JP2006129104A - Apparatus control unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus control unit which can control selectively to any one of a plurality of apparatuses with a simple configuration. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus control unit (for example, recorder 12a) detects address information allocated to each of three recorders 12a, 12b and 12c; detects respective device information "A<SB>-</SB>x", "B<SB>-</SB>y", and "A<SB>-</SB>x"; and registers the detected address information and the detected model information for every recorder. In the case of the registration, if the existence of the recorder of the same model becomes clear based on the detected model information, different extender is given to the model information of the corresponding recorder. For this, the "A<SB>-</SB>x<SB>-</SB>1" and "A<SB>-</SB>x<SB>-</SB>2" are respectively registered for the recorders 12a and 12c. When the recorders are controlled, the registered model information is provided to the user, and a selecting operation is received which selects any one of the three sets of recorders. An instruction is transmitted to the selected recorder based on the registered address information. Consequently, any one of a plurality of apparatuses can be selectively controlled with a simple configuration. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a device control apparatus, and more particularly, to a device control apparatus that selectively controls any one of a plurality of devices.

  Conventionally, an example of this type of device is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In this prior art, address information is assigned to each of a plurality of devices, and a dedicated remote controller is attached. A signal transmitted from each remote controller includes model information of a device to which the remote controller is attached. A conventional device control apparatus registers model information and address information for each device.

When the user wants to control any one of a plurality of devices, the user operates a remote control attached to the device. When receiving a signal from the remote controller, the conventional device control apparatus transmits a command to the device indicated by the model information included in the received signal based on the registered address information. Thereby, any one of a plurality of devices can be selectively controlled.
JP 2003-219486 A [H04Q 9/00, H04L 12/28]

  However, in the prior art, since the user selects a device to be controlled through an act of selecting one of a plurality of remote controllers, the same number of remote controllers as the number of devices are required.

  Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a device control apparatus capable of selectively controlling any one of a plurality of devices with a simple configuration.

  The device control apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention detects connection means for connecting to a plurality of devices, first detection means for detecting address information allocated to each of the plurality of devices, and model information of each of the plurality of devices. Second detection means, registration means for registering the address information detected by the first detection means and model information detected by the second detection means for each device, and outputting a plurality of model information registered by the registration means First receiving means for receiving a selection operation for selecting any one of the devices, and transmission means for transmitting a command to the device selected by the selection operation based on the address information registered by the registration means.

  When the connection means is connected to a plurality of devices, the first detection means detects address information assigned to each of the plurality of devices, and the second detection means detects model information of each of the plurality of devices. The address information detected by the first detection means and the model information detected by the second detection means are registered for each device by the registration means. The first accepting unit outputs the model information registered by the registering unit, and accepts a selection operation for selecting any one of a plurality of devices. The transmission unit transmits a command to the device selected by the selection operation based on the address information registered by the registration unit.

  When connected to multiple devices, it detects the address information assigned to each of the multiple devices, detects each model information, and registers the detected address information and the detected model information for each device. Keep it. When controlling a device, it outputs a registered model information, accepts a selection operation for selecting any one of a plurality of devices, and instructs a selected device based on the registered address information. Send. Thereby, any one of a plurality of devices can be selectively controlled with a simple configuration.

  Note that the device can be selected with a simple configuration even if the registered address information is output instead of the registered model information. However, in this case, the user must memorize the correspondence between the address information and the device. On the other hand, if the model information is output, the user can intuitively recognize the correspondence between the model information and the device, so that it is not necessary to store the correspondence.

  A device control apparatus according to the invention of claim 2 is dependent on claim 1, and is a discriminating unit that discriminates whether or not a plurality of devices include devices of the same model based on the model information registered by the registering unit, and When the determination result of the determination means is affirmative, the information processing apparatus further includes an adding means for adding extensions for distinguishing devices of the same model from the model information registered by the registration means.

  The discriminating unit discriminates whether or not a plurality of devices include devices of the same model based on the model information registered by the registering unit. When the determination result is affirmative, the adding unit adds an extension for distinguishing devices of the same model from the model information registered by the registering unit. As a result, even if a plurality of devices of the same model are included, there is no possibility of confusion during the selection operation.

