JP2010016583A - Viewing limiting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform viewing limitation comfortable to a user without changing display contents more than necessary when another user exists at a position where the another user does not see a touch panel even in the vicinity of the user. <P>SOLUTION: This viewing limiting device is provided with a camera, touch panel remote control detecting part, user detecting part, unregistered user visual recognition area inside determining part, content reproducing part, content information drawing part, and touch panel remote controller. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a viewing device.

  In recent years, IT equipment such as digital TV and home network equipment has become complicated and sophisticated. That is, the operation of a remote controller for remotely operating such an IT device has become very troublesome. Specifically, the number of buttons increases and it is difficult to find a button for performing a desired operation, or the number of times the button is pressed to perform a desired operation is increased. Therefore, the operation is becoming difficult not only for elderly people and information weak people but also for people who frequently have contact with IT equipment.

  In view of the above circumstances, there has been a remote controller that uses a touch panel as an excellent operability (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  On the other hand, various information devices including recent information home appliances have IDs for identifying users as users, and set and use various profile information corresponding to each ID. ing. That is, the profile information for each user is used in accordance with the individual user's hobbies and preferences. The profile information for each user is state setting information of a GUI (Graphic User Interface) menu in which design and necessary functions are arranged, or keyword information for providing information suitable for the user. The profile information for each user is set in advance. Then, when using the information device, the current user is identified by an ID such as a name or a symbol to call profile information. It was used for various service functions of information equipment. In order to identify the user, the user has to perform some login operation when starting to use the information device. Some login operations are, for example, entering an individual user's ID and password, selecting and pressing a button assigned to the user on the display screen, or a user button arranged on the remote control device It was an operation such as pressing.

  However, the above method requires many processes to identify the user. Specifically, a user who uses the information device first displays a screen for setting the user. Then, work such as input of a name representative of his / her ID and operation of a button is performed. Furthermore, it is necessary to identify the user and read necessary setting information based on the identified result. As described above, in information home appliances that can be easily accessed by the user, a method for making such a user take a lot of trouble is not preferable at all.

Furthermore, home information appliances such as those represented by digital television devices are often installed in a living room and used by a plurality of people. In such a case, it is assumed that there are users who are restricted in access to specific information, or conversely, users who are given a lot of authority. Accordingly, there are many cases where the user himself has trouble selecting which ID of the user should be selected. In addition, in home information appliances at home, users often change frequently, and it is virtually impossible to perform operations for identifying users each time. Even if the profile information was retained, it was often useless.
JP 2005-136518 A

  However, in the conventional technology, when there is another user near the user and at a position where the touch panel can be seen, even if the user does not want to show the content displayed on the touch panel, no consideration is given. Therefore, the viewing restriction operation is very inconvenient for the user.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems of the prior art, and when there is another user near the user and at a position where the touch panel can be seen, the content displayed on the touch panel is controlled depending on whether or not the other user is registered. An object is to provide a viewing restriction device.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the viewing restriction device of the present invention includes a camera, a touch panel remote control detection unit, a user detection unit, an unregistered user viewing area determination unit, a content playback unit, a content information drawing unit, and a touch panel remote control. Is done.

  According to the viewing restriction device of the present invention, when it is not desired to show the content displayed on the touch panel to other users, the content displayed on the touch panel can be controlled depending on whether or not the other users are registered. This has the effect of allowing viewing restrictions that are comfortable for the user.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram expressing the form of use in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 1 is composed of a television receiver 101, a camera 102, and a touch panel remote controller 103. Here, the television receiver 101 will be described as including the viewing restriction device of the present invention.

  The television receiver 101 is connected to the camera 102 and discriminates a user who has been photographed using the face authentication technology from an image photographed by the camera 102. Then, it is determined whether or not the user being photographed is a registered user. When it is determined that the user is registered in advance, the content with viewing restrictions and information related to the content are displayed on the TV screen or the touch panel remote controller 103. Further, if there are a plurality of users who are photographed and it is determined that there are unregistered users among the users who are photographed, content that is restricted in viewing and information on the contents are displayed. It has a function of suppressing the function displayed on the TV screen. Furthermore, if there are a plurality of users who are photographed and the touch panel remote control 103 is a user who is photographed and is within a range that can be viewed by an unregistered user, the content that is restricted in viewing or the content And a function of suppressing the function of displaying information on the touch panel remote controller 103.

  The camera 102 photographs the touch panel remote controller 103 with the user of the television receiver 101 and sends the image to the television receiver 101. The touch panel remote controller 103 has a touch panel screen for the user to operate a channel or operate an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) in order to view the content desired by the user of the television receiver 101. In addition, the touch panel screen can display an EPG and view content such as a back program independently of the TV screen.

