JP2013034137A - Information communication terminal, and method and program for executing electrified product function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute a predetermined function cooperatively executed by a terminal and an electrified product, only by designating an address associated in advance with the electrified product.SOLUTION: A function cooperatively executable by an electrified product 100 and an information communication terminal 10 is stored beforehand in association with the address information of the electrified product 100. On receipt of the address information designated from a user, the information communication terminal 10 transmits to the electrified product 100 a command to execute a function cooperatively executable by the information communication terminal 10 and the electrified product 100. Here, if there are two or more functions cooperatively executable by the electrified product 100 and the information communication terminal 10, the two or more functions and the address information of the electrified product 100 are stored together with priority, so that one of the two or more functions is determined based on the priority. The priority is updated according to the execution history of the function executed in cooperation with the electrified product 100.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information communication terminal for executing a function of an appliance, a function execution method of the appliance, and a function execution program of the appliance.

  In recent years, with the progress of wireless peripheral devices of computers, wireless Wi-Fi connection has become common without connecting a notebook computer to a wired LAN cable. Furthermore, it is known that not only wireless networking but also a mouse as a peripheral device can be connected wirelessly or a keyboard can be connected wirelessly.

  Furthermore, in order to display the screen of the personal computer on another screen, a technique called wireless display is known. That is, the screen of a personal computer can be transferred and displayed on a large display such as a TV by wireless (for example, Patent Document 1, Non-Patent Document 1, etc.).

Special table 2011-509022 gazette

Intel Corporation, “Intel Wireless Display”, [online], [searched July 15, 2011], Internet <URL: http://www.intell.com/ja_JP/consumer/products/technology/wirelessdisplay. htm? cid = ijkk: ggl | widi_jp_wireless | jpCB0CB | s>

  Here, in the current communication devices such as wireless, the function of the device using the communication is often one. In other words, the display is limited to a wireless display function, and the mouse is limited to a wireless mouse function. However, when a predetermined function is to be realized by connecting an information communication terminal and an advanced electrical appliance wirelessly, the functions to be realized wirelessly are not necessarily limited to one function because they are mutually multifunctional.

  For example, if the television is equipped with an information communication terminal and an advanced control unit, there are a plurality of functions such as a function for wirelessly transferring and displaying screen information of the information communication terminal to the television and a function for using the information communication terminal as a remote control for the television There are functions. Therefore, a plurality of buttons can be provided, and a desired button can be selected from these buttons to execute each function.

  However, the problem of the user interface is where the icons and buttons for executing these functions are arranged on the display unit of the information communication terminal. In particular, when the display unit of the information communication terminal is small like a smartphone, there are many cases where the space for arranging these icons and buttons is small.

  By the way, in general, users have become accustomed to an operation of browsing a Web page by specifying a URL address in a Web browser. Therefore, the inventor has paid attention to whether the function realized by the information communication terminal and the television can be selected and executed from the operation of designating the URL address in the Web browser.

  In view of such a problem, the present invention provides an information communication terminal capable of executing a predetermined function that a terminal and an appliance cooperate to execute by designating an address, a function execution method of the appliance, And it aims at providing the function execution program of electrical appliances.

  The present invention provides the following solutions.

The invention according to the first feature includes address information storage means for storing a function that can be executed in cooperation with the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal, and address information of the electrical appliance in association with each other;
User designation means for accepting user designation for the address information;
A function command transmitting means for transmitting, to the electrical appliance, a command for causing the information communication terminal to execute a function executable in cooperation with the electrical appliance in response to designation of the address information; An information communication terminal provided is provided.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, a function that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal and the address information of the electrical appliance are stored in association with each other, and In response to the designation with respect to the address information, the information communication terminal transmits a command for executing an executable function in cooperation with the electrical appliance to the electrical appliance. Accordingly, it is possible to execute a predetermined function that the terminal and the appliance cooperate to execute only by designating the address of the appliance from the terminal.

  The invention according to the first feature exhibits the same operations and effects not only in the terminal in the category of the invention but also in the method and the program.

