JP2012155465A - Monitoring device, television receiver, monitoring system, monitoring method, monitoring program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To send warning information in more suitable timing by monitoring user operation on some equipment and adequately determining whether user operation is done on the equipment.SOLUTION: A television set 100 includes: a timer unit 330 which measures the time when no user operation is performed; an alert generation unit 340 (warning unit) which generates an alert (warning information) when the measured time exceeds a preset time; a determination unit 320 which determines whether some control signal results from user operation when the control signal is input; and a resetting unit 335 which increases the difference between the measured time by the timer unit 330 and the preset time when it is determined that the input control signal results from the user operation, and does not increase the difference when it is determined that the input control signal does not result from the user operation.

Description

  The present invention monitors a user operation on a certain device, and when it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the user, a monitoring device, a television receiver, a monitoring system, a monitoring method, a monitoring program, and a warning information are issued. And a recording medium in which a monitoring program is recorded.

  If there is any abnormality in a person who needs to be supervised, such as an elderly person or a person with a disability (hereinafter referred to as “monitored person”), a person who should be notified such as a caregiver (hereinafter “notification”) It is necessary to promptly notify the “person”. This is because the notification target person can quickly respond to the abnormality that has occurred in the monitoring target person.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, the non-operation period is obtained from the operation history of the electric pot, and when the non-operation period exceeds a predetermined non-operation setting period, information on the person to be monitored is stored in a predetermined mail address. A technique for transmitting to is disclosed. According to this technology, the monitoring person can quickly grasp the situation in which the monitoring target cannot operate the electric pot for some reason, and the countermeasures such as contacting the monitoring target person's home or a specialized monitoring person can be performed quickly. It is supposed to be possible.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, when an optical signal emitted from a remote control of a home appliance is detected and the optical signal is not detected again within a safety confirmation time, a survival confirmation necessary signal is transmitted to the host computer. Techniques to do this are disclosed. According to this technology, it can be confirmed that an abnormal situation has occurred in an elderly person living alone based on the transmission result.

  Patent Document 3 monitors the operation status of the television receiver, and based on this, confirms whether the TV program is viewed according to the viewing pattern. A technique for transmitting the occurrence to a supervisory terminal is disclosed. According to this technology, if it is not viewed according to the viewing pattern, there is a possibility that there has been a change in the single person. In such a situation, it is possible to monitor the fact that an exceptional situation has occurred without time lag. It is supposed to be able to notify the terminal for use.

Japanese Patent No. 3193363 JP 2000-293774 A JP 2009-77351 A

  However, in recent appliances such as home appliances, there are cases in which an operation is automatically performed regardless of an input device such as an operation button or a remote controller included in the appliance. For example, the timer function may be automatically operated at a preset time. In this case, the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 misrecognize that a user operation has been performed even though no user operation (hereinafter referred to as “user operation”) is actually performed. End up. In this case, in spite of the fact that some abnormality has actually occurred in the monitoring target person, there is a situation in which warning information for notifying this abnormality is not notified to the notification target person.

  In addition, the device may be remotely operated from an external device. In this case, the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 erroneously recognize that the user operation is not performed even though the user operation is actually performed. In this case, there is a situation in which warning information is erroneously notified to the notification subject even though no abnormality has actually occurred in the monitoring subject.

  As described above, in the techniques of Patent Documents 1 to 3, when an operation that does not depend on the input device included in the device is performed, it is not possible to accurately grasp whether or not the user operation is performed.

  An object of the present invention is to monitor a user operation on a certain device and issue warning information at a more appropriate timing by more accurately determining whether the user operation has been performed on this device. is there.

  The monitoring device according to the present invention is a monitoring device that monitors a user's operation on a certain device, and measures a time during which no user operation is performed on the device, and a measurement time by the timer unit is set in advance. Warning means for issuing warning information when a predetermined time has elapsed, and determination information for determining whether or not the control signal is caused by the user's operation for each of a plurality of control signals for the device When a control signal is input to the determination information storage means to be stored and the processing target monitoring unit of the device, whether the control signal is based on the operation of the user based on the determination information A determination means for determining whether or not the input control signal is due to the user's operation, a measurement time by the timer means, A warning timing adjusting means for enlarging a difference from the preset time and not increasing the difference when it is determined that the input control signal is not caused by the user's operation. And

  With this feature, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the input control signal is due to a user operation based on the determination information. As a result, for example, when an automatically generated control signal is input, the measurement time by the timer means is erroneously reset, and the user is actually warned even though some abnormal situation has occurred. It is possible to avoid a situation where information is not issued. In addition, when a control signal generated by a user operation on an external device is input, the warning information is not reset by mistake and the alarm information is not actually generated even though the user does not have any abnormal situation. Can be avoided. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to more accurately determine whether or not the various control signals input to the monitoring device are caused by a user operation. That is, since it can be determined more accurately whether or not a user operation has been performed on the monitoring device, warning information can be issued at a more appropriate timing.

  In the monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, the determination unit may be configured based on the determination information when a predetermined control signal that is automatically generated in the device is input to the processing unit to be monitored. Therefore, it is preferable to determine that the control signal is not caused by the user's operation.

  With this feature, even when a control signal that is automatically generated and is easily erroneously determined to be caused by a user operation, it can be determined that the control signal is not caused by a user operation. .

  Further, in the monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, the determination means determines the determination when a predetermined control signal automatically generated by a timer function is input to the monitoring target processing unit in the device. It is preferable to determine based on the information that the control signal is not caused by the user's operation.

  With this feature, it is possible to determine that a control signal that is easily erroneously determined to be caused by a user operation and is automatically generated by a timer function is not caused by a user operation.

  Further, in the monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, the determination means inputs a predetermined control signal to the processing unit to be monitored by remote control from an external device connected to the device. In this case, it is preferable to determine that the control signal is due to the user's operation based on the determination information.

  With this feature, it is possible to determine that this control signal is caused by a user operation even for a control signal input by remote operation from an external device, which is easily erroneously determined not to be caused by a user operation. .

  Further, in the monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, the determination means sends a predetermined control signal to the monitoring target processing unit in the device by a remote operation from a network device connected to the device via a network. It is preferable to determine that the control signal is attributed to the user's operation based on the determination information.

  With this feature, it is possible to determine that this control signal is caused by a user operation even for a control signal input by a remote operation from a network device, which is easily erroneously determined not to be caused by a user operation. .

  In the monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, the processing unit to be monitored is a channel selection unit that selects a received broadcast, and the determination unit causes the channel selection unit to perform a channel selection operation. When the control signal is input, it is preferable to determine whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation based on the determination information.

  With this feature, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the channel selection operation is caused by the user operation, not only for the user operation but also for the channel selection operation frequently used not only by the user operation.

  In the monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable that the timer unit measures a time during which no user operation is performed on the device from a preset time to another preset time.

  In the monitoring device according to the present invention, the warning timing adjustment unit resets the time measured by the timer unit when it is determined that the input control signal is caused by the user's operation. It is preferable to enlarge the difference.

  In the monitoring device according to the present invention, the warning timing adjusting means may determine that the preset time is equal to a predetermined time when it is determined that the input control signal is caused by the user's operation. It is preferable to extend the difference by extending.

  In addition, the monitoring apparatus according to the present invention further includes a generating unit that issues information indicating that the user operation has been performed when it is determined that the input control signal is caused by the user operation. Is preferred.

  With this feature, it is possible to more accurately notify the notification target person whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person.

  Moreover, a television receiver according to the present invention includes any one of the monitoring devices described above.

  With this feature, the television receiver according to the present invention can achieve the same effects as the effects exhibited by each of the monitoring devices.

  The monitoring system according to the present invention includes a first device and a second device, and monitors a user's operation on the first device, wherein the first device includes the first device, A monitoring unit that monitors input of a control signal to a monitoring target processing unit included in the first device, and when a certain control signal is input to the monitoring target processing unit, the input control signal is The second device includes a timer unit for measuring a time during which no user operation is performed on the first device, and a measurement time by the timer unit is set in advance. Determination means for determining whether or not the control signal is caused by the user's operation for each of a plurality of control signals for the first device and warning means for issuing warning information when the time has elapsed The determination information storage means for storing, the receiving unit for receiving the control signal transmitted from the first device, and the control signal received by the receiving unit based on the determination information is caused by the user's operation. Determining means for determining whether or not to perform, and when it is determined that the received control signal is due to the user's operation, the time measured by the timer means, and the preset time, And a warning timing adjusting unit that does not increase the difference when it is determined that the received control signal is not caused by the user's operation.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it can be judged more appropriately about the various control signals input with respect to the monitoring apparatus whether the said control signal originates in user operation. That is, since it can be determined more accurately whether or not a user operation has been performed on the monitoring device, warning information can be issued at a more appropriate timing.

  Further, the monitoring method according to the present invention is a monitoring method for monitoring a user operation on a certain device, a measurement step of measuring a time when no user operation on the device is performed, and a measurement time by the measurement step, A warning process for issuing warning information when a preset time has elapsed, and for each of a plurality of control signals for the device, a determination for determining whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation When a determination information storage step for storing information and a control signal is input to the monitoring target processing unit of the device, the control signal is caused by the user's operation based on the determination information. A determination step of determining whether or not to perform the measurement, and when the input control signal is determined to be due to the user's operation, at the time of measurement by the measurement step And a warning timing adjustment step that enlarges the difference between the preset time and determines that the input control signal is not caused by the user's operation, and does not increase the difference. It is characterized by.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it can be judged more appropriately about the various control signals input with respect to the monitoring apparatus whether the said control signal originates in user operation. That is, since it can be determined more accurately whether or not a user operation has been performed on the monitoring device, warning information can be issued at a more appropriate timing.

  In addition, the monitoring program according to the present invention provides a timer unit for measuring a time during which no user operation is performed on a certain device, and warning information when a time set by the timer unit exceeds a preset time. Warning means for issuing a judgment information, a judgment information storage means for storing judgment information for judging whether or not the control signal is caused by the user's operation for each of a plurality of control signals for the equipment, and the equipment When a control signal is input to the monitoring target processing unit, a determination unit that determines whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation is input based on the determination information. If it is determined that the control signal is due to the user's operation, the difference between the time measured by the timer means and the preset time Enlarged, when the control signal input is determined to not be due to an operation of the user, a monitoring program for functioning as a warning timing adjustment means does not extend the difference.

  By causing the computer to execute this monitoring program, it is possible to more accurately determine whether the control signal is caused by a user operation for various control signals input to the monitoring device. That is, since it can be determined more accurately whether or not a user operation has been performed on the monitoring device, warning information can be issued at a more appropriate timing.

  A recording medium according to the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium that records the monitoring program described above.

  By causing the computer to execute the monitoring program recorded on the recording medium, whether or not the various control signals input to the monitoring device are caused by user operations more accurately. Can be judged. That is, since it can be determined more accurately whether or not a user operation has been performed on the monitoring device, warning information can be issued at a more appropriate timing.

