JP2005038166A - Information display system, informed display method, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information display system displaying setting information of an electronic apparatus while maintaining compatibility of each machine type and to provide an information display method and a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: An information display device inquires of a definition file describing a setting item an audio reproduction device (4-1). On the basis of a response 4-2 from the audio reproduction device, the information display device reads the text file from the storage medium such as an HDD previously storing it (4-3). The information display device displays setting information such as setting item and a setting value (4-5) based on the text file read in the step 4-3 and the setting data (4-4) transmitted from the sound reproduction device. When the setting value is changed (4-6), the setting data of the changed setting item are transmitted to the sound reproduction device (4-7). The sound reproduction device changes the setting based on the received setting data for controlling a sound volume and the like (4-8). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information display system, an information display method, and a recording medium that display, change, and control setting information of other devices.

  In recent years, electronic devices such as homes and offices are equipped with memories such as control ICs and ROMs in order to achieve multi-functions, and furthermore, have a display for displaying various setting items. There are many. However, most of the displays do not have a sufficient display area like digital cameras and facsimiles.

  In view of this, a technique has been proposed in which even a device that does not have a display function or a device that does not have sufficient display capability can be displayed using a display device connected on a network (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  On the other hand, in recent electronic devices such as AV (Audio Visual) amplifiers and video decks, in order to realize various functions, an OSD is configured to display setting items on a display connected to the electronic device and perform settings while watching the setting items. (On Screen Display) function is provided. However, devices having this OSD function are limited to devices that can be connected to a display, and devices must be operated directly when changing settings. Further, when performing complicated settings, the operation manual must be referred to, which is troublesome for the user. Furthermore, an OSD program must be provided in the microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as a microcomputer) of the electronic device, leading to an increase in the cost of the device.

  In order to solve such a problem of the OSD function, a PC application for displaying device setting information on a PC (Personal Computer) display is attached to the device.

JP 2002-049539 A

  However, in the conventional method as described above, since the setting information of the device is defined in the application program, an application for each device is required.

  In this way, if the definition of the setting information is determined between the PC and the device in advance, the information that can be displayed is limited, and accordingly, the control performed on the device is also limited. Therefore, if the same device is upgraded, the application must be upgraded, and new application development and maintenance costs are required.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of such a conventional situation, an information display system and an information display method capable of displaying and changing setting information of an electronic device while maintaining compatibility for each model, It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording medium.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, an information display system according to the present invention includes an electronic device and an information display device that displays and changes setting information of the electronic device, and the electronic device, the information display device, and the like. Is an information display system capable of communicating with each other, wherein the information display device displays the setting information based on setting data of the electronic device and a definition file of the setting information of the electronic device, Control means for changing and controlling the setting information displayed on the display means, and communication means for transmitting setting data corresponding to the changed setting information to the electronic device, the electronic device from the information display device A communication unit that receives the transmitted setting data; and a control unit that controls a setting state based on the setting data received by the communication unit. It is characterized in that it is a text file in which a plurality of item names are described to be set also.

  Further, the definition file includes setting items and identification data of the setting items, so that the setting items can be classified.

  Furthermore, since the setting data includes identification data and setting values of setting items, only setting data of changed items can be transmitted to the electronic device.

  Furthermore, when there are a plurality of definition files related to the electronic device, the information display device can further include a selection unit that selects a desired definition file from the plurality of definition files, thereby displaying desired setting information. It becomes possible.

  In addition, a request signal for requesting a definition file name is transmitted to the electronic device via the communication means of the information display device, and the definition file that has been stored in advance by receiving the response definition file name is stored. By controlling the reading, it is possible to display only by communication.

  Furthermore, a definition signal is directly transmitted from the electronic device by transmitting a request signal for requesting the definition file to the electronic device via the communication means of the information display device, and acquiring the definition file from the electronic device. The file can be acquired.