The invention according to the second feature is the invention according to the first feature, and further includes two or more functions that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal, whereby the two or more functions are provided. Address information storage means for storing the two or more functions and the address information of the appliance together with a priority order that preferentially executes any of
Function determining means for determining one of the two or more functions based on the priority order;
The function command transmitting unit provides an information communication terminal that transmits a command for executing the function determined by the function determining unit to the electrical appliance.

  In the invention according to the second feature, there are two or more functions that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal, so that priority is given to determine which of the two or more functions is to be executed with priority. Along with the ranking, the two or more functions and the address information of the appliance are stored, and one of the two or more functions is determined based on the priority. And the command for performing the determined function here is transmitted with respect to electrical appliances. Therefore, even if there are two or more functions that can be executed in cooperation between the appliance and the information communication terminal, it is possible to execute a function that is assumed to be desired by the user based on the priority order. Is possible.

  The invention according to the second feature exhibits the same operation and effect not only in the terminal in the category of the invention but also in the method and the program.

  According to the present invention, the user simply designates an address associated with an electrical appliance in advance on the information communication terminal, and the information communication terminal and the electrical appliance cooperate with each other to execute the predetermined function. It is possible to perform reasonable functions assumed to be desired.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the function execution system 1. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the electrical appliance 100, the information communication terminal 10, and the gateway 50. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a function execution control process executed by the electrical appliance 100, the information communication terminal 10, and the gateway 50. FIG. 4 shows a function selection table. FIG. 5 is a screen image diagram displayed on the information communication terminal 10. FIG. 6 is a screen image diagram displayed on the electrical appliance 100. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the priority order replacement process. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a case where the function selection management server 200 is used instead of the gateway 50.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This is merely an example, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this.

[System configuration of function execution system]
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a function execution system 1 which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The function execution system 1 includes information communication terminals 10 a and 10 b (hereinafter simply referred to as “10”), electrical appliances 100 a and 100 b (hereinafter simply referred to as “100”), and a gateway 50. These devices are connected so that they can communicate with each other regardless of whether they are wireless or wired.

  The information communication terminal 10 may be connected to the appliance 100 via a LAN (Local Area Network) or may be connected via a public line network such as the Internet. Here, it is assumed that the information communication terminal 10, the electrical appliance 100, and the gateway 50 are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other by a wireless LAN, and the gateway 50 is connected to a public line network such as the Internet.

  The information communication terminal 10 may be a general information terminal called a user terminal, and is an information device or an electrical appliance having a function to be described later. The information communication terminal 10 includes, for example, a slate terminal 10a, a smartphone 10b, a mobile phone, a network device, a computer, a netbook terminal, an electronic book terminal, an electronic dictionary terminal, a portable music player, a portable content playback / recording player It may be a general information appliance such as.

  The electrical appliance 100 is an electrical appliance having a network connection function. For example, in addition to a television 100a, a monitor, a telephone, and a computer, a cellular phone, a portable information terminal, a portable music player, a television, an audio component 100b, a content Playback / recording players, printers, telephones, fax machines, copiers, scanners, MFPs (multifunctional peripherals, multifunction printers) and other information appliances, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, fans, air conditioners Also includes white goods such as electric stoves, rice cookers, microwave ovens, electric lighting, servers, exchanges, routers, etc.

  The gateway 50 may be a general gateway, router, hub or the like connected to the LAN.

[Description of each function]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the functional blocks of the gateway 50, the appliance 100, and the information communication terminal 10 and the relationship between the functions. The hardware configuration of each device will be described with reference to FIG.

  If the information communication terminal 10 includes the control unit 11, the data storage unit 12, the data communication unit 13, and the input / output unit 14, the information communication terminal 10 is any of household appliances, commercial appliances, portable terminals, and commercial terminals. May be.

  The control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. Alternatively, a wireless device or the like conforming to the IMT-2000 standard such as a third generation mobile communication system is provided (may be a wired LAN connection). Furthermore, the data storage unit 12 includes one or both of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and an SSD (Solid State Drive). Further, the input / output unit 14 includes a display unit such as a liquid crystal monitor that displays an image, and an input unit such as a keyboard, a touch panel, and a voice input that accept input from the user.

