JP2009010486A - Apparatus controller, apparatus control system, apparatus control method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable more easy control of an apparatus, than when it does not have this configuration. <P>SOLUTION: A remote controller 10 specifies a direction, to which an enclosure of the remote controller 10 is directed, selects an apparatus 9 as an operation target, on the basis of the specified direction, and transmits an infrared control signal corresponding to the selected apparatus 9, according to user's operation. The remote controller 10 is provided with a plurality of transmission ports for transmitting a control signal (infrared ray), and the same control signal is transmitted in a plurality of directions from these transmission ports. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a device control system.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, as the user moves to a location, an electronic device network that takes over the setting of the usage state of the electronic device provided at the location before the transfer to the electronic device provided at the location after the move. A system is disclosed.

JP 2003-338947 A

  The present invention has been made from the above-described background, and it is an object of the present invention to control an apparatus more easily than a case where the present configuration is not provided.

  In order to achieve the above object, a device control apparatus according to the present invention is registered in advance based on a casing, direction specifying means for specifying the direction of the casing, and the direction specified by the direction specifying means. Selecting means for selecting a device to be operated from a plurality of devices.

Preferably, according to an input from a user, the apparatus further includes a registration unit that registers the direction of the casing in association with the device, and the selection unit includes a direction of the casing registered by the registration unit, A device to be operated is selected based on the direction specified by the direction specifying means.
Preferably, the information processing apparatus further includes a user specifying unit that specifies a user, wherein the registration unit registers a direction of the housing and a device that can be the operation target in association with the user, and the selection unit includes the user specifying unit. The device to be operated is selected based on the direction of the casing registered in association with the user specified by the means.

Preferably, the apparatus further includes a touch panel that receives a user operation, and a display screen control unit that changes an operation screen displayed on the touch panel according to the device selected by the selection unit.
Preferably, when a confirmation operation for confirming the operation target is performed by the user, the confirmation that the device selected by the selection unit when the specific operation is accepted is confirmed as the operation target device until a predetermined timing. It further has means.

Preferably, a plurality of transmission ports for transmitting radio signals for operating the device are provided, and the same wireless signal is transmitted from these transmission ports.
Preferably, conversion information recording means for recording information used for character code conversion in association with a user or a device, and among the information recorded in the conversion information recording means, the user specified by the user specifying means or Code conversion means for converting a character code input from the user into another character code using information corresponding to the device selected by the selection means.

  Further, the device control apparatus according to the present invention is used from a plurality of driver software based on a case, direction specifying means for specifying the direction of the case, and the direction specified by the direction specifying means. Selection means for selecting driver software to be used.

  The device control system according to the present invention is a device control system including a management device that manages control signals for a plurality of devices and a device control device operated by a user, and specifies the direction of the device control device. Direction specifying means, selection means for selecting a device to be operated from a plurality of pre-registered devices based on the direction specified by the direction specifying means, and control managed by the management device Control means for controlling the selected device using the control signal of the device selected by the selection means among the signals.

  The device control method according to the present invention is a device control method for controlling a device by using a device control device, and specifies a direction of the device control device and is registered in advance based on the specified direction. A device to be operated is selected from a plurality of devices.

  Further, in a device control system including a plurality of devices and a device control device that controls the devices, the program according to the present invention specifies a direction of the device control device, and based on the specified direction, Selecting a device to be operated from among the plurality of devices.

  According to the device control apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to control the device more easily than in the case where the present configuration is not provided.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a device control system 1 according to the first embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the device control system 1 includes a remote control device 10 (device control device), a management device 20, and a plurality of devices 9 (TV 902, HD recorder 904, air conditioner 906) to be controlled. .
The remote control device 10 controls one of the plurality of devices 9 in accordance with a user operation. The remote control device 10 of this example controls the operation of the device 9 by transmitting a control signal to the device 9 using wireless communication (infrared communication) corresponding to each device.
The management device 20 manages the control signal of each device 9. In response to a request from the remote control device 10, the management device 20 of this example provides a control signal (data for infrared communication) of each device 9 to the remote control device 10. For example, the management device 20 collects control signals of each device 9 from a web page on the Internet, and transmits the collected control signals to the remote control device 10 via a LAN or USB cable.
The device 9 (the television 902, the HD recorder 904, and the air conditioner 906) of this example is a device that can be controlled by an infrared control signal.