  The device control apparatus according to the invention of claim 3 is dependent on claim 1 or 2, and further comprises a second accepting means for accepting an input operation for inputting desired character information in relation to acceptance of the first accepting means, and is registered. The means further registers the character information input by the input operation as the name of the device selected by the selection operation.

  The second accepting unit accepts an input operation for inputting desired character information in association with the acceptance of the first accepting unit. The registration means further registers the character information input by the input operation as the name of the device selected by the selection operation.

  When an input operation for inputting desired character information is performed in connection with a selection operation for selecting one of a plurality of devices, the input character information is registered as a name of the selected device. That is, the address information, model information, and name are registered for the selected device.

  The device control apparatus according to the invention of claim 4 is dependent on claim 3, and the first receiving means outputs a name instead of the model information for a device in which the name is registered.

  According to the third and fourth aspects of the invention, it is possible to add a name only to a desired device. For a device to which a name is added, the name is presented instead of the model information in the selection operation. As a result, a more accurate selection operation can be performed while suppressing the operation amount.

  A program according to the invention of claim 5 is a program executed by a processor of a device control apparatus that selectively controls any one of a plurality of devices, wherein a connection step for connecting to the plurality of devices, A first detection step for detecting address information assigned to each of the plurality of devices, a second detection step for detecting model information of each of the plurality of devices, address information detected by the first detection step, and detection by the second detection step Registration is performed by a registration step for registering the model information for each device, a first reception step for outputting the model information registered in the registration step and receiving a selection operation for selecting any one of a plurality of devices, and a registration step. Transmitting step for transmitting a command to the device selected by the selection operation based on the received address information Provided.

  According to the present invention, the address information and the model information are registered for each device, the registered model information is output, a selection operation for selecting any one of a plurality of devices is accepted, and registered. Since the command is transmitted to the selected device based on the address information, any one of the plurality of devices can be selectively controlled with a simple configuration.

  The above object, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the content recording system 10 of the present invention includes three video recorders 12a, 12b and 12c. The video recorder 12a is an x-type recorder of company A, the video recorder 12b is a y-type recorder of company B, and the video recorder 12c is an x-type recorder of company A. Therefore, model information “A_x”, “B_y”, and “A_x” are recorded in the video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c, respectively. That is, the video recorders 12a and 12c are the same model and have the same model information.

  The video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c are installed in the living room, bedroom, and child room, respectively, and are connected to each other via the LAN 14. Therefore, the IP addresses “192.168.1.9”, “192.168.1.10”, and “192.168.1.11” are assigned to the video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c by the LAN 14, respectively. The nicknames “living room”, “bedroom”, and “kid's room” are assigned by the user.

  The video recorder 12a is configured as shown in FIG. The video recorders 12b and 12c are configured similarly. Referring to FIG. 2, video recorder 12a includes a decoder 20a. A broadcast signal received by an antenna (not shown) is decoded into a video signal by the decoder 20a. The video signal output from the decoder 20a is given to the MPEG codec 22a and subjected to MPEG compression processing. The compressed video signal output from the MPEG codec 22a is recorded on the hard disk 36a by a hard disk drive (HDD) 34a, and then read from the hard disk 36a by the same HDD 34a.

  The compressed video signal read from the hard disk 36a is given to the MPEG codec 22a and subjected to MPEG expansion processing. The video signal output from the MPEG codec 22a is encoded into a composite video signal by the encoder 24a. The composite video signal output from the encoder 24a is input to a television monitor (not shown).

  Here, as an example, a case where a broadcast signal according to an analog system is received and the received broadcast signal is recorded on the hard disk 36a (36b, 36c) is shown. Since the present invention does not depend on the signal format or the recording method, the application target is not limited to the configuration shown in FIGS. For example, the broadcast signal input to the decoder 20a (20b, 20c) may be a digital signal, and the medium for recording the signal may be an optical disk or a semiconductor memory.

  Thereby, the compressed video signal of the program is recorded on the hard disk 36a, and the video of the same program is displayed on a monitor (not shown). Hereinafter, a video signal for one program is referred to as “content”.

  The above-described model information “A_x”, “B_y”, and “A_x” are recorded in the ROMs 38a, 38b, and 38c, respectively.

