panel ααα = βββ…> top panel ”.
ββ ... ”. An object defined between“ <panel> ”and“ </ panel> ”in the definition data of the panel identified by“ top panel ”in the menu configuration data of the Mth electrical device. Is added as an object between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" of the panel after composition.
When it is determined that it is not "UNIQ combination" or "simple combination", the combination instruction counting unit is notified of the increment of the counter.

For example, the menu configuration data of the television 2702 shown in FIG.
When the menu configuration data of the video 2703 shown in FIG. 7 is stored, the menu information (top panel) shown in FIG. 43 is simply combined. Therefore, FIG.
Then, simply add the video 2703 to the attribute definition of the TV 2702.
Is added, and all objects of the video 2703 are placed next to the objects defined at the bottom of the television 2702.

When there are duplicate definition items of the attributes of the panel after the combination, the TOP combining unit gives priority to the definition item described first, and the definition items of the attribute described second and subsequent times. Is deleted from the stored contents of the temporary storage unit.
This completes the "simple combination" combining process. Also, it is determined whether or not it is "UNIQ connection". When it is determined to be "UNIQ combination", when an object is described in duplicate between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" of the combined panel, the duplicated object is temporarily stored in the storage unit. Deleted from the stored contents of. In addition, information such as "<v>" and "</ v>", which are information regarding the arrangement, are arranged according to their properties. When it is determined that it is not "UNIQ combination", the synthesis instruction counting unit is notified of the increment of the counter.

For example, in the simply combined top panel shown in FIG. 43, the overlapping attribute definition “character string = video operation menu” is deleted and combined as shown in FIG. Further, in FIG. 44, the duplicate object “<button> setting button” is deleted to be as shown in FIG. 45, and information “<v>” and “<//
v> ″ is rearranged as shown in FIG. 46. This completes the synthesis of the top panel.

The panel synthesizing unit, when activated by the read determining unit, determines whether or not “YYY” of “coupling method = YYY” is “UNIQ coupling” or “simple coupling”. When it is determined to be "UNIQ combination" or "simple combination", the menu configuration data is read from the temporary storage unit, and the number of sets of panels having the same panel identifier in the menu configuration data is calculated. That is, the number of panel sets is
For example, the menu information of the TV 2702 and the video 2703
Menu information of is panel1, panel respectively
2 and panel with identifiers panel3,
And, when there is no other panel having an overlapping identifier in both menu configuration data, it is "3".

Also, "UNIQ connection" or "simple connection"
When it is determined that it is not, the combination instruction counting unit is notified of the increment of the counter. Let K be the calculated number of panel pairs and K be the number counter. It is determined whether K of the set number counter is K> 0. When K> 0, all the menu configuration data relating to a plurality of panels having the Kth set of overlapping panel identifiers are taken out, and the number of panels having the same identifier is calculated and set to L. The calculated panel number L is set in the panel number counter. K> 0
If not, the synthesis instruction counting unit is notified of the increment of the counter. It is determined whether L> 0. L>
When it is 0, the attribute definition of the L-th panel information is all added to the storage contents of the temporary storage unit as the definition item of the attribute of the panel after composition. An object defined between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" in the L-th panel information, which is an object between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" of the panel after composition. Is added to the stored contents of the temporary storage unit. Decrement the panel number counter by "1". When L> 0 is not satisfied, when there are duplicate definition items of the attributes of the panel after composition, the definition items described first are given priority and the definition items of the attributes described second and later are given priority. Delete from the contents stored in the temporary storage unit.

Further, it is judged whether or not the coupling method is "UNIQ coupling". In the case of UNIQ combination, after deleting the duplicated objects described between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" of the panel after composition from the storage contents of the temporary storage unit, Decrement the value of K. For example, the menu information storage unit 2714
When the menu configuration data (setting panel) of the television 2702 shown in FIG. 30 and the menu configuration data (setting panel) of the video 2703 shown in FIG. 37 are stored in FIG. Become. Next, when the objects defined in the same lower order are deleted, the result becomes as shown in FIG. Furthermore, “<v>”, “</ v>”, “<h>”, and “</ h>” related to placement
FIG. 49 shows that the items are organized.

