JP5261633B2 - Image equipment with communication function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus having a communication function which facilitates the use of electronic mail even for a user who is not familiar to handle the apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus automatically receives an E-mail to which information of a sender is attached, automatically opens the E-mail, and automatically controls display on a screen based on the attached information from the sender. The apparatus automatically receives an E-mail to which digital photograph information is attached, automatically opens the E-mail, and automatically stores the attached digital photograph information in a storage section. The E-mail is formed based on a predetermined format. The apparatus automatically receives digital photograph information and stores it in the storing section, and also generates information confirmable at the digital photograph information sender, which informs that the transmitted image has been viewed, when a manual operation for viewing the automatically received digital photograph information on the screen is carried out. At this time, a notification of new reception of the digital photograph is also deleted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image device having a communication function.

  Various measures have been studied for watching the old parents living away from the nuclear family for a long time. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-228812 (Patent Document 1), a digital TV program viewing situation by a single person is collected at a collection center via a communication network, and this is sent to a rescue center so that an operation date and time is predetermined. It has been proposed to send a solitary person confirmation request message to the care terminal if there is usage status information that has passed the time.

  On the other hand, products in which a television and a personal computer are integrated have been proposed, and various problems have been studied in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-265219 (Patent Document 2) and the like when electronic mail is exchanged by the television.

  However, with regard to the exchange of e-mails, a user who is not accustomed to the handling of the device is not in a situation where the advantages are fully utilized.

JP 2005-228812 A JP 2004-265219 A

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a device having a communication function that makes it easy for users who are not used to handling the device to use electronic mail.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a screen capable of displaying an image, a storage unit for storing digital photo information that can be displayed on the screen, and information from a specific registered communication partner. The communication function part that automatically receives the e-mail and does not automatically receive e-mails from other than the specific communication partner, and the e-mail from the specific communication partner automatically received by the e-mail communication function part A storage controller that automatically opens and stores digital photo information attached to the opened e-mail in the storage unit, and digital photo information from the specific communication partner is newly stored and automatically stored in the storage unit. A display control unit that automatically displays on the screen that it is unviewed, and for an email that is not automatically received and is not automatically opened, an incoming email is normally displayed. Providing an image viewing device having a communication function, characterized in that.

  According to a specific feature of the present invention, the image viewing apparatus having the communication function includes a manual operation unit, and the display control unit receives the digital photo information newly in response to an operation of the manual operation unit. The communication function unit transmits the newly received image appreciation information to the specific communication partner in response to the operation of the manual operation unit. .

  According to another specific feature of the present invention, an incoming e-mail is not normally displayed for an e-mail from the specific communication partner that is automatically received and automatically opened.

  According to another feature of the present invention, a screen capable of displaying an image, a storage unit for storing digital photo information that can be displayed on the screen, and an E attached with information from a specific registered communication partner. A communication function unit that automatically receives e-mails and does not automatically receive e-mails from other than the specific communication partner, and automatically opens e-mails from the specific communication partner automatically received by the e-mail communication function unit And a storage control unit for automatically storing the digital photo information attached to the opened e-mail in the storage unit, and digital photo information from the specific communication partner is newly stored in the storage unit and automatically stored in the storage unit. A display control unit that automatically displays on the screen, the communication function unit automatically creates an e-mail to the specific communication partner, and digitally adds the e-mail to the created e-mail. A communication function characterized in that true information is automatically attached and automatically transmitted, and the display control unit automatically displays on the screen that the digital photo information attached email is transmitted to the specific communication partner. An image viewing apparatus is provided.

  According to another specific feature of the present invention, when receiving newly arrived image appreciation information related to digital photo information transmitted from the specific communication partner, the display control unit identifies the digital photo information attached email as the specific email. The message indicating that the message has been transmitted to the other communication partner is automatically cleared from the screen.

  According to another specific feature of the present invention, the image viewing apparatus having the communication function includes a manual operation unit, and the display control unit receives the digital photo information in response to an operation of the manual operation unit. In addition to erasing the display indicating that it has newly arrived and is automatically stored in the storage unit and is not yet viewed, the communication function unit sends newly received image appreciation information to the specific communication partner in response to the operation of the manual operation unit. Send.

  According to the present invention, communication using digital photographs can be easily performed even for a user who is not familiar with the operation of electronic mail.

It is the drawing substitute photograph which showed the block diagram of the Example of the television system in this invention. It is the drawing substitute photograph which showed an example of the television screen of the Example of this invention. It is the drawing substitute photograph which showed the other example of the television screen of the Example of this invention. 2 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a basic flowchart of the operation of the control unit of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a detailed flowchart of the activation process in step S2 of FIG. 4. 6 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of details of the personal computer basic function starting process in step S43 of FIG. 5 is a drawing substitute photograph showing a flowchart of details of the display process in step S6 of FIG. 4. FIG. 8 is a drawing substitute photograph showing a detailed flowchart of the setting process in step S122 of FIG. 7; FIG. 5 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of details of the mail automatic transmission processing in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of details of the information storage process in step S26 of FIG. 4 and step S52 of FIG. FIG. 8 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of details of other channel display processing in step S110 of FIG. FIG. 8 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a detailed flowchart of the photograph information display process in step S118 of FIG. The flowchart which shows the detail of the watch information display process in FIG.7 S114 It is the drawing substitute photograph which showed the other example of the television screen of the Example of this invention. It is a drawing substitute photograph showing a flowchart of regular program registration automatic change and automatic transmission. FIG. 5 is a drawing substitute photo showing a detailed flowchart of the photo mail transmission process in step S18 of FIG. FIG. 3 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of the operation of the control unit in FIG. 1 for transmitting an emergency mail to notify an abnormal state when it is detected. FIG. 3 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of the operation of the control unit in FIG. 1 when an emergency mail is received. 2 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a block diagram of the configuration of the television remote controller in the embodiment of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a block diagram of the configuration of the digital camera in the embodiment of FIG. 1. FIG. 20 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of a partial function of the camera control unit in the digital camera of FIG. 19. FIG. 20 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of another partial function of the camera control unit in the digital camera of FIG. FIG. 16 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing a flowchart of details of the photograph display / manual selection process in step S350 of FIG. FIG. 2 is a drawing substitute photograph showing a format diagram of information attached to an email exchanged between communication units in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a television system according to the present invention. The system in the embodiment of FIG. 1 comprises an A home 1 and an A television 2 placed there, and a B home 3 remote from the A home 1 and a B television 4 placed there. For example, it is assumed that A family 1 is a family of sons who have left their homes and become independent sons, and B family 3 is a mother living alone in their home town. Note that the present invention is not implemented only between two households, but is also implemented between three or more households that are remote from each other, such as one family and the parents of each of the husband and wife. Although possible, for simplicity, the example will be described for two homes and comments will be added for more than two homes as needed.
In the present invention, homes in remote places exchange information on a daily basis through television viewing, watch each other's situation, and produce a pseudo-cooperation by sharing experiences.

The A control unit 5 of the A television 2 has not only the control of the TV function but also the function of a personal computer by cooperation with the A storage unit 6, and the personal computer by the graphical interface by the cooperation of the A remote control 7 and the A television screen 8. Can also be operated.
The A storage unit 6 includes a hard disk and a memory, stores a program for a personal computer function, and stores various data. The A storage unit 6 has a large capacity and can store programs and data related to a personal computer as well as TV program data.
The above personal computer function and program recording function are the same in the control unit 9, the B storage unit 10, the B remote controller 11, and the B television screen 12 of the B television 4.
When the A remote controller 7 is operated, an infrared signal is transmitted from the A remote controller 7 according to the operation, and the operation signal is transmitted to the A control unit 5 from the A remote control receiver 13 that has received the infrared signal. Also in this regard, the B remote control receiver 14 of the B television 4 has a similar function.

The A television 2 further includes an A communication unit 15 that is always connected to the outside through broadband. The A communication unit 15 can perform normal Internet and e-mail under the control of the A control unit 5, but is always supplied with power even when the hardware and software of the A control unit 5 are in a dormant state. The external mail server has a personal computer function specialized for a minimum function for detecting that a mail for the ATV 2 has arrived. This is because, as will be described later, when an emergency mail is transmitted from the B television 4 when the power of the A television 2 is off, this is detected and the power of the A television 2 is automatically turned on. The function of the A communication unit 15 as described above is the same in the B communication unit 16 of the B television 4.
As described above, the A TV 2 and the B TV 4 can communicate with each other by broadband communication between the A communication unit 15 and the B communication unit 16, and can exchange information on the TV viewing status of each other in a normal time. It can respond to the situation. In FIG. 1, for convenience, the A communication unit 15 and the B communication unit 16 are directly connected, but the connection is actually via the Internet as described above.

  When viewing a normal television broadcast, if a channel is selected with the A remote controller 7, the broadcast of the corresponding channel is displayed on the A television screen 8 via the A display control unit 19 from the A tuner 18 that receives the broadcast radio wave 17. . The same applies to the broadcast radio wave 20, the B tuner 21, and the B display control unit 22 in the B television 4.

  Further, with the above communication function, the A storage unit 23 not only stores the broadcast program transmitted from the broadcast station via the broadcast radio wave 17 in real time, but is also provided by server type broadcast via the A communication unit 15. It is also possible to download and store program data. Similarly, the B-type television 4 can download the server type broadcast.

  The A storage information 23 of the A storage unit 6 is information that is attached to the e-mail sent from the B home 3 together with the date and time information. The A storage information 23 also stores information on the A home 1 itself attached to the e-mail transmitted to the B home 3 together with the date and time teaching method. Similarly, the B stored information in the B storage unit 10 is the date and time information of the information attached to the email sent from the A home 1 and the information of the B home 3 itself attached to the email sent to the A home 1. It has been accumulated together. As for the A storage information 23 and the B storage information 24, the latest information can be identified and the past history can be analyzed.

  The e-mail is automatically transmitted every time the TV is turned on / off and the channel is switched, and information on the channel being viewed is attached along with the time when these operations are performed. The received e-mail is automatically opened and the attached information is automatically automatically accumulated in the A accumulation information 23 and the B accumulation information 24, so that the other party's TV is turned on based on the latest information. The channel numbers being viewed can be displayed on the A television screen 8 and the B television screen 12 with each other. As a result, it can be confirmed that each other is safe, and if you are watching the same channel at the same time, you can feel a pseudo unity by sharing experiences.

The A display storage unit 25 is mainly for controlling the A television screen 8 in the personal computer function and the television setting function. In the above case, as long as the B television 4 is on and the channel is not changed. , The latest channel number display information that is viewed on the TV 4 is held. The channel number image information output from the A display storage unit 25 is superimposed on the broadcast image information from the A tuner 18 by the A display control unit 19 and displayed on the A television screen 8. In this respect, the B display storage unit 26 of the B television 4 is the same, and the latest channel number display information that is viewed on the A television 2 is superimposed on the broadcast image information from the B tuner 21 by the B display control unit 22. And displayed on the B television screen 12.
The A display control unit 19 synthesizes and superimposes the image information from the A tuner 18 and the A display storage unit 25 as described above based on an instruction from the A control unit 5, and also displays image information from the A tuner 18. The image information from the A display storage unit 25 may be completely switched. For example, in the case of a personal computer function or video viewing, only the information from the A display storage unit 25 is output to the A television screen 8 instead of the image information from the A tuner 18. This also applies to the B display control unit of the B television 4.

The A TV 2 also has a management function for all home appliances in the A home, grasps information on these home appliances via the home network, and controls these home appliances as necessary. For this purpose, the A control unit 5 is connected to an A home appliance 27 outside the A television 2. Although only one A home appliance is illustrated in FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity, as described above, the A control unit 5 is actually connected to a number of home appliances. Moreover, what is connected to A control part 5 is not restricted to household appliances, It can be set as the object which connects arbitrary equipments and tools, such as a bed, to A control part 5, and grasps the state. Further, if the A control unit 5 is connected to the entrance door lock device as equipment, the state of going out and returning home can be grasped by the combination of turning on and off the television.
Similarly, the B control unit of the B TV 4 has a management function for all household appliances in the B household, and grasps information on these household appliances through the home network, and if necessary, Control these home appliances. Although only one B home appliance 28 is shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity, in reality, the B control unit 9 is similar to the A control unit 5, and the B control unit 9 has a number of home appliances or any other household equipment or Connected with tools.
For these home appliances, for example, every time the power is turned on / off, an e-mail is automatically created and automatically transmitted, and the operation content is attached along with the time when these operations are performed. The received e-mail is automatically opened, and the attached information is automatically automatically accumulated in the A accumulation information 23 and the B accumulation information 24, respectively. The situation can be displayed on the A television screen 8 and the B television screen 12 with each other. As a result, it can be confirmed that each other's daily life is normal and lives safely.