  The remote control device 10 of this example selects the device 9 to be operated according to the direction in which the casing of the remote control device 10 is directed, and controls the infrared rays corresponding to the selected device 9 according to the user's operation. Send a signal. In addition, the remote control device 10 of the present example includes a plurality of transmission ports that send out control signals (infrared rays), for example. Since these outlets transmit infrared rays in different directions, the remote control device 10 can transmit infrared rays over a wide range.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional module 100 of the remote control device 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the functional module 100 includes a user specifying unit 102, a direction sensor 104, a user interface control unit (UI control unit 106), a selection unit 108, a direction database (direction DB) 110, a registration unit 112, and a confirmation. Section 114, control signal selection section 116, control signal database (control signal DB) 118, communication section 120, infrared transmission section 122, code conversion section 124, and character conversion database (character conversion DB) 126.
Each part of the functional module 100 is realized by hardware or a combination of hardware and software.

The user specifying unit 102 specifies a user who operates the remote control device 10. For example, the user specifying unit 102 may specify the user based on a password input from the user, or may specify the user by biometric authentication such as fingerprint authentication.
The direction sensor 104 specifies the direction in which the casing of the remote control device 10 is directed. The specified method may be a component in the direction of gravity (vertical direction), a component in the horizontal direction (east, west, north and south), or an omnidirectional component in a three-dimensional space. For example, the direction sensor 104 specifies the direction of the casing of the remote control device 10 in the three-dimensional space using a geomagnetic sensor, a three-axis acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or any one of them.

The UI control unit 106 controls the user interface of the remote control device 10 to present information to the user and accept input from the user. For example, the UI control unit 106 controls a touch panel provided in the remote control device 10 to accept input from the user and provide information to the user.
The selection unit 108 selects a device to be operated from a plurality of devices registered in advance based on the direction specified by the direction sensor 104. For example, the selection unit 108 operates based on the user registration information (information registered in the direction DB 110) specified by the user specifying unit 102 and the device 9 (the operation target) based on the direction specified by the direction sensor 104. Figure 1) is selected. When any device 9 is selected by the selection unit 108, the UI control unit 106 causes the operation screen of the selected device 9 to be displayed on the touch panel of the remote control device 10. That is, every time the device selected by the selection unit 108 changes, the device operation screen (icon display and function) displayed on the touch panel of the remote control device 10 is switched.

The registration unit 112 registers the direction of the casing of the remote control device 10 in the direction DB 110 in association with the device in accordance with an input from the user. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, the direction DB 110 stores the registered direction and device identification information in association with the registered user. When the user designates a specific device 9 and performs a direction registration operation with the casing of the remote control device 10 directed in a desired direction, the registration unit 112 of this example indicates the direction of the casing at that time. The specified device 9 specified in 104 and the direction of the specified housing are associated with each other and registered in the direction DB 110.
When the user performs a confirming operation for confirming the operation target, the confirming unit 114 confirms the device selected by the selecting unit 108 when the confirming operation is performed as an operation target device until a predetermined timing. That is, once the confirmation operation is performed, the device 9 to be operated does not change until the predetermined timing even if the direction of the remote control device 10 changes. The predetermined timing is, for example, a timing at which the user performs an operation for canceling the confirmation, or a timing at which a predetermined period has elapsed since the timing at which the user performed the last operation. The confirmation operation is, for example, an operation of touching an area corresponding to the confirmation operation on the touch panel of the remote control device 10 or some operation on the selected device 9. For example, when the user performs a confirming operation, the confirming unit 114 confirms the device 9 selected by the selecting unit 108 when the confirming operation has been performed as an operation target device, and the UI controlling unit 106 , Prohibiting the replacement of the touch panel operation screen.

When the device 9 to be operated is determined by the determination unit 114, the control signal selection unit 116 selects a set of control signals related to the determined device 9 from the control signal DB 118. Here, the set of control signals is a set of control signals corresponding to the same device.
The communication unit 120 realizes communication with the management apparatus 20 (FIG. 1). For example, the communication unit 120 acquires a control signal (infrared data) of each device 9 from the management device 20, and registers the acquired control signal in the control signal DB 118 in association with the device and operation content. As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the control signal DB 118 stores the control signal registered by the communication unit 120 in association with the device and the operation content.