  FIG. 1 further shows a registered user 104 registered in the viewing restriction device, an unregistered unregistered user 105 and an unregistered user viewing area 106 as a range that can be viewed by the unregistered user 105.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram expressing the operation mode of the touch panel remote controller 103. A touch panel remote controller 103 shown in FIG. 2 has a touch panel screen 201 that detects a user's touch and displays content desired by the user and information related to the content. The user's touch may be touched by the user with a finger, or may be touched with a dedicated pen held by the user.

  FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the viewing restriction apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 3 includes a camera 301, a touch panel remote control detection unit 302, a user detection unit 303, an unregistered user visual recognition area determination unit 304, a digital TV tuner 306, a content reproduction unit 307, a content information drawing unit 308, and a network I. / F309, TV screen 310, and touch panel remote control 311. Here, the touch panel remote control detection unit 302, the user detection unit 303, the unregistered user visual recognition area determination unit 304, the digital TV tuner 306, the content reproduction unit 307, the content information drawing unit 308, the network I / F 309, and the TV screen 310 are shown in FIG. The description will be made assuming that it is included in the television receiver 101 shown in FIG.

  The camera 301 periodically captures the surroundings of the TV receiver 101 so that the positional relationship between the user and the touch panel remote controller 311 is obtained, and sends the captured images to the touch panel remote controller detection unit 302 and the user detection unit 303.

  The touch panel remote control detection unit 302 analyzes the image received from the camera 301, obtains position information such as where the touch panel remote control 103 is located in the image, and sends it to the unregistered user viewing area presence determination unit 304 as touch panel remote control position information. By the way, the detection method of the touch panel remote controller 311 by image analysis is not the main point of the present application and is not particularly limited in configuration. For example, the touch panel remote controller 311 includes a beacon LED and emits light with a predetermined pulse. With this configuration, detection by image analysis is easy.

  The user detection unit 303 analyzes the image received from the camera 301 and sends a detection result corresponding to the user detection status to the content reproduction unit 307 and the content information drawing unit 308 as user detection information. In the following, for ease of explanation, the value “00” is the detection result when no user is detected, the value “01” is the detection result when an unregistered user is detected, and the registered user is detected The detection result is “10”, and when any user is detected, the detection result is “11”. Further, the user detection unit 303 obtains position information such as where the unregistered user is located in the image, and sends it to the unregistered user visual recognition area presence determination unit 304 as unregistered user position information. Here, there may be a plurality of users, in which case a plurality of unregistered user position information is output. By the way, since the user detection method by image analysis is not the main point of the present application and the configuration is not particularly limited, for example, a detection method by face authentication can be selected.

  Based on the touch panel remote control position information received from the touch panel remote control detection unit 302 and the unregistered user position information received from the user detection unit 303, the unregistered user visual area determination unit 304 includes the touch panel remote control 311 within a range that can be viewed by an unregistered user. It is determined whether it exists, and the determination result is sent to the content reproduction unit 307 and the content information drawing unit 308 as viewing permission suppression information. As a specific example of a method for determining whether or not the touch panel remote controller 311 exists within a range that can be visually recognized by an unregistered user, a distance between the two is obtained based on the touch panel remote controller position information and the unregistered user position information. There is a method of determining that the touch panel remote controller 311 exists within a range that can be viewed by an unregistered user if the value is equal to or less than a certain value. However, the determination method is not limited to this, and there may be a plurality of unregistered user position information. Hereinafter, for ease of explanation, the state of the viewing permission suppression information is displayed as a logical “1” as a determination result when it exists in a visible range and as a logical “0” when it does not exist.

  The digital TV tuner 306 obtains an MPEG TS (MPEG transport stream) by tuning and demodulating the channel desired by the user from the digital TV broadcast radio wave received from the antenna. Further, the MPEG TS is decoded by an MPEG TD (MPEG Transport Decoder) to obtain content (MPEG audio video stream, digital image such as JPEG or GIF) and content information (information regarding content such as EPG information and data broadcasting). . Here, the content information includes viewing restriction information related to content viewing restriction, and the logic is logic “1” in the case of content that should be restricted in viewing, and logic “0” in the case of content that is not restricted in viewing. Further, the obtained content is sent to the content reproduction unit 307 and the content information is sent to the content information drawing unit 308.

  The content playback unit 307 decodes the content received from the digital TV tuner 306 into audio and video uncompressed data (AV data) using an MPEG AVD (MPEG audio video decoder), and receives the viewing received from the unregistered user viewing area determination unit 304. Based on the permission suppression information, the user detection information received from the user detection unit 303, and the viewing restriction information received from the digital TV tuner 306, it is individually determined whether or not to send AV data to the network I / F 309 and the TV screen 310, Output when it is determined to be sent. The determination logic regarding the output of the content reproduction unit 307 is as shown in FIG.

  The content information drawing unit 308 converts the content information received from the digital TV tuner 306 into image data that can be understood by the user using a graphic display such as character font data and ruled lines, and from the unregistered user visual recognition area determination unit 304. Whether to send image data to the network I / F 309 and the TV screen 310 individually based on the received viewing permission suppression information, the user detection information received from the user detection unit 303, and the viewing restriction information received from the digital TV tuner 306. This is output when it is determined to be sent. The logic of determination regarding the output of the content information drawing unit 308 is as shown in FIG.