The A control unit 5 of the A television 2 can further exchange digital photo information (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “photograph”) with the digital camera 29. Various methods can be used as a photo input operation from the digital camera 29 to the A control unit 5. For example, the digital terminal of the digital camera 29 is cabled to the A control unit 5, the image data is digitally transmitted from the digital camera 29 to the A control unit 5, and the combined charge and image data input to the A control unit 5 is input. Photo input operations such as placing the digital camera 29 in a cradle, taking out a removable recording medium of the digital camera 29 and inserting it into a recording medium slot connected to the A control unit 5 are possible.
Since the digital photographic information input to the A control unit 5 is stored in the A storage unit 6, it can be viewed on the A television 2 as appropriate, but can also be transmitted to the B home. Furthermore, the transmission of digital photo information from the A family to the B family can be automated. For example, a photograph to be automatically transmitted is marked in advance by operating the digital camera 29, and an e-mail is automatically created each time new digital photograph information with this mark is input to the A control unit 5. The digital photograph information is automatically attached and is automatically transmitted from the A communication unit 15 to the B home. On the other hand, the E-mail received by the B communication unit 16 is automatically opened, the attached digital photo information is automatically stored in the B storage unit 10, and information indicating that a photo has been received is automatically stored in the B storage information 24. As a result, it is possible to notify that a photo has newly arrived on the B television screen 12 based on the B accumulation information 24.
In FIG. 1, the digital camera 29 is shown only for the A home, but the same can be done by inputting digital photo information to the B control unit 9 in the B home 3 in the same manner as described above.

The television 2 further has a built-in A camera 30 that is connected to the A control unit 5 and is directed toward the person watching the television. The A camera 30 is a TV camera, and is used when collecting information on the other party's home in the case of a video phone call or an emergency. As will be described later, the A remote controller 7 is provided with a microphone and a speaker, and the A remote controller 7 can be used as a handset during a videophone call. The A camera 30 projects the family of the A home 1 having a conversation with the A remote control 7 as a receiver, and transmits it to the B television. The videophone line is an internet telephone line via the A communication unit 15. The B television 4 also has a built-in B camera 31 and the function thereof is the same as that of the A camera 30, and thus the description thereof is omitted.
As an emergency function, for example, when an abnormal state in the B home is transmitted to the A TV 2 by an automatic mail from the B TV 4, an emergency mail is transmitted from the A communication unit 15 as necessary. The B camera 31 can be remotely operated by instructing the B television 3 to shoot the widest-angle shooting in the B home room by the B camera 31 and the return of the shooting result by the attached information of the B camera 31. The state of 3 can be confirmed.

FIG. 2 is an example of the A television screen 8 in the A television 2, and a broadcast image 51 is displayed. A home channel (own channel) number 52 is superimposed on the upper right corner of the screen, indicating that the broadcast image 51 being received by the A television 2 is of “2 channels”.
On the other hand, in the upper left corner of the A TV screen 8, a B home channel (other channel) number 53 is displayed, indicating that the B TV 4 is currently turned on and "12 channels" are being watched. ing. If the power of the B television 4 is off, nothing is displayed at the location of the B home channel number 53. Instead of displaying nothing, the characters “OFF” may be displayed.
Also, the display of the B home channel number 53 is not the channel number actually selected in the broadcast area of the B home 3 but is displayed by converting this into a broadcast channel of the same content in the broadcast area of the A home 1. This is because even if the channel number of the broadcast area of B home 3 is displayed as it is, it is not familiar to this in A home 1 and it is impossible to immediately understand what program is being watched in B home.

  In the upper left corner of the A TV screen 8, another home appliance icon 54 indicating a washing machine at home B is further displayed, indicating that the washing machine is currently on and operating. If the washing machine in B home 3 is turned off, nothing is displayed at the location of the other home appliance icon 54. In this case, if the power of another home appliance is on in the B home 3, an icon indicating the home appliance is displayed at the location of the other home appliance icon 54. As a result, the A home 1 can watch the daily life in the B home 3. If the home appliance icon as planned is not displayed in the upper left corner of the A TV screen 8 at the time when the power is turned on, there is a possibility that there is something wrong with the B home 3, so contact you as soon as necessary. Can be taken.

  A transmitted photo icon 55 is also displayed in the upper left corner of the A television screen 8. The photo icon 55 is displayed by transmitting a photo from A home 1 to B home 3. Then, when an e-mail indicating that the user has watched this at home B 3 is received, the photo icon 55 disappears. Since the fact that the photo was sent to the B family should be promptly displayed on the B television screen 12, it means that the photo icon 55 has not disappeared indefinitely and this is not noticed in the B family, and it is determined that something is wrong. You can get in touch.

In addition, when there is a third home other than the B home, it is necessary to display a channel, a home appliance, and a sent photo in the upper left corner of the A TV screen 8 for each home. In this case, a home that needs to be displayed with priority, such as a home with a lot of worries, is determined in advance, and the display of the second-priority home is switched as needed by operating the A remote controller 7.
Also, instead of this, if you want to display the situation of multiple watched households at the same time, for example, display the upper left corner of the A TV screen 8 in multiple columns, and decide in advance which household each column is assigned to, A home icon indicating the assigned home is displayed at the top of each column so that they can be distinguished from each other.

Furthermore, in the case where the home to be watched is only the home B, as a countermeasure when the power of a plurality of home appliances is turned on, similarly, a priority on the watch effect is determined in advance, Switch to display of second-priority home appliances as necessary.
Instead of this, it is also possible to display all the icons of a plurality of home appliances that are powered on. Further, instead of not displaying the icons for the home appliances that are turned off, all the icons of the home appliances to be watched may be displayed at all times, and the colors of the power off icons may be changed.

FIG. 3 shows a B television screen 12 on the B television 4 at the same time corresponding to FIG. The display of the B home channel (other channel) number 53 in the upper left corner on the A TV screen 8 in FIG. 2 is “12 channels”, but the B home channel (in the upper right corner on the B TV screen 12 in FIG. (Own channel) The number 61 is “3 channels”. This is because the channel number actually selected in the broadcast area of B home 3 is “3 channels” whereas the broadcast channel of the same content in the broadcast area of A home 1 is “12 channels”. This is because the display of the B home channel (other channel) number 53 in the television scene 8 has been converted to that of the broadcast area of the A home 1.
In the upper left corner of the B television screen 12, an A home channel (other channel) number 62 is displayed, indicating that the A television 2 is currently turned on and "1 channel" is being watched. . However, this is a result of converting “2 channel”, which is the channel number actually selected in the broadcasting area of A home 1, to “1 channel” that is a broadcasting channel of the same content in the broadcasting area of B home 3. belongs to.

  In the upper right corner of the B television screen 12 of FIG. 3, a photo incoming call icon 63 is further displayed. The incoming photo icon 63 disappears when an operation for viewing the corresponding photo is performed, but the display is continued unless the operation is performed. Note that, as described above, the function that the photo arrival icon 63 disappears from the B TV screen and the function that automatically transmits a mail indicating that the photo has been viewed to the A TV are linked. In conjunction with the disappearance, the transmitted photo icon 55 on the A TV screen 8 in FIG. 2 disappears.

  2 and 3, the information on the own TV side is displayed together on the right side of the screen, and the information on the other TV side is displayed together on the left side of the screen. In this way, the information on the own TV side and the information on the other TV side are displayed separately to prevent display confusion.

  In addition, the own channel numbers 52 and 61, other channel numbers 53 and 62, and various icons 54, 55, and 63 in FIGS. 2 and 3 can be set to be displayed on the screen at all times. When the display is troublesome, it is possible to set such that these are displayed only for a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) after any one of the A TV 2 and the B TV 4 is operated, and are automatically turned off when the predetermined time elapses. It is.

  Taking the case of FIG. 2 as an example, each display 52, 53, 54, 55 disappears automatically when a predetermined time elapses after the A television 2 is turned on. For example, when the channel is changed, these are displayed again. When a predetermined time elapses, the display automatically disappears. In this way, when the A home 1 operates its own A TV 2, the latest information on the B home 3 at that time can be confirmed at the same time.

On the other hand, even if the A TV 2 is not operated, the mail from the B TV 4 is transmitted by operating the B TV 4 on the B home 3 side or by changing the state of the B home appliance 28 or the like. When the A television 2 receives this, the displays 52, 53, 54, and 55 are displayed again. Then, when a predetermined time elapses, the display is automatically turned off again. Therefore, if there is any change in the B home 3, it can be quickly confirmed on the A television screen 8.
However, in this case, since the display change is not based on the operation of the A TV 2 itself, there is a possibility that the user is unaware that the program is enthusiastic. Therefore, at the time of display, it is possible to call attention by blinking the display or enlarging each display 52, 53, 54, 55 to the full screen for a very short time. In addition to such visual alerts, auditory alerts such as generating a notification sound at the start of display are also possible.

  Further, in both FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, when both channels coincide, the channel display can be emphasized. For example, when the B TV channel is changed in FIG. 2 and the B home channel display 53 is changed to “2 channels”, both or one of the channel displays blinks, the color is changed, enlarged, etc., so that the normal highlight is displayed. Thus, it is possible to produce that both families share their experiences.

  Further, in both FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, it is also possible to make it possible to change the channel to the partner program with one touch when it is desired to watch the program that the partner is watching. For example, when it is desired to watch “12 channels” viewed by the B television in FIG. 2, when a predetermined button of the A remote control 7 is pressed, the channel of the A television can be changed to “12 channels” with one touch. This function is possible only by always performing the same operation with the same button regardless of the program the other party is watching. This is because the other party's channel information is included in the A stored information 23 of the A television 2, and the user's channel can be adjusted to this information by reading this information.

In addition, about the display regarding the B home 2 of the screen left side in FIG. 2, it is also possible to set to the mode which does not display this at all. That is, the other information display mode and the other information non-display mode can be selected, and when it is not necessary, the other information can be prevented from being displayed in order to avoid complication. This mode switching can be performed by operating the A remote controller 7.
Such a mode switching function is exactly the same in the B television 3 as well.

FIG. 4 is a basic flowchart showing the operation of the A control unit 5 or the B control unit 9 of FIG. Hereinafter, the operation of the A control unit 5 of the A television 2 will be described assuming that the A television 2 is “own television” and the B television 4 is “other television”. Since it can be understood by reversing the relationship between the two, the description is omitted unless a comment is particularly required.
When the A television 2 is turned on by operating the power button of the A remote controller 7 in the A home 1, the flow of FIG. 4 starts, and in step S2, activation processing including activation of the television function and communication function is performed. Details thereof will be described later.

Next, in step S4, automatic mail transmission processing is performed to notify the B television 4 (hereinafter referred to as “other television”) that the power of the A television 2 (hereinafter referred to as “own television”) is turned on. At this time, if all the latest information grasped by the A control unit 5 including the current channel of the A TV and the state of the A home appliance 27 is changed, it is attached to the mail. The content is the same as “automatic mail transmission processing” in several steps described later, but details will be described later.
In the next step S6, display processing for performing display as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 is performed in accordance with various changes related to the own TV or other TV. Details of this will also be described later.

  After the above processing, when the process reaches step S8, it is checked whether there has been an operation of the own television such as channel switching or volume change. If there is an operation, an automatic mail transmission process is performed in step S10 to notify other televisions of that, and the process proceeds to step S12. If there is no operation of the own television in step S8, the process directly proceeds to step S12.

  In step S <b> 12, it is checked whether or not there is a state change such as power on / off of the A home appliance 27 (hereinafter referred to as “own home appliance”) connected to the A control unit 5. If there is a change in the state of the home appliance, in step S14, an automatic mail transmission process for notifying other televisions is performed, and the process proceeds to step S16. If there is no change in the home appliance state in step S12, the process directly proceeds to step S16.

  In step S16, it is checked whether the digital camera 29 has performed a photo input operation on the A control unit 5 by any of the various methods already described. If there is a photo input operation, a photo mail transmission process addressed to another TV is performed in step S18, and the process proceeds to step S20. If there is no photo input operation in step S16, the process directly proceeds to step S20.

  In step S20, it is checked whether or not an operation for viewing the received photograph has been performed with the A remote controller 7. If there is a photo appreciation operation, automatic mail transmission processing is performed in step S14 to notify other televisions of that, and the process proceeds to step S24. If there is no change in the home appliance state in step S20, the process directly proceeds to step S24.

  In step S24, it is checked whether or not there is an incoming mail from the B television 4. If there is an incoming mail, it is automatically opened in step S26, an information accumulation process for accumulating the A accumulation information 23 in the A storage unit 6 is performed, and the process proceeds to step S28. Details of step S26 will be described later. If there is no change in the home appliance state in step S24, the process directly proceeds to step S28.

The above-described steps S8 to S22 have been described as functions of the A control unit 5 in the A television 2 for informing the B home 3 of the state of the A home 1. This is also performed by the B control unit 9 of the B television. As a result, if there is a change corresponding to step S <b> 8 to step S <b> 22 in the B family 3, a mail notifying them is sent to the A control unit 5.
The functions of step S24 and step S26 in the A control unit 5 are for storing information sent from the B home 3 in the A storage unit 6 and watching the state of the B home 3 in this way.