  When the video recorder 12a is activated for the first time, the CPU 30a generates the directory tree (main tree) shown in FIG. 3 in the hard disk 36a. This main tree is used to manage content in the internal hard disk, that is, the hard disk 36a. Referring to FIG. 3, the directory tree includes a root directory “/”. Below the root directory “/” are two directories “home” and “mnt”, and below “home” is “data”. Furthermore, “mpeg” and “contents” are provided below “data”. The content in the hard disk 34d is placed in “mpeg”, and information relating to the content in this “mpeg” (hereinafter “content information”) is written in “contents”. The content information includes a content identifier, a path, a capacity, and the like.

  In “data”, identification information for identifying the video recorder 12a is also described. At the first activation, the model information “A_x” is read from the ROM 38a, and the read “A_x” is described in “data” as one piece of identification information.

  Similarly, in the video recorders 12b and 12c, a main tree (see FIG. 3) is generated at the first activation. In the “data” in the main tree, device information “B_y” and “A_x” read from the ROMs 38b and 38c are described as identification information.

  Video recorder 12a also includes a network controller 26a. The network controller 26a is connected to each of the network controller 26b of the video recorder 12b and the network controller 26c of the video recorder 12c via the LAN 14. At this time, the CPU 30a mounts the hard disk 36b and 36c, that is, the directory tree (sub tree) for managing the contents in the external HD in the directory tree (main tree) of FIG.

  Specifically, the CPU 30a requests the CPU 30b to acquire a directory tree in the hard disk 36b. As shown in FIG. 4, the portion below “data” of the directory tree acquired in this way is mounted as a sub-tree for managing the contents in the hard disk 36b, below “mnt” in the main tree. . This sub-tree includes “192.168.1.10”, and “mpeg” and “contents” are provided below “192.168.1.10”. The content in the hard disk 36b is placed in “mpeg” under “192.168.1.10”, and the content information is written in “contents”.

  In “192.168.1.10”, model information “B_y” read from the ROM 38b is described as a kind of identification information for identifying the video recorder 12b.

  Next, the CPU 30a requests the CPU 30c to obtain a directory tree in the hard disk 36c. As shown in FIG. 5, the portion below “data” of the directory tree obtained in this way is further mounted as a sub-tree for managing contents in the hard disk 36c, below “mnt” in the main tree. The This sub-tree includes “192.168.1.11”, and “mpeg” and “contents” are provided below “192.168.1.11”. The content in the hard disk 36c is placed in “mpeg” under “192.168.1.11”, and the content information is written in “contents”.

  In “192.168.1.11”, model information “A_x” read from the ROM 38c is described as a kind of identification information for identifying the video recorder 12c.

  By such an initial mounting process, the CPU 30a can use the hard disks 36b and 36c as external HDs in addition to the hard disk 36a which is the built-in HD. A similar mounting process is performed in the video recorders 12b and 12c. As a result, each of the CPUs 30b and 30c can also use the three hard disks 36a, 36b and 36c.

  However, in the tree of FIG. 5, since the model information of the video recorders 12a and 12c is the same, these two recorders may be confused and use may be hindered. For this reason, the CPU 30a includes the model information “A_x” included in the identification information 54 described in “data”, and the model information “A_x” included in the identification information 58 described in “192.168.1.11”. Are given different extensions. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the model information included in the identification information 54 is updated to “A_x_1”, and the model information included in the identification information 58 is updated to “A_x_2”. Thereby, confusion between the video recorders 12a and 12c can be avoided.

  When the initial mounting process is completed, the CPU 30a generates the correspondence table shown in FIG. 7 in the hard disk 36a based on the tree of FIG. In the correspondence table, the IP address, model information, and nickname are described for each of the three video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c. Of these three types of identification information, the IP address is used when communicating between recorders. The model information and the nickname are used when accepting a user's selection operation through an OSD (On Screen Display) screen.

  Here, the nickname is identification information arbitrarily given to each recorder by the user. Immediately after the initial mounting process is completed, since the nickname is not described in the correspondence table, model information is used as identification information when the screen is displayed. After the nickname is given, the nickname is used instead of the model information.

  When the generation of the correspondence table is completed, the CPU 30a displays the OSD screen via the OSD generation circuit 40a, accepts a selection operation or an input operation through the displayed OSD screen, changes the name according to the accepted operation, and schedules recording , Playback processing is executed. When the name is changed or the connection state between the video recorder 12a and another device is changed, the directory tree and the correspondence table are updated.

