JP2008186159A - Device discovery system and device discovery method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate discovery of an installed location of an available device displayed on a terminal screen. <P>SOLUTION: A user terminal 1 and operation target terminals 10 are interconnected by a network 8. The user terminal 1 comprises a color information decision part 2, a communication part 6, a display part 7, a light emission instruction part 5, a correspondence information management part 3 and a color information table 4. The operation target terminals 10 each comprise a color information management part 11, a communication part 15, a light emission part 14, an information storage part 13 and a color information table 12. The light emission part 14 of the operation target terminal 10 lights when the operation target terminal 10 is found by the user terminal 1. The user terminal 1 displays the same color as the operation target terminal 10 emits to facilitate the discovery of the installed location of the operation target terminal 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a device discovery system and a device discovery method for discovering a device related to this use when using a device or service that can be used in a network usage environment.

  In recent years, with the development of home appliances, so-called information home appliances connected to networks are increasing. A device connected to the network can use UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) or the like to notify a peripheral device of a device that can be provided by itself or obtain information on a service provided by the peripheral device. .

  By connecting information home appliances to a network in this way, it has become easy to obtain a list of peripheral available devices and services via the network. For example, when using a computer connected to a network, it is possible to find a printer from a list of used devices connected to the same network and perform printing.

  However, even if a list of used devices is acquired, the user cannot grasp where the devices actually exist. Conventionally, it is possible to discover the presence of a printer from a device list acquired using a network and print it, but since it is not known where the printer is actually installed, it is not known where the printed matter was output. There was a thing.

  For example, when considering an office floor, it is much larger than a home network, etc., and it is especially found in environments where the devices that can be used are not known in advance, such as when used outside a normal room. Is difficult.

  Further, in the information such as the device name and the model number displayed on the terminal, for example, when there are a plurality of printers having the same model number, it is difficult to distinguish which of the printers is selected on the terminal.

Therefore, as one target method for the above problem, LEDs are installed in the installation of available devices in the vicinity, and the LEDs are turned on when the user approaches those devices, thereby assisting the user in discovering devices in the real space. There is something to do.
EZ DEV: An application that uses location information to support user device usage Ryo Osawa, Asaichi Murakami, Kenichi Nakanishi, Kazunori Takatsuki, Hideyuki Tokuda Information Processing Society of Japan 66th National Convention, March 9-11, 2004

  However, there are the following problems in the device discovery method by blinking of the monochromatic LED in the prior art.

  First, in the device discovery method based on blinking emission of a single color LED, in order to find the position of the device corresponding to the device list or service list displayed on the terminal, the user blinks and displays the designated devices one by one. When the number of installed devices is large, it takes a lot of time and labor.

  In addition, in the device discovery method and discovery support by LED flashing light emission, the user needs to look around to confirm the light emission source of the device, and it is difficult for the user to see the light source directly in a place with poor visibility And it was difficult to discover the equipment.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to easily find a place where the device is installed for the available device displayed on the terminal screen.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 is a device discovery system for easily discovering a place where an available device displayed on a screen of a terminal is installed, Device search means for searching for the available devices, assigning colors to the respective devices and displaying them on the screen, light emission means for emitting light in a specified emission color provided in the devices, and the devices A light emission color designating unit for designating the light emission unit to emit light having the same color as the color assigned to the light emission unit.

  Further, the present invention according to claim 2 is the screen according to claim 1, wherein the device search unit stores the device that can be commonly used with the color in the plurality of terminals by holding the color assignment. Are provided with assigned color holding means for displaying them respectively.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the device search unit performs the assignment in association with host address part information of each IP address of the device.

  Further, in the present invention described in claim 4, in any one of claims 1 to 3, the light emission color designation means designates the light emission color designated by itself when the light emission means cannot emit light. Emission color re-designating means for re-designating the emission color that can be emitted by the light-emitting means and approximate to the emission color is provided.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first to fourth aspects, the sound is generated using sound instead of the light emission of the color.

  Further, the present invention according to claim 6 is a device discovery method for easily finding a place where an available device displayed on a terminal screen is installed, and can be used in a device search means. Searching for the device, assigning a color to each of the devices, and displaying the screen on the screen; emitting light in a light emission color designated by the light emitting means provided in the device; and assigning the light emission color designation means to the device A step of designating the light emitting means to emit light having the same emission color as the emitted color.

  Further, the present invention described in claim 7 is the device according to claim 6, wherein the device search means includes an assigned color holding means, holds the color assignment, and can be used in common by the plurality of terminals with the color. And displaying each of the devices on the screen.