The PRIORITY section, when activated by the read determination section, extracts the device attribute value "device = MMM" from the synthesis instruction data. "<Composition instruction>", "<
/ Shape instruction> ”, the shape information of the device other than the device“ MMM ”is extracted from the shape information of the device“ MMM ”among the shape attributes of the menu configuration data stored in the temporary storage unit. The stored contents of the temporary storage unit are rewritten so as to match the shape attribute.

For example, "PRIORIT" shown in FIG.
In the Y ”calculation, the button shape and the page button shape are displayed on the TV 2.
This means that the attribute value defined in 702 is preferentially used for other menu configuration data (menu configuration data of video 2703). Similarly, in the "PRIORITY" operation shown in FIG.
This means that the attribute value defined in 703 is used preferentially. As a result, as shown in FIG. 50, the button shape and page button shape of the menu configuration data of the television 2702 are used for the combined shape data, and the video 270 is used.
The panel shape of the menu configuration data of No. 3 will be used.

When activated by the read determination unit, the ADD unit extracts "<target BBB = CCC ...>DDD" from the combination instruction data stored in the temporary storage unit. Information that can be identified by “BBB = CCC ...” Is searched from “DDD” of the menu configuration data stored in the temporary storage unit. When there are a plurality of conditions in "BBB = CCC ...", information satisfying all the conditions is searched, and the search data satisfying the conditions are sequentially numbered from 1. The additional number counter p = 1 is set. It is determined whether or not the p-th search data exists, and when it exists, the p-th search data of the menu configuration data in the temporary storage unit is identified by "EEE" of "<addition destination>EEE" of the synthesis instruction data. In the position where it is possible, "<Additional information FFF = GGG ...
">HHH""FFF = GGG ..." is additionally stored as menu configuration data. The value of p of the additional number counter is incremented by "1". When the p-th search data does not exist, the synthesis instruction counting unit is notified of the increment of the counter.

For example, in the "ADD" composition shown in FIG. 42, it means that a control switching operation is added to the video 2703 as a preprocessing for performing the control operation related to the video 2703. That is, the control operation of the video 2703 is performed after switching the control to the video 2703. The temporary storage unit stores the menu information by the read control unit, and the TOP combining unit, the panel combining unit, the PR
The stored contents are added, deleted, or changed by the IORITY unit and the ADD unit.

The menu information display control unit 2717 controls the display of the menu screen of the menu display unit 2718.
When the notification of the end of the menu information combining process is received from the menu information combining unit 2716, the menu information combining unit 27.
The top panel stored in the temporary storage unit synthesized in 16 is controlled to be displayed on the menu display unit 2718. Input reception part 2
Upon receiving the notification of the instruction to change the display screen from 711, display control of the combined menu information stored in the temporary storage unit of the menu information combining unit 2716 is performed according to the change instruction.

The menu information display control unit 2717 displays the television operation menu 5101 shown in FIG. 51 when the menu information of the television 2702 shown in FIGS. 29 to 34 is stored alone in the menu information storage unit 2714. Display control is performed on the unit 2718 as a menu screen. At this time, when the user presses the setting button 5102 as the menu component in the input reception unit 2711, the button shape A becomes a shaded shape. Upon receiving the notification of the change instruction from the input reception unit 2711, the menu information display control unit 2717 reads the menu configuration data from the menu information synthesis unit and controls the display of the setting panel 5103 on the menu display unit 2718. At this time, the size of the setting panel 5103 is controlled to a size suitable for displaying the buttons 5104 and page buttons 5105 which are menu components.