  The OSD generation circuit 40a generates a signal (OSD signal) corresponding to the OSD screen shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, FIG. 12, FIG. 15 to FIG. 17, FIG.

  Specifically, after generating the correspondence table, the CPU 30a instructs the OSD generation circuit 40a to generate an initial menu screen as shown in FIG. The screen generated by the OSD generation circuit 40a is given to a monitor (not shown) through the addition circuit 42a.

  On the initial menu screen, a message explaining the configuration of the content recording system 10 and three options “name change”, “recording reservation”, and “playback” are presented. The message is described using the model information “A_x_1”, “B_y”, and “A_x_2” described in the correspondence table of FIG. When “name change” is selected from the three options, the initial menu screen is updated as shown in FIG. The selection is performed via the cursor key, OK / cancel key, etc. of the operation panel 32a (the same applies hereinafter).

  On the recorder selection screen of FIG. 9, a message prompting selection of a recorder whose name is to be changed and three choices “A_x_1”, “B_y”, and “A_x_2” are presented. When “A_x_1” is selected here, the recorder selection screen in FIG. 9 is updated as shown in FIG. In the name input screen of FIG. 10, an input field for inputting a new name is presented together with the selected “A_x_1”. When “Living” is entered in the input field, the CPU 30a updates the correspondence table in FIG. 7 as shown in FIG. The character information is input via the numeric keypad of the operation panel 32a (the same applies hereinafter).

  Referring to FIG. 11, in the updated correspondence table, “Living” is described next to the nickname column corresponding to video recorder 12a, that is, “192.168.1.9” and “A_x_1”. When the nickname assignment to the video recorder 12a is completed, the name input screen in FIG. 10 is updated again to a recorder selection screen as shown in FIG. When “B_y” is selected here, the name input screen is presented again. The CPU 30a accepts the input of the nickname “bedroom” of the video recorder 12a, and enters “bedroom” in the nickname column corresponding to the video recorder 12a in the correspondence table.

  Thereafter, the same operation is repeated once more. As a result, the correspondence table and the directory tree in the hard disk 36a are updated as shown in FIGS. In the correspondence table of FIG. 13, “Living Room”, “Bedroom”, and “Children Room” are entered in the nickname columns of the video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c. In the tree of FIG. 14, “living room”, “bedroom”, and “child's room” are added to the identification information 54, the identification information 56, and the identification information 58.

  When the update of the correspondence table and the directory tree is completed, the menu screen shown in FIG. 15 is displayed on the monitor. In this menu screen, the message is described using the nicknames “living room”, “bedroom”, and “child room” described in the correspondence table of FIG.

  When “recording reservation” is selected here, the menu selection screen of FIG. 15 is updated as shown in FIG. In the recorder selection screen of FIG. 16, a message that the recorder (reservation source) that is currently accepting the reservation operation is “living”, and a message that prompts the user to select a recorder (recording destination) to be scheduled for recording. Three options “Living Room”, “Bedroom” and “Children Room” are presented. When “Bedroom” is selected here, the recorder selection screen is updated as shown in FIG.

  The recording reservation information input screen shown in FIG. 17 presents an input field for inputting recording reservation information, that is, information such as a recording channel, date and time, and a title. The channel and date / time must be entered, but the title may be omitted. The CPU 30a generates recording reservation information as shown in FIG. 18 in the hard disk 36a based on the information input in the input field. Recording reservation information is created for each reservation recording, and a reservation number is assigned to the created recording reservation information. The recording reservation information includes a channel, date / time, recording destination, and content ID.

  The recording destination is described as “/mnt/192.168.1.10/mpeg/movie 1 (August 16, 11: 00_living) .mpg” according to the directory tree of FIG. The content ID is the last part “movie 1 (...)” Of the recording destination information. In other words, the title, the recording date and time, and the identification information of the reservation source recorder are used as the content ID.

  The CPU 30a executes reserved recording according to the recording reservation information shown in FIG. 18 through the HDD 34b. When the scheduled recording is completed, the CPU 30a writes the content ID and path to the content information 52 in the directory tree shown in FIG.