In step S28, it is checked whether or not the power of the own TV is turned off. If the power is not turned off, the process returns to step S6. Therefore, if there is a change in the stored information in step S26, the display of the A television screen 8 is changed by the display process in step S6, so that the state of the B family can be watched.
Hereinafter, unless the own TV power-off operation is detected in step S28, steps S6 to S28 are repeated. Therefore, if there is any change on the A TV side 2 during that time, this is sent to the B TV 4 each time, and if there is any change on the B TV 4 side and an email is received, the A TV screen 8 The display of can be changed.

  On the other hand, when the own TV power-off operation is detected in step S28, an automatic mail transmission process for notifying other televisions of that is performed. And after finishing this process, it complete | finishes to step S32, performs an end process, turns off a television power supply, and complete | finishes a flow.

  Even when the television power is turned off, the standby current is supplied to the A television 2. This standby current keeps the A remote control receiving unit 13 in a standby state and can respond to an infrared signal from the A remote control, and also makes the A communication unit 15 always in a standby state so that mail is received by an external mail server. When this happens, this can be detected. This standby current supply is the same for the B television 4.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the activation process in step S2 of FIG. When the activation process starts, first, the television function is activated in step S42. Next, in step S43, activation processing of basic functions related to the hardware and software of the personal computer is performed. As will be described later, this process includes a setting process for setting the communication function when the A television 2 is used as a television to a communication function setting different from that when the A television 2 is normally used as a personal computer. Also, in step S43, unless the use as a normal personal computer is selected, only the minimum hardware and software necessary for communication are activated to minimize the activation time.

Next, in step S44, all program guides in the broadcast area of the own television are newly received via the Internet, and if there is a change from the program guide stored in the A storage unit 6, the storage is updated.
Further, in step S45, similarly, all program guides in the broadcast area of other televisions are newly received, and if there is a change from the program guide stored in the A storage unit 6, the storage is updated.
In addition, about this program guide of step S44 and step S45, when this information is contained in the digital broadcast electric wave, it is also possible to acquire it from the broadcast electric wave.

  Next, in step S46, all mails for the A TV 2 that have arrived at the external server are automatically received. In step S48, all incoming mails are confirmed. In this mail confirmation, the mail already received before the automatic reception in the immediately preceding step S46 is also targeted.

  If the mail can be confirmed, the process proceeds to step S50 to check whether there is an unread mail. If there is an unread mail, the process proceeds to step S52, and after information storage processing is performed, the process proceeds to step S54. This information storage process is common to step S26 in FIG. 4, but will be described later.

As described above, the display on the A TV screen 8 in FIG. 2 is updated almost in real time based on the latest information updated by the information storage process. Is displayed. What is necessary for this is the processing from step S54 to step S58.
First, in step S54, based on the A storage information 23, it is checked whether or not the other TV is in an on state when the own TV is turned on. If it is in the on state, the process proceeds to step S56, and a display process such as the on time of another television is performed. This is a process for displaying on the A television screen 8 the time when the other television is turned on and the time when the current channel is changed. This process is performed based on the A accumulation information 23, and for example, the time is displayed in large letters in the center of the screen so as to stand out.

  The reason for the time display as described above is as follows. That is, when the other channel number 53 of FIG. 2 appears when the power of the own TV is turned on, it can be understood that the B TV 4 is in the ON state at the B home 3 at that time. I do n’t know. For example, it cannot be determined whether the B TV 4 was turned on 30 minutes ago or whether it was left on for 5 hours. For this reason, in step S56, the time when the other TV is turned on and the time when the current channel is changed are displayed. As a result, when the power of the A television 2 is turned on, the history that the B television 4 has reached the current state is known, so that the sense of security of the A home 1 watching over the B home 3 is enhanced. In the display process of on time etc. in step S56, the on time etc. is displayed for a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) after the power of the A television 2 is turned on, and this display is automatically turned off because it is complicated after the predetermined time has elapsed.

On the other hand, if the other television is currently off in step S54, the process proceeds to step S58, and the off time display processing of the other television is performed. As a result, for example, it can be determined whether the B television 4 has been turned off 10 minutes ago, or whether there is any evidence that the power has been turned on for more than a day, and the security of the A home 1 watching the B home 3 is enhanced.
Since other points in the off time display process in step S58 are the same as the on time etc. display form in step S56, the description thereof will be omitted.

  As described above, the processing from step S54 to step S58 is automatically performed only during the start-up process. As can be seen from FIG. 4, once the A TV 2 is started, the process changes to the B TV 4. Even if there is, there is no time display or history display, only the current state is displayed. However, if it is desired to know the time and history, the operation from step S54 to step S58 can be manually started at any time by operating the A remote controller 7.

  When the process of step S56 or step S58 ends, the process proceeds to step S60, where self-information confirmation is performed for display on the own TV and automatic mail transmission to another TV, and the start-up process ends. The self information confirmed at this time includes information on the A TV 2 such as the own channel, information on the A home appliance 27, and the like.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the personal computer basic function starting process in step S43 of FIG. When the personal computer basic function activation process starts, first, the personal computer basic function is activated in step S72. As described above, only the minimum hardware and software necessary for communication are activated here.

Next, the process proceeds to step S74, where it is checked whether or not an operation for switching to a normal personal computer has been performed by operating the A remote controller 7. If there is no operation, the process proceeds to step S76, and it is checked whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed from the transition from step S72. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S74. In this way, a normal personal computer switching operation is waited for a predetermined time.
If there is a switching operation in step S74, the process proceeds to step S78, communication security is set when using a normal personal computer, and then the normal personal computer function in step S80 is performed. In step S80, the hardware and software that were not activated in step S72 are activated, and thereafter, the normal personal computer function is executed in accordance with the user's operation. If an instruction to shift to the TV function is given by operating the A remote controller 7, a flow other than the minimum hardware and software necessary for communication is shut down, and a flow after step S82 described later may be entered. it can. Since the personal computer is usually well-known, further explanation is omitted.

When the predetermined time has elapsed in step S76, the process automatically proceeds to step S82. As a result, even if there is no intention or knowledge of using a personal computer, if the television power is turned on and left as it is, step S82 is automatically reached, so that the personal computer function is added to the television. There is no confusion or evil.
Step S82 and subsequent steps are provided for anti-virus measures by always-on connection, and the TV function is set to be stricter than the normal communication security setting in step S78 assuming the normal personal computer function. That is, since the personal computer function used in the TV function is extremely limited mainly for mail communication with a specific partner, access from the outside other than necessary is strictly shut out.

First, in step S82, a setting for rejecting access from outside the mail is performed. This protects against virus attacks caused by non-mail access.
Next, in step S84, it is checked whether or not a setting operation for performing notification of incoming normal mail on the A TV screen 8 other than automatic mail communication between the A TV 2 and the B TV 4 is performed. Then, if there is no operation, the process proceeds to step S86, and it is checked whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed from the transition from step S82. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to step S84. In this way, a normal mail arrival notification setting operation is waited for a predetermined time. Then, when a predetermined time elapses without any operation, the process automatically proceeds to step S88.
Again, if there is no intention or knowledge of normal e-mail use, if the TV power is turned on and left as it is, step S88 is automatically reached, so the normal mail function is added to the TV. There are no operational disruptions or harmful effects.

In step S88, a setting for rejecting reception of mail other than the registered address is performed. As a result, for example, all of the mail except for the mail from the B television 4 is rejected, so that a virus attack via the mail is prevented.
On the other hand, when it is detected in step S84 that a normal mail incoming notification setting operation has been performed, in step S90, every time an incoming mail is received, a preparation process is performed to display that fact on the A TV screen 8. . In this case, since step S88 is not passed, the risk of virus attack via mail from other than the B television 4 remains.
As described above, when the process of step S88 or step S90 ends, the personal computer basic function activation process ends.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the display process in step S6 of FIG. When the display process starts, first, in step S92, based on the A storage information 23, the storage information and the latest information regarding the home B are checked. Then, the following steps are executed based on the information on family B confirmed in step S92.

Next, in step S94, it is checked whether the A TV 2 is set to the other information display mode in order to watch the B home 3. If it is the other information display mode, the process proceeds to step S96, and it is checked whether or not it is the constant display mode. If it is the constant display mode, a constant display process is performed in step S98, and the process proceeds to step S100. On the other hand, if the display mode is not the normal display mode in step S96, the display mode is the operation time display mode, so the process proceeds to step S102, the operation time display process is performed, and the process proceeds to step S100.
In the display processing at the time of operation in step S102, the display is started only when either the A television 2 or the B television 4 is operated, and this display is automatically performed when a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) has elapsed from the start of the display. The processing for executing the display in the display form to be erased is performed. The operation-time display process in step S102 includes a process for causing the display to blink or expand, or to generate a notification sound in the case where it is caused by the operation of the B television 4 as described above.

In step S100, it is confirmed whether or not the B television (other television) 3 is turned on based on the A accumulated information 23. If it is turned on, the latest information of the B television 3 is read based on the A accumulated information 23 in step S104. In step S106, it is checked whether the own TV and the other TV are in different broadcast areas. If the broadcast areas are different, channel conversion is performed in step S108, and the process proceeds to step S110. The channel conversion in step S108 corresponds to, for example, the operation of converting “3 channel” of the B home channel (own channel) number 61 in FIG. 3 into “12 channel” of the B home channel (other channel) number 53 in FIG. To do. If it is not a different broadcast area in step S106, there is no need to change the channel, and the process directly proceeds to step S110.
In step S110, other channel display processing for displaying the B home channel for display at home A obtained as described above is performed. When the other channel display process ends, the process proceeds to step S112. Since the other channel display process includes several functions, details will be described later.

  Returning to step S100, if the other TV is off, no display relating to this is performed, and the process directly proceeds to step S112. In addition, when the other television is off, a step of “perform off display” may be inserted between step S100 and step S112 instead of displaying nothing.

  In step S112, it is checked whether or not there is watch information to be displayed regarding the B family based on the A accumulated information 23. If there is information, watch information display processing is performed in step S114, and the process proceeds to step S116. On the other hand, if there is no information to be displayed in step S112, the process directly proceeds to step S116. In the watching information display process in step S114, a predetermined abnormal condition is determined in advance and used as watching information for a warning corresponding to this, details of which will be described later.

  In step S116, it is checked whether there is digital photo information to be displayed based on the A accumulated information 23. If there is information, a photo information display process is performed in step S118, and the process proceeds to step S120. On the other hand, if there is no information to be displayed in step S116, the process directly proceeds to step S120. Details of the photographic information display process in step S118 will be described later.

  Returning to step S94, when it is not in the other information display mode, no display is performed and it is not necessary to perform various steps relating to the subsequent display, so the process directly proceeds to step S120.

  The above is the processing for normal display. In step S120, it is checked whether or not a setting operation for enabling communication between the A television 2 and the B television 4 has been performed. If there is an operation, the setting process of step S122 is entered. When the setting process ends, the display process ends. On the other hand, if the setting operation is not performed in step S120, the display process is immediately terminated.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the setting process in step S122 of FIG. Each data set in this flow is stored in the A storage unit 6.
When the setting process is started, first, in step S132, it is checked whether or not the operation is performed for setting the television function. If it is a television function setting operation, a television function setting process is performed in step S134. This is a process of performing desired settings by operating the A remote controller 7 in accordance with instructions on a predetermined setting input screen displayed on the A television screen 8. When the television function setting process ends, the process proceeds to step S136. When it is confirmed in step S132 that the operation is not a television function setting operation, the process directly proceeds to step S136.

  Step S136 and subsequent steps are setting operations related to automatic communication between the own TV and another TV. First, in step S136, it is checked whether or not an operation has been performed for destination setting. If the destination is set, the process proceeds to step S138, and an operation for registering one destination address is entered. This operation is also performed by the A remote controller 7 in accordance with an instruction on a predetermined setting input screen displayed on the A television screen 8. When one destination address registration is completed, the process proceeds to step S140. When it is confirmed in step S136 that the operation is not a transmission destination setting operation, the process directly proceeds to step S140.

  In step S140, it is checked whether or not the operation is performed for setting a receiving party. If the receiving party is set, the process proceeds to step S142, and an operation for registering one receiving address is entered. This operation is also performed by the A remote controller 7 in accordance with an instruction on a predetermined setting input screen displayed on the A television screen 8. When one reception address registration is completed, the process proceeds to step S144. If it is confirmed in step S140 that the operation is not a reception partner setting operation, the process directly proceeds to step S144.

  In step S144, it is checked whether the receiving party registered by the operation is the second or later. When the receiving party registration is the second or subsequent case, the process proceeds to step S146, and it is checked whether or not simultaneous display setting has been performed. If it is confirmed that the simultaneous display setting is not set, the process proceeds to step S148 to perform a priority display setting process.