  Further, according to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the sixth or seventh aspect, the device search means includes a step of performing the assignment in association with host address part information of each IP address of the device.

  Further, the present invention according to claim 9 is the light emitting device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the light emission color designation means includes a light emission color redesignation means, and the light emission means does not emit light of the light emission color designated by itself. If possible, the method includes a step of re-designating a light-emitting color that can be emitted by the light-emitting means, approximating the designated light-emitting color.

  The present invention according to claim 10 has a step of generating a sound using sound instead of the light emission of the color in claims 6 to 9.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the place where the apparatus is installed can be easily discovered about the available apparatus displayed on the terminal screen.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a device discovery system and a device discovery method will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a device discovery system to which the embodiment is applied.

  The illustrated device discovery system includes a user terminal 1 and an operation target terminal 10. The user terminal 1 and the operation target terminal 10 or the plurality of operation target terminals 10 are connected to each other via a network 8 such as the Internet.

  The user terminal 1 includes a color information determination unit 2, a communication unit 6, a display unit 7, a light emission instruction unit 5, a correspondence information management unit 3, and a color information table 4. On the other hand, the operation target terminal 10 includes a color information management unit 11, a communication unit 15, a light emitting unit 14, an information storage unit 13, and a color information table 12.

<First Embodiment>
This will be described in detail below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

  The devices corresponding to this system have a common color information table 26 showing the color numbers and corresponding colors as shown in FIG.

The user terminal 1 first confirms whether or not a color is designated for each operation target terminal 10, and the color information determination unit 2 of the user terminal 1 sends a response to each operation target terminal 10 via the communication unit 7. Send a color information request and wait for a response. (S1001, S1002, S1003)
Each operation target terminal 10 receives a request from the user terminal 1 via the communication unit 15, and if the request is a color information request, passes it to the color information management unit 11. (S2001, S2002)
The color information management unit 11 refers to the information storage unit 13 to check whether the color setting is set, and returns the color information if it is set. (S2003)
When color setting is not performed, the color information management unit 11 generates a random number and sets a color number based on the value. (S2004)
For example, when the random number R generated when the number of colors in the color information table is N is 0 or more and less than 1, the set color number C can be an integer part of R × N + 1.

Each operation target terminal 10 for which the color number is set transmits the color information to the user terminal 1 that is the request source via the communication unit 15. (S2005)
The user terminal 1 receives the color information transmitted from each operation target terminal 10 and passes it to the color information determination unit 2. (S1004)
The color information determination unit 2 that has acquired the color information checks whether there is an operation target terminal 10 that has returned the same color number. If there is no overlap, the color information is stored in the correspondence information management unit 3. (S1005, S1006)
When there are operation target terminals 10 that return the same color number, except for one of them, a color information change request is sent to the device, and the operation is repeated until each operation target terminal 10 has unique color information. The display color of each operation target terminal 10 is determined. (S1007)
When a color information request is sent from the user terminal 1, a list of unused color numbers may be sent. By sending an unused color number list to the operation target terminal 10, the possibility of duplication again in determining color information by the operation target terminal 10 is reduced, and the time required for color setting of all use target devices is reduced. Can do.

Based on the color information of the operation target terminal 10 set uniquely, the light emission instructing unit 5 of the user terminal 1 instructs to emit light based on the color information set in each operation target terminal 10. The operation target terminal 10 that has received the information sends the instruction to the light emitting unit 14 and emits light. (S1008, S1009)
The display unit 7 on the user terminal 1 displays the name of the operation target terminal 10 and its set color as shown in FIG. By displaying the same color on the screen of the user terminal 1 and the light emitting unit 14 of the usage target device 10 as described above, the user can easily determine where the device is installed in the available device list. I can know.

  Further, the set color number may be displayed on the display unit 7 on the user terminal 1 and the light emitting unit 14 of each operation target terminal 10. By displaying the set color number, it is easy to discriminate even when it is difficult to discriminate the color.

<Second Embodiment>
In the first embodiment described above, when color information is not set in the operation target terminal 10, each operation target terminal 10 is set at random. In this case, the same color number may be set redundantly. There is a possibility that time is wasted by performing the allocation process again.

  In order to solve this problem, the operation target terminal 10 that has received the color information request issued by the user terminal 1 in order to check whether or not each operation target terminal 10 has been color-designated has its own operation target terminal 10. If color setting is performed, the color number is returned. If color setting is not performed, “0” is returned to the user terminal 1.

