JP2007235894A - Television receiving system, method for control thereof and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a television receiving system capable of automatically turning on or off the EPG display depending on a viewing distance of each audience. <P>SOLUTION: This television receiving system has a means for measuring a distance between a television device 100 and a remote control 200 and controls EPG display in the television device 100 and remote control 200 depending on the result of measurement by the above means. When a distance from the television device 100 is long (within a scope of C), EPG display in the television device 100 is turned off. In contrast, when a distance from the television device 100 is short (within a scope of A), EPG display in the remote control 200 is turned off. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a television receiving system having a television apparatus capable of displaying an electronic program guide (EPG) and a remote control apparatus, a control method therefor, and a computer program.

  In recent years, with the spread of digital televisions equipped with EPG receivers, it has become possible to select programs comfortably and efficiently using GUI (Graphical User Interface).

  In addition, the EPG system is a very useful function, such that EPG data is periodically taken into the television through broadcast waves and the Internet, and the viewer can instantly respond to sudden extension or change of the program.

  The EPG display means is of course displayed on the television screen, but as disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is also possible to provide the remote control device with an EPG display means. In this embodiment, since the EPG is displayed on the remote controller, the EPG can be confirmed at a position far from the television, and the problem that the EPG characters on the television screen are small and cannot be seen well can be solved.

JP 2003-125230 A

  However, the display on the remote control side is not always useful. For example, when viewing a large-screen television at a relatively short distance, the display on the television screen is easier to see than the display on the remote control, and the amount of information is overwhelming. If the remote control display is not required as described above, it is not preferable to keep the EPG displayed from the viewpoint of the power consumption of the remote control.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a television receiving system that improves the above-described problems and can automatically switch EPG display on and off according to the viewing distance of the user. Objective.

The television receiving system of the present invention is a television receiving system having a television device capable of displaying an electronic program guide and a remote control device, a measuring means for measuring a separation distance between the television device and the remote control device, and the measurement Control means for controlling the display of the electronic program guide in the television device and the remote control device according to the measurement result of the means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method for a television receiving system including a television device capable of displaying an electronic program guide and a remote control device, wherein the distance between the television device and the remote control device is determined. And a control step of controlling display of the electronic program guide in the television device and the remote control device in accordance with a measurement result of the measurement step.
A computer program according to the present invention is a computer program for controlling a television receiving system having a television device capable of displaying an electronic program guide and a remote control device, wherein the distance between the television device and the remote control device is determined. A measurement process to be measured and a control process for controlling display of the electronic program guide in the television device and the remote control device in accordance with a measurement result of the measurement process are executed by a computer.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to control the display of an electronic program guide (EPG) on the television device and the remote control device in accordance with the viewing distance of the user. As a result, at a position far from the television, the display on the television device is turned off, and the EPG can be confirmed and operated without occupying the screen. In addition, at a position close to the television, the display on the remote control device is turned off, and the battery of the remote control device can be saved.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a television receiving system including a television device and a remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The television device 100 includes a display unit 101, an EPG receiving unit 102, a control unit 103, and a wireless module 104. The wireless module 104 includes a communication unit 105 that performs data communication with the remote control device 200, and a distance measurement unit 106 (measurement unit) that measures the separation distance between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200.

  The remote control device 200 includes a display unit 201, a wireless module 202, and an input unit 205. The wireless module 202 includes a communication unit 203 that performs data communication with the television device 100, and a distance measurement unit 204 (measurement unit) that measures a separation distance between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200.

  In the television apparatus 100, the display unit 101 is a part that displays an EPG, and is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal panel.

  The EPG receiving unit 102 is a part that receives EPG data via an antenna by radio waves, for example. Whether the control unit 103 displays the EPG data taken from the EPG receiving unit 102 on the display units 101 and 201 according to the separation distance between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 measured by the ranging units 106 and 204. Control.

  Subsequently, in the remote controller 200, the display unit 201 displays various information such as an EPG, a menu (television setting information, etc.), a date, and the current time.

  The input unit 205 is a part for inputting various commands such as power on / off of the TV, channel switching, volume adjustment, etc., and sends operation information to the wireless module 202 as an input signal by button operation. The EPG is displayed by operating an EPG display button (not shown) in the input unit 205. The input unit 205 may be configured to be operated by a pen or fingertip instruction using, for example, a liquid crystal touch panel.

  In addition, it is preferable to employ the UWB (Ultra Wide Band) communication method for the communication units 105 and 203 and the distance measurement units 106 and 204 of the television device 100 and the remote control device 200. UWB realizes high-speed data transmission of several tens of Mbps by spreading and transmitting / receiving data in an extremely wide frequency band of about 1 GHz. In addition, since transmission / reception is performed with ultrafine pulses of about 1 nanosecond without using a carrier wave, the power consumption is very low compared to a conventional wireless system. Furthermore, since UWB uses ultra-fine pulses, it has a high time resolution and can perform “ranging” within an error of several centimeters.