  According to a monitoring device, a television receiver, a monitoring system, a monitoring method, a monitoring program, and a recording medium for monitoring a person to be monitored according to the present invention, when a certain control signal is input to a certain device, Determining whether or not the control signal is due to a user operation, and resetting the measurement time by the timer means when it is determined that the input control signal is due to a user operation; did. As a result, even when operations other than the input device, such as remote operation from an external device or automatic operation with a timer, are performed, it is more accurately determined whether or not these operations are due to user operations. can do. Therefore, warning information can be issued at a more appropriate timing.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the monitoring system which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a television 100 (main body 102) according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the television 100 according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of monitoring processing by the television 100 according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the judgment information which the television 100 which concerns on Embodiment 1 handles. It is a figure which shows an example of the judgment information which the television 100 which concerns on Embodiment 1 handles. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the monitoring system which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a recorder 800 (main body 802) according to Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a recorder 800 according to Embodiment 2. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of monitoring processing by the recorder 800 according to the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the judgment information which the recorder 800 which concerns on Embodiment 2 handles. It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the monitoring system which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating functional configurations of a television 100 and a notification server 1100 according to a third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure of monitoring processing by a television 100 and a notification server 1100 according to Embodiment 3.

  Hereinafter, a monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
First, Embodiment 1 of the monitoring system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a monitoring system according to the first embodiment. A monitoring system 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a television 100, a notification server 110, and a notification destination terminal 120. Each of the television 100, the notification server 110, and the notification destination terminal 120 is connected to a network 130 such as the Internet or a home network.

  The television 100 is an example of a monitoring device that monitors user operations on the television 100. In this embodiment, a television 100 that is a so-called television receiver that displays various images and outputs various sounds is employed as the monitoring device. The images displayed on the television 100 are based on moving image data and still image data reproduced by an external device, based on moving image data and still image data received by various tuners, and moving image data and still images input from an external terminal. Data based, data based on moving image data and still image data recorded on various recording media inserted into, connected to, or built in the television 100 and reproduced by the television 100, and the like. Examples of the sound output from the television 100 include those based on the sound data included in the above-described various moving image data. When audio data such as music data is reproduced alone, the television 100 can also output audio independently without displaying an image.

  Examples of the television 100 include a liquid crystal television, a plasma television, an organic EL television, a cathode ray tube television, and the like. As the TV 100, for example, a HDD (Hard disk drive) recorder built-in TV, a HDD player built-in TV, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorder built-in TV, a DVD player built-in TV, a BD (Blu-ray Disc) recorder built-in TV, BD TV with built-in player. In the present embodiment, a liquid crystal television with a built-in BD recorder and HDD recorder is adopted as the television 100.

  The television 100 includes a main body 102 and a remote controller 104. The television 100 includes not only the remote controller 104 but also an operation button 106 provided on the outer surface of the main body 102 as an input device. For example, a user of the television 100 (that is, a person to be monitored) can perform an operation such as switching a viewing channel on the television 100 by operating the remote controller 104 or the operation button 106.

  Here, the monitoring function of the television 100 will be described. The television 100 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject depending on whether or not an operation on the television 100 has been performed for a preset time. When the television 100 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject, the television 100 issues an alert. In this example, the television 100 transmits an alert to the notification server 110.

  The notification server 110 is a device that notifies the notification target person that some abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person. Specifically, when the notification server 110 receives an alert transmitted from the television 100, the notification server 110 indicates that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target with respect to the mail address previously associated with the television 100. Sent e-mail (hereinafter referred to as “alert mail”). In this example, the e-mail address of the notification destination terminal 120 is associated with the television 100 in advance. Therefore, upon receiving the alert transmitted from the television 100, the notification server 110 transmits the alert mail to the notification destination terminal 120. In this embodiment, a server-dedicated machine is employed as the notification server 110. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a personal computer or the like may be employed.

  The notification destination terminal 120 is a device used by a notification target person such as a care recipient of the monitoring target person. In this example, the notification destination terminal 120 includes a personal computer 122 and a mobile phone 124. The notification target person can know that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person by the alert mail sent from the notification server 110 to the personal computer 122 or the mobile phone 124.

(External devices and network devices)
The television 100 is connected to an external device that can remotely control the television 100. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a recorder 152 is connected to the television 100 as an example of an external device. The recorder 152 is a so-called recording / playback device that records and plays back various moving image data and various audio data.

  The moving image data recorded and reproduced by the recorder 152 includes moving image data received by various tuners, moving image data input from an external terminal, and recorded on various recording media inserted into, connected to, or incorporated in the recorder 152. Moving image data and the like. The audio data recorded and reproduced by the recorder 152 includes audio data included in the various moving image data described above. The recorder 152 can also record and reproduce audio data such as music data alone. Examples of the recorder 152 include an HDD recorder, a DVD recorder, and a BD recorder.

  In this embodiment, an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) device capable of remotely operating the television 100 is employed as the recorder 152. The television 100 and the recorder 152 are connected by an HDMI cable. For example, the recorder 152 remotely controls the television 100 by transmitting a CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) control signal for realizing mutual device control defined by the HDMI standard to the television 100 via the HDMI cable. To do.

  Further, a network device capable of remotely operating the television 100 is connected to the television 100 via the network 130. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a personal computer 154 and a mobile phone 156 are connected to the television 100 as examples of network devices. The personal computer 154 and the mobile phone 156 are both devices that can remotely control the television 100. For example, the personal computer 154 remotely controls the television 100 by transmitting a DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) control signal to the television 100 via the network 130. That is, the television 100 plays a role as a DMR (Digital Media Renderer) in the DLNA standard. The personal computer 154 plays a role as a DMC (Digital Media Controller) in the DLNA standard. A device for storing content played back by the television 100 (that is, a device serving as a DMS (Digital Media Server) in the DLNA standard) may be the television 100 itself, a personal computer 154, It may be a device provided outside the television 100, such as a content server. On the other hand, the mobile phone 156 remotely operates the television 100 by transmitting an IP control signal to the television 100 via the network 130.

(Operation of TV 100)
Here, a mechanism in which the television 100 detects an abnormality of the monitoring subject and issues an alert will be described. For example, in the television 100, it is assumed that a preset time (hereinafter referred to as “set time”) has elapsed without an operation of switching channels being performed by operating the remote control 104 or the operation button 106. In this case, the television 100 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject and issues an alert. On the other hand, it is assumed that an operation for switching channels is performed on the television 100 by operating the remote controller 104 or the operation button 106 before the set time elapses. In this case, the television 100 determines that there is no abnormality in the monitoring subject and does not issue an alert.

  Here, in the television 100, the operation of switching channels is not limited to the operation using the remote controller 104 and the operation buttons 106. For example, a channel switching operation may be automatically performed by a timer. In this case, it can be said that the channel switching operation was performed without any user operation. In addition, channel switching operation may be performed by remote operation from a network device. In this case, it can be said that a user operation has been performed and a channel switching operation has been performed.

  As described above, the operations other than the input device include those by user operations and those not by user operations. For this reason, it is not easy to determine whether or not a user operation has been performed simply by performing an operation on the television 100. That is, it is not easy to accurately determine whether an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject.

  Therefore, when a certain operation instruction is given to the television 100, the television 100 of this embodiment determines whether or not a user operation has been performed according to the content of the operation instruction. Thereby, the television 100 of the present embodiment can more accurately determine whether or not a user operation has been performed. That is, it is possible to accurately determine whether an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person.

(Hardware configuration of TV 100)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the television 100 (main body 102) according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the television 100 includes an external input terminal 201, a terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202, a satellite broadcast tuner 203, a recording / playback unit 204, a BD drive 205, a video selector 206, a video processing circuit 207, an OSD (On-Screen). Display) generation unit 208, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) controller 209, LCD 210, audio selector 211, audio processing circuit 212, amplifier 213, speaker 214, external device interface 215, ROM 216, RAM 217, CPU 218, infrared light receiving unit 219, communication interface 220 and an HD drive 221. In FIG. 2, the path of the video signal is indicated by a solid line, the path of the audio signal is indicated by a one-dot chain line, and the path (bus) of data and control signals is indicated by a bold line.

  The external input terminal 201 includes a video input terminal 201a and an audio input terminal 201b. The video input terminal 201a is for inputting a video signal, and is, for example, a DVI terminal. The audio input terminal 201b is for inputting an audio signal, and is, for example, an S / PDIF terminal. However, the external input terminal 201 is not limited thereto, and may be an HDMI terminal or the like in which the video input terminal 201a and the audio input terminal 201b are integrated.

  The terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 is a tuner for receiving a broadcast program broadcast by terrestrial digital broadcast. The terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 includes, for example, an RF unit that converts a received signal into an analog baseband signal, an ADC unit that converts an analog baseband signal into a digital baseband signal, a demodulator that demodulates an MPEG2 stream from the digital baseband signal, And it can be comprised by the decoding part which decodes a video signal and an audio | voice signal from an MPEG2 stream.

  The MPEG2 stream demodulated by the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 is supplied to the recording / playback unit 204 via the bus. Also, the video signal and the audio signal decoded by the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 are supplied to the video selector 206 and the audio selector 211, respectively. Note that the CPU 218 controls which channel the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 selects as a demodulation target.

  The terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 is preferably a double tuner capable of simultaneously demodulating two MPEG2 streams broadcast via different channels. In this case, the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 supplies the MPEG2 stream broadcast via the first channel selected as the channel selection target channel to the recording / playback unit 204, and the video signal and audio signal decoded from the MPEG2 stream. Is supplied to the video selector 206 and the audio selector 211. Also, the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 supplies the MPEG2 stream broadcast via the second channel selected as the recording target channel to the recording / playback unit 204.

  Of course, the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 according to the present invention is not limited to a double tuner, and may be, for example, a single tuner or a plurality of tuners including three or more tuners. When the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 is a single tuner, an MPEG2 stream representing a broadcast program can be supplied to the recording / playback unit 204 only when the user is not viewing the broadcast program. Further, when the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 is composed of a plurality of tuners, each channel, each broadcast wave, or each viewer (for example, dad, mother, child, etc.) via a different channel. An MPEG2 stream representing a broadcast program to be broadcast can be supplied to the recording / playback unit 204.

  The satellite broadcast tuner 203 is a tuner for receiving a broadcast program broadcast by satellite broadcast. The satellite broadcast tuner 203 includes, for example, an RF unit that converts a received signal into an analog baseband signal, an ADC unit that converts an analog baseband signal into a digital baseband signal, a demodulation unit that demodulates an MPEG2 stream from the digital baseband signal, and The decoding unit can decode the video signal from the MPEG2 stream.

  The MPEG2 stream demodulated by the satellite broadcast tuner 203 is supplied to the recording / playback unit 204. Also, the video signal and the audio signal decoded by the satellite broadcast tuner 203 are supplied to the video selector 206 and the audio selector 211, respectively. Note that the CPU 218 selects which channel the satellite broadcast tuner 203 demodulates the MPEG2 data stream transmitted through.

  Note that the satellite broadcast tuner 203 in this embodiment is preferably a double tuner that can simultaneously receive two broadcast programs broadcast via different channels, like the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202.

