JP4611169B2 - Remote control input system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote control input system that can use a remote input device such as a remote control to select a screen for a display device such as a television, a computer, or to project an image on a screen, and to give an operation instruction to the selected screen.

  Display devices such as televisions have become highly functional, and the operation methods have become complicated accordingly. One example is a two-screen display. In displaying two screens, an operation of switching the selected screen and sound is necessary. As the prior art, there is a method of providing a screen switching key on a remote controller to switch the screen (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 6 shows a general control flow when a remote controller is used. In Patent Document 1, the remote control 38 includes a key for selecting each screen and a key for selecting a channel. In order to operate each screen (for example, a channel selection operation), first, a key corresponding to the screen to be operated is pressed using a screen selection key. The signal is transmitted using, for example, infrared rays. The remote control light receiving unit 39 receives a signal from the remote control 38 and the remote control key determination unit 40 determines which key of the remote control 38 is pressed from the remote control signal. The system control unit 41 receives key information (= screen selection information) from the remote control key determination unit 40.

  Next, the user uses the remote control 38 again and inputs contents to be operated using the operation keys. The remote control light receiving unit 39 receives a signal from the remote control 38 and the remote control key determination unit 40 determines which key of the remote control 38 is pressed from the remote control signal. The key information (= operation function information) is transmitted to the system control unit 41, and controls the display unit 42, the audio output unit 43, or the other control target unit 44.

On the other hand, a remote control system has been proposed that has a function of inputting coordinates by pointing on a display screen and a function of transmitting a remote control signal (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP-A-6-38130 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-95911

  However, in order to operate each screen using a remote controller in the case of multi-screen display in the prior art as shown in Patent Document 1, first, a screen to be operated is selected, and then a desired operation ( Two steps of selecting (tuning or outputting sound) are necessary, and there is a problem that it takes time. In addition, since a plurality of screens are displayed at the same time, it may be difficult for the user to understand which screen is selected. Further, when a screen selection key is provided on the remote control, it takes time to search for the screen selection key. Furthermore, there is a problem that the remote control becomes larger by the amount of the selection key. In particular, when the number of display screens changes, the configuration of the remote control becomes complicated.

  On the other hand, when the operation is performed by directly instructing only the display screen in the prior art as shown in Patent Document 2, if the distance between the television and the user is long, there is a risk that an erroneous operation will occur due to camera shake.

  An object of the present invention is to easily perform selection of each screen and operation instruction to the selected screen in parallel when operating each screen of a plurality of screens displayed on the display device. To provide a remote control input system having a configuration.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention adopts the following configuration.
A remote control input system comprising: a display device such as a television or a PC monitor that displays one or more screens; and a remote controller that performs an area instruction and an operation instruction on the screen with respect to the display device,
The display device includes an indicated position detecting unit that detects a position instructed by the remote controller, a key determining unit that determines an operation instructed by the remote controller, and position information detected by the indicated position detecting unit. Based on the operation key information discriminated by the key discriminating unit, a command generating unit that generates an instructed operation command for the selected one screen, an area instructed by the remote control, and the key discriminating unit A storage device having a plurality of tables representing correspondence between operation key information and the operation command, and control for the display device based on the operation command generated by the command generation unit referring to the table of the storage device Current system including the number of display screens, the display screen position, and the volume from the operation command input to the system control unit A notification unit that obtains status information and notifies the command generation unit of one table that matches the current system status information, and the command generation unit includes the notification unit. In response to the notification of the current system status information from the system, a command is generated according to the current system status information, thereby assigning the operation command in real time .

  In the remote control input system, the area instruction to the screen of the display device by the remote control includes an area instruction outside the display screen in addition to the area instruction within the display screen.

  According to the present invention, when a desired one screen among a plurality of display screens is operated, selection and operation of the desired display screen can be performed simultaneously. In addition, since one screen is directly instructed from among a plurality of display screens by the remote controller, it is possible to solve the problem if it is difficult to understand which screen the user is selecting.

  In addition, since it is not necessary to provide selection keys corresponding to a plurality of display screens on the remote control, the user does not have to search for the selection keys, and the remote control dimensions must be increased by the amount of installation of the selection keys. Can be eliminated.