When the menu information of the video 2703 shown in FIGS. 29 and 37 to 40 is stored alone in the menu information storage section 2714, the video operation menu 5201 shown in FIG. 52 is displayed on the menu display section 2718. Control. At this time, when the setting button 5202 of the video operation menu 5201 is pressed, the setting panel 5203
Display control.

The menu display unit 2718 is composed of a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays a menu screen under the control of the menu information display control unit 2717. Menu display 27
18 is a menu information combining unit 2716, which is a television 2702.
And the video 2703 menu information is combined, the menu configuration data (top panel) shown in FIG.
Is displayed as a menu screen as shown in FIG. Further, the menu configuration data (setting panel) shown in FIG. 49 is displayed as a menu screen as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
~ It demonstrates using the flowchart of FIG. A signal is transmitted from the remote control device 2701 to the television 2702 (S
5502). The TV remote control signal receiving unit 2722 receives the signal from the remote control device 2701 (S550).
4). A signal is sent from the TV remote control signal reception unit 2722 to the TV device control unit 2723. TV device controller 27
23 determines whether or not the signal sent from the television remote control signal receiving unit 2722 is a signal for prompting the transmission of menu information (S5508). When the signal is a signal prompting the transmission of the menu information, the television menu information transmission unit 2724 is notified of an instruction to transmit the menu information of the television stored in the television menu information storage unit 2721 (S551).
0). If it is not a signal to send menu information, S
Move to 5518.

The television menu information transmitting section 2724 reads out the menu information and transmits it to the remote control device 2701 (S5512). The menu information receiving unit 2713 of the remote control device 2701 receives the menu information of the television (S5514). The menu information receiving unit 2713 stores the menu information of the television in the menu information storage unit 2714 (S5516).

At S5518, the television device controller 2
Reference numeral 723 controls the television 2702 corresponding to the transmitted signal. The same operation is performed between the remote control device 2701 and the video 2703, so the description thereof will be omitted. The read determination unit of the menu synthesis unit 2716 determines whether or not the stored information of the menu information storage unit 2714 includes menu information of a plurality of electric devices (S560).
2) When there is menu information for a plurality of electric devices, the synthesis instruction counting unit is notified of an instruction for initial value setting,
The composition instruction counting unit sets N = 1 (S560).
4). When only the menu information of one electric device exists, the combining process ends.

The read determination unit is the menu information storage unit 2
It is determined whether or not the Nth combination instruction data exists in the combination instruction data stored in 714. When it exists, the N-th composition instruction data is taken out, and when it does not exist, the composition processing ends (S5606). The read determination unit determines that “computation = XX in the extracted combination instruction data.
By interpreting "XXX" of "X", it is determined whether or not the type of operation indicated by the combining instruction data is "TOP combining" operation (S5608).
The P synthesizing unit is activated, and the TOP synthesizing unit displays “combining method = YY
It is determined whether "YYY" of "Y" is "UNIQ combination" or "simple combination" (S5610).
If it is not the "composite" operation, the process moves to S5628.
If it is "IQ coupling" or "simple coupling", the electric device number counter is set to M. If it is neither "UNIQ coupling" nor "simple coupling", move to S5662. Menu of Mth electrical device (S5614), the definition data of the panel identified by the "top panel" in the menu configuration data of the Mth electrical device is extracted, and the attribute definition in the extracted definition data of the top panel is extracted. Is added as a definition item of the attribute of the panel after composition (S5616) If there is no menu information of the Mth electrical device, the process proceeds to S5622.

After combining the objects defined between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" in the definition data of the panel identified by "top panel" in the menu configuration data of the Mth electrical device It is added as an object between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" of the panel (S5618). The electric device number counter is incremented, and the process returns to S5614 (S5620). In S5622, if there are overlapping definition items of the attributes of the panel after composition, the definition item that appears first is given priority,
The definition item of the attribute that appears after the second time is deleted.