  Next, a concept for controlling EPG display in television apparatus 100 and remote control apparatus 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  First, as a premise, it is assumed that thresholds Smin (first predetermined value) and Smax (second predetermined value), which are criteria for determining whether or not the viewing distance is within the recommended range, are set inside the television apparatus 100. Here, for example, when Smin = 3 (m) and Smax = 5 (m) are set, and the distance between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 is 3 (m) or less, the television device 100 The EPG is displayed on the display unit 101, but not displayed on the display unit 201 of the remote control device 200. The reason is that it is better to view the EPG on a large screen if it is close to the television screen, and it is considered that the display on the remote control device 200 side is unnecessary.

  Further, when the distance between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 is 5 (m) or more, the EPG is not displayed on the display unit 101 of the television device 100 and is displayed only on the display unit 201 of the remote control device 200. To. The reason is that, when viewing at a distance from the television device 100, even if an EPG is displayed on the television device 100 side, characters cannot be clearly seen, so it is considered meaningless.

  When the distance between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 is longer than 3 (m) and closer than 5 (m), it is considered to be within the recommended viewing distance range, and both the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 are displayed. The EPG is displayed on the part.

  In addition, the following three types of setting methods can be considered for the above-described threshold value used here.

  The first is a case where it is preset at the time of factory shipment. The value in this case is determined according to the recommended viewing distance according to the screen size, for example.

  The second is a case where the user operates the menu to set an arbitrary value.

  In the third case, the monitor size is automatically determined, and a value corresponding to the recommended viewing distance is automatically set as the threshold value. This is effective when the EPG system is provided in the form of a set top box and is connected to various televisions having different screen sizes.

  In general, the viewing distance recommended when watching TV is determined by the screen aspect ratio and the screen height H. For example, 3H is recommended for a 16: 9 screen of HDTV (High Definition Television). The viewing distance.

  Here, taking the case where the recommended viewing distance is 3H as an example, the operations of the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. Note that the threshold values are Smin = 2H and Smax = 4H.

  First, the operation flow of the television device 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step S01a, a variable L for holding a distance value between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 is initialized.

  Next, in step S02a, the distance data (l) of the measurement result is received from the side distance unit 204 on the remote control device 200 side and substituted into the variable L.

  Next, in step S03a, the variable L is determined. When L ≦ 2H, the process proceeds to step S04a. In this case, viewing is performed at a distance close to the television device 100 to some extent, and it is considered unnecessary to display the EPG on the remote control device 200. Therefore, the EPG is displayed only on the display unit 101 of the television device 100. To finish.

  On the other hand, when L> 2H, the process proceeds to step S05a. In this case, it is a case where viewing is performed away from the television device 100 to some extent, and it is considered effective to display the EPG on the remote control device 200. Therefore, the EPG data is transmitted to the remote control device 200 side, and the step is performed. Proceed to S06a.

  Next, in step S06a, the variable L is further determined. First, in the case of L <4H, when the determination result in step S03a is also combined, 2H <L <4H, which is approximately the recommended viewing distance range. In this case, the process proceeds to step S04a, the EPG is displayed on the display unit 101 of the television apparatus 100, and the process ends.

  Further, when L ≧ 4H, it is considered that viewing or remote control operation is performed at a position relatively distant from the television device 100, and it is expected that even if an EPG is displayed on the television device 100, it cannot be clearly seen. Then, the TV device 100 ends without displaying the EPG.

  Next, the operation flow of the remote control device 200 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the EPG display button is pressed in step S01b, a display instruction is transmitted to the wireless module 202, and the process proceeds to step S02b.

  In step S02b, the distance measuring unit 204 measures the separation distance from the television device 100, and the process proceeds to step S03b.

  Next, in step S03b, the distance information measured in step S02b is transmitted from the communication unit 203 to the communication unit 105 of the television apparatus 100 by wireless communication, and the process proceeds to step S04b.

  In step S04b, EPG data sent from the television device 100 side is received. In step S05b, reception is confirmed, and the process proceeds to step S06b. The display unit 201 displays the EPG and the process ends. If EPG data cannot be received in step S04b, it is determined in step S05b that no EPG data has been received, and the process ends.

  The flow of the above flow will be described simply and organized from the viewpoint actually used by the user with reference to FIG. First, when the EPG display button is pressed on the remote control device 200, the distance from the television device 100 is measured, and the distance information is transmitted to the television device 100 side.

  The television apparatus 100 controls the display of the EPG based on the transmitted distance information. When L ≦ 2H (position A in FIG. 3), the EPG is displayed only on the display unit 101 of the television apparatus 100.

  In the case of 2H <L <4H (position B in FIG. 3), EPG is displayed on both the display unit 101 of the television device 100 and the display unit 201 of the remote control device.