  Also, by providing a function for generating a command corresponding to the selected display screen, an operation function (a function for specifying a screen and instructing an operation on the screen) is assigned to each area instructed by the remote controller. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately cope with the case where the type of signal is different for each display screen (for example, external input, audio signal, etc.).

  In addition, the function to notify the current system status and the function to generate commands according to the current system status, so that the operation function is allocated in real time, the number of display screens has changed Even in this case, it is possible to respond immediately without complicating the configuration of the remote control.

  In addition, since the operation function is assigned even if the position pointed to by the remote control is outside the display screen, there is a possibility that an erroneous operation will be performed even if camera shake occurs when the distance between the display device and the remote control is long Can be reduced. In addition, since different operation functions can be assigned inside and outside the display screen, various functions can be realized.

  A remote control input system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a display area and a plurality of display screens in a remote control input system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration for selecting a display screen and operating instructions in the remote control input system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example for selecting a display screen and operating instructions in the remote control input system according to the present embodiment and allocating the operating instructions for each selected display screen. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example for selecting a display screen and operating instructions in the remote control input system according to the present embodiment and allocating the operation instructions based on real-time system status information such as the number of display screens and volume. FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the contents held in the storage device referred to by the system information notification unit which is a component in the configuration example shown in FIG.

  1 to 5, 1 is a display unit, 2 is a remote control, 3 is a left screen when displaying left and right two screens, 4 is a right screen when displaying left and right two screens, 5, 15 and 25 are remote controls, 6, 16, 26 is a remote control light receiving unit, 7, 17 and 27 are remote control key discriminating units, 8, 18 and 28 are pointing position detection units, 9, 21 and 33 are system control units, 10 is an operation screen selection unit, 11, 20 and 30 , 37 are storage devices, 12, 22, and 34 are display units, 13, 23 and 35 are audio output units, 14, 24 and 36 are other control target units, 19 and 29 are command number generation units, and 31 is an area information table. A database 32 represents a system information notification unit.

  First, the concept of screen selection in the remote control input system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows an example of left and right two-screen display on the display unit 1. When the remote control 2 designates the left area from the center of the display unit 1, the left screen 3 can be operated, and when the right area from the center of the display unit 1 is designated, the right screen 4 can be operated. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, for example, when the channel selection key on the remote controller is pressed while the right area of the display unit 1 is instructed by the remote controller, only the right screen 4 is selected.

  Next, the configuration of the remote control input system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described using FIG. First, the user designates the display area with the remote controller 5 and presses an operation key (for example, a channel selection key, a voice output key, etc.). The signal is transmitted using, for example, infrared rays. The remote control light receiving unit 6 receives a signal from the remote control 5 and transmits it to the remote control key determination unit 7 and the indicated position detection unit 8. The remote control key discriminating unit 7 discriminates which key of the remote control 5 (for example, a channel selection key, an audio output key, etc.) is pressed from the received remote control signal, and transmits the key information to the system control unit 9. .

  On the other hand, the designated position detection unit 8 detects which region the remote control 5 designates, and transmits a signal indicating the designated position coordinates to the operation screen selection unit 10. Here, the storage device 11 holds, for example, a table (a table showing the correspondence between the area and the selection screen) indicating the selection criteria of the selection screen for the designated area as shown in Table 1. The operation screen selection unit 10 refers to Table 1 in the storage device 11 based on the received designated position coordinate information and determines a screen to be selected. The screen selection information is transmitted from the operation screen selection unit 10 to the system control unit 9.

In the system control unit 9, based on the screen selection information from the operation screen selection unit 10 and the key information (= operation function information) from the remote control key determination unit 7, the display unit 12, the audio output unit 13, or other control target The unit 14 is controlled. In Table 1, as an area, for example, x is in the range of 0 to x1, but this is not limiting, and x may be 0 ≦ x by removing the upper limit of x1. This assigns that the selection screen (which constitutes part of the operation functions shown in Tables 2 to 5) is the right screen even if the position instructed by the remote controller is an area outside the screen.

  Next, with respect to the configuration of the remote control input system according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, an operation function is assigned to each selected area by having a function for generating a command corresponding to the selected screen. An example of the configuration is shown in FIG. First, the user designates the area of the display unit using the remote controller 15 and presses an operation key (for example, a channel selection key or a voice output key). The remote control light receiving unit 16 receives a signal from the remote control 15 and transmits it to the remote control key determination unit 17 and the indicated position detection unit 18. The remote control key discriminating unit 17 discriminates which key of the remote control 15 is pressed based on the received remote control signal. The key information is transmitted to the instruction number generation unit 19.