  The control unit 11 reads a predetermined program and cooperates with the data storage unit 12 to realize an address information storage module 21 corresponding to the address information storage unit and a function determination module corresponding to the function determination unit. Further, the control unit 11 reads a predetermined program and cooperates with the input / output unit 14 to realize the user designation module 23 corresponding to the user designation unit. In addition, the control unit 11 reads a predetermined program and cooperates with the data communication unit 13 to realize the function command transmission module 24 corresponding to the function command transmission unit.

  The electrical appliance 100 includes a control unit 101, a data storage unit 102, and a data communication unit 103.

  The control unit 101 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The data communication unit 103 includes a wired or wireless communication device. , HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like.

  The control unit 101 implements a function command execution module 110 that reads a predetermined program and cooperates with the data communication unit 103 to execute a function command received from the function command transmission module.

  The gateway 50 includes a control unit 51, a data storage unit 52, and a data communication unit 53.

  The control unit 51 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The data communication unit 53 includes a wired or wireless communication device. , HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like.

  The control unit 51 reads a predetermined program and realizes the function determination module 61 in cooperation with the data storage unit 52. This function determination module 61 is a module that is alternatively executed by the gateway 50 when the function determination module 22 of the information communication terminal 10 does not operate.

[Function execution control processing]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a function execution control process executed by the information communication terminal 10, the appliance 100, and the gateway 50. As a premise, there may be a plurality of electrical appliances 10 that communicate with the information communication terminal 10, and identification information such as an IP address is associated with each electrical appliance 10 in advance.

  First, the information communication terminal 10 displays a selection window for accepting selection of the electrical appliance 10 at a predetermined timing (step S01). As shown in the example of FIG. 5, the selection window is a window 32 that displays an icon 31 for accepting selection of the electrical appliance 10 on the screen display of the information communication terminal 10. In this example, a monthly report is displayed on the information communication terminal 10. Here, when the user performs a predetermined operation, an icon 31 for receiving selection of the electrical appliance 10 is displayed. In FIG. 5, the appliance 10 is displayed only for the living TV, but a plurality of appliances 10 may be displayed if the information communication terminal 10 is accessible.

  Next, the information communication terminal 10 accepts designation of an address serving as identification information from the user (step S02). Here, the designation of the address may be designated by inputting an identifiable address such as an IP address or a MAC address directly to the information communication terminal 10, or a URL address associated with the electrical appliance 100. May be a process of designating. Alternatively, an icon 31 as shown in FIG. 5 may be operated to read and process an address associated in advance.

  The address serving as identification information may be an IP address, a MAC address, or a URL address. In the latter case, the gateway 50 may have a DNS (Domain Name System) function.

  When the information communication terminal 10 receives the address designation from the user (step S02: “YES”), it makes an inquiry to the gateway 50. The information communication terminal 10 stands by for processing until an address designation is received from the user (step S02: “NO”).

  In response to the inquiry from the information communication terminal 10, the gateway 50 checks whether or not the electrical appliance 100 of the designated address is activated by whether or not there is a reply from the electrical appliance 100 (step S03). When the gateway 50 determines that the electrical appliance 100 is activated, the gateway 50 notifies the information communication terminal 10 to that effect. Upon receiving this notification, the information communication terminal 10 executes action selection processing (step S04).

  The information communication terminal 10 performs an action selection process with reference to the function selection table shown in FIG. The function selection table is a table stored in advance in the information communication terminal 10. In FIG. 4, the address: www. local. TV. It is a function selection table of jp. The function selection table is composed of priority, action, execution history, and startup application. The information communication terminal 10 selects the action with the first priority in this table and executes the activation application. Here, since the first priority is the screen transfer action, the screen transfer application of the information communication terminal 10 is executed.