  When L ≧ 4H (position C in FIG. 3), the EPG is displayed only on the display unit 201 of the remote control device 200.

  In the above description, the case where the recommended viewing distance is 3H (aspect ratio 16: 9) is taken as an example, but display can be switched in the same manner for other aspect ratios.

  Next, referring to FIG. 4, control of EPG display of the television device and the remote control device in consideration of hysteresis characteristics in consideration of slight movement of the user will be described.

When the above-described thresholds Smin and Smax are set, when the user views the television near one of the threshold values (L _{T in} FIG. 4), the remote controller moves over L _T several times due to slight movement of the user. There is a possibility that a state of going back and forth will occur (FIG. 4 (a)).

  In this case, the screen display is switched more than necessary between the display state 1 and the display state 2 as shown in FIG. 4B, which is a troublesome operation for the user, and is suitable in consideration of power consumption. It is not a correct operation.

Therefore, the threshold is given a difference between the point at which the operation is started and the point at which the operation is stopped, that is, has a hysteresis characteristic, and the upper limit value L _TH and the lower limit value L _TL are set and controlled as the threshold value. In this way, once the viewing distance value L exceeds the upper limit value L _TH , it is possible to maintain a constant display state until it falls below the lower limit value L _TL . Further, when L is once falls below the lower limit L _TL, it is possible to maintain a constant display state until over again limit L _TH. (FIG. 4 (c)). Thus, by setting the upper limit value and the lower limit value for each threshold value, the troublesomeness caused by the frequent switching of the screen display described above can be eliminated, and a highly usable TV reception system can be provided. Become.

  According to the television reception system of the present invention configured as described above, after the user instructs EPG display with the EPG display button of the remote control device 200, the distance between the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 is increased by the side distance portions 106 and 204. The distance can be measured, and the display of the EPG in the television device 100 and the remote control device 200 can be automatically controlled according to the measurement result.

  As a result, the EPG display on the remote controller 200 is turned off at a position close to the television device 100 (in the present embodiment, a position equal to or smaller than the threshold value Smin (first predetermined value)), and the battery of the remote controller can be saved. It is done.

  Further, at a position far from the television apparatus 100 (in this embodiment, a position equal to or larger than the threshold value Smax (second predetermined value)), the display on the television apparatus 100 is turned off, and the remote control apparatus 200 is not occupied without occupying the screen. The EPG can be confirmed and operated.

  Further, by controlling the threshold value used as a criterion for determining whether the viewing distance of the user is within the recommended range or as a criterion for switching the display of the EPG, the user is viewing near the threshold value. The troublesomeness caused by frequent switching of the screen display that can occur in some cases can be eliminated, and a highly usable television reception system can be provided.

  In the present embodiment, the EPG is displayed on the television device 100 and the remote control device 200. However, the present invention is suitable for various services that can be received by connecting to a similar television device. Can be implemented.

  An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the storage medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code itself and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (basic system or operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. Needless to say, a case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written to a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the television receiving system of this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating control operation of the television receiving system of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the display switching by viewing distance in the television receiving system of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the characteristic of the television receiving system of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Television apparatus 101 Display part 102 EPG receiving part 103 Control part 104 Wireless module 105 Communication part 106 Side distance part (measuring means)
200 Remote Control Device 201 Display Unit 202 Wireless Module 203 Communication Unit 204 Side Distance Unit (Measuring Means)
205 Input section

Claims (7)

A television receiving system having a television device capable of displaying an electronic program guide and a remote control device,
Measuring means for measuring a separation distance between the television device and the remote control device;
A television receiving system comprising: control means for controlling display of the electronic program guide in the television apparatus and the remote control device according to the measurement result of the measuring means.   2. The television according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the electronic program guide not to be displayed on the remote control device when a measurement result of the measurement unit is equal to or less than a first predetermined value. Receiving system.   3. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein when the measurement result of the measurement unit is equal to or greater than a second predetermined value, the control unit performs control so that the electronic program guide is not displayed on the television apparatus. TV reception system.   The television receiving system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the first predetermined value is a distance shorter than the second predetermined value.   5. The television receiving system according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the first predetermined value and the second predetermined value by giving a hysteresis characteristic to each of the first predetermined value and the second predetermined value. 6. A control method of a television receiving system having a television device capable of displaying an electronic program guide and a remote control device,
A measuring step of measuring a separation distance between the television device and the remote control device;
And a control step of controlling display of the electronic program guide on the television device and the remote control device according to a measurement result of the measurement step. A computer program for controlling a television receiving system having a television device capable of displaying an electronic program guide and a remote control device,
A measurement process for measuring a separation distance between the television device and the remote control device;
A computer program causing a computer to execute control processing for controlling display of the electronic program guide in the television device and the remote control device in accordance with a measurement result of the measurement processing.

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