It is judged whether or not the coupling method is "UNIQ coupling" (S5624), and if it is "UNIQ coupling", it is determined that the "<panel>" and "</ panel>" between the combined panels are If the objects are duplicated, the duplicated object is deleted. That is, if the identifiers are the same, it is determined that they are the same object (S5626) and S566.
Move to 2. When it is not "UNIQ combination", S566
Move to 2.

In S5628, the read determination unit
It is judged whether or not the fetched combination instruction data is the "panel combining" operation, and if it is the "panel combining" operation, the panel combining section is activated, and the panel combining section causes the "combining method = YY".
It is determined whether or not "YYY" of Y "is" UNIQ combination "or" simple combination "(S5630). If it is not the" panel composition "operation, the process proceeds to S5642.
If it is a "Q coupling" or a "simple coupling", S560
In step 2, the number of sets of panels having the same panel identifier in the menu information read by the read determination unit is calculated. The calculated number of sets of panels is K (S5632). It is determined whether K> 0 (S5634). If K> 0, then K
All the menu configuration data relating to a plurality of panels having overlapping panel identifiers in the set are retrieved (S563).
6). If K> 0 is not satisfied, the procedure moves to S5662. S56
A plurality of menu configuration data extracted in 36 are combined. Details of the operation of synthesizing the menu configuration data are S57
It will be described after 02. K = K-1 (S5640),
It returns to S5634.

The read judgment unit judges whether the read combination instruction data is the "PRIORITY" operation (S5).
642), when it is a "PRIORITY" operation,
Start the PRIORITY section, and the PRIORITY section
The device attribute value “device = MMM” is taken out from the synthesis instruction data (S5644). The PRIORITY unit extracts the shape information surrounded by "<combination instruction>" and "<combination instruction>" (S5646). The device shape "M" is added to the extracted shape information.
Match the shape information of devices other than MM "(S564
8) proceeds to S5662.

The read judgment unit judges whether or not the read combination instruction data is the "ADD" operation (S5650),
When the operation is the "ADD" operation, the ADD unit is activated and A
The DD unit determines “<target BBB = CC” from the synthesis instruction data.
C ...> DDD "is retrieved, and information that can be identified by" BBB = CCC ... "Is searched from" DDD "of the menu configuration data. If there are multiple conditions in" BBB = CCC ... " , Suppose that information satisfying all the conditions is retrieved (S5652) .Additional number counter p = 1 is set (S5654).
It is determined whether or not the p-th search data exists in the data of D "(S5656). When the p-th search data exists,"<additiondestination> EEE "is added to the p-th search data. “FFF = G” of “<additional information FFF = GGG ...> HHH” is displayed at a position that can be identified by “EEE”.
Data having the content of "GG ..." is added (S565).
8). The value of the additional number counter p is incremented (S5
660) and the procedure returns to S5656. When the p-th search data does not exist, the combination instruction counting unit is notified of the increment of the counter (S5662), and the process returns to S5606.

In S5702, the panel synthesizing unit calculates the number of panels having the same identifier as L. L>
It is determined whether it is 0 (S5704). When L> 0, all the attribute definitions of the L-th panel are added as attribute definition items of the combined panel (S5706).
An object defined between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" in the L-th panel information, and an object between "<panel>" and "</ panel>" of the panel after composition. Is added (S5708). L = L-1 is set (S5710), and the process returns to S5704. When L> 0 is not satisfied, when there are duplicated attribute definition items of the panel after composition, the definition item of the attribute that appears first is given priority and the definition item of the attribute that appears after the second time is deleted. (S5712). It is determined whether the connection method is "UNIQ connection" (S5714). When it is “UNIQ combination”, when the objects between “<panel>” and “</ panel>” of the combined panel are duplicated, the duplicated objects are deleted (S57).
16) and returns to S5640. If it is not "UNIQ combination", the process returns to S5640.