  Next, the information communication terminal 10 transmits a command for transferring screen data to the electrical appliance (television) 10 by the activated screen transfer application (step S05). In response to this, the electrical appliance 10 performs a command execution process (step S06) and functions as a screen output device of the screen transfer application. In this example, as shown in FIG. 6, the screen display displayed on the information communication terminal 10 is transferred to the electrical appliance (television) 10 (via the LAN) and displayed.

  For example, if the action with the highest priority is not a screen transfer application but a TV remote control application, an application corresponding to the remote control of the electrical appliance (TV) 10 in the information communication terminal 10 according to the designation of an address from the user Start up. When the user performs a remote control operation using the input / output unit 14 of the information communication terminal 10, the operation command is received by the electric appliance 10 via the network, and the function of the electric appliance 10 according to the operation (for example, a channel switching operation). If so, the channel of the electrical appliance 10 is switched).

  In the above description, the example in which the information communication terminal 10 immediately executes the action with the first priority is described. However, the action is displayed on the information communication terminal 10 from the top in the order of priority in the function selection table, and is displayed to the user. The selected action may be executed after receiving an action selection.

  In the above description, the action selection process (step S04) is described as being executed by the information communication terminal 10, but the function selection table may be stored in the gateway 50 and executed by the gateway 50. . In this case, since the function selection table is managed by the gateway 50, not only the execution history of one information communication terminal 10 but also the execution history executed by a plurality of information communication terminals 10 in the priority order changing process described later. It is possible to determine the priority order.

[Priority change processing]
Next, processing for changing the priority order of the function selection table will be described. As described above, the function selection table is desirably updated sequentially for each user. This is because the desired action for the target electrical appliance 10 differs depending on the user. Moreover, even for the same user, different actions may be desired depending on when the action is desired. Therefore, it is desirable to always change the priority order based on the execution history.

  It is desirable that the priority order replacement process is always executed by the information communication terminal 10. First, the information communication terminal 10 detects activation of a predetermined application (step S10). Here, the predetermined application may be any application installed in the information communication terminal 10 as long as it is an application that executes a communication function, or a corresponding application may be set in advance. If the information communication terminal 10 detects activation of a predetermined application (step S10: “YES”), the information communication terminal 10 moves the process to step S11. If the information communication terminal 10 does not detect activation of a predetermined application (step S10: “NO”), the information communication terminal 10 waits for processing.

  Next, the information communication terminal 10 detects whether or not the address of the electrical appliance 100 is used to access the electrical appliance 100 that is communicably connected to the application whose activation has been detected (step S11). That is, when this application is started and a predetermined function is realized in cooperation with the electrical appliance 100, communication such as TCP / IP is realized by referring to the address (IP address, etc.) of the electrical appliance 100. However, the information communication terminal 10 detects that the application has used this address.

  If the information communication terminal 10 detects an address accessed by the application (step S11: “YES”), it moves the process to step S12. The information communication terminal 10 waits for processing until it detects an address accessed by the application (step S11: “NO”).

  Next, the information communication terminal 10 counts the application (function) executed by the detected electrical appliance and stores it in the function selection table as an execution history (step S12). Specifically, the information communication terminal 10 selects a function selection table corresponding to the address of the accessed electrical appliance 10, registers the application name in the activation application of the function selection table, and adds the numerical value of the execution history To do.

  Then, the information communication terminal 10 compares the numerical values of the added execution histories, and changes the priority order so as to raise the priority order of those having a high number (step S13).

  In this way, the function selection table for each electrical appliance 100 is updated each time the user starts an application and communicates with the electrical appliance 10, so that it is possible to execute an action appropriate for the user. Become.

  For example, when the electrical appliance 10 is the television 100a, the activated application may be a screen sharing application (setting program). When the electrical appliance 10 is the audio component 100b, the activated application is a music playback application. It's okay.

[Example of function selection management server]
In the above description, the function selection table is stored in the information communication terminal 10 or the gateway 50, and the mode in which the action selection process in step S04 is executed by these devices has been described. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the function selection management server 200 may store the function selection table and execute the action selection process in step S04. That is, the function selection management server 200 communicatively connected to the information communication terminal 10, the electrical appliance 100, and the public line network 3 may remotely manage the function selection table and execute the access selection process. .