  The recording / playback unit 204 includes a recording unit 204a and a playback unit 204b. The recording unit 204a acquires the MPEG2 stream from either the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 or the satellite broadcast tuner 203, and writes the acquired MPEG2 stream to the recording device. The recording unit 204a uses the BD drive 205 built in the television 100, the HD drive 221 built in the television 100, and the recorder 152 connected to the external device interface 215 as a recording device for recording the MPEG2 stream. can do. The playback unit 204b reads the MPEG2 stream from the recording device, and decodes the video signal and the audio signal from the read MPEG2 stream. The video signal and audio signal decoded by the reproduction unit 204b are supplied to the video selector 206 and the audio selector 211, respectively.

  The video selector 206 is supplied with the four types of video signals described above. That is, (1) a video signal input from the external input terminal 201 (particularly the video input terminal 201a), (2) a video signal decoded by the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202, and (3) decoded by the satellite broadcast tuner 203. And (4) the video signal decoded by the recording / playback unit 204 (particularly the playback unit 204b). The video selector 206 selects any one of the video signals (1) to (4). The video signal selected by the video selector 206 is supplied to the video processing circuit 207. Note that the CPU 218 controls which video signal the video selector 206 selects.

  The video processing circuit 207 performs image quality adjustment processing on the video signal supplied from the video selector 206. The video processing circuit 207 performs a scaling process on the video signal supplied from the video selector 206. Here, the image quality adjustment processing refers to, for example, changing at least one of the luminance, sharpness, and contrast of the video represented by the video signal by processing the video signal. The scaling processing refers to similar enlargement or similar reduction of the size of the video represented by the video signal by processing the video signal. The video signal processed by the video processing circuit 207 is supplied to the LCD controller 209. Note that the CPU 218 controls how the image processing circuit 207 changes the image quality and size.

  The OSD generation unit 208 generates (renders) an OSD image from the OSD data supplied from the CPU 218. Examples of the OSD image generated by the OSD generation unit 208 include an electronic program guide. As the OSD data, for example, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) can be used. The OSD image generated by the OSD generation unit 208 is superimposed on the video signal supplied from the video processing circuit 207 and supplied to the LCD controller 209.

  Based on the video signal supplied from the video processing circuit 207, the LCD controller 209 drives the LCD 210 to display the video represented by the video signal. In addition, when the OSD image is supplied from the OSD generation unit 208, the LCD controller 209 displays the video represented by the video signal based on the OSD image superimposed on the video signal supplied from the video processing circuit 207. The LCD 210 is driven to display.

  The above-described four types of audio signals are supplied to the audio selector 211. That is, (1) an audio signal input from the external input terminal 201 (particularly the audio input terminal 201b), (2) an audio signal decoded by the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202, and (3) decoded by the satellite broadcast tuner 203. And (4) the audio signal decoded by the recording / playback unit 204 (particularly, the playback unit 204b). The audio selector 211 selects any one of the audio signals (1) to (4).

  The audio signal selected by the audio selector 211 is supplied to the audio processing circuit 212. Note that the CPU 218 controls which audio signal the audio selector 211 selects. However, the selection of the video in the video selector 206 and the selection of the audio in the audio selector 211 are linked. For example, when the video selector 206 selects the video signal supplied from the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202, the audio is selected. The selector 211 also selects the audio signal supplied from the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202.

  The audio processing circuit 212 performs volume adjustment processing on the audio signal supplied from the audio selector 211. The audio processing circuit 212 performs sound quality adjustment processing on the audio signal supplied from the audio selector 211. Here, the volume adjustment processing refers to changing the volume of the voice represented by the voice signal by processing the voice signal. The sound quality adjustment processing refers to changing the frequency characteristics of the sound represented by the sound signal by processing the sound signal (for example, low frequency emphasis or high frequency emphasis). The audio signal processed by the audio processing circuit 212 is supplied to the amplifier 213. Note that the CPU 218 controls how the sound processing circuit 212 changes the sound volume and sound quality.

  Based on the audio signal supplied from the audio processing circuit 212, the amplifier 213 drives the speaker 214 to output the audio represented by the audio signal.

  The CPU 218 controls each of the above units according to a control signal input to the television 100. As a control signal input to the television 100, a control signal input by the operation button 106, transmitted from the remote control 104, transmitted from the infrared light receiving unit 219, and transmitted from an external device via the external device interface 215. Control signals transmitted from the network device via the communication interface 220, and the like. For example, as control by the control signal, control for switching the reception channels of the digital terrestrial broadcast tuner 202 and the satellite broadcast tuner 203, and the video signal and the audio signal selected by the video selector 206 and the audio selector 211 are controlled according to the remote control signal. Control for causing the recording unit 204a to record content, control for causing the reproduction unit 204b to reproduce content, and the like.

  The ROM 216 is a readable and non-writable memory in which fixed data such as a program executed by the CPU 218 is stored. On the other hand, the RAM 217 is a readable and writable memory in which variable data such as data referred to by the CPU 218 for calculation and data generated by the CPU 218 by calculation is stored.

  The external device interface 215 is an interface for connecting an external device to the television 100. In the present embodiment, HDMI is adopted as the external device interface 215. That is, in the present embodiment, an HDMI device is adopted as an external device connected to the external device interface device 215 and controlled by the external device interface device 215, and a recorder 152 is particularly adopted as an example.

  The communication interface 220 is an interface for connecting the television 100 to the network 130 and various network devices. In the present embodiment, a LAN interface for connecting to the network 130 is employed as the communication interface 220. In other words, in the present embodiment, a network device that can be connected to the network 130 is employed as a network device that is connected to the communication interface 220 and controlled by the communication interface 220. In particular, as an example, a personal computer 154 and A mobile phone 156 is employed.

  In this embodiment, as a digital terrestrial broadcasting system, a system for multiplexing MPEG2 streams (ATSC system in the United States, ISDB-T system in Japan, etc.) is assumed, but the present invention is not limited to this. It is not something. That is, for example, instead of multiplexing MPEG2 streams, the present invention can also be applied to a system that multiplexes MPEG4 streams and the like (DVB-T / DVB-T2 system in Europe, etc.). In the latter case, the demodulated MPEG4 stream may be recorded on the recording medium as it is, or the demodulated MPEG4 stream may be converted into an MPEG2 stream and recorded on the recording medium.

(Function of TV 100)
Here, a functional configuration of the television 100 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the television 100 according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the television 100 includes a channel selection unit 301, a viewing reservation unit 302, a recording reservation unit 303, an external device control unit 304, and a network control unit 306. Here, a monitoring function provided in the television 100 and a function related thereto will be described. Since other functions are general functions of the television receiver, illustration and description thereof are omitted.

  The channel selection unit 301 performs a channel selection operation. Examples of the channel selection operation include an operation of switching the reception channels of the terrestrial digital broadcast tuner 202 and the satellite broadcast tuner 203, and an operation of switching the video signal and the audio signal selected by the video selector 206 and the audio selector 211. Normally, the channel selection unit 301 performs a channel selection operation based on the control signal input from the operation button 106 or the control signal transmitted from the remote control 104 and received by the infrared light receiving unit 219. For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the channel selection unit 301.

  When the preset date and time arrives, the viewing reservation unit 302 controls the channel selection unit 301 to switch the channel to be viewed or recorded to a preset channel. In this case, the channel selection unit 301 automatically performs the channel selection operation regardless of the user operation. For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the viewing reservation unit 302.

  When the preset date and time arrives, the recording reservation unit 303 controls the channel selection unit 301 to record a preset channel. In this case, the channel selection unit 301 automatically performs the channel selection operation regardless of the user operation. For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the recording reservation unit 303.

  The external device control unit 304 controls communication with an external device connected to the television 100. The control by the external device control unit 304 includes control for performing a channel selection operation by the channel selection unit 301 by remote operation from an external device. That is, the channel selection unit 301 can perform a channel selection operation based on the control signal transmitted from the external device and received by the external device interface 215. For example, in the television 100, the external device interface 215 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the external device control unit 304.

  The network control unit 306 controls communication with the network device connected to the television 100 via the network. The control by the network control unit 306 includes control for performing a remote operation from a network device connected to the network. That is, the channel selection unit 301 can perform a channel selection operation based on the control signal transmitted from the network device and received by the communication interface 220. For example, in the television 100, the communication interface 220 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the network control unit 306.

(Monitoring function of TV 100)
In addition to these functions, the television 100 includes a monitoring unit 310, a determination unit 320, a timer 330, a reset unit 335, an alert generation unit 340, and a determination information storage unit 350 as monitoring functions.

  The monitoring unit 310 monitors each unit (the channel selection unit 301 and the network control unit 306) of the television 100 to monitor whether a predetermined operation instruction has been given to the television 100. For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the monitoring unit 310. The monitoring unit 310 includes a channel selection monitoring unit 312 and a network control monitoring unit 316.

  The channel selection monitoring unit 312 monitors the channel selection unit 301. Specifically, the channel selection monitoring unit 312 detects whether a predetermined operation instruction has been given to the channel selection unit 301 by monitoring a control signal input to the channel selection unit 301.

  The network control monitoring unit 316 monitors the network control unit 306. Specifically, the network control monitoring unit 316 monitors a control signal received from the network device by the network control unit 306, so that a predetermined operation instruction has been given by a remote operation from the network device connected to the network. Is detected.

  The determination information storage unit 350 determines, for each of a plurality of operation instructions detected by the monitoring unit 310, whether the operation instruction is caused by a user operation performed by the user of the television 100. Judgment information is stored. For example, in the television 100, the ROM 216, the RAM 217, and the like illustrated in FIG. 2 function as the determination information storage unit 350.

  When the monitoring unit 310 detects that any one of a plurality of operation instructions to be detected is given to the television 100, the determining unit 320 determines that the detected operation instruction is a user operation. It is determined whether or not it is caused by Specifically, as described above, the determination information storage unit 350 determines, for each of the plurality of operation instructions detected by the monitoring unit 310, whether the operation instruction is caused by a user operation. Judgment information is stored. Therefore, when the monitoring unit 310 detects that any one of the plurality of operation instructions that are the detection targets has been made, the determination unit 320 determines that the detected operation instruction is based on the determination information. It is determined whether it is caused by a user operation. For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the determination unit 320.

  The timer 330 measures a time when the determination unit 320 does not determine that the instruction is an operation instruction caused by a user operation, that is, a time during which no user operation is performed (hereinafter, referred to as “non-operation time”). For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 shown in FIG.

  When a user operation is performed while the timer 330 is measuring the non-operation time, the reset unit 335 increases the difference between the non-operation time that has been measured by the timer 330 and the set time. Thereby, the timing which the alert generation part 340 issues an alert is postponed. That is, the reset unit 335 functions as a warning timing adjustment unit that adjusts the timing at which the alert generation unit 340 transmits an alert. In the present embodiment, when a user operation is performed while the timer 330 is measuring the non-operation time, the reset unit 335 clears the non-operation time that the timer 330 has measured so far, and the timer 330 The measurement of non-operation time is resumed. In this way, the reset unit 335 increases the difference between the non-operation time that has been measured by the timer 330 so far and the set time, and delays the timing at which the alert generation unit 340 issues an alert. For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the reset unit 335.