  The infrared transmitter 122 selects a control signal corresponding to a user operation from the control signals selected by the control signal selector 116, and controls the operation of the device 9 using the selected control signal. For example, the infrared transmission unit 122 selects the infrared data corresponding to the user operation from the infrared data selected by the control signal selection unit 116, and causes the selected infrared data to be transmitted from a plurality of transmission ports.

When the character conversion request is input from the user, the code conversion unit 124, from the user dictionary registered in the character conversion DB 126, the user specified by the user specifying unit 102 and the device determined by the determination unit 114 A user dictionary corresponding to is selected, and using the selected user dictionary, a character code of a conversion candidate (for example, a character code of kanji or katakana) corresponding to an input character code (for example, a hiragana character code) is selected. The conversion candidate is identified and presented based on the character code of the identified conversion candidate. When the user selects any conversion candidate from the presented conversion candidates, the code conversion unit 124 transmits the character code of the selected conversion candidate to the device via the infrared transmission unit 122. That is, the devices of this example (for example, the television 902 and the HD recorder 904) have a function of displaying characters corresponding to the character code received by infrared rays.
As illustrated in FIG. 3C, the character conversion DB 126 records a user dictionary for converting a character code in association with a user and a device. In the user dictionary, a character code before conversion, a character code after conversion, and an input history thereof are registered in association with each other. The character code before conversion and the character code after conversion can be arbitrarily registered by the user, and the character code before and after conversion registered by the user is registered in the user dictionary of this user.
The conversion candidate characters are displayed on the touch panel of the remote control device 10 or the operation target device (such as the television 902) in an order corresponding to the input history of the user based on the conversion candidate character code. When the user selects any conversion candidate, the input history in the character conversion DB 126 is updated so as to increase the rank of the selected conversion candidate.
In this example, the user dictionary such as the input history is associated with the user and the device, but may be associated with only the user or only the device. That is, the code conversion unit 124 may select the user dictionary based on the user specified by the user specifying unit 102 or the device determined by the determination unit 114.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the device operation process (S10) in the first embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, in step 100 (S100), when the user touches the fingerprint authentication position of the remote control device 10, the user specifying unit 102 (FIG. 2) of the remote control device 10 is based on the fingerprint pattern of the user. The user is specified, and the specified user identification information is output to the selection unit 108.
In step 105 (S105), the direction sensor 104 is a direction in which the casing of the remote control device 10 is directed at a predetermined timing (for example, a timing at which each sensor detects a change in direction greater than or equal to a threshold value or a predetermined cycle). And the identification information on the direction of the housing is output to the selection unit 108.

In step 110 (S110), the selection unit 108 accesses the direction DB 110, and based on the user identification information input from the user identification unit 102, selects the direction table (FIG. 3A) corresponding to the user. The device corresponding to the direction specific information input from the direction sensor 104 is selected. The identification information of the selected device is output to the UI control unit 106 and the determination unit 114.
In step 115 (S115), when the newly selected device is different from the device selected immediately before, the functional module 100 proceeds to the processing of S120, and the newly selected device is selected immediately before. If it is the same as the device, the process proceeds to S125.

In step 120 (S120), the UI control unit 106 displays an operation screen of the device on the touch panel of the remote control device 10 based on the device identification information input from the selection unit 108.
In step 125 (S125), the determination unit 114 determines the presence / absence of a confirmation operation by the user.
When the confirmation operation is performed, the functional module 100 proceeds to the process of S130, and when the confirmation operation is not performed, the function module 100 returns to the process of S105 to specify the direction of the casing and select the device. repeat. Note that, when the confirmation operation is performed, the selection unit 108 outputs the specific information of the confirmed device to the UI control unit 106 and the control signal selection unit 116.

In step 130 (S130), when the device specifying information is input from the determination unit 114, the UI control unit 106 displays an operation screen displayed on the touch panel of the remote control device 10 (that is, the determined device operation screen). The user's operation is accepted. When the user inputs a character, the code conversion unit 124 converts the character code input by the user into another character code using a user dictionary corresponding to the user and the device, and converts the converted character code. Output to the infrared transmitter 122.
When the device identification information is input from the determination unit 114, the control signal selection unit 116 accesses the control signal DB 118 and sets the determined control signal of the device from the control signal table (FIG. 3B). , And the set of read control signals is output to the infrared transmitter 122.
When an operation of the device is detected on the touch panel, the infrared transmission unit 122 transmits a control signal (infrared signal) corresponding to the detected operation or an infrared signal of a character code in a plurality of directions.