The priority display setting process in step S148 will be described with reference to FIG. When there are two or more registered recipients and the simultaneous display setting is not set, the other channel number 53, the other home appliance icon 54, and the transmitted photo icon 55 in FIG. Only the ones are displayed first. For example, if there are two registered recipients, the husband's parent's home and the wife's parent's home in the A family, and the wife's parent's home is set to display priority, the other channel number 53 in FIG. The other home appliance icon 54 and the transmitted photo icon 55 are only those of the wife's parent's home.
When the information of the husband's parent's home is to be displayed, if the A remote controller 7 is operated, the other channel number 53, the other home appliance icon 54 and the transmitted photo icon 55 in FIG. Switch. In this way, when the A TV 2 is started up, information from the receiving party for which priority display is set is displayed in the upper left corner of the A TV screen 8, and every time the A remote controller 7 is operated, other information is displayed. Switch to the recipient's information display with a ring number.
It is the priority display setting process in step S148 to set such display.

On the other hand, if it is confirmed in step S146 that the simultaneous display setting is selected, the process proceeds to the identification display setting process in step S150. This will also be described with reference to FIG. 2. In the identification display setting process, when there are two or more registered reception partners, information on all the other parties is displayed in the upper left corner of the A TV screen 8 in FIG. The As a display form, for example, the display is made into a plurality of columns, the husband's parent's home information is displayed in the left column, and the wife's parent's household information is displayed in the right column. In order to identify which column is the display information of which receiving party, first, the allocation of the column arrangement is determined in advance as described above.
Also, when there is no information about the husband's parent's home, the wife's home information can be shifted to the left column to save screen space. However, when only one column is displayed in this way, it is not possible to know which home display information is displayed, so a home icon indicating each home is displayed at the top of each column so that it can be identified. Further, the columns may be identified by changing the display color for each home.
It is the identification display setting process of step S150 that sets such display.
The setting operation of whether to perform simultaneous display setting or priority display setting can be performed by operating the A remote controller 7 according to the guidance on the operation screen of the A television 8, and step S146 is performed according to the result of the operation in step S148 or step S148. Proceed to step S150.
When the process of step S146 or step S150 ends, the process proceeds to step S152. In step S144, if the reception partner registration is not the second or later, that is, if there is only one registration, the process directly proceeds to step S152.

  Since the setting of the transmission destination is troublesome, it may be difficult to set the transmission destination by itself in the monitoring target home, for example, when the monitoring target home is an elderly person living alone. That is, even if it is going to watch B home 3 in A home 1, if the A television 2 is not set as the transmission destination on the B television 4 side, the watching system is not established. Steps S152 and subsequent steps are provided as countermeasures against such a case, for example, to enable remote setting of the transmission destination of the B television 4 from the A television 2 side.

First, in step S152, it is checked whether or not the destination setting remote operation has been performed. Do. Then, step S156 is reached, remote setting data indicating that the A television 2 set on the A television 2 side is the transmission destination is transmitted, and the flow proceeds to step S158.
If it is not confirmed in step S152 that the destination setting remote operation has been performed, the process directly proceeds to step S158. The above is the step for setting other televisions.

The flow in FIG. 8 is also a flow commonly used for the B control unit 9 of the B television 4, and therefore, a function corresponding to the setting of the own television set from another television is also provided, which is step S 158. This applies to the following.
In the following, the function of the B control unit will be described. In step S158, it is checked whether or not remote setting data set on another television has been received. If received, the process proceeds to step S160, and authentication processing is performed with the A television 2 in order to confirm that the access is from the genuine A television 2. Then, the process proceeds to step S162, where the received remote setting data is set, and the process proceeds to step S164. As a result, the setting indicating that the A television 2 set on the A television 2 side is the transmission destination is registered in the B storage unit 10.
If it is confirmed in step S158 that the remote setting data set on the other television is not received, the process directly proceeds to step S164.

As described above, in the transmission destination remote setting operation, steps S152 to S156 function on the remote operation side, and steps S158 to S162 function on the remote operation side. Further, since the setting of the transmission destination is a problem related to automatic transmission of privacy information, thorough authentication processing is performed as described above so that there is no remote impersonation remote operation.
In addition, although illustration of a step is omitted, in the unlikely event that authentication fails, after displaying that effect, the process jumps directly to step S158 from step S154, and step from step S160. The process jumps to S164, and transmission of remote setting data and execution of setting based on this data are not performed.

  In step S164, it is checked whether or not a setting end operation has been performed. If there is an operation, the setting process ends. On the other hand, if there is no operation, the process returns to step S132, and steps S132 to S164 are repeated until a setting end operation is performed. As a result, any operation during this period can be handled.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing details of the mail automatic transmission processing in steps S4, S10, S14, S22, and S30 of FIG. When the automatic mail transmission process starts, first, in step S172, it is checked whether there is a registered transmission destination.
If there is a registered transmission destination, the process advances to step S174 to automatically create a new mail, and in step S176, the registered transmission destination is automatically input therein. If multiple destinations are registered, enter all of them. Then, the process proceeds to confirmation of attached documents in step S178 and subsequent steps and automatic attachment thereof.

  In step S178, it is checked whether or not the information to be automatically attached is on or off of the TV power source. If it is applicable, the process proceeds to step S180. In step S180, if the power is on, the code information to that effect and the date and time information when the power is turned on are automatically attached to the mail. Further, when the power is turned on, the channel information when the power is turned on and the date and time information when the power is turned on are automatically attached to the mail. If the power is off, the code information to that effect and the date and time information when the power is turned on are automatically attached to the mail. When these attachments are completed, the process proceeds to step S182. When the information to be automatically attached is not turned on or off in step S178, the process directly proceeds to step S182.

  In step S182, it is checked whether or not the information to be automatically attached is a TV channel change. If applicable, the changed channel and the date and time information of the channel change in step S184 are automatically attached to the mail, and step S186 is provided. Migrate to If the information to be automatically attached is not a channel change in step S182, the process directly proceeds to step S186.

In step S186, it is checked whether or not the information to be automatically attached is a change in the volume of the TV. If applicable, the numerical information indicating the changed volume in step S188 and the date and time information on which the volume has been changed are automatically attached to the mail. Then, the process proceeds to step S190. When the information to be automatically attached is not a volume change in step S186, the process directly proceeds to step S190.

In step S190, it is checked whether or not the information to be automatically attached is information related to appreciation of stored data such as broadcast recording or download program data or appreciation operation of a sent photograph. The storage data and digital photo information data to be viewed can be stored in the large-capacity A storage unit 6, but may be stored in an external device such as a video tape recorder or a digital recorder.
If it is information relating to the appreciation of the stored data, the code information indicating this and the date / time information of the appreciation start or end are automatically attached to the mail in step S192, and the process proceeds to step S194. If the stored data being viewed includes an ID for identifying a program as in the case of digital broadcast recording or downloaded program data, the information is automatically attached in step S192. Details of using the information attached in step S192 will be described later.
On the other hand, if the information to be automatically attached is appreciation information of the transmitted photo, the ID for identifying the appreciation photo (or the entire photo group in the case of sending plural images at once) and date information on appreciation of this are sent by e-mail. Automatically attach to step S194. If the information to be automatically attached is not a video appreciation operation or a sent photo appreciation operation in step S190, the process directly proceeds to step S194.

In step S194, it is checked whether or not the information to be automatically attached is a television regular program registration change, and if so, the change contents and the change date information are automatically attached to the mail in step S196, and the process proceeds to step S198. The change contents are an ID for identifying a program and code information indicating registration or deletion. If the information to be automatically attached is not volume change in step S194, the process directly proceeds to step S198.

In step S198, it is checked whether or not the information to be automatically attached is a change in the state of the home appliance. If applicable, the home appliance is specified in step S200, and the code information and the change indicating the changed state for each of them are changed. The date and time information of the process is automatically attached to the mail, and the process proceeds to step S202. If the information to be automatically attached is not a change in the state of the home appliance in step S198, the process proceeds directly to step S202.

In step S202, automatic transmission is executed for a mail that has been newly created as described above, the transmission destination is automatically input and the information to be transmitted is automatically attached, and the automatic mail transmission processing is terminated. If there is no registered transmission destination in step S172, nothing is done and the automatic mail transmission process is immediately terminated.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the information storage process in step S26 of FIG. 4 and step S52 of FIG. When the information accumulation process starts, first, unread mail is automatically opened in step S212, and then information attached to the opened mail is automatically detected in step S213.
Next, in step S214, it is checked whether or not the A storage information 23 is no longer used for analysis or statistical processing after a predetermined period has elapsed. If there is corresponding information, it is completely deleted in step S215, and the process proceeds to step S216. If there is no corresponding information, the process directly proceeds to step S216. Note that the reference of the predetermined period determined in step S214 can be different depending on the type of attached information. For example, the predetermined period can be made different depending on what needs to be accumulated for a certain period in order to analyze life patterns such as power on / off and channels, and temporary ones such as photo appreciation.
The meaning of such erasure is that data is organized and storage capacity is secured, and if a timed virus attached to an e-mail is sneaking into the A stored information 23, it can be deleted before its manifestation. It is to raise even a little.

In step S216 and the subsequent steps, the attached information detected in step S213 is stored as A storage information 23 in the A storage unit 6.
First, in step S216, it is checked whether the attached information is information on turning on or off the other television. If applicable, the process proceeds to step S 218, and the code information indicating that the other television is turned on or off and the date and time information when the power is turned on or off are additionally accumulated in the A accumulation information 23. Further, when the power is turned on, the latest channel information at the time of turning on and the latest date and time information of the channel information are additionally accumulated in the A accumulation information 23. When these additional accumulations are completed, the process proceeds to step S220. If the attached information is not the power on or off of the other television in step S216, the process directly proceeds to step S220.

In step S220, it is checked whether the attached information is a channel change of another television. When it corresponds, it progresses to step S222, the channel after a change and the date information at the time of a change are additionally accumulate | stored in A accumulation | storage information 23, and it transfers to step S224. In step S220, if the attached information is not a channel change of another television, the process directly proceeds to step S224.

In step S224, it is checked whether the attached information is a regular program change of another television. When it corresponds, it progresses to step S226, the regular program change content and the date information at the time of change are additionally accumulated in A accumulation information 23, and it shifts to step S228. If it is determined in step S224 that the attached information has not been changed to the regular version gun of another television, the process directly proceeds to step S228.

In step S228, it is checked whether the attached information is information related to viewing stored data on another television. When it corresponds, it progresses to step S230, the information content and the date information at the time of operation are additionally accumulated in A accumulation | storage information 23, and it transfers to step S232. In step S228, if the attached information is not information related to viewing stored data on another TV, the process proceeds directly to step S232.

In step S232, it is checked whether the attached information is a photo appreciation by another TV. If applicable, the process proceeds to step S234, where the photo appreciation information and the appreciation date / time information are additionally stored in the A storage information 23, and the process proceeds to step S236. If it is determined in step S232 that the attached information is not a photo appreciation by another TV, the process directly proceeds to step S236.

In step S236, it is checked whether the attached information is a status change of other home appliances or the like. When it corresponds, it progresses to step S238, and the code information which shows the contents of a state change, and the date information at the time of a change are additionally accumulate | stored in A accumulation | storage information 23 for every object household appliance. When the above is completed, the information storage process is terminated. If the attached information is not a change in the state of other home appliances in step S236, the information storage process is immediately terminated.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of the other channel display processing in step S110 of FIG. When the other channel display process starts, first, in step S242, based on the A accumulation information 23, it is checked whether or not the other television is viewing the program data stored in the B storage unit 10 of the B television 4.
A typical program data stored in the B storage unit 10 is broadcast recording. In this case, viewing the program data corresponds to so-called video viewing. In the A stored information 23, not only the information that the B television 4 is watching a video stored in the B storage unit 10 but also the video recorded by the B television 4 on an external video device is being watched. Since there is also information that there is such information, in step S242, it is determined that the stored data is being viewed even when the video is being watched based on the data of the external device.
Furthermore, since the B television 2 is compatible with server-type broadcasting, the A storage unit 23 is communicated. In some cases, the downloaded program data is read and viewed. In step S242, it is determined that “stored data is being viewed” even when such normal video viewing is being performed.

If the stored data is being viewed in step 242, a process of replacing the other channel display with the stored data display is performed in step S244. For example, during normal video viewing, in FIG. 2, the characters “Video” are displayed at the position of the B home channel number 53 instead of the channel number. Further, when an ID for identifying a program can be received, such as digital broadcast recording or download data, a program name or the like is displayed at the position of the B home channel number 53 instead of the channel number.
After the display conversion process of step S244 as described above, the process proceeds to step S246. If it is not detected in step S242 that another television is viewing the stored data, the process directly proceeds to step S246.

  Steps S246 to S260 correspond to the function of switching between the normal display mode and the operation display mode. However, even in the constant display mode, the channel being displayed is further highlighted to alert the user that the channel has been changed until a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) has elapsed since the operation was performed. Yes.