  The alert generation unit 340 transmits an alert when the non-operation time measured by the timer 330 reaches a set time. That is, the alert generation unit 340 transmits an alert when a user operation is not performed on the television 100 and the set time has elapsed. Here, the set time is preset for the television 100 and is stored in advance in various memories provided in the television 100. The set time can be set arbitrarily by the user. For example, in the television 100, the CPU 218 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the alert generation unit 340.

(Monitoring procedure)
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the monitoring process performed by the television 100 according to the first embodiment. Here, description will be made assuming that each determination information described later with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 is already stored in the determination information storage unit 350. Further, the description will be made assuming that the monitoring unit 310 has already started monitoring the channel selection unit 301 and the network control unit 306.

  First, the timer 330 starts measuring the non-operation time (step S401). Next, the television 100 stands by until a predetermined standby time elapses (step S402), and when the predetermined standby time elapses (step S402: Yes), the process proceeds to step S403. While the predetermined standby time has not elapsed (step S402: No), the process cannot proceed to step S403. Here, for example, several seconds are set in advance as the standby time. That is, the television 100 repeatedly performs the processing after step S403 every few seconds.

  In step S403, the channel selection monitoring unit 312 tries to detect whether an operation instruction has been given to the channel selection unit 301 (step S403). In step S403, when it is detected that an operation instruction has been given to the channel selection unit 301 (step S403: Yes), the television 100 advances the process to step S406. On the other hand, if it is not detected in step S403 that an operation instruction has been given to the tuning unit 301 (step S403: No), the television 100 advances the process to step S405.

  In step S405, the network control monitoring unit 316 tries to detect whether the network control unit 306 has received an operation instruction from the network device (step S405). In step S405, when it is detected that the network control unit 306 has received an operation instruction from the network device (step S405: Yes), the television 100 advances the process to step S406. On the other hand, when it is not detected in step S405 that the network control unit 306 has received an operation instruction from the network device (step S406: No), the television 100 advances the process to step S408.

  In step S406, the determination unit 320 determines whether or not the operation instruction detected in step S403 or S405 is caused by a user operation. That is, it is determined whether or not a user operation has been performed on the television 100 (step S406).

  When it is determined in step S406 that “user operation has been performed” (step S406: Yes), the reset unit 335 clears the non-operation time that the timer 330 has measured so far (step S407). Then, the television 100 returns the process to step S402. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S406 that “user operation has not been performed” (step S406: No), the television 100 advances the process to step S408.

  In step S408, the alert generation unit 340 determines whether the non-operation time measured by the timer 330 has exceeded the set time (step S408). In step S408, when it is determined that “the non-operation time has exceeded the set time” (step S408: Yes), the alert generation unit 340 transmits an alert (step S409). Then, the television 100 ends the monitoring process. Here, the television 100 may repeatedly perform the processes in and after step S401 without ending the monitoring process. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S408 that “the non-operation time does not exceed the set time” (step S408: No), the television 100 returns the process to step S402.

(Specific example of judgment processing)
Here, a specific example of determination processing by the determination unit 320 will be described. 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating an example of determination information handled by the television 100 according to the first embodiment. The judgment information storage unit 350 of the television 100 stores judgment information 502 and 504 shown in FIGS. Based on these pieces of determination information, the determination unit 320 determines whether or not an operation instruction given to the television 100 is caused by a user operation.

  The determination information 502 shown in FIG. 5 is for determining whether each of the plurality of operation instructions for the channel selection unit 301 is caused by a user operation. The determination information 502 is referred to by the determination unit 320 when determining whether or not the operation instruction given to the channel selection unit 301 is caused by a user operation. The determination information 502 includes a “Mode” column and a “user operation” column.

  In the “Mode” column, each operation mode of channel selection operation is set. The television 100 has various operation modes as channel selection operation methods. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 5, in the “Mode” column of the determination information 502, “REMOTE”, “TUNE_PATH”, “VIEW_RESERVE”, “RECORD_RESERVE”, “TUNE_AUTO”, and “TUNE_AUTO” “TIMER” is set.

  The operation mode “REMOTE” indicates a channel selection operation by the remote controller 104. That is, it indicates that the operation is performed by the input device included in the television 100. For example, the case where the remote controller 104 switches the channel from “2ch” to “8ch”, the case where the BS broadcast is switched to the CS broadcast, and the like correspond to this.

  The operation mode “TUNE_PATH” indicates that the channel selection operation is performed by the input switching button included in the remote controller 104 or the operation button 106. That is, it indicates that the operation is performed by the input device included in the television 100. For example, the case where the input is switched from “external input 1” to “TV” by the input switching button, the case where “TV” is switched to “Internet”, or the like corresponds to this.

  The operation mode “VIEW_RESSERVE” indicates that the channel selection operation is automatically performed by the channel selection unit 301 when the preset viewing reservation time has arrived.

  The operation mode “RECORD_RESERVE” indicates that the channel selection operation is automatically performed by the channel selection unit 301 when a preset recording reservation time has arrived.

  The operation mode “TUNE_AUTO” indicates that the channel selection operation is automatically performed by the channel selection unit 301 when a preset viewing reservation time for a regular program has arrived. Here, the regular program is a program that is broadcast a plurality of times, and shows a program that is automatically set for each viewing reservation. For example, if it is a regular program that is broadcast every Monday from 19:00 to 20:00, the channel selection unit 301 automatically selects this program so that it can be viewed every Monday from 19:00 to 20:00. For example, you can select a channel.

  The operation mode “TIMER” indicates a channel selection operation automatically performed by the channel selection unit 301 when a preset timer activation time has arrived.

  On the other hand, in the “user operation” column, identification information for identifying whether or not the operation is a user operation is set for each operation mode. In the determination information 502, an operation mode in which “◯” is set in the “user operation” column indicates that the operation is a user operation. On the other hand, an operation mode in which “x” is set in the “user operation” column in the determination information 502 indicates that the operation is not a user operation.

  For example, in the determination information 502, “O” is set in the “user operation” column for the operation modes “REMOTE” and “TUNE_PATH”. As a result, when an operation instruction for performing a channel selection operation in one of the operation modes “REMOTE” or “TUNE_PATH” is given to the channel selection unit 301, the determination unit 320 determines that the operation instruction is a user operation. Judgment is due.

  On the other hand, in the determination information 502, “×” is set in the “user operation” column for the operation modes “VIEW_RESERVE”, “RECORD_RESSERVE”, “TUNE_AUTO”, and “TIMER”. Accordingly, when an operation instruction for performing a channel selection operation of any one of the operation modes “VIEW_RESSERVE”, “RECORD_RESSERVE”, “TUNE_AUTO”, and “TIMER” is given to the channel selection unit 301, the determination unit 320 It is determined that this operation instruction is not caused by a user operation.

  The determination information 504 illustrated in FIG. 6 is for determining whether each of the plurality of operation instructions received by the network control unit 306 is caused by a user operation. The determination information 504 is referred to by the determination unit 320 when determining whether or not the operation instruction received by the network control unit 306 is caused by a user operation. This determination information 504 includes a “control signal” and a “user operation” column.

  In the “control signal” column, a control signal that the network control unit 306 receives from the network device is set. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 6, the “control signal” column of the determination information 504 includes “IP control signal”, “DLNA DMC control signal”, “AQUIOS” as control signals that the network control unit 306 receives from the network device. “Information signal”, “automatic update signal”, and “other general communication signals” are set. In particular, “SetNextAVTransportURI”, “Play”, “GetTransportInfo”, and “SetPlayMode” are set as the “DLNA DMC control signal”.

  Among these control signals, the “IP control signal” is remote from a mobile terminal device (for example, the mobile phone 156 shown in FIG. 1) connected to the network 130 via Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) or the like. This is a control signal for performing an operation.

  The “DLNA DMC control signal” is a control signal for performing remote operation from a device (for example, the mobile phone 156 shown in FIG. 1) that controls content playback based on the DLNA standard.

  Among these, “SetNextAVTransportURI” indicates that the device that is remotely operated (the television 100 in this embodiment) reproduces the content to be reproduced next, and the device that is remotely operated (for example, the mobile phone 156 shown in FIG. 1). This is a control signal for designating.

  “Play” is a control signal for causing the remotely operated device to play the selected content.

  “GetTransportInfo” is a control signal for confirming the playback state of the remotely operated device, such as “playing”, “pause”, “recording”, and the like.

  “SetPlayMode” is a control signal for setting a playback mode for remotely operated devices such as “random”, “shuffle”, and “repeat”.

  The “AQUIS information signal” is a control signal for the television 100 to automatically acquire and display information provided from a content server on the Internet.

  The “automatic update signal” is a control signal for the television 100 to automatically acquire and execute an update program provided from a content server on the Internet.

  The “other general communication signals” are a control signal for accessing a WEB site on the Internet, a control signal for receiving an IP multicast broadcast, and the like.

  On the other hand, in the “user operation” column, identification information for identifying whether or not the control signal is generated due to the user operation is set for each control signal. In the determination information 504, a control signal in which “◯” is set in the “user operation” column indicates that the control signal is generated due to the user operation. On the other hand, in the determination information 504, a control signal in which “x” is set in the “user operation” column indicates that the operation is not issued due to the user operation.

  For example, in the determination information 504, “O” is set in the “User operation” column for “SetNextAVTransportURI”, “Play”, “GetTransportInfo”, “SetPlayMode”, and “IP control signal”. Thus, when the network control unit 306 receives any one of the control signals “SetNextAVTransportURI”, “Play”, “GetTransportInfo”, “SetPlayMode”, and “IP control signal” from the network device, the determination unit 320 It is determined that the signal is transmitted from the network device due to a user operation on the network device. That is, the determination unit 320 determines that a user operation has been performed.

  On the other hand, in the determination information 504, “X” is set in the “user operation” column for “AQUAS information signal”, “automatic update signal”, and “other general communication signal”. Accordingly, when the network control unit 306 receives any one of the control signals “AQUAS information signal”, “automatic update signal”, and “other general communication signal” from the network device, the determination unit 320 It is determined that the control signal is not transmitted from the network device due to a user operation on the network device. That is, the determination unit 320 determines that no user operation has been performed.

  As described above, the television 100 of the present embodiment determines for each of the plurality of operation instructions for the television 100 whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation performed by the user of the television 100. Information 502 and 504 is stored in the judgment information storage unit 350.

  When an operation instruction for the channel selection unit 301 or an operation instruction from a network device is made, whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation performed by the user of the television 100 is determined based on the determination information. to decide.

  Furthermore, when it is determined that an operation instruction due to a user operation has been made, the timer measurement time is reset, and the timer measurement time has passed the set time without being determined that an operation instruction due to a user operation has been made. In such a case, a configuration for issuing warning information is adopted.

  Thereby, according to the television 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to more accurately determine whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation with respect to various operation instructions given to the television 100. it can. That is, in the television 100, even when an operation other than the input device included in the television 100 is performed, it is possible to more accurately determine whether or not the operation by the user has been performed, and at a more appropriate timing. Warning information can be issued.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment of the monitoring system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a monitoring system according to the second embodiment. In the monitoring system 10 of the first embodiment, a configuration in which the television 100 functions as a monitoring device and the recorder 152 is an external device of the television 100 is employed.