  Thus, “movie 1 (...)” Recorded on the hard disk 36b by the CPU 30a can be reproduced by any of the three video recorders 12a, 12b and 12c. For example, when reproducing by the video recorder 12b, the CPU 30b displays a menu screen as shown in FIG. When “play” is selected here, the menu screen is updated as shown in FIG.

  In the content selection screen of FIG. 21, the content IDs of all the content stored in the hard disks 36a, 36b and 36c are presented. When “Movie 1 (...)” Is selected, the CPU 30 b reads the compressed video signal of “Movie 1 (...)” From the hard disk 36 b through the HDD 34 b. The compressed video signal thus read out is subjected to decompression processing and encoding processing by the MPEG codec 22b and the encoder 24b, and thereby converted into a composite video signal. Such a composite video signal is input to the monitor, and an image of “movie 1 (...)” Is displayed on the screen.

  More specifically, the CPU 30a controls the main task shown in FIG. 22, FIG. 23, FIG. 27, FIG. 28 and FIG. 30, and the management task shown in FIG. The scheduled recording task shown in FIG. 29 is executed in parallel. The CPUs 30b and 30c execute similar tasks. A program corresponding to these flowcharts is stored in the ROM 38a.

  When the power of the video recorder 12a is turned on, the main task is activated. Referring to FIG. 22, first, in step S1, CPU 30a determines whether or not this time is the first power-on. Whether or not it is turned on for the first time can be determined by the state of the hard disk 36a. If it is ON for the first time, an initial process (described later) is executed in step S3, and then the process proceeds to step S5. If it is not turned on for the first time, the process immediately proceeds to step S5. In step S5, a management task (described later) is activated.

  In step S7, it is determined whether or not the flag F0 is set. If the determination result is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S9. If the determination result is negative, it waits until it becomes positive. In step S9, a menu screen (FIGS. 8, 15, and 20) including a name change button, a recording reservation button, and a playback button is displayed based on the correspondence table in the hard disk 36a (see FIGS. 7, 11, and 13). indicate. Thereafter, a loop consisting of steps S11, S13 and S15 is entered. The correspondence table is generated and updated according to the management task.

  In step S11, it is determined whether or not the name change button has been pressed. In step S13, it is determined whether or not the recording reservation button has been pressed. In step S15, it is determined whether or not the playback button has been pressed. When the name change button is pressed, the process moves from step S11 to step S17 to execute a name change process (described later), and then returns to step S9. When the recording reservation button is pressed, the process proceeds from step S13 to step S19 to execute a reservation setting process (described later). In the next step S21, a reserved recording task (described later) is started, and then the process returns to step S9. When the playback button is pressed, the process moves from step S15 to step S23 to execute a playback process (described later), and then returns to step S9.

  The initial process of step S3 follows the subroutine of FIG. Referring to FIG. 23, CPU 30a resets flag F0 in step S31. In step S33, the directory tree shown in FIG. 3 is generated in the hard disk 36a. In step S35, the model name and model number are read from the ROM 38a. In step S37, the read model name and model number are described in “data” in the directory tree as identification information of the video recorder 12a. Thereafter, the process returns to the upper layer routine.

  Referring to FIG. 24, when the management task is activated, CPU 30a first determines whether or not flag F0 is set in step S51. If the determination result is affirmative, the CPU 30a enters a loop of steps S65 and S67. enter. If the determination result in step S51 is negative, the process proceeds to step S53 to detect the devices connected to the video recorder 12a, that is, the video recorders 12b and 12c, and assign the IP addresses assigned to the video recorders 12b and 12c. Obtained from the LAN 14. In the next step S55, initial mount processing (described later) is performed. Through the initial mounting process, the directory tree in the hard disk 36a is updated as shown in FIG. 5 through FIGS.

  In step S57, it is determined whether or not the same identification information is described in the directory tree. If the determination result is affirmative, an extension is added in step S59, and then the process proceeds to step S61. If the determination result of step S57 is negative, the process immediately proceeds to step S61. In the tree of FIG. 5, since the identification information 54 described in “data” and the identification information 58 described in “192.168.1.11” are both “A_x”, an extension is added in step S59. As a result, the identification information 54 and the identification information 58 are updated to “A_x_1” and “A_x_2” as shown in FIG.

  In step S61, the correspondence table of FIG. 7 is generated in the hard disk 36a based on the directory tree of FIG. Then, in step S63, the flag F0 is set, and then the loop of steps S65 and S67 is entered.