First, the case where the display mode at the time of operation is set will be described in detail. First, in step S246, it is checked whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of the own TV. If it has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S248, and it is checked whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed after the mail transmission. If it has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S250. Proceeding to step S250 means that the predetermined time has already passed since any operation of the own TV.
Next, in step S250, it is checked whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed after receiving the mail. If it has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S252. Proceeding to step S252 means that the predetermined time has already passed since any operation of the other television. In this way, the process proceeds to step S252 only when a predetermined time has elapsed from the operation of both the own TV and the other TV. In step S252, it is checked whether or not the display mode is the constant display mode. In this case, since the display mode during operation is set, the process proceeds to step S254, and other channels are not displayed.
On the other hand, when the predetermined time has not elapsed in any of step S246, step S248, and step S250 in the operation display mode, the process proceeds to step S256. In step S256, it is checked whether or not the display mode is the constant display mode. In this case, since the operation display mode is set, the process proceeds to step S258, and other channel normal display is performed.
The above is the function of channel display execution in the operation display mode. Other channels are normally displayed for a predetermined time after the operation of either the own TV or the other TV, and when the predetermined time has passed from either Will disappear.

On the other hand, when the constant display mode is set, the following operation is performed. Similarly to the above, if the predetermined time has already elapsed in any of step S246, step S248, and step S250, the process proceeds to step S252. In this case, since the constant display mode is set, the process proceeds to step S258, and other channels are normally displayed.
In addition, when the predetermined time has not elapsed in any of step S246, step S248, and step S250 in the constant display mode, the process proceeds to step S256. In this case, the constant display mode is set. In step S260, other channels are highlighted.
The above is the function of channel display execution in the constant display mode. The other channel is highlighted for a predetermined time after the operation of either the own TV or the other TV, and when the predetermined time has passed from either Normal display will be performed.

In any case of step S254, step S258, and step S260, when the process ends, the process proceeds to step S262. In step S262, the match of the own program is checked. Specifically, it is checked whether the own channel and the other channel match. If they do not coincide with each other, the process proceeds to step S264, and it is checked whether or not a program corresponding to another channel is in the broadcast area of the own TV. If there is a corresponding program, the process proceeds to step S266, and the same program one-touch switching process is performed. This process allows one-touch channel selection based on the other channel information in the A stored information 23 by pressing a predetermined button on the remote controller described later without selecting a channel when the user wants to watch a program that the other party is watching. It is intended to allow changes. Since its significance has already been explained in FIGS. 2 and 3, duplication is avoided. When the process of step S266 is completed, the channel display process is terminated. If there is no program corresponding to the other channel in the broadcast area of the own TV in step S264, the other channel display process is immediately terminated because there is no meaning of one-touch switching.

In the same program one-touch switchable processing in step S266, after pressing a predetermined button on the remote controller to change the channel to the program that the other party is watching with one touch, if the same button is pressed again, the own TV can be returned to the original channel with one touch. it can. This is possible because the latest channel information of the own TV transmitted to the other TV exists in the A stored information 23. By using this function, you can easily return to the original program after confirming the program on another TV temporarily.

When the channel display is replaced with the stored data display in step S244, the program match is determined instead of the channel match in the own and other program match check in step S262. This is possible by comparing the program identification ID currently being viewed on the B television 4 arriving at the A storage unit 23 with the program identification ID being viewed on the A television 2.
If the own program and the other program do not match, it is checked in step S264 whether the same program can be downloaded via the A communication unit 15 based on the B TV viewing program identification ID received in the A stored information 23. Is done. If the download is possible, the process proceeds to step S266, and the same program one-touch switching process is performed. In this case, if a predetermined button on the remote controller is pressed to view the program that the other party is watching, the download of the same program starts with one touch based on the program identification ID in the A stored information 23. As a result, the same program can be viewed with a single touch without performing operations required for program search and download. If it is determined in step S264 that the same program cannot be downloaded, the other channel display process is immediately terminated because there is no meaning of one-touch switching.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S262 that the own channel matches the other channel, the process proceeds to step S268, where the own channel is highlighted, and it is produced that the experiences are shared in both homes. Since this point has also been described in detail with reference to FIGS.
If the channel display is replaced with the stored data display in step S244, the program match is determined instead of the channel match in step S262 as described above. As in the case of matching other channels, the program name displayed at the position of the own channel numeral 52 in FIG. 2 is highlighted. When the process of step S268 as described above is completed, the other channel display process is terminated.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing details of the photographic information display process in step S118 of FIG. 7. Steps S272 to S276 and S280 are display functions related to the transmitted photo, and steps S278 and S282 to S286. Corresponds to the display function for received photos.
When the photo information display process starts, first, it is checked in step S272 whether there is a transmitted photo. If there is a transmitted photo, the process proceeds to step S274, and it is checked whether or not an appreciation mail for the transmitted photo has arrived. The checks in step S272 and step S274 are performed based on the A accumulation information 23.
If no appreciation email has arrived in step S274, the process advances to step S276 to display the sent photo not appreciation. This corresponds to, for example, a state in which a photo transmitted from the A home to the B home is not yet viewed in the B home, and corresponds to a state in which the transmitted photo icon 55 is displayed in FIG. And after performing this display process, it transfers to step S278.
If there is no transmitted photo in step S272, or if an appreciation mail has been received in step S274, the process proceeds to step S280, and the transmitted photo display is set to no display and the process proceeds to step S278. This corresponds to a state in which nothing is displayed at the position of the transmitted photo icon 55 in FIG.

Next, in step S278, it is checked whether there is a received photo. If there is a received photo, the process proceeds to step S282, and it is checked whether or not the viewing operation for the received photo has been completed.
If it is not detected in step S282 that the received photo appreciation operation has been completed, the process proceeds to step S284, where the received photo unappreciated display is performed, and the photo information display process is completed. If there is no received photo in step S278, or if it is detected in step S282 that the received photo appreciation operation has been completed, the process proceeds to step S286, and the photo information display process is performed with the received photo unappreciated display set to no display. finish.
The above processing from step S278 and step S282 to step S286 is understood as the function of the B control unit 9 in the B home 3, and is associated with FIG. 3 as follows. That is, in FIG. 3, the photo incoming call icon 63 is displayed. This is a result of the flow from step S278 to step S284 in FIG.
If the received photo appreciation operation is performed at home B, the process proceeds from step S282 to step S286, and the photo incoming icon 63 in FIG. 3 disappears. Further, if no photo is originally received at home B, the process goes from step S278 to step S286, so the photo incoming icon 63 in the figure is not displayed from the beginning.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the details of the watch information display process in step S114 of FIG. 7. When the A accumulated information 23 received from the B home 3 is analyzed, and it is determined that this deviates from a predetermined watch condition In order to display a warning on the A television 2 that there is some abnormality in the B home 3. In addition, the abnormality here is assumed to be relatively mild, and when watching TV at home, warning of the possibility of abnormality in other homes and calling attention just in case Is the purpose.
When the watching information display process starts, it is checked in step S292 whether there is a time difference between the area of the own TV and the area of the other TV. This is in order to support watching between families who are separated from each other in the international community and watching between families living apart in a wide country. For example, even if the other party is in bedtime, It is meaningful to remove the absurdity, such as giving an abnormal warning as “I have not seen you for a long time”.
If it is confirmed in step S292 that there is a time difference, the time difference is corrected so that the watch condition matches the life time of the other party, and the process proceeds to step S296. If there is no time difference, the process directly proceeds to step S296.

In step S296, the history of the received mail attachment information is analyzed based on the A accumulated information 23. Then, based on the result, the determination process after step S298 is performed. First, in step S298, it is checked whether or not a predetermined time (for example, 6 hours excluding midnight) has passed without any operation since the previous television operation. This corresponds to a case where there is no evidence that the television has been turned on for a predetermined time or a case where the television has been turned on for a predetermined time and the channel and volume are not changed during that time.
If it does not correspond to step S298, the process proceeds to step S300, and it is checked whether or not a channel for which the television is on and the broadcasting time has already ended is selected. If not applicable, the process proceeds to step S302.

In step S302, it is checked whether the channel for the program has been adjusted when it is time for the regular program that is being watched. If this is not done, the process proceeds to step S304, where it is confirmed whether or not a regular program registration deletion operation has been performed. If this operation is performed, the process proceeds to step S304. In step S302, if it is time to adjust the channel to the regular program, the process proceeds directly to step S306.
In step S306, it is checked whether the volume setting is abnormal. This is the case when the volume is abnormally high or abnormally low, but the level is not limited to a fixed level and may be corrected by a learning function based on the A accumulation information 23. If this is not the case, the process proceeds to step S308. The above is the watching condition regarding the operation of the television, but is not limited to this, and an appropriate condition may be added.

In step S308, abnormal use of the B home appliance 28 in the B home 3 is checked. As a watching condition in this case, a deviation from daily regular use is determined to be abnormal. Specifically, the A accumulation information 23 is analyzed, and the power on / off time of the home appliance or the like is analyzed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and determination may be made based on the set temperature, usage information, or the like. Further, the setting of the daily usage status may be corrected by a learning function based on the analysis of the A accumulation information 23. If no abnormality is found in step S308, the watching information display process is terminated.

On the other hand, if any of the conditions that should be determined as abnormal in step S298, step S300, step S304, step S306, or step S308, the process proceeds to step S309, and the cause-specific abnormality display is performed using the A TV screen 8 and sound. Warning.
Further, in step S310, regardless of whether the display mode described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 11 is set to the normal display mode or the operation display mode, this is forcibly set to the constant display mode. Further, the display form is also different from the normal color so that it can be identified as being in an abnormal state. In this way, together with the display in step S309, the information amount of the abnormal state is enriched.

Next, the process proceeds to step S311, and automatic mail transmission processing is performed. The details are in accordance with FIG. 9, but the attached contents are different. That is, in the mail automatic transmission process in step S311, a new mail is created and B TV 4 is automatically input as a transmission destination, but the attached content is abnormal information displayed on A TV 2 in steps S309 and S310. is there. After this information is attached, the created mail is automatically transmitted.
The reason why the watching information displayed on the A television screen 8 is transmitted to the B television in this way is as follows. In other words, the same information can be displayed on the B television screen 12, and this can be viewed by the family in the B family 4. This function is meaningless when the family in the B family 4 cannot see the B TV screen 12, but this function is meaningless, but when the family in the B family is not worried, the B TV screen By seeing 12, it becomes possible to make a notification of “no worries” to the A home 1.
When an abnormal display is displayed on both the A TV screen 8 and the B TV screen 12, it depends on the circumstances from which home the contact is made. With this configuration, watching is no longer a one-sided monitoring, and the family B itself can grasp in real time how their information is transmitted to the family A family. Can share the same information on an equal footing. Thus, the watching information display process ends.

Note that if the flow in FIG. 13 is determined to be abnormal in the upper level, the process proceeds to step S309 at that time, so that other conditions are not checked. Therefore, when such a flow is used, consideration is given to placing a higher priority for abnormality detection at the higher level of the flow.
Also, instead of the flow configuration as shown in FIG. 13, the flow is configured so that it always passes through all judgments, each judgment result is accumulated, and there is an abnormality when all judgments are completed. May be displayed all at once.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of regular program registration automatic change and automatic transmission. The information automatically transmitted in this flow is the same as the registered regular program information attached in step S196 in the automatic mail transmission of FIG. However, the flow of FIG. 9 is automatic mail transmission when the registration of the regular program is manually changed by the own TV operation in step S8 of FIG. 4, whereas the flow of FIG. Handles automatic email transmission when
The flow in FIG. 14 starts automatically at any one of the time when the TV is turned on, the channel is changed, and a certain program is finished and the next program is started.

When the flow starts, first, in step S312, it is checked whether or not the registered regular program is being viewed. If the registered regular program is not being viewed, the process proceeds to step S313, and a history of whether or not the program being viewed has been viewed for a predetermined number of times in the past (for example, twice) is checked. If applicable, the program is additionally registered as a regular program in step S314, and the process proceeds to step S316. If no match is found in step S313, the process directly proceeds to step S316.

In step S316, it is checked whether the regular program start time has come. If this is the case, it means that the regular program start time has arrived but the program has not been watched, so a regular program start notification is displayed on the A television screen 8 in step S317, and the flow proceeds to step S318.
In step S318, it is checked whether or not a response operation indicating “no such notification is necessary” has been performed on the A remote controller 13 for this display. If such an operation is performed, it means that there is no intention to view the program thereafter. If this operation is detected, the process proceeds to step S319, where the program is deleted from the regular program registration, and the process proceeds to step S320. If it is not detected in step S318 that a notification-unnecessary operation has been performed, the process proceeds directly to step S320.

If the registered regular program is being viewed in step S312, or if the regular program start time has not arrived in step S316, the process directly goes to step S320.

In step S320, it is checked whether the regular program is the last program this time and is not broadcast from the next time. If applicable, the program is deleted from the regular program registration in step S321, and the process proceeds to step S322. If the regular program is not the last time in step S320, the process proceeds directly to step S322.