  The monitoring system 20 of the second embodiment is different from the monitoring system 10 of the first embodiment in that the recorder 800 functions as a monitoring device and the television 100 is an external device of the recorder 800.

  In the following description, the same constituent elements as those described above, that is, constituent elements that are not changed from the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and details thereof are omitted. .

  As shown in FIG. 7, the monitoring system 20 includes a recorder 800, a notification server 110, and a notification destination terminal 120. Each of the recorder 800, the notification server 110, and the notification destination terminal 120 is connected to a network 130 such as the Internet or a home network.

  The recorder 800 is an example of a monitoring device that monitors user operations on the recorder 800. The recorder 800 is a so-called recording / playback device that records and plays back various moving image data and various audio data.

  The moving image data recorded and reproduced by the recorder 800 includes moving image data received by various tuners, moving image data input from an external terminal, and recorded in various recording media inserted into, connected to, or incorporated in the recorder 800. Moving image data and the like. The audio data recorded and reproduced by the recorder 800 includes audio data included in the various moving image data described above. The recorder 800 can also record and reproduce audio data such as music data alone. Examples of the recorder 800 include an HDD recorder, a DVD recorder, and a BD recorder.

  In this embodiment, an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) device that can be remotely operated from the television 100 is employed as the recorder 800. The television 100 and the recorder 800 are connected by an HDMI cable. For example, the recorder 800 receives a CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) control signal for realizing mutual device control specified by the HDMI standard from the television 100 via an HDMI cable, thereby enabling remote recording from the television 100. The operation is performed.

  The recorder 800 has a main body 802 and a remote controller 804. The recorder 800 includes not only a remote controller 804 but also an operation panel 806 provided on a main body 802 as an input device. For example, the monitoring subject can perform operations such as content recording operation and content reproduction operation on the recorder 800 by operating the remote controller 804 or the operation panel 806.

  Here, the monitoring function of the recorder 800 will be described. The recorder 800 determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person depending on whether or not an operation has been performed on the recorder 800 for a preset time. When the recorder 800 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject, the recorder 800 issues an alert. In this example, the recorder 800 transmits an alert to the notification server 110.

  The notification server 110 is a device that notifies the notification target person that some abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person. Specifically, when the notification server 110 receives an alert transmitted from the recorder 800, the notification server 110 transmits an alert mail to a mail address previously associated with the recorder 800. In this example, the mail address of the notification destination terminal 120 is associated with the recorder 800 in advance. Accordingly, upon receiving the alert transmitted from the recorder 800, the notification server 110 transmits the alert mail to the notification destination terminal 120.

  The notification destination terminal 120 is a device used by a notification target person such as a care recipient of the monitoring target person. In this example, the notification destination terminal 120 includes a personal computer 122 and a mobile phone 124. The notification target person can know that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person by the alert mail sent from the notification server 110 to the personal computer 122 or the mobile phone 124.

(External devices and network devices)
The recorder 800 is connected to an external device that can remotely operate the recorder 800. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 7, a television 100 is connected to the recorder 800 as an example of an external device.

  In the present embodiment, as the television 100, an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) device capable of remotely operating the recorder 800 is employed. The recorder 800 and the television 100 are connected by an HDMI cable. For example, the television 100 remotely operates the recorder 800 by transmitting a CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) control signal for realizing mutual device control defined by the HDMI standard to the recorder 800 via the HDMI cable. To do.

  The recorder 800 is connected to a network device capable of remotely operating the recorder 800 via the network 130. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a personal computer 154 and a mobile phone 156 are connected to the recorder 800 as an example of a network device. Both the personal computer 154 and the mobile phone 156 are devices capable of remotely operating the recorder 800. For example, the personal computer 154 remotely operates the recorder 800 by transmitting a DLNA control signal to the recorder 800 via the network 130. In addition, the mobile phone 156 remotely operates the recorder 800 by transmitting an IP control signal to the recorder 800 via the network 130.

(Operation of recorder 800)
Here, a mechanism in which the recorder 800 detects an abnormality of the monitoring subject and issues an alert will be described. For example, in the recorder 800, an operation such as a recording operation or a reproduction operation (hereinafter referred to as “recording operation”) is not performed by an operation of the remote controller 804 or the operation panel 806, and a preset set time has elapsed. And In this case, the recorder 800 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject and issues an alert. Conversely, it is assumed that an operation such as recording is performed on the recorder 800 by operating the remote controller 804 or the operation panel 806 before the set time elapses. In this case, the recorder 800 determines that no abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject and does not issue an alert.

  Here, in the recorder 800, operations such as recording are not limited to those performed by the remote controller 804 and the operation panel 806. For example, an operation such as recording may be automatically performed by a timer. In this case, it can be said that an operation by the user has been performed without performing an operation by the user.

  In some cases, an operation such as recording may be performed by remote operation from a network device such as a personal computer 154 or a mobile phone 156. In this case, it can be said that a user operation is performed and an operation such as recording is performed.

  Further, there are cases where an operation such as recording is performed by a remote operation from an external device such as the television 100. Also in this case, it can be said that a user operation has been performed and an operation such as recording has been performed.

  As described above, operations such as recording by means other than the input device include those by user operations and those not by user operations. For this reason, it is not possible to determine whether or not a user operation has been performed simply by performing an operation such as recording. That is, it cannot be accurately determined whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person.

  Therefore, when an operation instruction is given to the recorder 800, the recorder 800 according to the present embodiment determines whether or not a user operation has been performed according to the content of the operation instruction. Thereby, the recorder 800 of this embodiment can determine more appropriately whether user operation was performed. That is, it is possible to accurately determine whether an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person.

(Hardware configuration of recorder 800)
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the recorder 800 (main body 802) according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, the recorder 800 includes an external input terminal 901, a digital terrestrial broadcast tuner 902, a satellite broadcast tuner 903, a recording / playback unit 904, a BD drive 905, a video selector 906, a video processing circuit 907, an OSD (On-Screen). Display) generation unit 908, audio selector 911, audio processing circuit 912, external device interface 915, ROM 916, RAM 917, CPU 918, infrared light receiving unit 919, communication interface 920, HD drive 921, and external output terminal 922. In FIG. 8, the path of the video signal is indicated by a solid line, the path of the audio signal is indicated by an alternate long and short dash line, and the path (bus) of data and control signals is indicated by a thick line.

  Note that among the components described above, components having the same names as the components included in the television 100 described in Embodiment 1 (FIG. 2) function in the same manner as the components included in the television 100. Therefore, the components having the same names as the components included in the television 100 are described as the components included in the recorder 800 by appropriately replacing the operating subject in the description of Embodiment 1 with that of the recorder 800, and the details here The detailed explanation is omitted. Here, main differences between the television 100 and the recorder 800 will be described.

  The recorder 800 outputs a video signal to the television 100 and displays the video on the television 100. Therefore, the recorder 800 is different from the television 100 in that it does not include an LCD controller or an LCD for displaying video, but instead includes a video output terminal 922a.

  Similarly, the recorder 800 outputs an audio signal to the television 100 and displays the audio on the television 100. For this reason, the recorder 800 is different from the television 100 in that the recorder 800 does not include an amplifier or a speaker for generating sound, but instead includes an audio output terminal 922b.

  More specifically, the recorder 800 includes an external output terminal 921. The external output terminal 921 includes a video output terminal 921a and an audio output terminal 921b. The video output terminal 921 a is for outputting the video signal supplied from the video processing circuit 907. The video output terminal 921a is, for example, a DVI terminal. The audio output terminal 921b is for outputting the audio signal supplied from the audio processing circuit 912. The audio output terminal 921b is, for example, an S / PDIF terminal. However, the external output terminal 921 is not limited to this, and may be an HDMI terminal or the like in which the video output terminal 921a and the audio output terminal 921b are integrated.

  In the recorder 800, the CPU 918 controls each of the above parts in accordance with a control signal input to the recorder 800. As a control signal input to the recorder 800, a control signal input from the operation panel 806, transmitted from the remote controller 804, received from the infrared light receiving unit 919, and transmitted from an external device via the external device interface 915. Control signals transmitted from the network device via the communication interface 920, and the like. For example, as control by the control signal, control for switching reception channels of the digital terrestrial broadcast tuner 902 and the satellite broadcast tuner 903, control for switching a video signal and an audio signal selected by the video selector 906 and the audio selector 911, and a recording unit 904a. Control for causing the content to be recorded, control for causing the playback unit 904b to play back the content, and the like.

  In the recorder 800, an external device interface 915 is an interface for connecting an external device to the recorder 800. In the present embodiment, HDMI is adopted as the external device interface 915. That is, in this embodiment, an HDMI device is employed as an external device connected to the external device interface 915 and controlled by the external device interface 915, and in particular, the television 100 is employed as an example.

  In the recorder 800, a communication interface 920 is an interface for connecting the recorder 800 to the network 130 and various network devices. In the present embodiment, a LAN interface for connecting to the network 130 is employed as the communication interface 920. That is, in the present embodiment, a network device that can be connected to the network 130 is employed as a network device that is connected to the communication interface 920 and controlled by the communication interface 920. In particular, as an example, a personal computer 154 and A mobile phone 156 is employed.

(Function of recorder 800)
Here, the functional configuration of the recorder 800 will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the recorder 800 according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the recorder 800 includes a channel selection unit 1001, a viewing reservation unit 1002, a recording reservation unit 1003, an external device control unit 1004, and a network control unit 1006. In addition to these functions, the recorder 800 includes a monitoring unit 1010, a determination unit 1020, a timer 1030, a reset unit 1035, an alert generation unit 1040, and a determination information storage unit 1050 as monitoring functions. Here, a monitoring function provided in the recorder 800 and functions related thereto are illustrated. Other functions are not shown because they are general functions of the recording / playback device.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the functional configuration of the recorder 800 is the same as the functional configuration of the television 100 except that “the external device control monitoring unit 1014 is provided in the monitoring unit 1010”. That is, except for the external device control monitoring unit 1014, each functional configuration unit of the recorder 800 has the same name as that of the functional configuration unit included in the television 100 described in the first embodiment (FIG. 3), and has a different reference numeral. It functions in the same manner as the functional component provided in 100. For this reason, each functional component of the recorder 800 is described as the second embodiment by appropriately replacing the operating subject in the description of the first embodiment with that of the second embodiment, and detailed description thereof is omitted here. . Here, the external device control monitoring unit 1014 will be described in detail.

(External device control monitoring unit 1014)
Since the monitoring unit 1010 includes the external device control monitoring unit 1014, not only the channel selection unit 1001 and the network control unit 1006 but also the external device control unit 1004 is monitored, and a predetermined operation instruction is given to the television 100. Monitor what has been done.

  The external device control monitoring unit 1014 monitors the external device control unit 1004. Specifically, the external device control monitoring unit 1014 monitors a control signal received from the external device by the external device control unit 1004, thereby performing a remote operation from an external device such as the television 100 connected to the recorder 800. It is detected whether a predetermined operation instruction has been made.