  In step S65, it is determined whether or not a detection timing for detecting a connected device has arrived. Specifically, the period for detecting the connected device is stored in the ROM 38a, and when a time equal to this period has elapsed since the previous detection, it is determined that the detection timing has arrived. When the detection timing comes, the process moves from step S65 to step S69. In step S67, it is determined whether or not the power is turned off. When the power is turned off, this task is terminated.

  In step S69, the connected device is detected and the IP address assigned to the connected device is acquired. In step S71, mount / unmount processing (described later) is performed. In step S73, it is determined whether or not there is a device having the same identification information. If the determination result is affirmative, an extension is assigned to each identification information in step S75. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S77. If the determination result of step S73 is negative, the process immediately proceeds to step S77.

  In step S77, it is determined whether or not the identification information has been changed. If the determination result is affirmative, the correspondence table is updated in step S79. Thereafter, the process returns to the loop of steps S65 and S67. If the determination result of step S77 is negative, the process immediately returns to the loop of steps S65 and S67.

  The initial mounting process in step S55 follows the subroutine of FIG. Referring to FIG. 25, in step S81, CPU 30a obtains a directory tree from the connected devices, that is, video recorders 12b and 12c. In step S83, the directory tree (subtree) acquired from the connected device is mounted under “mnt” in the directory tree (main tree) of the video recorder 12a itself. In step S85, it is determined whether there is a connected device that is not yet mounted. If the determination result is affirmative, the process returns to step S81. When all the connected devices have been mounted, the upper layer routine is restored.

  Specifically, the main tree initially has a structure as shown in FIG. A sub-tree obtained from the video recorder 12b is first mounted under “mnt” of the main tree. As a result, the main tree is updated as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the portion below “192.168.1.10” corresponds to the subtree of the video recorder 12b. Thereafter, the subtree acquired from the video recorder 12c is further mounted under “mnt”. As a result, the main tree is updated as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, the portion below “192.168.1.11” corresponds to the subtree of the video recorder 12c.

  The mount / unmount process in step S55 follows the subroutine of FIG. Referring to FIG. 26, CPU 30a determines whether or not there is a newly connected device in step S91, and determines whether or not there is a disconnected device in step S93. If there is no newly connected device or disconnected device, NO is determined in both steps S91 and S93, and the process returns to the upper layer routine. If there is a newly connected device, the process proceeds from step S91 to step S95. In step S95, a directory tree is acquired from the corresponding device, and in the next step S97, the acquired tree (sub-tree) is mounted under “mnt” in the main tree. After that, it returns to the upper layer.

  If there is a detached device, the process proceeds from step S93 to step S99, and the corresponding subtree is unmounted from the main tree. Thereafter, the process returns to the upper layer routine.

  The name change in step S17 follows the subroutine of FIG. Referring to FIG. 27, in step S111, CPU 30a displays a recorder selection screen as shown in FIG. 9 on a monitor (not shown). In the screen of FIG. 9, “A_x_1” is selected.

  In step S113, it is determined whether or not the selection of the recorder is completed. When the selection is completed, the process proceeds to step S115 to display a name input screen as shown in FIG. On the screen of FIG. 10, “living” is input. In step S117, it is determined whether or not the input of a new name is completed. When the input is completed, the correspondence table is updated in step S119. The correspondence table of FIG. 7 is updated as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the process returns to the upper layer routine.

  By repeating this name change process twice more, “B_y” and “A_x_2” are changed to “bedroom” and “child room”, and the correspondence table of FIG. 11 is updated as shown in FIG. The nickname registered in this way can also be changed through the recorder selection screen and the name input screen. In this case, in the correspondence table, the newly entered nickname is overwritten with the original nickname.

  The reservation setting process in step S19 follows the subroutine of FIG. Referring to FIG. 28, in step S131, CPU 30a displays a recorder selection screen as shown in FIG. In the screen of FIG. 16, “Bedroom” is selected. In step S133, it is determined whether or not the selection of the recorder is completed. When the selection is completed, the process proceeds to step S135 to display a recording reservation information input screen as shown in FIG. In the screen of FIG. 17, the channel to be recorded, the date and time, and the title are input. In step S137, it is determined whether input of necessary information is completed. When the input is completed, the process proceeds to step S139, and recording reservation information as shown in FIG. 18 is registered according to the input information. Thereafter, the process returns to the upper layer routine.