  An information display method according to the present invention includes an electronic device and an information display device that displays and changes setting information of the electronic device, and the electronic device and the information display device can communicate with each other. An information display method, an acquisition step of acquiring a definition file of setting information of the electronic device, and a display step of displaying the setting information based on setting data and the definition file transmitted from the electronic device; A change step for changing and controlling the setting information displayed in the display step; and a control step for controlling the setting state of the electronic device based on the setting data corresponding to the setting information changed in the change step. It is characterized by.

  A recording medium according to the present invention includes an electronic device and an information display device that displays and changes setting information of the electronic device, and the electronic device and the information display device can communicate with each other. A recording medium on which an information display program is recorded, wherein the setting is performed based on an acquisition step of acquiring a definition file of setting information of the electronic device, setting data transmitted from the electronic device, and the definition file. A display step for displaying information, a change step for changing and controlling the setting information displayed in the display step, and a setting state of the electronic device based on setting data corresponding to the setting information changed in the changing step And a control step.

  According to the information display system, the information display method, and the recording medium according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a compatible application by displaying the setting information based on the setting data and the definition file.

  The definition file is a text file in which a plurality of item names to be set are described, and can be easily rewritten.

  Furthermore, the definition file can classify setting items by including setting items and identification data of the setting items.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information display system. The information display system in FIG. 1 includes an information display device 1 using, for example, a so-called PC (Personal Computer), and a sound reproduction device 2 as an example of an electronic device. The information display device 1 and the sound reproduction device 2 are connected by a serial communication cable (RS232C, USB, IEEE1394, etc.) 3. The setting information of the sound reproducing device 2 is displayed on the display 4 of the information display device 1, and the display information on the display 4 is also updated when the setting of the sound reproducing device 2 is changed. Further, when the display information on the display 4 is changed by the operation of the information display device 1, the setting of the sound reproducing device 2 is also updated.

  In the information display system shown in FIG. 1, for example, an application program is installed in the information display device 1 from a CD-ROM attached to the sound reproduction device 2. The application program and setting information definition file obtained from the CD-ROM drive 9 are stored in the hard disk device (HDD) 8 via the input / output interface 10a. The CD-ROM further includes a definition file in which setting items of the sound reproducing device 2 are described, and a plurality of definition files can be stored in the HDD 8. This setting information definition file expresses a hierarchical structure with text data, and the setting items and their values can be expressed with setting data, as will be described later. Note that the application program and the setting information definition file may be available from various media such as the Internet.

  A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 5 reads and executes the program stored in the ROM 6 or the HDD 8 via the internal bus 11. The RAM 7 temporarily stores programs executed by the CPU 5, setting values generated by the execution of the programs, and the like. The processing result of the CPU 5 is displayed on the display 4 via the input / output interface 10d, and is transmitted to the sound reproducing device 2 via the input / output interface 10c.

  The sound reproducing device 2 is connected to the information display device 1 by a serial communication cable 3 and communicates with each other via an input / output interface 12. The signal processing unit 14 controls the volume and the like based on the control signal input from the control unit 13.

  Next, a description will be given of the correspondence between the setting information definition file and the setting data for maintaining compatibility.

  The definition file includes text data in which at least a plurality of item names to be set are entered in order, and setting values corresponding to the order are handled as setting data. For example, if the setting item is a definition file displayed in the order of “A, B, C”, the setting values [a, b, c] corresponding to the order of the items may be used as the setting data.

  Further, identification data (or address data indicating the display position) may be attached to the setting item of the definition file. For example, a definition file having a plurality of sets each having identification data attached to a setting item such as “1, A, 2, B, 3, C” can be used. In this case, the setting data is represented as [1, a, 2, b, 3, c], but since the setting value can be confirmed by correspondence with the address value, [2, b, 3, c, 1, a ], The order can be changed, and only the changed setting value such as [2, b ′] can be used as setting data.