  The user terminal 1 that has received the color information from each operation target terminal 10 checks whether there is any duplication other than “0”. When there is an overlap other than “0”, the color information determination unit 2 assigns an unused color number in the color information table 4 to the overlapped terminal and a terminal for which “0” is set. It transmits to each operation target terminal 10.

  The processing of the color information determination unit 2 will be described in detail using the device name and assigned color number table of FIG.

  In this example, there are seven operation target terminals 10 from “operation target terminal 1” to “operation target terminal 7” as shown in the list table 27 (FIG. 8A). First, the duplication of the same number other than the color number 0 is confirmed. In this example, “operation target terminal 2” and “operation target terminal 7” use the same color number, and one of them is selected. Here, “operation target terminal 7” which is a terminal excluding “operation target terminal 2” having a small number is selected. For the “operation target terminal 7” selected here, an unused number in the color information table 12 is selected. When the lowest available number is selected, the color number “5” is selected here (FIG. 8B).

  Next, the terminal whose color number is “0” is confirmed. In this example, “operation target terminal 3” and “operation target terminal 4” correspond. Here, an unused number in the color information table 12 is selected for the terminal. When assignment is performed from the lowest available number, here, the color number “6” is selected for the “operation target terminal 3” and the color number “7” is selected for the “operation target terminal 4” (FIG. 8 ( c)).

  The color information selected by the color information management determination unit by the above method is transmitted to the target operation target terminal 10. In this example, the color numbers set for “operation target terminal 3”, “operation target terminal 4”, and “operation target terminal 7” are transmitted. Thereby, it is possible to avoid each operation target terminal 10 according to the first embodiment from independently performing color information setting a plurality of times.

<Third Embodiment>
In the color setting described above, the color information is set separately from the network address (for example, IP address) held by each operation target terminal 10, but due to the nature of the IP address, a unique number is assigned to each operation target terminal 10. ing. Assuming operation in the same subnet, a unique color number can be set by using the information of the portion that is the host address by the subnet mask.

  For example, when the subnet mask is 24 bits, if the last 8 bits of the IP address are used, there are 256 values from 0 to 255 in decimal notation. At this time, by storing 256 kinds of color information in the color information table 12, the color of the corresponding operation target terminal 10 can be automatically set by using the decimal notation of the host address portion as the color number.

  If this method is used, each use target operation target terminal 10 can determine the emission color when it is connected to the network 8 and acquires an IP address.

<Fourth embodiment>
In the embodiments so far, the user terminal 1 and the operation target terminals 10 have to have the common color information tables 4 and 12. This embodiment removes the restriction.

  The user terminal 1 issues a request to notify each operation target terminal 10 of the color information set in each operation target terminal 10 (S2002 in FIG. 3). When unique color information is set for all the operation target terminals 10 (S2003), it is considered that another user terminal 1 has set, so that the color information is used to display on the display unit 7 of the user terminal 1. The color and information of the operation target operation target terminal 10 are displayed as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a screen 20 displayed on the display unit 7 of the user terminal 1. The screen 20 shows a device name / assigned color correspondence table 21, a paddle 22 for selecting a device, and a determination button 23 for determining the selected device.

  When the color information is not set or is not set to a unique color (S2006), the user terminal 1 operates each operation target recorded in the correspondence information management unit 3 based on the information in the color information table 4 held by the user terminal 1 Color information is set for the terminal 10. The designation method at this time is, for example, RGB notation. For example, in the case of so-called full-color display that displays 16.77 million colors, the values of R, G, and B take values from 0 to 255, respectively.

  On the other hand, each operation target operation target terminal 10 holds a color information table 12 having displayable colors unique to each operation target terminal 10. The usage target terminal for which the display color (Rx, Gx, Bx) is designated from the user terminal 1 has each R, the color information (Rn, Gn, Bn) (n is the number that can be displayed) in its own color information table 12. The square sum z of the difference between G and B is calculated.

z = (Rn-Rx) ^ 2 + (Gn-Gx) ^ 2 + (Bn-Bx) ^ 2 (Formula 1)
At this time, n that minimizes z is obtained and (Rn, Gn, Bn) at that time is set as the display color of the terminal (S2004). Thereby, the color close | similar to the color set to each utilization object operation object terminal 10 from the user terminal 1 can be displayed.

  Moreover, in this method, since the same (R, G, B) value may be set as a result, the following processing can be added.