In step S322, it is checked whether or not there is a change in the regular program registration as a result of the above processing, and if there is a change, the process proceeds to step S323. In step S323, a new mail is automatically created, and in step S324, a registered transmission destination is automatically input therein. If multiple destinations are registered, enter all of them.
In step S326, the target program ID, the code information indicating the registration change contents, and the date and time information of the registration change are automatically attached to the e-mail, and the process proceeds to step S328. End the change and auto-send flow. If there is no change in the regular program registration in step S322, the flow is immediately terminated.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing details of the photo mail transmission process in step S18 of FIG. When the flow starts, first, in step S332, it is checked whether there is a photograph with a transmission mark. If there is a corresponding photo, the process advances to step S334 to check whether there is a photo with an automatic transmission mark.
As a result, if there is a photo with an automatic transmission mark, the process proceeds to step S336. In step S336, a new mail is automatically created, and in step S338, a registered transmission destination is automatically input therein. If multiple destinations are registered, enter all of them.
Then, in step S340, all objects with automatic transmission marks are automatically attached to this mail. In step S342, this mail is automatically transmitted, and the process proceeds to step S344. On the other hand, when a photograph with an automatic transmission mark is not detected in step S334, the process immediately proceeds to step S344. The above is the processing related to automatic transmission.

Step S344 and subsequent steps are processing related to manual photo transmission processing. First, in step S344, a screen for accepting a transmission operation is displayed on the A television screen 8, and the process proceeds to step S346. In step S346, it is checked whether or not a transmission operation by the A remote controller 7 is started in response to this display. If there is no operation start, it is checked in step 348 whether a predetermined time has elapsed after the start of reception display, and if not, the process returns to step S346. On the other hand, when it is detected in step S346 that a transmission start operation has been performed, the process proceeds to a photo display / manual selection process in step S350. Details thereof will be described later. When this processing ends, the process proceeds to manual photo transmission processing in step S352, and the photo mail transmission processing ends when photo transmission by this processing is completed.

  If it is detected in step S348 that the predetermined time has passed without detecting the start of the transmission operation, the process proceeds to step S354, the transmission operation acceptance display is terminated, and the photo mail transmission process is terminated. If the photograph with the transmission mark is not detected in step S332, the photo mail transmission process is immediately terminated.

Next, countermeasures for more serious abnormalities will be described. The flow of the watching information display process in steps S112, S114, and FIG. 13 corresponds to a relatively mild abnormality, and at least the power of the A television 2 or the B television 4 is turned on by each home. It is assumed that. On the other hand, hereinafter, a function will be described in which even if the TV is not turned on in any home, an abnormal state in each other's home can be quickly reported to the other's home.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart of the A control unit 5 or the B control unit 9 for urgently sending a mail notifying an abnormal state in the A home 1 or the B home 3 to the partner home. Note that some of the abnormal states are also checked in duplicate with FIG. In addition, although the check items themselves are duplicated, there are cases where the determination criteria are different from the flow of FIG.
In the following, the flow of FIG. 16 will be described as a function of the B control unit 9 in order to explain the case where the occurrence of an abnormality in the B home 3 is grasped as an example.
In order to enable such an abnormality detection, the standby current is always supplied not only to the B remote control receiving unit 14 but also to the B storage unit 10 and the B tuner 21 in the B television 4. In addition, the standby current is always supplied to the minimum functional part necessary for determining the occurrence of the abnormal state in the B control unit 9 as well, and the abnormal state can be detected even when the power of the B television 4 is off. It has become. The supply of these standby currents is the same for the A television 2.
In the standby state as described above, the flow shown in FIG. 16 starts when any preset abnormal state is detected.

First, step S362 and step S364 relate to an emergency call using the B remote controller 11. When there is an abnormality in the family of the B family 3, it is conceivable that the person contacts the A family 1 by a mobile phone or the like or reports 119. In addition, it is conceivable to press a button on an emergency call device that is provided at a predetermined place in the home only for notification or is always possessed by the person.
However, for example, in the case of a mobile phone, even if there is a speed dial or a phone book function, if the person is in a panic state or the consciousness is fading, the operation is not necessarily easy. Fortunately, even if the phone is connected, the person is not always in a state where the situation can be spoken verbally.
On the other hand, in the case of a dedicated emergency call device, the operation is as simple as pressing a single button, and because the number of notification destinations and requirements is limited, the person may be in a panic condition or become less conscious. However, it is possible to easily achieve this purpose by operating it. However, it has been reported that, since the operation is easy, a situation where the button is accidentally pressed frequently occurs, and it is easy to fall into a so-called “Wolf boy” state. In particular, misreporting operations are likely to occur when the type of reporting device is always owned by the person. On the other hand, in the case of a button fixedly installed in a place where an erroneous operation is unlikely to occur, the person cannot always walk to the button in an emergency. Furthermore, in the case of a dedicated emergency call device, if it is safe, it may not be operated for many years, so forgetting that there is an operation method and the device itself, or if the device runs out of battery and is not useful when necessary In order to prevent this, regular operation training and maintenance of the equipment are necessary, which becomes a heavy burden on daily life.

Steps S362 and S264 are provided for countermeasures against such problems. In step S362, first, it is checked whether or not any arbitrary number of operation buttons of the B remote controller 11 are pressed simultaneously. This assumes the case where the person who is trying to report an emergency situation by the B remote control 11 is in a panic state or is not conscious, and can no longer select and operate the desired button. This corresponds to a case where the entire B remote controller 11 provided with a large number of buttons is gripped or the entire surface where a plurality of buttons are arranged is pressed on the B remote controller 11. And if it corresponds to such operation, it will be judged as an abnormal state.
If the operation does not correspond to the operation in step S362, it is checked in step S364 whether any same operation button on the B remote controller 11 has been operated continuously for a predetermined number of times in a predetermined short time. This is based on the case where the person who is trying to perform some operation with the B remote controller 11 hurries and repeats the same operation many times, or operates the button in the panic state. It is also determined as an abnormal state when it corresponds to such an operation. In step S364, not only the same button but also a plurality of adjacent operation buttons as a whole may be determined to be abnormal if they are operated abnormally a predetermined number of times within a short time as a whole. This is because, when the user is in a panic state or the like, it is conceivable to press a button adjacent to the desired button by mistake.
As described above, step S362 and step S364 are for detecting an abnormal and simple operation that is not normally performed in the B remote controller 11 that is used everyday. Provides a means of reporting that can detect operations that are likely to occur when the person in question is in a panic or is losing consciousness, is less worried about false alarms, and does not require training or maintenance. Is. Further, as will be described later, the execution of the report after the abnormal operation of the B remote controller 11 is detected in step S362 or step S364, the report destination, and the purpose of the report are also determined in advance. Can be achieved.

In the embodiment based on the flow of FIG. 16, the OR logic of the situations in steps S362 and S364 is taken as described above, and if any of the conditions is met, it is determined that there is an abnormality. However, it is also possible to change this and take the AND logic of the situation in step S362 and the situation in step S364, and to make a flow that determines that it is abnormal when both correspond. That is, in this case, it is determined that there is an abnormality when a situation in which simultaneous operation of any number of buttons is continuously performed in a short time is established.
This is to eliminate the occurrence of misinformation. For example, if the A remote controller 7 that was accidentally dropped on the floor without any abnormality is stepped on, it will fall under the situation of step S362 and the misinformation will occur. To prevent. Also, when there is no abnormality such as when a telephone number followed by the same number is entered quickly, or when the space key, line feed key, etc. are operated continuously, a false alarm occurs due to falling under step S364. To prevent.
However, when the AND logic of step S362 and step S364 is taken, the possibility of misreporting is reduced, but the condition to be abnormal becomes severe. Therefore, instead of setting the AND logic or the OR logic of step S362 and step S364 uniformly for all keys, it is set different for each key depending on the layout of the entire keyboard and the relative arrangement between keys. May be.
Further, steps SS362 and S364 may be configured so as to constitute a flow as an OR logic and an AND logic with other conditions for preventing the occurrence of false alarms.

Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 16, it is configured such that the determination of step SS362 and step S364 is made by the A control unit 5, but the implementation of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the A remote controller 7 itself has functions such as step SS362 and step S364, and various abnormality determinations based on the functions such as step SS362 and step S364 are performed by the remote controller control unit 72 of the A remote controller 7. In addition, a “remote control operation abnormality signal” as a conclusion of the determination may be generated by the remote control unit 72 and transmitted from the infrared communication unit 73 to the A remote control receiving unit 13.
In the case where step S362 and step S364 are executed by the remote control unit 72 as described above, in the flowchart of FIG. Put.

Returning to the description of the flow of FIG. 16, when the detected abnormality does not correspond to step S364, the process proceeds to step S366, and whether or not the local emergency broadcast is received in the area of the B home 3 by the broadcast radio wave 20 or the wired broadcast. Check. This emergency broadcast is not broadcast in the area of A home 1 that is remote from B home 3, and its contents are not understood.
When the detected abnormality does not correspond to step S366, the process proceeds to step S368, and it is checked whether or not a predetermined time (for example, 24 hours) has elapsed since the previous operation of the television. If it does not correspond to step S368, it will transfer to step S370 and it will be checked whether the channel with which the television is ON and the broadcast time has already ended is selected. However, it is a condition that leaving in this state is longer than a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes). If not applicable, the process proceeds to step S372.

In step S372, it is checked whether or not the volume setting of the B television 4 is abnormal. The contents of this check item are the same as in step S306 of FIG. 13, but are also provided in the flow of FIG. 16 for double check. If it does not correspond to step S372, it will transfer to step S374 and will check whether there is abnormal use of B household appliance 28 grade | etc.,. The determination condition in this case may be the same as step S308 in FIG. 13, but may be a different condition depending on the type of home appliance. Further, the home appliance to be monitored in step S308 in FIG. 13 and the home appliance to be detected in step S374 in FIG. 16 may be different.

If it does not correspond to step S374, it means that the flow of FIG. 16 has started without corresponding to any of the predetermined abnormal states, so it is determined that there is no abnormality, and a malfunction record is recorded in step S376. The process proceeds to step S378. That is, in this case, the emergency mail is not transmitted. In step S378, the operation result of the emergency mail transmission flow is displayed on the B television screen, and the flow ends. In this case, a malfunction record is displayed. The display performed in step S378 does not disappear unless the B remote controller 11 is operated. After confirming this display, the family in Family B 3 can turn off the display as appropriate and request the cause of the malfunction to be investigated.

On the other hand, if one of the checks from step S362 to step S374 is applicable, the flow moves to step S380, and it is checked whether the B television is on. If it is not turned on, the own television is automatically turned on in step S382, and the communication function is urgently activated in step S384, and the process proceeds to step S386. The functions from step S382 to step S384 correspond to step S42 and step S43 in FIG. 5, but the detailed processing in FIG. 6 is omitted, and the steps S82 and S88 related to security are set and the personal computer required for prompt communication Launch basic functions. On the other hand, if the television is already turned on in step S380, steps S382 and S384 are unnecessary, and the process directly proceeds to step S386.
In step S386, an emergency mail is automatically created, and in step S388, A TV 2 is automatically input as a transmission destination. At this time, if the result of step S362 or step S364 is step S380, a 119th notification is added as a transmission destination.
Further, in step S390, the abnormality information detected in any of steps S362 to S374 is attached, and in step S392, mail is automatically transmitted. As a result, the emergency mail is transmitted from the B communication unit 16 to the A communication unit 15.

  As in FIG. 13, in the flow of FIG. 16 as well, if it is determined that there is an abnormality in the upper part of the flow, the process proceeds to step S380 at that time, so an emergency mail is sent without checking other conditions. The Therefore, in the case of a flow as shown in FIG. 16, consideration is given to placing a higher priority for abnormality detection at the higher level of the flow. Further, instead of the flow configuration as shown in FIG. 16, the flow is configured to always pass through all the judgments from step S362 to step S374, and each judgment result is accumulated and all judgments are completed. Items that are abnormal at the time may be collectively attached in step S390.

When the transmission of the mail is finished, the process proceeds to step S394, where the B television camera 31 is turned on and the angle of view is set to a re-wide angle. This is to facilitate remote operation of the B television camera 31 from the A home 1 as necessary.
After performing the above process, it transfers to step S378 and displays the same information attached in step S390 on the B television screen 12. By this display, the family of the B family 4 can see the abnormality information transmitted to the process A in step S392. This function is meaningless when the family in the B family 4 cannot see the B TV screen 12, but fortunately when the family in the B family is safe, By looking at the screen 12, it becomes possible to make a notification “not worried” from the B home 3 side to the A home 1.
As a result, similar to step S311 of FIG. 13, information can be shared in both homes in real time. The abnormal state emergency start process is thus completed.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the operation of the A control unit 5 or the B control unit 9 when an emergency mail is received. For the sake of continuity with the example illustrated in FIG. 16, the case where an emergency mail transmitted from the B television 4 is received by the A television 2 will be described as a function of the A control unit 5.
When the A communication unit 15 detects the arrival of an emergency mail transmitted from the B communication unit in step S392, the flow of FIG. 17 starts. As already described, the standby current is supplied even when the power of the A television 2 is off so that the A communication unit 15 can always detect incoming mail.
When the flow starts, first, in step S402, it is checked whether or not the A television 2 is turned on. Note that if the ATV 2 is already on in step S402, the process directly proceeds to step S406.