In S5622, the TOP synthesizing unit describes the duplicate attribute definitions after the second one stored in the temporary storage unit, but prioritizes the electric devices and gives the highest priority according to the priority. You may make it employ | adopt the attribute definition of a high electric equipment. In addition, S56
In 26, the TOP synthesizing unit deletes the duplicate object from the same object described in the second and subsequent ones stored in the temporary storage unit, but prioritizes the electric devices and follows the priority order. You may make it employ | adopt the object of the electric equipment with the highest priority.

Further, in S5646, PRIOR
Although the TY unit extracts the shape information in order to match the shape data with the menu configuration data of a specific device, the character color, the operation, the arrangement, and the timeout time of the panel (erasing after a fixed time after the panel is displayed are deleted. These attribute information may be retrieved so as to match other attribute definitions such as (displayed time attribute value) up to.

Note that in this embodiment mode, the television 2702 is used.
Although the two menu information of the video 2703 and the video 2703 are combined, the electric device is not limited to these two, and three or more menu information such as an air conditioner and an audio may be combined. Further, in the present embodiment, a part of the input reception unit 2711 is a touch panel, but instead of the touch panel, the cross-shaped cursor key may be used to operate the menu component displayed on the menu display unit 2718. .

[0092]

As described above, according to the present invention, menu information is synthesized from a plurality of devices and one menu screen for controlling the plurality of devices is displayed to facilitate device control. You can In addition, the synthesized menus are displayed hierarchically, so you can easily select menus.
Panels with the same name can be combined into one panel for easy operation, and the shapes of the menu parts can be matched so that the appearance of the menu screen can be unified.

By operating the menu parts on the menu screen, it is possible to easily control a plurality of devices. Also, a plurality of menu information items can be combined to easily simulate a menu screen for controlling a plurality of devices.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of a menu information composition device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of first menu information stored in a first menu storage unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of first menu information stored in a first menu storage unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a display example of a menu of the television in the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a part of a synthesis rule stored in a synthesis rule storage unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of second menu information stored in a second menu storage unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a display example of a combined menu in the above embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a display example of a video menu in the above embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of menu information for creating a video table of contents stored in a second menu storage section in the above embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a display example of a combined menu in the above embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the menu information synthesizing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of menu information of the air conditioner in the above embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by the menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of menu information combined by a menu combining unit in the above embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a display example of a combined menu in the above embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a display example of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a configuration diagram of a third embodiment of the menu information synthesizing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a configuration diagram of a third embodiment of the menu information synthesizing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing the contents (class definition) of menu configuration data stored in the television menu configuration data storage element and the video menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the contents (panel configuration definition) of menu configuration data stored in the television menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing contents (button configuration definition) of menu configuration data stored in the television menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing the content (shape definition) of menu configuration data stored in the television menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing the content (operation definition) of menu configuration data stored in the television menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing contents of display element data stored in the television display element storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 35 is a diagram showing the content of combination instruction data stored in the television combination instruction data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram showing a hierarchical relationship of classes to which an object belongs in the above embodiment.

FIG. 37 is a diagram showing the contents (panel configuration definition) of menu configuration data stored in the video menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing the contents (button configuration definition) of menu configuration data stored in the video menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 39 is a diagram showing the content (shape definition) of menu configuration data stored in the video menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 40 is a diagram showing contents (operation definition) of menu configuration data stored in the video menu configuration data storage element in the above embodiment.

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing the content of display element data stored in the video display element storage element in the above embodiment.

[Fig. 42] Fig. 42 is a diagram showing the content of synthesis instruction data stored in the video synthesis instruction data storage element in the above embodiment.

43 is a diagram showing the contents of menu configuration data when the top panels shown in FIGS. 30 and 40 in the above embodiment are simply combined.

FIG. 44 is a diagram showing the contents of menu configuration data when the top panels in the above embodiment are combined by simple combination.