  In addition, the setting information definition file with the identification data can be expanded to a hierarchical data structure. This will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a part of a definition information example of setting information, and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the setting information in FIG. That is, for example, the small item “Front Bass Gain” of the definition file shown in FIG. 2 is a setting item, and “2, 0, 0” added in front of the setting item is identification data. In FIG. 2, “$ (EQUALIZER)” $ indicates a large item, and “# (EQ BANK1)” # indicates a medium item. In addition, in the definition file, for example, for “Front Bass Gain”, the setting value range “-20 to 20” and detailed information such as units “−10 dB: (−20) to +10 dB” : (20) "is also included.

  The definition file in FIG. 2 is a file having a three-layer structure as shown in the left frame of the display example in FIG. Numbers representing positions (addresses) from the top of this hierarchical structure are assigned as 0, 1, 2,. Therefore, for example, the setting item “Front Bass Gain” has the third item “$ (EQUALIZER)” from the top of the large item, the first item “# (EQ BANK1)” from the top of the middle item, and the item 1 from the top of the small item. The identification data is represented by “2,0,0”.

  The setting data may be obtained by adding a setting value to the above-described identification data. For example, the setting data representing the value “0” of the setting item “Front Bass Gain” shown in FIG. 3 is [2, 0, 0, 0]. .

  As described above, if the electronic device side such as the sound playback device defines the correspondence between the setting items and the setting values and creates a file, the compatibility of the application can be maintained.

  In addition, if the definition file is a text file, it is easy to change the item name of the setting item, so that it is possible to cope with multilingual languages. You just need to create a dedicated text file.

  Further, if the setting data is added to the identification data indicating the position of the setting item, when the displayed setting value is changed, only the setting data of the changed item needs to be transmitted to the electronic device. Therefore, the amount of data between the information display device and the electronic device can be reduced.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the procedure until the setting information of the sound reproducing device 2 is displayed and changed. First, for example, an application program and a definition file (text file) of setting information of the sound playback device 2 are installed in the information display device 1 from a CD-ROM or the like attached to the sound playback device 2. The definition file defines the correspondence between setting items and setting values in a text file.

  The information display device 1 inquires about the text file name in which the setting item is described in the sound reproducing device 2 (4-1), and the sound reproducing device 2 responds to the inquiry of 4-1 (4-2). Based on the responded text file name, the information display device 1 reads the text file from a recording medium such as the HDD 8 that stores the text file in advance (4-3). The information display device 1 displays setting information such as setting items and setting values based on the text file read in 4-3 and the setting data (4-4) transmitted from the sound reproduction device 2 (4-5). The displayed setting items can be changed by mouse and keyboard input. When the setting value is changed (4-6), the setting data of the changed setting item is transmitted to the sound reproducing device 2 (4-7). The sound reproducing device 2 changes the setting based on the received setting data and controls the volume and the like (4-8).

  Although the example of the setting data shown in FIG. 4 includes the identification data indicating the position of the setting item and the setting value, only the setting value may be used as the setting data as described above.

  In the above procedure, the definition file is stored in advance in the information display device 1, but the definition file may be obtained from the sound reproduction device 2. In this case, the information display device 1 requests a definition file, and the sound reproducing device 2 transmits a definition file stored in a ROM or the like.

  As described above, the settings of the sound reproducing device 2 can be changed only by transmitting and receiving the setting data defined in the definition file, and compatibility is maintained.

  In the above method, the file name of the definition file is inquired and one type of definition file corresponding to the text file name is read. For example, even when there are a plurality of definition files related to electronic devices, the folder name in which they are stored is changed. A desired definition file may be selected by making an inquiry. This will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 5, first, the information display device 1 inquires the sound reproduction device 2 about the name of the folder containing the setting information definition file (5-1). The sound reproducing device 2 responds to the inquiry 5-1 (5-2). In this example, the 9000 folder in FIG. 6 corresponds to the ENU.txt English file and the JPN.txt Japanese file. If there are a plurality of definition files in the folder having the responded folder name, the information display device 1 displays a definition file selection screen for selecting one of the definition files (5-3). In the example of FIG. 6, there are an ENU.txt English file and a JPN.txt Japanese file. After the language is selected by the user, the definition file for the selected language is read from a recording medium such as the HDD 8 (5-4). The information display device 1 displays setting information such as setting items and setting values based on the text file read in 5-4 and the setting data (5-5) transmitted from the sound reproducing device 2 (5-6).