  On the other hand, the pointing position detection unit 18 detects what area the remote control 15 points to. Then, a signal indicating the designated position coordinates is transmitted from the designated position detecting unit 18 to the command number generating unit 19. Here, a table as shown in Table 2 is obtained in advance and stored in the storage device 20. Table 2 shows an example of the left and right two-screen display.

The command number generation unit 19 uses the designated position coordinate information from the designated position detection unit 18 and the key information from the remote control key determination unit 17, and further refers to the table in the storage device 20, whereby the system control unit The instruction number to be output to 21 (see the instruction number shown in Table 2) is determined and transmitted. The system control unit 21 controls the display unit 22, the audio output unit 23, or other control target unit 24 based on the command number (= operation function information) from the command number generation unit 19. That is, the command number generation unit 19 applies the indicated position information from the indicated position detection unit 18 to the area shown in Table 2 and applies the key information from the remote control key determination unit 17 to the key number shown in Table 2. Thus, the command number assigned in advance in Table 2 is output. The command numbers correspond to the operation functions shown in Table 2, and the system control unit 21 performs control so as to fulfill this operation function.

  Furthermore, with respect to the configuration of the remote control input system according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3, it has a function of notifying the current system state and a function of generating a command according to the current system state. FIG. 4 shows a configuration example in which operation functions are assigned in real time.

  First, the user designates an area with the remote controller 25 and presses an operation key. The remote control light receiving unit 26 receives a signal from the remote control 25 and transmits it to the remote control key determination unit 27 and the designated position detection unit 28. The remote control key discriminating unit 27 discriminates which key of the remote control 25 is pressed based on the received remote control signal. The key information is transmitted to the command number generation unit 29.

  On the other hand, the designated position detection unit 28 detects where the remote controller 25 is pointing. Then, a signal indicating the designated position coordinates is transmitted to the command number generation unit 29. The operation described above is the same as the operation shown in FIG.

  Here, in the storage device 30, a plurality of tables as shown in Table 2 are prepared as the area information database 31 as shown in FIG. The table is prepared as much as possible to cover all the states of the remote control input system conceivable by the display device (here, the system state refers to states such as the number of display screens, display screen positions, signal types, and volume). (See the system status information column listed in Table 3). Then, an identification number (corresponding to Table a, Table b, Table c, etc.) is assigned to each table and stored in the storage device 30. In the command number generation unit 29, a table number to be currently selected (see Table 3 described later) is obtained in advance from the system information notification unit 32, and a table in the area information database 31 having an identification number that matches the number is obtained. decide.

  Next, using the designated position coordinate information from the designated position detection unit 28 and the key information from the remote control key determination unit 27 (in combination with the selection table number from the system information notification unit 32), With reference to the corresponding table, the instruction number to be output to the system control unit 33 is determined and transmitted. The system control unit 33 controls the display unit 34, the audio output unit 35, or other control target unit 36 based on the command number (= operation function information) from the command number generation unit 29.

  Further, the system control unit 33 determines the state of the system such as the number of display screens, display screen position, signal type (broadcast signal / external input signal, video / audio, digital / analog, etc.), volume, etc. according to the received command number. Therefore, the information (real-time system state information) is transmitted to the system information notification unit 32.

The storage device 37 holds a correspondence table as shown in Table 3. The system information notification unit 32 refers to the correspondence table using the current (real-time) system status information received from the system control unit 33. Then, the selection table number (see Table 3) obtained from this correspondence table is transmitted to the instruction number generation unit 28 to prepare for the next remote control input.

  Here, the table in the area information database 31 in the storage device 30 may include not only the area in the display screen as shown in Table 2 but also the area outside the display screen as shown in Table 4. Further, as shown in Table 5, a specific operation function may be given to an area outside the display screen.