In step 135 (S135), the confirmation unit 114 monitors the user's operation and determines whether or not the user's operation matches the confirmation cancellation condition. The release condition is, for example, that no operation has been performed for a predetermined period, or that a confirmation release button is pressed.
If the release condition is met, the function module 100 proceeds to the process of S140. If the release condition is not met, the function module 100 maintains the determination of the operation target device, returns to the process of S130, and accepts the operation by the user. continue.
In step 140 (S140), the determination unit 114 cancels the confirmation of the operation target device when the user's operation matches the release condition. Thereafter, the device operation process (S10) may be ended, or the process may return to the process of S105.

  As described above, the remote control device 10 according to the present embodiment can select a device to be operated according to the direction, and can control the selected device.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of the device control system 2 according to the second embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, in the device control system 2 of this example, a plurality of devices 9 (TV 902, HD recorder 904, air conditioner 906) to be controlled are connected to the second management device 22 via a network. (That is, the device 9 is a network home appliance), and the second remote control device 12 controls the plurality of devices 9 via the management device 22.
More specifically, the remote control device 12 instructs the management device 22 to control the device 9 using wireless communication such as infrared communication in accordance with a user operation, and the management device 22 responds to this instruction. The target device 9 is controlled.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the functional module 200 of the remote control device 12 and the functional module 30 of the management device 22. It should be noted that among the components shown in this figure, the same reference numerals are given to the components substantially the same as those shown in FIG.
As illustrated in FIG. 6, the functional module 200 of the remote control device 12 has a configuration in which the control signal selection unit 116, the control signal DB 118, and the communication unit 120 are deleted from the functional module 100 of FIG. 2. The functional module 300 of the management device 22 includes a control signal DB 302, a control signal selection unit 304, a device control unit 306, an infrared reception unit 308, a character conversion DB 310, and a code conversion unit 312. The control signal DB 302 and the control signal selection unit 304 correspond to the control signal DB 118 and the control signal selection unit 116 of FIG. 2, respectively. The code conversion unit 312 and the character conversion DB 310 are respectively the code conversion unit 124 of FIG. And the character conversion DB 126.
The character conversion DB 310 and the code conversion unit 312 of this example exist on the management device 22 side, but may exist on the remote control device 12 side as in the first embodiment.

The functional module 200 communicates with the functional module 300 of the management device 22 via the infrared transmission unit 122.
When the infrared receiving unit 308 receives the specified device identification information from the determination unit 114 of the remote control device 12, the infrared reception unit 308 outputs the received device identification information to the control signal selection unit 304. The control signal selection unit 304 reads a control signal corresponding to the input device specific information from the control signal DB, and outputs the read control signal to the device control unit 306.
In addition, when receiving an operation instruction for the device from the UI control unit 106 of the remote control device 12, the infrared receiving unit 308 outputs the received operation instruction to the device control unit 306. The device control unit 306 selects a control signal corresponding to the input operation instruction from the control signals input from the control signal selection unit 304, and uses the selected control signal to control the device 9 via the network. To control the operation.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram of the device operation process (S20) in the second embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 7, in step 200 (S200), the remote control device 12 (user specifying unit 102) specifies a user based on the fingerprint pattern of the user.
In step 205 (S205), the remote control device 12 (direction sensor 104) specifies the direction in which the casing of the remote control device 12 is directed at a predetermined timing.

In step 210 (S210), the remote control device 12 (selection unit 108) accesses the direction table (FIG. 3A) and selects a device corresponding to the specified user and direction. The operation screen of the selected device is displayed on the touch panel of the remote control device 12.
When remote control device 12 (confirmation unit 114) detects a confirmation operation by the user, remote control device 12 (confirmation unit 114) confirms the selected device as an operation target, and transmits the specific information of the confirmed device to management device 22 using infrared rays. When the operation target device is confirmed, the replacement of the operation screen displayed on the touch panel of the remote control device 12 is prohibited.

  In step 215 (S215), when the management device 22 (control signal selection unit 304) receives the determined device specific information from the remote control device 12, the management device 22 (control signal selection unit 304) accesses the control signal table (FIG. 3B) to confirm. Read a set of control signals for the connected device. As a result, the management apparatus 22 determines the device to be operated.