  In this case, the function selection management server 200 manages the function selection table for each user ID that operates the information communication terminal 10. That is, the data of the user ID and the address of the electrical appliance 10 is received from the information communication terminal 10 and an action is selected based on the function selection table. The result is returned to the information communication terminal 10, and the information communication terminal 10 executes step S05.

  The function selection management server 200 may also execute part of the priority order replacement process. That is, when the information communication terminal 10 executes steps S10 and S11 and counts the functions executed by the electrical appliance 100, the function selection management server 200 is accessed to update the stored function selection table. Then, based on the updated function selection table, the function selection management server 200 replaces the priority order (step S13).

  Thus, if the function selection table can be managed by the function selection management server 200, the execution history of the cooperative function with the electrical appliance 100 can be managed by the user ID regardless of the type of the information communication terminal 10. Is possible. That is, if the function selection table is stored only in one information communication terminal 10, the other information communication terminals 10 cannot effectively use the data. However, as long as the function selection table is managed by the function selection management server 200, the function selection table can be used in any information communication terminal 10.

  Further, when the function selection table is stored in the gateway 50, when referring to the function selection table, it is necessary to access the gateway 50 that manages the LAN to which the electrical appliance 100 that is desired to be used in cooperation is connected. There is. However, if the function selection table is managed by the function selection management server 200, it is only necessary to be able to access the public line network 3, so that the function selection table can be used without depending on the LAN or the gateway 50. Is possible.

  The means and functions described above are realized by a computer (including a CPU, an information processing apparatus, and various terminals) reading and executing a predetermined program. The program is provided in a form recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a flexible disk, CD (CD-ROM, etc.), DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, etc.), for example. In this case, the computer reads the program from the recording medium, transfers it to the internal storage device or the external storage device, stores it, and executes it. The program may be recorded in advance in a storage device (recording medium) such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a magneto-optical disk, and provided from the storage device to a computer via a communication line.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

  1 function execution system, 3 public line network, 10 information communication terminal, 100 electrical appliance, 50 gateway

Claims (5)

Address information storage means for storing a function that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal, and address information of the electrical appliance in association with each other;
User designation means for accepting user designation for the address information;
A function command transmitting means for transmitting, to the electrical appliance, a command for causing the information communication terminal to execute a function that can be executed in cooperation with the electrical appliance in response to the designation for the address information;
An information communication terminal comprising: When there are two or more functions that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal, the two or more functions together with a priority order that determines which of the two or more functions is to be preferentially executed. And address information storage means for storing the address information of the electrical appliance,
Function determining means for determining one of the two or more functions based on the priority order;
The information communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the function command transmitting unit transmits a command for executing the function determined by the function determining unit to the electrical appliance. An address information storage step for storing a function that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal and address information of the electrical appliance in association with each other;
A user designation step for accepting a user designation for the address information;
A function command transmission step of transmitting, to the electrical appliance, a command for causing the information communication terminal to execute a function that can be executed in cooperation with the electrical appliance in response to the designation for the address information;
The function execution method of the electrical appliance which an information communication terminal performs. When there are two or more functions that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal, the two or more functions together with a priority order that determines which of the two or more functions is to be preferentially executed. And address information storage step for storing address information of the electrical appliance,
A function determining step of determining any one of the two or more functions based on the priority order; and
The function execution method of the electrical appliance according to claim 3, wherein in the function command transmission step, a command for executing the function determined in the function determination step is transmitted to the electrical appliance. In the information communication terminal,
An address information storage step for storing a function that can be executed in cooperation between the electrical appliance and the information communication terminal and address information of the electrical appliance in association with each other;
A user designation step for accepting a user designation for the address information;
A function command transmission step of transmitting, to the electrical appliance, a command for causing the information communication terminal to execute a function that can be executed in cooperation with the electrical appliance in accordance with the designation with respect to the address information;
Function execution program for executing

Images