  Information that minimizes z (Rn, Gn, Bn) in the above process is returned to the user terminal 1 (S2005). A different color is designated again for the group of operation target terminals 10 excluding one of the group of operation target terminals 10 having the same (R, G, B) value. Accordingly, the above procedure is performed until the (R, G, B) values set by the operation target terminals 10 are not duplicated by the above method. When the (R, G, B) values of all the operation target terminals 10 are unique, a light emission instruction is sent from the user terminal 1 to each operation target terminal 10. It is possible to display the use operation target terminal name and the corresponding color shown in FIG.

<Fifth embodiment>
In the above-described embodiment, it is easy to check the installation position of the operation target terminal 10 because each operation target terminal 10 to be used emits light in the same color as the display color displayed on the display unit 7 on the user terminal 1. However, if there is something that blocks light display, it may be easily blocked and confirmation may be difficult. In the present embodiment, discovery of the installation location of the operation target terminal 10 is facilitated even when light is blocked by using sound information instead of light.

  FIG. 5 is an overall configuration diagram of a device discovery system of the operation target terminal 10 ′ to which the present exemplary embodiment is applied.

  The operation target terminal 10 ′ corresponding to this system has a common voice information table showing the voice numbers and the corresponding voice data.

  First, the user terminal 1 ′ checks whether each operation target operation target terminal 10 ′ is assigned a voice number by the voice information determination unit 34 of the user terminal 1 ′ via the communication unit 6. A voice information request is transmitted to the terminal 10 ′.

  Each operation target terminal 10 ′ receives a voice information request via the communication unit 15 and passes it to the voice information management unit 33. The voice information management unit 33 refers to the voice information table 31 to check whether the voice setting is set, and returns the voice information if it is set.

  When the voice setting is not performed, the voice information management unit 33 generates a random number and sets the voice number based on the value.

  For example, when the random number R generated when the number of sounds in the sound information table 31 is N is “0” or more and less than “1”, the set sound number C can be an integer part of R × N + 1.

  Each operation target terminal 10 ′ set with a voice number transmits the voice information to the requesting user terminal 1 ′ via the communication unit 15.

  The user terminal 1 ′ receives voice information transmitted from each operation target terminal 10 ′ and passes it to the voice information determination unit 34.

  The voice information determination unit 34 that has acquired the voice information checks whether there is an operation target terminal 10 ′ that has returned the same voice number. If there is no overlap, the audio information is stored in the correspondence information management unit 3.

  When there is an operation target terminal 10 ′ that returns the same voice number, a voice information request is sent again to the operation target terminal 10 ′ except for one of them, and each operation target terminal 10 ′ is unique. It repeats until it has audio | voice information, and the reproduction | regeneration audio | voice of each operation object terminal 10 'is determined.

  When sending a voice information request from the user terminal 1 ′, a list of unused voice numbers may be sent. By sending an unused voice number list to the operation target terminal 10 ′, the possibility of duplication again in the voice information determination by the operation target terminal 10 ′ is reduced, and the time required for voice setting of all the operation target terminals 10 ′. Can be reduced.

  Based on the uniquely set audio information of the operation target terminal 10 ′, the reproduction instruction unit 5 of the user terminal 1 ′ instructs to reproduce based on the audio information set in each operation target terminal 10 ′. The operation target terminal 10 ′ that has received the information sends the instruction to the audio output unit 34 and reproduces it.

  In the display unit on the user terminal 1 ′, the name of the operation target terminal 10 is displayed on the name list display screen 20 as shown in FIG. 6, and is set by the user by designating the terminal name. Can sound. As this operation, the target device is selected from the device name table 25 displayed on the screen 20 by the operation of the paddle 22. The selected device can be determined by the determination button 23, and a sound is emitted from a speaker (not shown) of the user terminal 1 'by operating the playback button 24 in order to listen to the sound of each device.

  As described above, by designating the use target operation target terminal 10 ′ on the user terminal 1 ′, by reproducing the audio data on the operation target terminal 10 ′, the user can find out where the operation target terminal 10 ′ is located. You can know if it is installed.

<Sixth Embodiment>
As in the above-described embodiment, when a sound specified in the common sound information table is played, when a playback instruction is simultaneously performed from a plurality of user terminals 1 ′ to a plurality of operation target terminals 10 ′, the sound There is a possibility that it is difficult to confirm whether or not the image has been reproduced according to the user's instruction.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, sound source data (wav data, etc.) held in the user terminal 1 ′ is sent to each use target terminal, and sound (or music) information held by the user is reproduced from each use target terminal. This facilitates the discovery of the location of the operation target terminal 10 ′ designated by the user.

  By operating the user terminal 1 ′, audio data stored in the audio information table in the user terminal 1 ′ is selected. Next, the operation target terminal 10 'is designated, and voice data is sent to the operation target terminal 10'.