  In step 220 (S220), when an operation of the device is detected on the touch panel, the remote control device 12 (UI control unit 106) transmits specific information of the detected operation to the management device 22. In addition, when a character input operation (including kanji conversion operation or the like) is performed on the touch panel, the remote control device 12 (UI control unit 106) sends a character code or the like corresponding to the detected character input operation to the management device 22. Send.

In step 225 (S225), upon receiving the operation specific information from the remote control device 12, the management device 22 (device control unit 306) selects a control signal corresponding to the received operation specific information, and the selected control signal Is transmitted to the confirmed device 9 to be operated via the network.
In addition, when the management device 22 (code conversion unit 312) receives a character conversion request from the remote control device 12 together with the character code, the management device 22 (code conversion unit 312) uses a user dictionary corresponding to the user and the device to select candidate characters corresponding to the received character code. The code is displayed on the device 9.
In step 230 (S230), the device 9 (the device determined as the operation target) operates according to the control signal received from the management device 22.

  As described above, the remote control device 12 according to the present embodiment can easily and intuitively select a device to be operated from a plurality of devices 9 managed by the management device 22 via a network. it can.

[Modification]
In the second embodiment, control signals for a plurality of devices 9 are managed by the control signal DB 302. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, driver software for each device 9 may be managed. In other words, the management device 22 has driver software for a plurality of devices 9, and when any device 9 is selected by the remote control device 12, the management device 22 activates the driver software for the selected device 9, The selected software may be controlled using driver software.

It is a figure which illustrates the whole structure of the apparatus control system 1 in 1st Embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional module 100 of the remote control device 10. FIG. (A) illustrates information registered in the direction database 110 (FIG. 2), (B) illustrates information registered in the control signal database 118, and (C) registers in the character conversion database 126. It is a figure which illustrates the information performed. It is a flowchart of the apparatus operation process (S10) in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the whole structure of the apparatus control system 2 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the functional module 200 of the remote control device 12, and the functional module 30 of the management apparatus 22. It is a sequence diagram of apparatus operation processing (S20) in the second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1, 2 Device control system 10, 12 Remote control device 20, 22 Management device 100, 200 Function module 300 of remote control device Function module of management device

Claims (11)

A housing,
Direction specifying means for specifying the direction of the housing;
A device control apparatus comprising: a selecting unit that selects a device to be operated from a plurality of devices registered in advance based on the direction specified by the direction specifying unit. In accordance with an input from the user, it further comprises a registration means for registering the direction of the housing in association with the device,
The device control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects a device to be operated based on a direction of a casing registered by the registration unit and a direction specified by the direction specifying unit. . A user specifying means for specifying a user;
The registration unit registers a direction of the housing and a device that can be the operation target in association with a user,
The device control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the selection unit selects a device to be operated based on a direction of a casing registered in association with the user specified by the user specifying unit. A touch panel that accepts user operations;
The device control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a display screen control unit that changes an operation screen displayed on the touch panel according to the device selected by the selection unit. A confirmation unit for confirming the device selected by the selection unit as a device to be operated until a predetermined timing when a confirmation operation for confirming the operation target is performed by the user; The device control apparatus according to claim 1. It has multiple outlets that send out wireless signals to operate the equipment,
The device control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the same wireless signal is transmitted from these outlets. Conversion information recording means for recording information used for character code conversion in association with a user or a device;
Of the information recorded in the conversion information recording means, information corresponding to the user specified by the user specifying means or the device selected by the selection means is used to change the character code input by the user to another The device control device according to claim 3, further comprising: code conversion means for converting the character code. A housing,
Direction specifying means for specifying the direction of the housing;
A device control apparatus comprising: selection means for selecting driver software to be used from among a plurality of driver software based on the direction specified by the direction specifying means. A device control system including a management device that manages control signals for a plurality of devices, and a device control device operated by a user,
Direction specifying means for specifying the direction of the device control device;
Selection means for selecting a device to be operated from a plurality of pre-registered devices based on the direction specified by the direction specifying means;
A control unit that controls the selected device using the control signal of the device selected by the selection unit among the control signals managed by the management device. A device control method for controlling a device using a device control device,
Identify the direction of the device control device;
A device control method for selecting a device to be operated from a plurality of devices registered in advance based on a specified direction. In a device control system including a plurality of devices and a device control device that controls the devices,
Identifying the direction of the device control device;
A program that causes a computer to execute a step of selecting a device to be operated from among the plurality of devices based on a specified direction.

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