As described above, in this embodiment, in addition to indicating the position of each divided area in the display screen, the area outside the display screen is also the target of the position instruction. As shown in FIG. 1, each area in the display screen can be detected by using a level threshold value to indicate which area the infrared irradiation center point (black circle in the figure) from the remote controller 2 is pointed (see FIG. 1). Using conventional means). In addition, the area outside the display screen has an irradiation center point outside the display screen, but uses the spread of the directivity of infrared rays, and detects the spread area in the peripheral area of the display screen (a certain display screen peripheral area). For example, it is possible to detect that y> y1 in Table 5 by using the fact that the irradiation center point is not detected but the irradiation spread portion is detected). At this time, when the position is indicated outside the display screen with the remote controller, the accuracy of the infrared irradiation position is not so required as compared with the position indication that divides a large number of areas in the display screen. Therefore, even if the remote control is remote from the display screen, there is an advantage that there are few erroneous operations due to camera shake.

  In FIG. 4, the storage device 30 referred to by the instruction number generation unit 29 and the storage device 37 referred to by the system information notification unit 32 are independent, but these may be a single storage device. Moreover, although the example which performs operation at the time of 2 screen display was given, this invention is applicable not only to 2 screens but to multiple screens.

  As described above, the embodiment of the present invention is mainly characterized by having the following configuration. That is, in a remote control input system including a display device and a remote controller that designates one screen among a plurality of screens of the display device and gives an operation instruction to the screen, the display device is positioned at a position indicated by the remote control ( An operation function (for example, channel selection) having a detection function for detecting a region) and a screen selection function for selecting an operation screen from the detected position information, and operating the selected operation screen simultaneously. , Audio output, etc.).

  Further, the remote control input system has a function of generating a command corresponding to the selected operation screen, and the operation function is assigned to each area selected by the remote control. Further, the remote control input system has a notification function for notifying the current system state and a function for generating a command according to the current system state, and assigns the operation function in real time. In the remote control input system, an operation function is assigned even if the position designated by the remote control is an area outside the screen.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship of the area | region of the display part and several display screens in the remote control input system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the basic composition which implements selection of the display screen and operation instruction in the remote control input system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the example of a structure which is the structure which implements selection of the display screen and operation instruction in the remote control input system which concerns on this embodiment, and allocates an operation instruction for every selected display screen. It is a block diagram which shows the example of a structure which is the structure which implements selection of a display screen and operation instruction in the remote control input system which concerns on this embodiment, and allocates an operation instruction based on real-time system status information, such as the number of display screens, and a volume. . FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating contents held in a storage device referred to by a system information notification unit that is a component in the configuration example illustrated in FIG. 4. It is a block diagram which shows the structure which performs selection of the display screen and operation instruction in the remote control input system regarding a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display part 2 Remote control 3 Left screen at the time of right-and-left 2 screen display 4 Right screen at the time of left-right 2 screen display 5,15,25,38 Remote control 6,16,26,39 Remote control light-receiving part 7,17,27,40 Remote control key Discriminator 8, 18, 28 Instructed position detector 9, 21, 33, 41 System controller 10 Operation screen selector 11, 20, 30, 37 Storage device 12, 22, 34, 42 Display unit 13, 23, 35, 43 Voice output unit 14, 24, 36, 44 Other control target unit 19, 29 Command number generation unit 31 Area information table database 32 System information notification unit

Claims (2)

A remote control input system comprising: a display device such as a television or a PC monitor that displays one or more screens; and a remote controller that performs an area instruction and an operation instruction on the screen with respect to the display device,
The display device includes an indicated position detection unit that detects a position instructed by the remote controller.
A key discriminating unit for discriminating an operation instructed by the remote controller;
A command generation unit that generates a commanded operation command for one selected screen based on the position information detected by the commanded position detection unit and the operation key information determined by the key determination unit;
A storage device having a plurality of tables indicating correspondence between the area instructed by the remote controller, operation key information from the key determination unit, and the operation command;
A system control unit that controls the display device based on the operation command generated by the command generation unit referring to a table of the storage device;
The current system state information including the number of display screens, the display screen position, and the volume is acquired from the operation command input to the system control unit, and one table that matches the current system state information is provided to the command generation unit. A notification unit for notifying system status information to be notified,
The command generation unit receives the notification of the current system status information from the notification unit, and generates the command according to the current system status information, thereby assigning the operation command in real time. Remote control input system. In claim 1,
The remote control input system, wherein the area instruction to the screen of the display device by the remote control includes an area instruction outside the display screen in addition to the area instruction within the display screen.

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