  Referring to FIG. 29, when the scheduled recording task is activated, CPU 30a first waits for the arrival of the recording start time described in the scheduled recording information in FIG. 18 in step S151. When the recording start time arrives, the process proceeds to step S153, and the address information “refers to the recording destination“ /mnt/192.168.1.10/mpeg/movie 1 (...) .Mpg ”described in the recording reservation information. A recording start command is issued to the hard disk drive of the recorder corresponding to 192.168.1.10 ", that is, the HDD 36b. The content ID “movie 1 (...) .Mpg” described in the recording reservation information is attached to the recording start command.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S155 and waits for the recording end time described in the recording reservation information of FIG. When the recording end time comes, the process proceeds to step S157, and a recording stop command is issued to the HDD 36b.

  During the period from when the recording start command is issued until the recording stop command is issued, the decoder 20b decodes the broadcast signal of channel “8” described in the recording reservation information of FIG. 18 into a video signal, and the MPEG codec 22b The decoded video signal is compressed by the MPEG method, and the HDD 34b records the compressed video signal in the recording destination attached to the recording start command. That is, the video of movie 1 is recorded on the hard disk 36b of the video recorder 12b in the form of an MPEG file “movie 1 (...) .Mpg”.

  In step S159, the content information 52 shown in FIG. 19 is registered in “contents” under “192.168.1.10” in the directory tree shown in FIG. In the content information 52, a content ID “movie 1 (...)” And a path “/mnt/192.168.1.10/mpeg/movie 1 (...) .Mpg” are described.

  In step S161, the scheduled recording information corresponding to the scheduled recording processed through steps S151 to S159 is deleted. In step S163, it is determined whether there is another unprocessed recording reservation. If the determination result is affirmative, the process returns to step S151. When all the recording reservations have been processed, this task is finished.

  The reproduction process in step S19 follows the subroutine of FIG. Referring to FIG. 30, when “movie 1 (...)” Recorded on hard disk 36b is reproduced by video recorder 12b, CPU 30b displays a content selection screen as shown in FIG. 21 in step S171. In the screen of FIG. 21, “movie 1 (...)” Is selected. In the next step S173, it is determined whether or not the selection of content is completed. When the selection is completed, the process proceeds to step S175, and the address “refer to the path“ /mnt/192.168.1.10/mpeg/movie 1 (...) .Mpg ”described in the content information 42 (see FIG. 19) is referred to. A reproduction command is issued to the hard disk drive of the recorder corresponding to the information “192.168.1.10”, that is, the HDD 36b. The content ID “movie 1 (...)” Described in the content information 42 is attached to the reproduction command.

  In response to the reproduction command, the HDD 34b reads the MPEG file “movie 1 (...) .Mpg” from the hard disk 36b. The read MPEG file is given to the MPEG codec 22b. The MPEG codec 22b expands the compressed video signal included in the read MPEG file, and the encoder 24b encodes the expanded video signal into a composite video signal. The composite video signal output from the encoder 24b is applied to the monitor of the video recorder 12b, whereby the video of “movie 1” is displayed on the monitor of the video recorder 12b.

  When “movie 1 (...)” Recorded on the hard disk 36b is reproduced by the video recorder 12a, the HDD 34b reads the MPEG file from the hard disk 36b according to a command of the CPU 30a. The read MPEG file is given to the MPEG codec 22a through the network controller 26b, the LAN 14, and the network controller 26a. The MPEG codec 22a expands the compressed video signal included in the given MPEG file, and the encoder 24a encodes the expanded video signal into a composite video signal. The composite video signal is applied to the monitor of the video recorder 12a, whereby the video of “movie 1” is displayed on the monitor of the video recorder 12a.

  As is apparent from the above, in this embodiment, the CPU 30a (30b, 30c) has address information “192.168.1.9”, “192” assigned to each of the three video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c. .168.1.10 ”and“ 192.168.1.11 ”are acquired from the LAN 14. Also, the model information “A_x”, “B_y” and “A_x” stored in each of the three video recorders 12a, 12b and 12c are read. Then, the acquired address information and the read model information are registered in the correspondence table for each recorder (see FIG. 7).