  The network I / F 309 is an interface for communicating with the touch panel remote controller 311 and can have various configurations, but is assumed to be a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) I / F in order to simplify the description. The network I / F 309 converts the AV data received from the content reproduction unit 307 and the image data received from the content information drawing unit into a wireless LAN packet and sends the packet to the touch panel remote controller 311. At this time, in more detail, it is necessary to perform processing of a communication protocol such as TCP / IP, but the description is omitted because it is not the main point of the present application.

  The TV screen 310 is a device that generates an image that can be visually perceived by the user from the received data, such as a liquid crystal display panel or a plasma display panel. The TV screen 310 is received from the AV data received from the content playback unit 307 and the content information drawing unit. The image data is converted into an image that can be perceived by the user and displayed.

  Since the touch panel remote controller 311 assumes that the network I / F 309 is configured with a wireless LAN I / F, it is assumed that the touch panel remote controller 311 also includes a wireless LAN I / F. The touch panel has a touch panel that can detect a user's touch and display an image in the same manner as a TV screen. The touch panel remote controller 311 converts the AV data received from the content reproduction unit 307 via the network and the image data received via the network from the content information drawing unit 308 into an image that can be perceived by the user on the touch panel screen and displays the image. Here, the TV receiver 101 can be controlled by the user touching the touch panel, but a specific processing procedure for transmitting the user's touch to the TV receiver is not the main point of the present application, and thus the description thereof is omitted. .

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the determination logic regarding the outputs of the content reproduction unit 307 and the content information drawing unit 108 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In the first embodiment, the description of the procedure for handling audio is omitted, but data up to that point can be obtained by simply replacing the device for displaying an image such as the TV screen 310 or the touch panel with a sound generating device such as a speaker. The processing procedure is no different from video and images.

  As described above, the viewing restriction apparatus according to the present invention has been described based on the embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

  For example, although the device including the viewing restriction device is a television receiver, it may be a television recording device, a game machine, a personal computer, a portable terminal, or the like.

  Also, the viewing restriction device may be built in the touch panel remote controller, or a part of the functional blocks may be distributed as software to other devices via a network for distributed processing.

  The content is digital TV broadcast content, but may be digital TV broadcast recording content, Internet broadcast content, disk media content, semiconductor media content, or the like.

  Each functional block is typically realized as an LSI which is an integrated circuit. These may be individually made into one chip, or may be made into one chip so as to include a part or all of them.

  The name used here is LSI, but it may also be called IC, system LSI, super LSI, or ultra LSI depending on the degree of integration.

  Further, the method of circuit integration is not limited to LSI's, and implementation using dedicated circuitry or general purpose processors is also possible. An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after manufacturing the LSI, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connection and setting of circuit cells inside the LSI may be used.

  Furthermore, if integrated circuit technology comes out to replace LSI's as a result of the advancement of semiconductor technology or a derivative other technology, it is naturally also possible to carry out function block integration using this technology. There is a possibility of adaptation of biotechnology.

  A viewing restriction apparatus according to the present invention includes a camera, a touch panel remote control detection unit, a user detection unit, an unregistered user visual recognition area determination unit, a content reproduction unit, a content information drawing unit, a touch panel remote control, a television, a DVD / BD recorder, and the like. Useful as.

Explanatory drawing expressing the form of use in Embodiment 1 of the present invention FIG. 2 in the first embodiment of the present invention is an explanatory diagram expressing a mode of operation of the touch panel remote controller 103. Configuration diagram of viewing restriction apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention Explanatory drawing which showed the logic of the determination regarding the output in Embodiment 1 of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Television receiver 102 Camera 103 Touch panel remote control 104 Registered user 105 Unregistered user 106 Unregistered user visual recognition area 201 Touch panel screen 301 Camera 302 Touch panel remote control detection part 303 User detection part 304 Unregistered user visual recognition part judgment part 306 Digital TV tuner 307 Contents Playback unit 308 Content information drawing unit 309 Network I / F
310 TV screen 311 Touch panel remote control

Claims (2)

A viewing restriction device that permits viewing only to users registered in the viewing restriction processing of content with viewing restrictions,
Multiple display devices,
A display status determination unit that determines which display device can be viewed by an unregistered user among a plurality of users for each of the plurality of display devices, and a display control unit that controls display based on the result of the visual status determination unit,
Viewing restriction device. A viewing restriction device that permits viewing only to users registered in the viewing restriction processing of content with viewing restrictions,
A display device;
User detection means for detecting a user;
An unregistered user visual recognition area presence determination means for determining whether the unregistered user can visually recognize the display device or measuring the distance between the unregistered user and the display device;
Display control means for controlling display based on the results of user detection means and unregistered user visual recognition area presence determination means,
Viewing restriction device.

Images