  Note that the folder must be stored in the information display device 1 in advance, but the folder and the definition file may be obtained from the sound reproducing device 2 as described above.

  In this way, if the folder name is inquired, a large amount of text data can be put in the folder, so that it is possible to use multilingual or personal preference item names.

  An HTML file or an XML file may be used instead of the text file. For example, the set value may be described in association with a tag corresponding to the identification data. If an HTML file or the like is used, an illustration or the like can be inserted, and it can be linked to a file to be explained, which makes it easy for the user to use.

  In addition, since the setting items can be displayed as a list with text data, the user can see at a glance what settings are possible, and change the setting values of the displayed setting items without touching the few setting buttons on the sound playback device. it can.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of an information display system. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of an example definition information definition file. FIG. 3 is a view showing a display example of the setting information of FIG. It is a figure explaining the procedure until the setting information of a sound reproducing device is displayed and changed. It is a figure explaining the procedure until it displays the setting information of the sound reproduction apparatus corresponding to the folder containing a plurality of setting definition files. It is a figure which shows the example of a folder containing the setting information corresponding to a multilingual language.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information display apparatus, 2 Sound reproduction apparatus, 3 Serial communication cable, 4 Display, 5 CPU, 6 ROM, 7 RAM, 8 Hard disk drive (HDD), 9 CD-ROM drive, 10 ad input / output interface, 11 Internal bus , 12 input / output interface, 13 control unit, 14 signal processing unit

Claims (8)

An information display system comprising an electronic device and an information display device for displaying and changing setting information of the electronic device, wherein the electronic device and the information display device can communicate with each other,
The information display device
Display means for displaying the setting information based on the setting data of the electronic device and a definition file of the setting information of the electronic device;
Control means for changing and controlling the setting information displayed by the display means;
Communication means for transmitting the setting data corresponding to the changed setting information to the electronic device,
The electronic device
Communication means for receiving setting data transmitted from the information display device;
Control means for controlling the setting state based on the setting data received by the communication means,
The definition file is a text file in which at least item names to be set are described.   2. The information display system according to claim 1, wherein the definition file includes a setting item and identification data of the setting item.   The information display system according to claim 1, wherein the setting data includes identification data and setting values of setting items.   The information display system according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit that selects a desired definition file from the plurality of definition files when there are a plurality of definition files related to the electronic device.   A request signal for requesting a definition file name is transmitted to the electronic device via the communication means of the information display device, and the definition file name received and stored in advance is read and controlled. The information display system according to claim 1, wherein:   2. The information according to claim 1, wherein a request signal for requesting the definition file is transmitted to the electronic device via the communication means of the information display device, and the definition file is acquired from the electronic device. Display system. An information display method for an information display system comprising an electronic device and an information display device for displaying and changing setting information of the electronic device, wherein the electronic device and the information display device can communicate with each other,
An acquisition step of acquiring a definition file of setting information of the electronic device;
A display step for displaying the setting information based on the setting data transmitted from the electronic device and the definition file;
A change step for changing and controlling the setting information displayed in the display step;
A control step of controlling a setting state of the electronic device based on setting data corresponding to the setting information changed in the changing step. An information display program of an information display system is recorded that includes an electronic device and an information display device that displays and changes setting information of the electronic device, and the electronic device and the information display device can communicate with each other. A recording medium comprising:
An acquisition step of acquiring a definition file of setting information of the electronic device;
A display step for displaying the setting information based on the setting data transmitted from the electronic device and the definition file;
A change step for changing and controlling the setting information displayed in the display step;
And a control step for controlling a setting state of the electronic device based on setting data corresponding to the setting information changed in the changing step. A recording medium on which a computer-readable program is recorded.

Images