  At this time, the read model information is compared with each other to check whether the three video recorders 12a, 12b and 12c include the same model recorder, and if the same model recorder is included. For example, a different extension is given to each model information. Thereby, the model information of the video recorders 12a and 12c is updated to “A_x_1” and “A_x_2”, respectively.

  When selectively controlling any one of the three video recorders 12a, 12b and 12c, the CPU 30a presents the model information registered in the correspondence table to the user, and the three video recorders 12a, 12b and A selection operation for selecting any one of 12c is accepted (see FIG. 16). Then, based on the address information registered in the correspondence table, a command is transmitted to the selected recorder. Thus, any one of the three video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c can be selectively controlled with a simple configuration.

  The CPU 30a accepts an input operation for inputting desired character information following the above selection operation (see FIG. 10). Then, the input character information is registered as a nickname of the selected recorder (see FIG. 11). That is, for the selected recorder, three types of identification information, that is, address information, model information, and nickname, are registered. For the recorder in which the nickname is registered, the CPU 30a presents the nickname instead of the model information (see FIGS. 12 and 16). As a result, a more accurate selection operation can be performed while suppressing the operation amount.

  In the above, the content recording system 10 including the three video recorders 12a, 12b, and 12c has been described. However, the present invention can be applied if there are at least two video recorders. Further, the present invention is not limited to a video recorder, and can be applied to a system using various content recording devices such as an audio-only recorder and a general-purpose personal computer.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to a system in which a plurality of video recorders each having a built-in fixed HDD are connected via a network, but includes, for example, a video recorder having a fixed HDD and a removable HDD, and a rewritable DVD with the fixed HDD. The present invention can also be applied to a video recorder having two or more storage media in one video recorder, such as a video recorder or a video recorder having a fixed HDD and a memory card.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a video recorder. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of a directory tree. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of a directory tree. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of a directory tree. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of a directory tree. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of a correspondence table. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of a correspondence table. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of a correspondence table. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of a directory tree. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of video recording reservation information. It is an illustration figure which shows an example of content information. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is an illustration figure which shows another example of an OSD screen. It is a flowchart which shows a part of operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows another part of operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows a part of other operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows a part of others of operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows a part of operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows another part of operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows a part of other operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows a part of others of operation | movement of CPU. It is a flowchart which shows another part of operation | movement of CPU.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Content recording system 12a, 12b, 12c ... Video recorder 14 ... LAN
30a, 30b, 30c ... CPU
34a, 34b, 34c ... Hard disk drive (HDD)
36a, 36b, 36c: hard disk 40a, 40b, 40c ... OSD generation circuit 52 ... content information 54, 56, 58 ... identification information

Claims (5)

Connection means for connecting to multiple devices,
First detection means for detecting address information assigned to each of the plurality of devices;
Second detection means for detecting model information of each of the plurality of devices;
Registration means for registering the address information detected by the first detection means and the model information detected by the second detection means for each device;
A first receiving unit that outputs model information registered by the registration unit and receives a selection operation for selecting any one of the plurality of devices; and the selection operation based on the address information registered by the registration unit. A device control apparatus comprising: a transmission unit that transmits a command to a device selected by Based on the model information registered by the registration unit, the determination unit determines whether or not the plurality of devices include devices of the same model, and when the determination result of the determination unit is affirmative, the registration unit The device control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an adding unit that adds an extension for distinguishing the devices of the same model from the registered model information. A second receiving means for receiving an input operation for inputting desired character information in relation to the reception of the first receiving means;
The device control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the registration unit further registers the character information input by the input operation as a name of the device selected by the selection operation.   The device control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first receiving unit outputs the name instead of the model information for a device whose name is registered. A program executed by a processor of a device control apparatus that selectively controls any one of a plurality of devices,
A connecting step of connecting to the plurality of devices;
A first detection step of detecting address information assigned to each of the plurality of devices;
A second detection step of detecting model information of each of the plurality of devices;
A registration step for registering, for each device, the address information detected by the first detection step and the model information detected by the second detection step;
A first accepting step for outputting model information registered in the registration step and accepting a selection operation for selecting any one of the plurality of devices; and the selection operation based on the address information registered in the registration step. A program comprising: a transmission step of transmitting an instruction toward a device selected by.

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