In step S406, the volume of the television is automatically increased in order to reliably warn the family in A home 1 of the emergency situation. Next, the emergency mail is automatically opened in step S408, and the content of the attached information is automatically detected in step S410. Steps after S312 relate to processing based on the result of this automatic detection.
First, in step S412, it is checked whether or not the emergency mail is a notification of an abnormal operation of the remote controller. If applicable, in step S414, the A TV screen 8 emergency contact warning is displayed and the same content is also announced as a voice message. At this time, if the normal broadcast is being watched, it is interrupted and priority is given to the transmission of the abnormal content. This also applies to the following steps.
Since the degree of urgency is extremely high in the case of step S412, the display of step S414 is continued and the announcement of the voice message is repeated until the release operation by the A remote controller 7 is performed. Then, after instructing this repetition process, the process proceeds to step S416. On the other hand, if the remote control is not abnormal in step S412, the process directly proceeds to step S416.
Next, in step S416, processing for enabling remote operation of the B camera 31 in the B home is performed to confirm the abnormal state. Especially when the remote control is abnormal, it is highly possible that the family of the B family 3 with the B remote control 11 is within the angle of view of the B camera 31. It is. After step S416, by operating the A remote controller 7, a mail instruction for remotely operating the B camera 31 at a desired time can be transmitted from the A communication unit 15.

Next, in step S418, it is checked whether or not the emergency mail is a notification of abnormality relating to the television operation. If applicable, the abnormality content is displayed on the A television screen 8 and the same content is also announced as a voice message in step S420. . When the announcement of the voice message ends, the process proceeds to step S422. However, the display on the A television screen 8 in step S420 is continued without being erased even if the process proceeds to step S422 and subsequent steps. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S418 that there is no abnormality in the television operation, the process directly proceeds to step S422.

In step S422, it is checked whether or not the emergency mail is a notification of an abnormality of another home appliance. If applicable, the abnormality content is displayed on the A television screen 8 in step S424. At this time, if there is a display left in step S420, the line is changed and displayed. Also in step S424, the same content as the display is announced as a voice message. When the announcement of the voice message ends, the process proceeds to step S426. In this case, however, the display on the A television screen 8 in step S424 is continued without being erased. In addition, when it is not abnormality of another household appliance in step S422, it transfers to step S426 directly.

In step S426, it is checked whether or not the emergency mail is attached with local emergency broadcast data. If applicable, the emergency broadcast is reproduced based on the attached data in step S428, and the emergency mail receiving process is terminated. To do. If the emergency mail is not attached with the local emergency broadcast in step S426, the emergency mail receiving process is immediately terminated.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the TV remote controller used in the present invention, which is implemented as the A remote controller 7 or the B remote controller 11 of FIG. Hereinafter, description will be made assuming that FIG. 18 shows the A remote controller 7, but the B remote controller 11 also has the same configuration and function.
When the remote control operation unit 71 of the A remote control 7 is operated, the remote control control unit 72 transmits an infrared signal from the infrared communication unit 73 to the A remote control reception unit 13 based on the operation.
In addition, the remote control operation unit 72 displays information necessary for the remote control operation on the display unit 74, such as the state of the A remote control such as on / off, the operation menu, selection items for operation, and operation results. Further, as described above, the A remote controller 7 can be used as a handset for a videophone, and includes a microphone 75 and a speaker 76 connected to the remote controller 72 in order to achieve this function. The microphone 75 is also used to put a voice message on the A television screen 8 while displaying a picture to be transmitted, as will be described later.

The remote control operation unit 71 is provided with a power button 77 and a numeric keypad 78 for channel selection and the like. When the menu button 79 is pressed, an operation menu is displayed on the display unit 74, so that a menu can be selected by pressing any button on the numeric keypad 78 or pressing the cross key 80 in the vertical and horizontal directions. The selection is determined by pressing the cross key 80 right below.
The volume of the A TV 2 can be increased or decreased by the TV volume button 81 having a seesaw structure. Regardless of the volume setting, when the call button 82 is pressed for videophone or voice message input, The sound from the television 2 is turned off and the sound is muted, and howling with the microphone 75 is prevented. In addition, when the sound from the television 2 is muted, the speaker 76 is turned on instead, but the volume can be adjusted by the call volume button 83 having a seesaw structure. The microphone input volume is automatically adjusted.

The share button 84 is used to operate when the same program one-touch switchable process in step S266 in FIG. 11 is performed. When the user wants to see the program that the other party is watching, the share button 84 is pressed. This makes it possible to change the channel to the program that the other party is watching with a single touch, without selecting a channel. In the case of server-type broadcasting, by pressing the share button 84, the same program as the program being viewed by the other party can be downloaded with one touch without setting the program code or the like.
In this way, the operation to watch the program that the other party is watching becomes extremely easy, making it easier for remote families to share the experience, and by sharing the experience almost simultaneously, I can feel it.
As already described, after pressing the share button 84 to change to the channel that the other party is viewing, the user can return to the original program by pressing the share button 84 again. In this way, each time the share button 84 is pressed, it is possible to easily go back and forth between the same program as the other party.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the digital camera 29 of FIG. As described above, in FIG. 1, the digital camera 29 is shown only in the A home, but in the B home 3, digital photo information is similarly sent from the digital camera having the same configuration to the B control unit 9. It is possible to input.
The digital camera 29 is controlled by the camera control unit 101, and image information acquired by the imaging unit 103 by operating a release button included in the camera operation unit 102 is processed by the image processing unit 104, and is stored in the image recording unit 105. To be recorded. The image is usually recorded on a removable recording medium 107 such as a disk or card inserted into the recording medium drive 106. The image recording unit 106 also includes a built-in type internal recording unit 108, which records an image when the capacity of the detachable recording medium 107 is full or set. In addition, the image can be recorded on both the removable recording medium 107 and the internal recording unit 108, and the image recorded on one side can be transferred to the other side.

  In order to input an image to the A control unit 5, the removable recording medium 107 is taken out from the recording medium drive 106 and inserted into a recording medium slot connected to the A control unit 5. Alternatively, the image of the image recording unit read by the camera control unit 101 is transmitted by wire to the A control unit 5 of the A television 2 via the digital input / output unit 109 having the cable connection unit and the image data input / output unit for charging. You can also Further, the digital input / output unit 109 has short-range wireless communication means, and can also transmit the image of the image recording unit 106 read by the camera control unit 101 to the A control unit 5 wirelessly. In any case, the A controller 5 automatically detects the input of the image, and proceeds from step S16 to step S18 in FIG.

The storage unit 110 registers an automatic transmission destination address shared with the A television 2. Based on the memory of the organization part 110, a picture to be automatically transmitted from the A television is selected by the display screen 111 and the camera operation 102.
In selecting a transmission photo, all the thumbnails 112 of the photos that have not yet been captured on the A TV 2 are displayed on the display screen 111. If there are many, display so that it can scroll. On the screen 111, thumbnail 1, thumbnail 2, and thumbnail 3 are displayed as an example.
On the basis of such display, the operation unit 102 is operated to first select a photo to be transmitted to the B home 3, and if there is a photo to be selected, a transmission target selection box below the “S” mark. Check 113. In the display screen 111, for example, thumbnail 1 and thumbnail 2 are checked.

An automatic transmission selection box 114 is displayed for thumbnails whose transmission selection box 113 is checked. As an example, the display screen 111 shows a case where two automatic transmission destinations are registered, and automatic display is performed at thumbnails 1 and 3 below the “A1” and “A2” marks, respectively. The transmission selection box is displayed. Since thumbnail 2 is not a transmission target, automatic transmission selection box 114 is not displayed in order to prevent an erroneous operation. When only one automatic transmission destination is registered, the automatic transmission selection box 114 is displayed only in one row under the mark “A1”. Further, when no automatic transmission destination is registered, the automatic transmission selection box 114 is not displayed at all. These are also for preventing erroneous operation.
In the display screen 111, for example, only the box corresponding to the automatic transmission destination “A1” of the thumbnail 1 is checked. Therefore, the thumbnail 1 is not automatically transmitted to the registered transmission destination “A2”, and the thumbnail 3 is not automatically transmitted to any registered transmission destination. The transmission target photo that has not been selected for automatic transmission is manually input as necessary after being input to the A TV 2. This will be described later.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a part of the function of the camera control unit 101 in the digital camera 29 of FIG. 19, registration of automatic photo destinations in the digital camera 29 and registration of automatic photo destinations in the A television 2. To share with.
The flow starts when the digital camera 29 accesses the information on the A TV 2 in some form. Specifically, the flow starts when the digital camera 29 is connected to the A control unit 5 by wire or wirelessly or when the removable recording medium 107 is inserted into the recording medium drive 106 of the digital camera 29.
Supplementing the latter case, the removable recording medium 107 can also hold the registration data of the automatic transmission destination. The registration data of the automatic transmission destination is exchanged with the A television 2 or the digital camera 29 according to the procedure. Therefore, the detachable recording medium 107 inserted into the recording medium drive 106 of the digital camera 29 stores the automatic transmission destination registration data acquired from the A TV 2 by being inserted into the recording medium slot of the A TV 2 before that. There is a possibility of holding. For this reason, the insertion of the removable recording medium 107 into the recording medium drive 106 is also regarded as an access to the information of the A television 2 and the flow is started.

When the flow starts, first, in step S432, it is checked whether or not the TV side information has been acquired by accessing the information of the A TV 2. If the information can be acquired, the process proceeds to step S434, and it is checked whether or not the acquired information includes a transmission destination address registered on the television side.
If there is a transmission destination address, the process further proceeds to step S436, where all automatic transmission destination addresses registered on the A TV side 2 are compared with all automatic transmission destination addresses registered on the digital camera 29 side, The digital camera 29 side checks whether there is an unregistered automatic transmission destination address on the A TV 2 side. As a result, if there is an unregistered address, the process proceeds to step S438, the address is automatically added to the automatic transmission destination registered address on the digital camera side, and the process proceeds to step S440. If there is no corresponding result in step S434 or step S436, the process directly proceeds to step S440.
As described above, when the automatic transmission destination is newly registered on the A TV 2 side, it is automatically registered on the digital camera 29 side, and the information sharing state of both is updated. As a result, the latest automatic transmission destination that can be handled by the A TV 2 is automatically displayed as the automatic transmission selection box 114 on the display screen 11 of FIG. 19. It is possible to automatically transmit the photograph when it is input to the A television 2 by simply inserting.

In step S440, all automatic transmission destination addresses registered on the A TV side 2 are compared with all automatic transmission destination addresses registered on the digital camera 29 side, and unregistered automatic transmission is performed on the A TV 2 side. It is checked whether the destination address is on the digital camera 29 side. If there is a corresponding item, the process proceeds to step S442 to check whether the digital camera 2 is communicating with the A-TV 2 or not.
If the communication is not in progress, it means that the flow of FIG. Copy to the end of the flow. As a result, when the detachable recording medium 107 is next inserted into the recording medium slot of the television 2, the automatic transmission destination address is automatically input to the television 2 together with the photo information.

On the other hand, when the communication with the TV is in step S442, it means that the digital camera 29 is connected to the A control unit 5 of the A TV 2 by wire or wireless, so the process proceeds to step S444, where the A control unit 5 checks whether information from the digital camera 29 can be received. If the information is acceptable, the automatic transmission destination address on the digital camera side is transmitted to the A control unit in step S446, and the flow ends. If the A control unit 5 cannot accept the information from the digital camera 29 in step S444, the process proceeds to step S448.

  Note that if the television-side information cannot be acquired in step S432, the flow is immediately terminated. If there is no unregistered automatic transmission destination address on the digital TV 29 side on the A television 2 side in step S440, the flow is immediately terminated at this point.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a part of the function of the camera control unit 101 in the digital camera 29 of FIG. 19 for selecting a picture to be input to the A television 2 by the display screen 111 and the camera operation unit 102. is there.
The flow starts when the camera operation unit 102 performs an input operation of a photo to the A television 2 and first checks in step S452 whether there is a photo that has not yet been input to the A television 2. If there is a photo, the process proceeds to step S354, and the thumbnail 112 of the uninput photo is displayed as shown in FIG. At this time, the transmission selection box 113 is also displayed.
Next, the process proceeds to step S456, where it is confirmed whether or not another TV transmission target is selected, that is, whether or not the transmission selection box 113 is checked. If there is a check, the flow advances to step S458 to check whether there is automatic transmission destination registration. If the automatic transmission destination is registered, the process advances to step S460 to check whether a plurality of automatic transmission destinations are registered.

If a plurality of automatic transmission destinations are registered, the process advances to step S462, and an automatic transmission selection box 114 is displayed so that automatic transmission can be set for every transmission destination for thumbnails whose transmission selection box 113 is checked. The display screen 111 in FIG. 19 illustrates this state. As an example, the display screen 111 shows a case where such display is performed for two automatic transmission destinations “A1” and “A2”.
On the other hand, in step S460, when a plurality of transmission destinations are not registered, it means that only one transmission destination is registered, and therefore, a display for simple automatic transmission setting is performed. Specifically, in the display screen 111 of FIG. 19, the automatic transmission selection box 114 is displayed in only one line under the mark “A1”. If no automatic transmission destination is registered in step S458, neither display in step S462 nor step S464 is performed. That is, the automatic transmission selection box 114 is not displayed at all.
If there is no photo for which another TV transmission target has been selected in step S456, neither display in step S462 nor step S464 is performed even if the automatic transmission destination is registered. That is, at this time, the automatic transmission selection box 114 is not displayed at all.