  As already described, the recorder 800 can be remotely operated from an external device such as the television 100. Specifically, remote control 104 of television 100 includes buttons for channel selection operation of recorder 800. When the user operates this button, a CEC control signal corresponding to this button is transmitted from the television 100 to the recorder 800. This CEC control signal is received by the external device control unit 1004. Then, the channel selection unit 1001 performs a channel selection operation based on the control signal received by the external device control unit 1004.

  As described above, the recorder 800 is also tuned by the control signal received by the external device control unit 1004. Therefore, the recorder 800 of this embodiment is provided with the external device control monitoring unit 1014, and the external device control monitoring unit 1014 monitors the control signal received by the external device control unit 1004 from the external device. As a result, the recorder 800 of the present embodiment can detect whether a predetermined operation instruction has been given for a remote operation from an external device such as the television 100 connected to the recorder 800.

(Monitoring procedure)
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of monitoring processing by the recorder 800 according to the second embodiment. Here, description will be made assuming that judgment information 502 and 504 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and judgment information 506 described later in FIG. 11 are already stored in judgment information storage unit 1250 of recorder 800. Also, the description will be made assuming that the monitoring unit 1010 has already started monitoring the channel selection unit 1001, the external device control unit 1004, and the network control unit 1006.

  First, the timer 1030 starts measuring the non-operation time (step S401). Next, the recorder 800 stands by until a predetermined standby time elapses (step S402), and when the predetermined standby time elapses (step S402: Yes), the process proceeds to step S403. While the predetermined standby time has not elapsed (step S402: No), the process cannot proceed to step S403. Here, for example, several seconds are set in advance as the standby time. That is, the recorder 800 repeats the processing after step S403 every few seconds.

  In step S403, the channel selection monitoring unit 1012 tries to detect whether an operation instruction is given to the channel selection unit 1001 (step S403). In step S403, when it is detected that an operation instruction has been given to the tuning unit 1001 (step S403: Yes), the recorder 800 advances the process to step S406. On the other hand, if it is not detected in step S403 that an operation instruction has been given to the channel selection unit 1001 (step S403: No), the recorder 800 advances the process to step S404.

  In step S404, the external device control monitoring unit 1014 tries to detect whether the external device control unit 1004 has received an operation instruction from the external device (step S404). If it is detected in step S404 that the external device control unit 1004 has received an operation instruction from the external device (step S404: Yes), the recorder 800 advances the process to step S406. On the other hand, when it is not detected in step S404 that the external device control unit 1004 has received an operation instruction from the external device (step S404: No), the recorder 800 advances the process to step S405.

  In step S405, the network control monitoring unit 1016 attempts to detect whether the network control unit 1006 has received an operation instruction from the network device (step S405). In step S405, when it is detected that the network control unit 1006 has received an operation instruction from the network device (step S405: Yes), the recorder 800 advances the process to step S406. On the other hand, if it is not detected in step S405 that the network control unit 1006 has received an operation instruction from the network device (step S406: No), the recorder 800 advances the process to step S408.

  In step S406, the determination unit 1020 determines whether the operation instruction detected in step S403, S404, or S405 is caused by a user operation. That is, it is determined whether or not a user operation has been performed on the recorder 800 (step S406).

  If it is determined in step S406 that “user operation has been performed” (step S406: Yes), the reset unit 1035 clears the non-operation time that the timer 1030 has measured so far (step S407). Then, the recorder 800 returns the process to step S402. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S406 that “user operation has not been performed” (step S406: No), the recorder 800 advances the process to step S408.

  In step S408, the alert generation unit 1040 determines whether the non-operation time measured by the timer 1030 has exceeded the set time (step S408). In step S408, when it is determined that “the non-operation time has exceeded the set time” (step S408: Yes), the alert generation unit 1040 transmits an alert (step S409). Then, the recorder 800 ends the monitoring process. Here, the recorder 800 may repeatedly perform the processes after step S401 without ending the monitoring process. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S408 that “the non-operation time does not exceed the set time” (step S408: No), the recorder 800 returns the process to step S402.

(Specific example of judgment processing)
Here, a specific example of determination processing by the determination unit 1020 will be described. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of determination information handled by the recorder 800 according to the second embodiment. The determination information storage unit 1050 of the recorder 800 stores determination information 506 shown in FIG. 11 in addition to the determination information 502 and 504 shown in FIGS. Based on these pieces of determination information, determination unit 1020 determines whether or not an operation instruction given to recorder 800 is due to a user operation.

  The determination information 506 shown in FIG. 11 is for determining whether each of the plurality of operation instructions received by the external device control unit 1004 is caused by a user operation. The determination information 506 is referred to by the determination unit 1020 when determining whether or not the operation instruction received by the external device control unit 1004 is caused by a user operation. The determination information 506 includes a “control signal” column and a “user operation” column.

  In the “control signal” column, a control signal received by the external device control unit 1004 from the external device is set. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 11, the “control signal” field of the determination information 506 includes “Remote Control Pass Through”, “Device Menu Control”, “Device Control Control”, “Control Signal” received from the external device by the external device control unit 1004. “One Touch Play”, “System Information”, and “Give Device Power Status” are set.

  These control signals are CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) control signals for realizing mutual device control defined by the HDMI standard.

  For example, the control signal “Remote Control Pass Through” is for performing remote operation of the recorder 800 via an external device by remote control operation of the external device such as the television 100.

  The control signal “Device Menu Control” is used to perform menu operation of the recorder 800 via an external device by remote control operation of the external device such as the television 100.

  Further, the control signal “One Touch Play” is for starting up the recorder 800 and switching the input in conjunction with the reproduction of the content in the external device such as the television 100.

  The control signal “System Information” is used to cause the recorder 800 to display a screen display of an external device such as a playback time and a chapter number.

  The control signal “Give Device Power Status” is for confirming whether the power source of the recorder 800 is turned on from an external device such as the television 100.

  On the other hand, in the “user operation” column, identification information for identifying whether or not the control signal is generated due to the user operation is set for each control signal. In the determination information 506, a control signal in which “◯” is set in the “user operation” column indicates that the control signal is generated due to the user operation. On the other hand, in the determination information 506, a control signal in which “x” is set in the “user operation” column indicates that the operation is not issued due to the user operation.

  For example, in the determination information 506, “◯” is set in the “user operation” column for the control signals “Remote Control Pass Through”, “Device Menu Control”, and “One Touch Play”. Accordingly, when the external device control unit 1004 receives any one of the control signals “Remote Control Pass Through”, “Device Menu Control”, and “One Touch Play” from an external device such as the television 100, the determination unit 320 Determines that the control signal is transmitted from the external device due to a user operation on the external device. That is, the determination unit 320 determines that a user operation has been performed.

  On the other hand, in the determination information 506, “×” is set in the “user operation” column for the control signals “System Information” and “Give Device Power Status”. Accordingly, when the external device control unit 1004 receives any one of the control signals “System Information” and “Give Device Power Status” from the external device such as the television 100, the determination unit 320 It is determined that the message is not transmitted from the external device due to a user operation on the external device. That is, the determination unit 320 determines that no user operation has been performed.

  As described above, the recorder 800 according to the present embodiment determines, for each of the plurality of operation instructions for the recorder 800, whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation performed by the user of the recorder 800. Information 502, 506, 504 is stored in the judgment information storage unit 1050.

  Then, when an operation instruction for the channel selection unit 1001, an operation instruction from an external device, or an operation instruction from a network device is made, the operation instruction is performed by the user of the recorder 800 based on the determination information. It is determined whether or not it is caused by.

  Furthermore, when it is determined that an operation instruction due to a user operation has been made, the timer measurement time is reset, and the timer measurement time has passed the set time without being determined that an operation instruction due to a user operation has been made. In such a case, a configuration for issuing warning information is adopted.

  Thereby, according to the recorder 800 of the present embodiment, it is possible to more accurately determine whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation with respect to various operation instructions made to the recorder 800. it can. That is, even if the recorder 800 is operated by a device other than the input device included in the recorder 800, whether or not the operation by the user has been performed can be determined more appropriately, and the warning can be performed more accurately. Can emit information.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a third embodiment of the monitoring system according to the present invention will be described. In the first and second embodiments, the monitoring function (the monitoring unit, the determination information storage unit, the determination unit, the timer, and the alert generation unit) is realized by a single device. Specifically, in the first embodiment, the monitoring function is realized by the television 100. In the second embodiment, the monitoring function is realized by the recorder 800. However, the configuration is not limited to this, and the monitoring function may be realized by a plurality of devices. In short, the monitoring function described in each embodiment may be realized at least as the entire monitoring system. That is, the monitoring function described in the embodiment may be realized by any device, and the number of devices is not limited.

  In the third embodiment, a configuration in which the monitoring function is realized by the television 100 and the notification server 110 by causing the television 100 and the notification server 110 to function as monitoring devices by modifying the configuration of the first embodiment will be described. . In the following description, the same constituent elements as those described above, that is, constituent elements that are not changed from the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and details thereof are omitted. .

(System configuration of the monitoring system 30)
FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a monitoring system according to the third embodiment. A monitoring system 30 illustrated in FIG. 12 includes a television 100, a notification server 1100, and a notification destination terminal 120. Each of the television 100, the notification server 1100, and the notification destination terminal 120 is connected to a network 130 such as the Internet or a home network. The television 100 and the notification destination terminal 120 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The notification server 1100 (second device) has a monitoring function for monitoring user operations on the television 100 (first device). Specifically, the notification server 1100 monitors operations on the television 100. Then, the notification server 1100 determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the person to be monitored (that is, the user of the television 100) based on whether or not an operation on the television 100 has been performed for a preset time. When the notification server 1100 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person, the notification server 1100 issues an alert. In this example, the notification server 1100 generates an alert inside the notification server 1100. Then, when an alert is generated inside the notification server 1100, the notification server 1100 transmits an alert mail to a mail address associated with the television 100 in advance. In this example, the e-mail address of the notification destination terminal 120 is associated with the television 100 in advance. Therefore, when an alert occurs inside the notification server 1100, the notification server 1100 transmits the alert mail to the notification destination terminal 120. Thereby, the notification target person can know that some abnormality has occurred in the monitoring target person by the alert mail sent to the notification destination terminal 120.

(Functions of the television 100 and the notification server 1100)
Here, functional configurations of the television 100 and the notification server 1100 will be described. FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating functional configurations of the television 100 and the notification server 1100 according to the third embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the television 100 of the third embodiment is similar to the television 100 of the first embodiment in that the channel selection unit 301, the viewing reservation unit 302, the recording reservation unit 303, the external device control unit 304, and the network control unit 306. It has. Moreover, the television 100 of Embodiment 3 is provided with the monitoring part 310 as a monitoring function similarly to the television 100 of Embodiment 1. FIG.