FIG. 45 is a top panel UN in the above-described embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the content of the menu structure data of the synthetic | combination process which leads to IQ connection.

FIG. 46 shows the top panel according to the above-described embodiment UN
It is a figure which shows the content of the menu structure data when it synthesize | combined by IQ connection.

FIG. 47 is a diagram showing the contents of menu configuration data when the setting panels in the above embodiment are simply combined.

FIG. 48 is a diagram showing the contents of menu configuration data when the setting panels in the above embodiment are combined by simple combination.

FIG. 49 shows the setting panel UNI in the above-described embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the content of the menu structure data when it synthesize | combined by Q coupling.

[Fig. 50] Fig. 50 is a diagram showing the contents of the shape data after combination in the above embodiment.

FIG. 51 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of menu configuration data of the television in the above embodiment.

[Fig. 52] Fig. 52 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of video menu configuration data in the above embodiment.

[Fig. 53] Fig. 53 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a top panel in which menu information of television and video is combined in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[Fig. 54] Fig. 54 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a setting panel on which menu information of television and video is combined in the above-mentioned embodiment.

FIG. 55 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 56 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 57 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 TV body 102 video body 111 First Menu Storage 112 synthesis rule storage unit 113 Menu Composition Department 114 Menu receiver 115 Menu display section 116 Equipment control signal transmitter 117 TV side signal receiver 118 TV operating unit 119 Remote control signal receiver 120 display 121 Second menu storage section 123 Menu transmission section 124 Video side signal receiver 125 Video operation unit 126 remote control 1901 Menu information transmission reminder 1902 Menu receiver 1903 Menu composition section 1904 Menu display section 1905 Device control signal transmitter 2701 Remote control device 2702 TV 2703 Stationary video 2711 Input reception part 2712 Remote control signal transmitter 2713 Menu information receiver 2714 Menu information storage unit 2715 display element data storage unit 2716 Menu information composition section 2717 Menu information display controller 2718 Menu display section 2721 TV menu information storage unit 2722 TV remote control signal receiver 2723 TV equipment control unit 2724 TV menu information transmitter 2731 Video menu information storage unit 2732 Video remote control signal receiver 2733 Video equipment control unit 2734 Video menu information transmission unit 2811 TV menu configuration data storage element 2812 TV display element data storage element 2813 Television composition instruction data storage element 2821 Video menu configuration data storage element 2822 Video display element data storage element 2823 Video composition instruction data storage element

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information, the first menu information fetching step of fetching first menu information, and the second menu information fetching step of fetching second menu information. And a menu information generating step of generating new menu information by synthesizing the first and second menu information at the highest level of the menu. 2. A menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information, wherein first menu information having panel information is taken out.
Second menu information retrieval step, and second menu information retrieval panel information including panel information
And a second panel identifier for identifying a second panel included in the second menu information, the first panel identifier for identifying the first panel included in the first menu information, and the second panel identifier for identifying the second panel included in the second menu information are constant. A menu including a menu information generating step of performing panel synthesizing processing in which an object forming the first panel and an object forming the second panel are included in one panel when the relationship is satisfied and new panel information is generated. Information synthesis method. 3. A menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information, the first menu information fetching step of fetching first menu information, and the second menu information fetching step of fetching second menu information. And the attribute of the first object included in the first menu information is the same as the attribute of the second object included in the second menu information, the attribute value of the second object is set to the attribute of the first object. And a menu information generating step of generating new menu information matching the value. 4. The menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information, wherein the attribute of the object is a shape attribute. 5. A menu information synthesizing method for synthesizing a plurality of menu information, the first menu information fetching step of fetching first menu information, and the second menu information fetching step of fetching second menu information. And when the identifier of the first motion information included in the first menu information and the identifier of the second motion information included in the second menu information have a certain relationship, the second motion is included in the first motion information. A menu information synthesizing method comprising: a menu information generating step of adding information to generate new motion information.