  In the operation target terminal 10 ′ that has received the voice data, the voice information management unit stores the voice data in the information storage unit 13. The stored audio data is reproduced by the audio output unit 32.

  Through the above operation, the user can reproduce the sound (or music) information of the known user by confidence and can easily find the location of the operation target terminal 10 ′ designated by the user.

  As described above, the light emitting unit 14 composed of a device capable of displaying a plurality of colors such as a multicolor light emitting LED, a liquid crystal panel, or an organic EL panel is attached to the various operation target terminals 10, and the user is a user terminal 1 such as a portable terminal. The search for the operation target terminal 10 is executed, and the light emitting unit 14 of the available operation target terminal 10 is turned on or blinks. The same color as the display color of each operation target terminal 10 is displayed on the screen on the user's mobile terminal, which makes it easy for the user to find the installation location of the operation target terminal 10.

  At that time, even when a plurality of users search simultaneously, each operation target terminal 10 displays the display color information without causing a conflict between users to assign different colors to each operation target terminal 10. By holding this, it is possible to provide a color assignment method that can assign the display color of each operation target terminal 10.

  In addition, by specifying the corresponding operation target terminal 10 on the portable terminal, the user can confirm the installation location of the operation target terminal 10 even in an environment where light is blocked by sounding the operation target terminal 10. Can do. In addition, by transmitting the sound in the user's mobile terminal to the operation target terminal 10, it can be confirmed that it is the operation target terminal 10 currently selected by the user without being confused with other user's operations. .

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to easily find the place where the device is installed for the available device displayed on the terminal screen.

  Each embodiment shows an example in which the device discovery system and the device discovery method are applied. Therefore, the embodiments should not be limited to these, and arbitrary modifications or improvements can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. However, it is included in an equivalent category.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a device discovery system to which an embodiment is applied. The flowchart for demonstrating the process step which concerns on embodiment is shown. The flowchart for demonstrating the process step which concerns on embodiment is shown. An example of the screen display in a display part is shown. The whole block diagram of the apparatus discovery system with which 5th Embodiment was applied is shown. An example of the name list display of the operation target terminal is shown. An example of a color information table is shown. An example of the device name and assigned color number table is shown below.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... User terminal 2 ... Color information determination part 3 ... Corresponding information management part 4, 12 ... Color information table 5 ... Light emission instruction | indication part 6, 15 ... Communication part 7 ... Display part 8 ... Network 10 ... Operation object terminal 11 ... Color information Management unit 13 ... Information storage unit 14 ... Light emitting unit

Claims (10)

A device discovery system for easily finding a place where an available device displayed on a terminal screen is installed,
A device search means for searching for available devices, assigning a color to each of the devices, and displaying them on the screen;
A light emitting means for emitting light in a specified emission color provided in the device;
A light emission color designating means for designating the light emission means to emit the same light emission color as the color assigned to the device;
A device discovery system comprising: The device search means
The assigned color holding means for holding the color assignment and displaying on the screen each of the devices that can be used in common with the color in the plurality of terminals. Device discovery system. The device search means
The device discovery system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the allocation is performed in association with host address part information of each IP address of the device. The emission color designation means
A light emission color re-designating means for re-designating a light emission color that can be emitted by the light-emitting means when the light-emitting means cannot emit the light emission color designated by the light-emitting means; The device discovery system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. In claims 1 to 4,
A device discovery system, wherein sound is generated using sound instead of light emission of the color. A device discovery method for easily finding a place where an available device displayed on a terminal screen is installed,
Searching the available devices in the device search means, assigning a color to each of the devices and displaying them on the screen;
Emitting light in a light emission color designated by a light emitting means provided in the device;
Designating the light emitting means to emit light having the same light emission color as the color assigned to the device in the light emission color designating means; and
A device discovery method characterized by comprising: The device search means
7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of providing an assigned color holding unit and holding the color assignment and displaying the devices that can be commonly used with the color on the plurality of terminals on the screen. How to find equipment. The device search means
The device discovery method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of performing the assignment in association with host address part information of each IP address of the device. The emission color designation means
A light emitting color redesignating unit, and when the light emitting unit cannot emit the light emission color designated by itself, the method includes a step of re-designating a light emitting color that can be emitted by the light emitting unit by approximating the light emitting color designated. The device discovery method according to any one of claims 6 to 8. In claims 6-9,
A device discovery method comprising a step of generating a sound using a sound instead of the light emission of the color.

Images