  However, the television 100 of the third embodiment is different from the television 100 of the first embodiment in that the communication unit 318 is provided. When the monitoring unit 310 detects that the operation unit 318 (transmitting unit) has made any operation instruction among the plurality of operation instructions to be detected with respect to the television 100, at least the detected control signal Is transmitted to the notification server 1100. That is, the television 100 according to the third embodiment employs a configuration that causes the notification server 1100 to determine whether or not the operation instruction detected by the monitoring unit 310 is due to a user operation. For example, in the television 100, the communication interface 220 illustrated in FIG. 2 functions as the communication unit 318.

Furthermore, the television 100 of the third embodiment is different from the television 100 of the first embodiment in that an external device control monitoring unit 314 is provided in the monitoring unit 310.
The external device control monitoring unit 314 functions in the same manner as the external device control monitoring unit 1014 provided in the recorder 800 described in the second embodiment (FIG. 9).

  That is, in the television 100 according to the third embodiment, the external device control monitoring unit 314 monitors the control signal received by the external device control unit 304 from the external device such as the recorder 152. Thereby, the television 100 of the third embodiment can detect whether a predetermined operation instruction has been given for a remote operation from an external device such as the recorder 152 connected to the television 100.

  On the other hand, the notification server 1100 includes a communication unit 1210, a determination unit 1220, a timer 1230, a reset unit 1135, an alert generation unit 1240, a determination information storage unit 1250, and an alert mail transmission unit 1260 as monitoring functions. Communication unit 1210 receives a control signal transmitted from communication unit 318 of television 100.

  The determination information storage unit 1250 determines, for each of a plurality of operation instructions detected by the monitoring unit 310 of the television 100, whether the operation instruction is caused by a user operation performed by the user of the television 100. Judgment information is stored. For example, in the notification server 1100, various memories provided in the notification server 1100 function as the determination information storage unit 1250.

  When the communication unit 1210 (reception unit) receives the control signal transmitted from the communication unit 318 of the television 100, the determination unit 1220 determines whether the operation instruction identified by the received control signal is due to a user operation. Judging.

  Specifically, as described above, in the determination information storage unit 1250, for each of a plurality of operation instructions detected by the monitoring unit 310 of the television 100, whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation. The judgment information for judging is stored. Therefore, when the communication unit 1210 receives the control signal transmitted from the communication unit 318 of the television 100, the determination unit 1220 causes an operation instruction identified by the received control signal based on this determination information to be attributed to a user operation. Judge whether or not to do. For example, in the notification server 1100, the CPU included in the notification server 1100 functions as the determination unit 1220.

  The timer 1230 measures a time during which the determination unit 1220 has not determined that the operation instruction is caused by a user operation, that is, a non-operation time. For example, in the notification server 1100, the CPU provided in the notification server 1100 functions as the timer 1230.

  When a user operation is performed while the timer 1230 is measuring the non-operation time, the reset unit 1135 clears the non-operation time that the timer 1230 has measured so far, and the timer 1230 is not operated. Resume time measurement. For example, in the notification server 1100, the CPU provided in the notification server 1100 functions as the reset unit 1135.

  When the non-operation time measured by the timer 1230 reaches the set time, the alert generation unit 1240 issues an alert inside the notification server 1100. That is, the alert generation unit 1240 issues an alert inside the notification server 1100 when a user operation is not performed on the television 100 and the set time has elapsed. Here, the set time is preset for the television 100 and is stored in advance in various memories provided in the notification server 1100. The set time can be set arbitrarily by the user. For example, in the notification server 1100, the CPU provided in the notification server 1100 functions as the alert generation unit 1240.

  When an alert is generated inside the notification server 1100, the alert mail transmission unit 1260 transmits the alert mail to the mail address previously associated with the television 100. For example, in the notification server 1100, the communication interface included in the notification server 1100 functions as the alert generation unit 1240 by being controlled by the CPU included in the notification server 1100.

(Monitoring procedure)
FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure of monitoring processing by the television 100 and the notification server 1100 according to the third embodiment. Here, description will be made assuming that each piece of determination information shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 13 is already stored in determination information storage unit 1250. In addition, it is assumed that the monitoring unit 310 of the television 100 has already started monitoring the channel selection unit 301, the external device control unit 304, and the network control unit 306.

  First, in the notification server 1100, the timer 1230 starts measuring the non-operation time (step S1301).

  Then, when the channel selection monitoring unit 312 detects that an operation instruction has been given to the channel selection unit 301 in the television 100 (step S1302), the communication unit 318 notifies a control signal that can identify the detected operation instruction. It transmits to the server 1100 (step S1303).

  In the television 100, when the external device control monitoring unit 314 detects that the external device control unit 304 has received an operation instruction from the external device (step S1304), the communication unit 318 identifies the detected operation instruction. A possible control signal is transmitted to the notification server 1100 (step S1305).

  In the television 100, when the network control monitoring unit 316 detects that the network device control unit 306 has received an operation instruction from the network device (step S1306), the communication unit 318 can identify the detected operation instruction. A control signal is transmitted to the notification server 1100 (step S1307).

  In the notification server 1100, when the communication unit 1210 receives the control signal transmitted from the communication unit 318 of the television 100 (step S1308), the determination unit 1220 receives an operation instruction identified by the received control signal as a user operation. It is determined whether or not it is caused, that is, whether or not a user operation has been performed (step S1309).

  If it is determined in step S1309 that “user operation has been performed” (step S1309: Yes), the reset unit 1135 clears the non-operation time that the timer 1230 has measured so far (step S1310). Then, the timer 1230 restarts the measurement of the non-operation time (step S1311), and the notification server 1100 continuously waits for the control signal from the television 100 to be transmitted. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1309 that “user operation is not performed” (step S1309: No), the alert generation unit 1240 determines whether the non-operation time measured by the timer 1230 has exceeded the set time. Judgment is made (step S1312).

  In step S1312, when it is determined that “the non-operation time has exceeded the set time” (step S1312: Yes), the alert generation unit 1240 issues an alert (step S1313). Then, the alert mail transmission unit 1260 transmits an alert mail (step S1314). On the other hand, in step S1312, when it is determined that “the non-operation time does not exceed the set time” (step S1312: No), the notification server 1100 continues to transmit a control signal from the television 100. Wait.

  As described above, the monitoring function realized by the television 100 and the notification server 1100 is the same as the monitoring function of the television 100 described in the first embodiment.

  That is, the notification server 1100 according to the present embodiment, for each of a plurality of operation instructions for the television 100, similarly to the television 100 according to the first embodiment, whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation performed by the user of the television 100. Judgment information for judging whether or not is stored in the judgment information storage unit 1250.

  When the operation instruction for the channel selection unit 301, the operation instruction from the external device, or the operation instruction from the network device is given to the television 100, the notification server 1100 receives the operation instruction based on the determination information. It is determined whether or not the user operation is performed by the user of the television 100.

  Further, the notification server 1100 employs a configuration in which warning information is issued when a set time has elapsed without being determined that an operation instruction resulting from a user operation has been made.

  Thereby, according to the television 100 and the notification server 1100 of the present embodiment, regarding various operation instructions given to the television 100, whether or not the operation instruction is caused by a user operation is more accurately determined. Judgment can be made. That is, even when an operation is performed on the television 100 by a device other than the input device included in the television 100, it can be determined more accurately whether or not the operation by the user has been performed, and the warning can be performed more appropriately. Can emit information.

(Program, storage medium)
Each block of the monitoring device (the television 100, the recorder 800, and the notification server 1100) described in each embodiment may be realized in hardware by a logic circuit formed on an integrated circuit (IC chip). You may implement | achieve by software using CPU (Central Processing Unit).

  Specifically, the monitoring device includes a CPU that executes instructions of a program that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores the program, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that expands the program, and the program And a storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing various data. An object of the present invention is to monitor a recording medium in which a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of a monitoring device, which is software that realizes the above-described functions, is recorded so as to be readable by a computer. This can also be achieved by supplying to the apparatus and reading and executing the program code recorded on the recording medium by the computer (or CPU or MPU).

  Examples of the recording medium include tapes such as magnetic tapes and cassette tapes, magnetic disks such as floppy (registered trademark) disks / hard disks, and disks including optical disks such as CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. IC cards (including memory cards) / optical cards, semiconductor memories such as mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM, PLD (Programmable logic device), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc. Logic circuits or the like can be used.

  The program code may be supplied to the monitoring device via a communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited as long as it can transmit the program code. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication network, and the like can be used. The transmission medium constituting the communication network may be any medium that can transmit the program code, and is not limited to a specific configuration or type. For example, even with wired lines such as IEEE1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) line, infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth (registered trademark), IEEE80211 wireless, HDR (High Data Rate), NFC (Near Field Communication), DLNA, mobile phone network, satellite line, terrestrial digital network and the like can also be used.

(Embodiment 4)
Next, a fourth embodiment of the monitoring system according to the present invention will be described. In the first to third embodiments, when a user operation is performed while the timer is measuring the non-operation time, the reset unit clears the non-operation time that has been measured by the timer so that the timer is The difference between the non-operation time measured so far and the set time was expanded. The method of enlarging the difference is not limited to this. That is, as a method of expanding the difference, any configuration may be adopted as long as the timing of issuing an alert is postponed when a user operation is performed.

  For example, in the fourth embodiment, when a user operation is performed while the timer measures the non-operation time, the reset unit continues the measurement of the non-operation time without clearing the non-operation time, Extending the difference by extending the set time. For example, when “6 hours” is set as the set time, it is assumed that the non-operation time by the timer has passed “5 hours”. At this time, when a certain control signal is input to the device and it is determined that the control signal is caused by the user's operation, in the first to third embodiments, the set time is left as it is, and the non-operation time is set as it is. In the fourth embodiment, the non-operation time is not reset and the set time is extended to “11 hours”. In any case, the difference between the non-operation time and the set time is still increased from “1 hour” to “6 hours”.

(Embodiment 5)
Next, a fifth embodiment of the monitoring system according to the present invention will be described. In Embodiments 1 to 3, the start timing and end timing of measurement of the non-operation time by the timer are not defined. In the fifth embodiment, the start timing (preset time) and end timing (preset time) of the non-operation time measurement by the timer are defined. Specifically, in the fifth embodiment, the timer uses time information to measure a non-operation time from a specific time. For example, the timer measures the non-operation time from 6:00 am (start timing) on a certain day. After that, until 23:59 pm (end timing) on the same day, when no user operation is performed on a certain device, warning information is issued, and a certain control signal is input to the device within this time , It is determined whether or not the control signal is due to the user's operation, and if it is determined that the input control signal is due to the user's operation, warning information is not issued . That is, it is the same as setting “18 hours” as the set time. In this case, after 23:59 pm on the same day, the timer may end the measurement of the non-operation time or may continue to measure the non-operation time.

(Modification)
It should be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative and non-restrictive in every respect. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  That is, the configuration of the monitoring system is that at least the monitoring system as a whole measures the time when no user operation is performed on a certain device, and when the measurement time passes a preset time, issues warning information, When the control signal is input, it is determined whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation, and the input control signal is determined by the user's operation. As long as the function of `` resetting the measurement time '' can be realized, the system configuration described in the embodiment is not limited to that described in each embodiment, and various modifications are made. Also good.

  For example, in each embodiment, although the example which employ | adopts a television receiver and recording / reproducing apparatus as a monitoring apparatus was demonstrated, a monitoring apparatus is not restricted to these. The monitoring device only needs to have a communication function, such as various information processing devices such as personal computers and portable terminal devices, televisions, radios, various playback devices, cameras, telephones, fax machines, printers, refrigerators, washing machines. Any device such as a lighting fixture, an air conditioner, and various electric products may be adopted.

  In each embodiment, a configuration is employed in which a notification server transmits an alert mail when an alert is issued. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when an alert is issued in a monitoring device (for example, the television 100 or the recorder 800), the monitoring device itself may send an alert mail.

  In each embodiment, when an alert is issued, the notification server transmits an alert mail so as to notify the notification target person of some abnormality. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when an alert is issued, the warning information is displayed or printed, a warning sound is emitted, a warning lamp is issued, a predetermined telephone number is called, a fax is sent, etc. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which a notification target person is notified of some abnormality by another notification method, such as transmitting. In addition, when it is implemented for the purpose of not being urgent, even if an alert is issued, it is not notified immediately to the person to be notified, but this is recorded or recorded in some storage medium, etc. for later notification or reference A possible configuration may be adopted.

  Further, the external device interface for connecting the monitoring device and the external device is not limited to HDMI. For example, the external device interface is i. Other external device interfaces such as LINK may be employed. In short, any external device interface may be used as long as it can be connected to the external device and can be remotely operated from the external device.

  Further, the communication interface for connecting the monitoring device and the network device is not limited to the LAN interface, and other communication interfaces may be adopted. In short, any communication interface may be used as long as it can be connected to the network 130 and can be remotely operated from a network device connected to the network 130.

  In each embodiment, the recorder 152 and the television 100 are employed as external devices that can remotely operate the monitoring device, but the present invention is not limited to this. Any external device may be employed as long as it can be connected to the monitoring device and can remotely operate the monitoring device.

  In each embodiment, the personal computer 154 and the mobile phone 156 are employed as network devices connected to the network 130 and capable of remotely operating the monitoring device. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Any network device may be employed as long as it can be connected to the network 130 and can remotely operate the monitoring device.

  In each embodiment, the remote operation from the external device is based on the CEC control signal of the HDMI standard, but is not limited thereto. The remote operation from the external device may be based on other control signals. In this case as well, when a control signal transmitted from the external device is received as a result of the user operating the external device. In this case, determination information may be set so that it is determined that a user operation has been performed.

  In each embodiment, the remote operation from the network device is based on the IP control signal and the DLNA control signal, but is not limited thereto. The remote operation from the network device may be based on other control signals. In this case as well, when a control signal transmitted from the network device is received as a result of the user operating the network device. In this case, determination information may be set so that it is determined that a user operation has been performed.

  In each embodiment, the determination information 502, 506, and 504 includes a control signal that should be determined to be due to a user operation and a control signal that should not be determined to be due to a user operation. Both are set, and for each control signal, information (“◯” and “X”) for determining whether or not it is determined to be caused by a user operation is set. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any storage medium can be used as long as it can determine whether or not the control instruction given to the monitoring device is caused by a user operation. The data may be stored in any data format and may have any data structure. For example, information for which only an operation instruction for determining that the determination information is attributed to a user operation may be used as each determination information. Even when such determination information is adopted, it is only necessary to determine that the control instruction that is not set in the determination information is not caused by a user operation. It can be determined whether or not it is caused by a user operation.

  In each embodiment, when an IP control signal is received from a network device, “IP control signal” is displayed in the “control signal” column of the determination information 504 so that it can be determined that a user operation has been performed. I set it. As a modified example, the name of the specific IP control signal is set in the “control signal” field of the determination information 504 so that it can be determined that the user operation is performed when a specific IP control signal is given. You may do it.

  In the first embodiment, the TV 100 is provided with a function as a monitoring device that monitors the user operation of the TV 100. You may comprise so that the function as a monitoring apparatus which monitors operation may be provided.

  In the second embodiment, the recorder 800 is provided with a function as a monitoring device that monitors the user operation of the recorder 800. However, the user of the recorder 800 can be connected to an external device or a network device connected to the recorder 800. You may comprise so that the function as a monitoring apparatus which monitors operation may be provided.

  In the third embodiment, the television 100 and the notification server 1100 are provided with a function as a monitoring device that monitors user operations of the television 100. However, external devices or network devices connected to the television 100 or the notification server 1100 are provided. On the other hand, a function as a monitoring device for monitoring a user operation of the television 100 may be provided.

  In the first to fifth embodiments, when there is no abnormality in the monitoring target person, nothing is notified to the notification target person, and when there is an abnormality in the monitoring target person, warning information is notified to the notification target person. To do. Instead of this, or in addition to this, when there is no abnormality in the monitoring target person, the configuration of each embodiment may be modified so that safety information indicating that fact is notified to the notification target person. .

  For example, when it is determined that a user operation has been performed by providing a generation unit in the monitoring system, it is considered that there is no abnormality in the monitoring target person. Therefore, the generation unit emits safety information at this timing, and You may make it notify. As another example, it is determined whether or not there is an abnormality in the monitoring target person every predetermined period, and when it is determined that the user operation is performed within the period, the generation means is configured to display the safety information after the period ends. May be notified to the person to be notified.

  Even when such a configuration is adopted, it is possible for the monitoring subject to accurately grasp whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the monitoring subject. In this case, when there is no abnormality in the monitoring target person, safety information indicating that there is no abnormality may be simply notified to the notification target person, including information indicating the contents of the user's operation. You may make it notify safety information to a notification subject. In the latter case, the notification target person can more accurately grasp the life trend of the monitoring target person based on the notified safety information.

  The present invention provides a monitoring device, a television receiver, a monitoring system, a monitoring method, a monitoring program, and the like, which monitor a user operation on a certain device and issue warning information when any abnormality occurs in a monitoring target. The present invention can be applied to a recording medium that records a monitoring program.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Monitoring system 100 Television 110 Notification server 120 Notification destination terminal 130 Network 152 Recorder 154 Personal computer 156 Mobile phone 301 Channel selection unit 302 Viewing reservation unit 303 Recording reservation unit 304 External device control unit 306 Network control unit 310 Monitoring unit 312 Channel selection monitoring Unit 314 External device control monitoring unit 316 Network control monitoring unit 320 Judgment unit 330 Timer 335 Reset unit 340 Alert generation unit 350 Judgment information storage unit 502 Judgment information 504 Judgment information 506 Judgment information

Claims (15)

A monitoring device that monitors user operations on a device,
Timer means for measuring a time during which no user operation is performed on the device;
Warning means for issuing warning information when the time measured by the timer means exceeds a preset time;
For each of the plurality of control signals for the device, determination information storage means for storing determination information for determining whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation;
When a control signal is input to the monitoring target processing unit of the device, based on the determination information, a determination unit that determines whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation;
When it is determined that the input control signal is due to the user's operation, the difference between the time measured by the timer means and the preset time is enlarged, and the input control signal And a warning timing adjusting means that does not increase the difference when it is determined that the difference is not caused by the user's operation. The determination means includes
In the device, when a predetermined control signal that is automatically generated is input to the processing unit to be monitored, the control signal is not caused by the user's operation based on the determination information. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is determined not to be present. The determination means includes
In the device, when a predetermined control signal automatically generated by a timer function is input to the monitoring target processing unit, the control signal is attributed to the user's operation based on the determination information. The monitoring device according to claim 2, wherein the monitoring device is determined not to perform. The determination means includes
In the device, when a predetermined control signal is input to the processing unit to be monitored by a remote operation from an external device connected to the device, the control signal is based on the determination information. The monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is determined to be caused by a user operation. The determination means includes
In the device, when a predetermined control signal is input to the processing unit to be monitored by a remote operation from a network device connected to the device via a network, based on the determination information, The monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control signal is determined to be caused by the user's operation. The processing unit to be monitored is
It is a channel selection section that performs channel selection of received broadcasts.
The determination means includes
When a control signal for performing a channel selection operation is input to the channel selection unit, it is determined whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation based on the determination information. The monitoring apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein The said timer means measures the time when the user operation with respect to the said apparatus is not made from the preset time to another preset time, The time of any one of Claim 1 to 6 characterized by the above-mentioned. Monitoring device. The warning timing adjusting means is
The difference is enlarged by resetting the measurement time by the timer means when it is determined that the input control signal is caused by the user's operation. The monitoring device according to any one of the above. The warning timing adjusting means is
The difference is expanded by extending the preset time by a predetermined time when it is determined that the input control signal is caused by the user's operation. The monitoring device according to any one of 7 to 7. The generator according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising generating means for issuing information indicating that a user operation has been performed when it is determined that the input control signal is caused by the user operation. The monitoring device according to any one of the above.   A television receiver comprising the monitoring device according to claim 1. A monitoring system comprising a first device and a second device, and monitoring a user's operation on the first device,
The first device includes:
Monitoring means for monitoring the input of a control signal to the monitoring target processing unit included in the first device;
When a certain control signal is input to the processing unit to be monitored, a transmission unit that transmits the input control signal to the second device, and
The second device includes:
Timer means for measuring a time during which no user operation is performed on the first device;
Warning means for issuing warning information when the time measured by the timer means exceeds a preset time;
Determination information storage means for storing determination information for determining whether or not the control signal is caused by the user's operation for each of the plurality of control signals for the first device;
A receiver for receiving a control signal transmitted from the first device;
Determination means for determining whether the control signal received by the receiving unit is based on the user's operation based on the determination information;
When it is determined that the received control signal is due to the user's operation, the difference between the time measured by the timer means and the preset time is enlarged, and the received control signal And a warning timing adjusting means that does not increase the difference when it is determined that the difference is not caused by the user's operation. A monitoring method for monitoring user operations on a device,
A measuring step for measuring a time during which no user operation is performed on the device;
When the measurement time by the measurement process has passed a preset time, a warning process for issuing warning information;
A determination information storing step for storing determination information for determining whether or not the control signal is caused by the user's operation for each of the plurality of control signals for the device;
When a control signal is input to the monitoring target processing unit of the device, based on the determination information, a determination step of determining whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation;
When it is determined that the input control signal is due to the user's operation, the difference between the measurement time by the measurement step and the preset time is enlarged, and the input control signal And a warning timing adjustment step that does not increase the difference when it is determined that the difference is not caused by the user's operation. Computer
Timer means for measuring time during which no user operation is performed on a certain device;
Warning means for issuing warning information when the time measured by the timer means exceeds a preset time;
For each of the plurality of control signals for the device, determination information storage means for storing determination information for determining whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation;
When a control signal is input to the monitoring target processing unit of the device, based on the determination information, a determination unit that determines whether the control signal is caused by the user's operation;
When it is determined that the input control signal is due to the user's operation, the difference between the time measured by the timer means and the preset time is enlarged, and the input control signal Is a monitoring program for functioning as a warning timing adjusting means that does not increase the difference when it is determined that the difference is not caused by the user's operation.   The computer-readable recording medium which has recorded the monitoring program of Claim 14.

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