After performing the process related to automatic transmission setting display in any one of step S456, step S458, step S462, and step S364, when step S466 is reached, it is checked whether or not an operation for ending photo selection has been performed. If the selection end operation has not been performed, the process returns to step S456, and thereafter, the processing from step S456 to step S466 is repeated until it is detected in step S466 that the selection end operation has been performed. In step S466, the flow in which the selection end operation is detected is ended. As a result, the display for selection operation disappears from the display screen 111.
If there is no uninput photo on the A TV 2 in step S452, a message to that effect is sent to 111 and the flow is immediately terminated.

  Although the embodiments of FIGS. 19 to 21 have been described with respect to the case of a digital camera, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be implemented in any device that holds photographic information for input to a television. It is. For example, if the device itself has a display screen, such as a camera-equipped mobile phone or a portable digital image information storage that does not have a photographing function, and the device itself has a display screen, the present invention can be easily implemented. Auto-send photos can be entered on the TV and auto-destination registration can be shared with the TV.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing details of the photo display / manual selection process in step S350 of FIG. When the flow starts, it is checked in step S472 whether there is a pending unsent photo. This means that it is checked whether or not there is a photo that has not been manually selected for transmission after being input to the A television 2 without setting for automatic transmission. If there is a corresponding picture, the process proceeds to step S474, and one of the pictures is displayed on the A television screen 8 in a predetermined order. This also means previewing the display state when appreciating after transmission. If the picture is unsatisfactory at this stage, it is possible not to determine transmission.
Next, in step S476, it is checked whether or not the photo is determined to be transmitted. If transmission is determined, it is checked in step S478 whether or not the call button 82 of the A remote controller 7 is pressed. This is to make it possible to add a voice message to the photograph determined to be transmitted before transmission.

If it is detected in step S478 that the call button 82 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S480, and the speaker of the A television 2 is turned off to prevent howling. At the same time, in step S482, the microphone 75 of the A remote controller 7 is turned on to start voice recording of the voice message to be added to the displayed photo, and the process proceeds to step S484, where the call button 82 of the A remote controller 7 is pressed. Check again.
If the call button 82 has been pressed, the process returns to step S480. Thereafter, as long as the call button is pressed, steps S480 to S484 are repeated, and the recording of the sound to be added to the photograph is continued through the microphone 75. As long as the call button 82 is pressed, the TV speaker is kept off.

If it is detected in step S484 that the call button 82 is spoken, the process proceeds to step S486. As a result, the microphone 75 is turned off and recording is stopped. Further, the off state of the television speaker is also released.
In step S486, the blank time without sound is automatically cut during recording from when the call button is pressed until it is released. As a result, even if an abnormally long voice blank time occurs due to a voice message not being started immediately after recording starts or being clogged in the middle of a voice message, the time period is automatically cut and it may be difficult to hear during playback. Disappear.
Next, in step S, a silent natural pause time is inserted before and after the speech separation. As a result, the voice message sentence is unnaturally clogged due to the blank time cut in step S486. Even when the call button 82 is released immediately after the voice message is finished, a natural reverberation time is added after the voice message ends.
As described above, when creating photo data with a voice message added to a single photo, the voice message starts after a natural pause after viewing the photo when viewing it. It is possible to create data of a picture with a voice message in such a manner that there is no state of suddenly rushing or the voice message is over, and there is no switching to the next picture.

It progresses to step S490 after the above processes. If it is not detected in step S478 that the call button 82 has been pressed, the process proceeds directly to step S490.
In step S490, it is checked whether a photo selection end operation has been performed by the A remote controller 7. If no operation is detected, the process returns to step S472. If the transmission decision for the photograph displayed in step S474 cannot be detected in step S476, the process returns to step S472.
Thereafter, step S472 to step S490 are repeated unless a photo selection end operation is detected in step S490 or there is no outstanding unsent photo detected in step S472. At this time, every time step S474 is reached, the next one photograph is displayed in a predetermined order.

  If a photo selection end operation is detected in step S490, or if an unsent unsent photo is not detected in step S472, the process proceeds to step S492, and it is checked whether there is a transmission decision photo. If there is a transmission decision photo, the process proceeds to step S494, and if there are a plurality of photos decided to be transmitted this time, a slide show process is performed on them and background music is automatically added, and the flow ends. If there is no transmission decision photo in step S492, the flow is immediately terminated.

  FIG. 23 is a format diagram of information attached to a mail exchanged between the A communication unit 15 and the B communication unit by automatic transmission. These pieces of information are attached to the e-mail and are stored in the A storage unit 6 and the B storage unit 10 as A storage information 23 and B storage information 24. By unifying the format of such information, processing and analysis based on such information becomes easy.

The information format 151 is roughly divided into four. First, the A section 152 is information regarding the attributes of the locations of the A family 1 and the B family 3 such as a broadcast area and a time difference, and includes information that does not change due to circumstances within the family unless the family moves. The B section 153 includes information regarding the operation state of the A television 2 and the B television 4. The C category 154 includes information on the usage state of home appliances and the like that are monitored by the A home 1 and the B home 3. Further, the D section includes other highly flexible information. The information included in each section is configured as information in the same unified format consisting of an item part and a content part, and the item part and the content part are treated as a set in an integral manner.
As described above, the information format 151 is divided from the A section 152 to the D section 155, but each section is not handled as an integral part of the information format 151, but is handled independently. In addition, each item in each category is handled independently. The classification is only given for classification of each information.

In the A section 152, the contents of the area item 156 include code information and date / time information of the broadcast area. Therefore, if there is a change in the broadcast area, there will be a plurality of old area item information and new area item information with different dates. Hereinafter, the contents of all information items include date information, and a plurality of items with different dates and times are generated. The date / time information is automatically recorded when each item data is created. The same applies to the following item data.
The content of the time difference item 157 of the A section 152 includes time difference numerical value information and date / time information. In the case of the time difference information, in a region where the daylight saving time system is implemented, time difference information having the date and time when summer time starts and time difference information having the date and time when winter time starts are generated every year.

The content of the TV power item 158 of the B section 153 includes code information indicating power on / off and date / time information of the change. Similarly, the channel item 159 has channel number information and date / time information. Furthermore, the volume item 160 has volume numerical information and date / time information. These pieces of information have different date / time information every time the TV is turned on / off, the channel is changed, and the volume is changed.
The video viewing item 161 is information indicating that the video is being viewed, and includes contents including code information indicating whether the video viewing is started and ended, and date / time information indicating the start / end operation. . As for this information, two kinds of information are generated at the start and end of one appreciation.
The video viewing item 161 is classified into the B category because it is sufficient to show that the program is not in a normal program viewing state by channel matching, and it does not matter what the viewing target is. That is, it does not have an ID indicating the appreciation object as in the information of D section described later. However, as already described, in the determination of step S242 in FIG. 11, even when the content of the video viewing item 161 is “start”, the content of the storage data item 169 described later is “start”. It is determined that “the stored data is being viewed” as in the case of

Although not shown, information classified into the B category further includes a timer setting item for the television. The contents of this item are a code signal indicating that the timer is set, and the scheduled start date and time and scheduled end date and time of the operation by the timer. Also, the date and time set by the timer is recorded in the same manner as other items. The created data is automatically attached to an e-mail and automatically transmitted to another TV.
The other television receiving such information changes the watching conditions of FIGS. 13 and 16. For example, since it is considered that the time zone from the date and time set by the timer to the scheduled start date and time of the operation by the timer is not abnormal even if there is no TV operation, for example, the time zone is subtracted as the predetermined time in step S298 in FIG. to decide.

The household appliance 1 item 162 to the household appliance 3-1 item 164 of the C category 154 include code information indicating use or non-use of the home appliance and date and time information on the operation. Such information is provided for each home appliance. The home appliance 3-1 item 164 relates to the home appliance 3 and corresponds to its use / non-use information, but the temperature setting of the home appliance 3 is also a watch item, and this is the home appliance 3-2 item 165. ing. The home appliance 3-2 item includes numerical information indicating the set temperature and date and time information on the setting.
The equipment / equipment 1 item 166 is information on what is not a home appliance but is a target for watching over equipment or equipment provided in the home, code information indicating the use state, and date information on the use state. including. In addition, for example, when the entrance door is watched over, state 1 / state 2 is not only in these two states, but also lock / release from the inside of the entrance door and lock / release by the key from the outside. The code information indicating the state can be recorded. Further, finer watching can be performed by combining the lock / release history of the front door in the order of date and time information with the history information of the usage state of other home appliances and equipment / tools.
Furthermore, it is possible to change the watching conditions in FIGS. 13 and 16 or to change a predetermined time as a reference based on the determination of going out / returning home based on the entrance door information.

Although not shown in the figure, there is “long-term travel information” that can be created by operating the A remote controller 7 or the B remote controller 11 as items classified into the C section 154. This consciously informs other televisions that the rhythm of daily life changes when the user is away from a long-term trip. By operating the A remote control 7 or the B remote control 11, a code signal indicating a long-term trip Data is created by inputting departure and scheduled return date information. The date and time of data creation is automatically entered as with other items. The created data is automatically attached to an e-mail and automatically transmitted to another TV.
The other television receiving such information changes the watching conditions of FIGS. 13 and 16. For example, in step S298 in FIG. 13, in the case of daily life, it is determined that there is no operation even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the previous operation, but when “long-term travel information” is received, Change the watch condition so that it is judged abnormal when there is an operation during the absence of the period.
The information of the above C classification 154 is increased appropriately if the number of watching targets or watching items of the same watching target increases.

The regular program item 167 of the D category 155 includes a regular program ID, code information indicating whether the program is registered or deleted, and date / time information. The ID of the regular program may be a program code, or a channel, day of the week, and broadcast time.
The photo appreciation item 168 includes the ID of the target photo and date information of the appreciation. When the photo appreciation item 168 is generated and its ID matches the ID of the digital photo information stored in the A storage unit 6 or the B storage unit 10, the transmitted photo icon 55 in FIG. 2 or the photo incoming icon 63 in FIG. Disappears.
The stored data item 169 relates to appreciation of stored data such as digital broadcast recording or download program, and ID for specifying the stored data, code information indicating start or end of appreciation of the stored data, and start / end operation. Contains date and time information. As for this information, two pieces of information at the start and end of one viewing of one stored information are generated.

  In the description of the above embodiment, the information exchange between the A television 2 and the B television 4 is based on the attached information in a predetermined format automatically attached to the automatic transmission mail. However, the present invention is not limited to such an information exchange method, and can be appropriately implemented by, for example, communication through a two-way digital broadcast line or communication other than mail via an external server.

However, the information exchange based on the attached information in a predetermined format automatically attached to the automatic transmission e-mail described in the embodiment is extremely simple as a method for transmitting the usage status of the television to the outside, and particularly a device in which the television and the personal computer are fused. There is an advantage that can be implemented by diverting existing functions.
With regard to this advantage, the present invention is not limited to the implementation of television communication between ordinary households. For example, if the automatic transmission destination is set as an audience rating research organization by contract, an audience rating survey with higher reliability and efficiency can be achieved than the conventional sample survey and the audience rating survey by statistical processing.

Also, the configuration for detecting remote control abnormal operations exemplified in step S362 and step S364 in FIG. 16 is not limited to the implementation on the TV remote control. For example, an abnormal operation detection configuration such as S362 and Step S364 is provided in a normal telephone or a mobile phone, and when such an abnormal operation is detected, an automatic call is made to a preset dial destination. A predetermined voice message can be played when the telephone is connected.
In this way, as described in detail for remote control operation in the embodiment, it is possible to make a predetermined report even when the person is in a panic state or the consciousness is fading, and the false alarm It is unlikely that it can provide emergency reporting means that do not require special maintenance or training.

In the above embodiment, the photograph exchanged between the A home 1 and the B home 3 has been described as a still image taken by a digital camera. However, the present invention can be applied to a moving picture taken by a digital camera or a video camera. Needless to say, it can be implemented.

Hereinafter, various features in the disclosure of the above-described embodiments will be summarized. First, the disclosure of the above embodiment generates transmission information according to the operation of the TV function unit and the TV function unit on the first TV set in a certain home and the second TV set in a remote home from there. Information generation unit, TV screen, and a control unit that controls the display of the TV screen according to the transmission information from the outside, and the transmission information generated in each reaching information generation unit by the communication means is transmitted to the partner control unit Thus, a television system is provided in which the television screen of his / her own television is automatically changed according to the transmission information automatically generated according to the natural television operation of the television being watched by the other party.
The transmission information is, for example, TV on / off information or program information, and the other party's TV on / off state and the program that the other party is watching can be automatically recognized on his / her TV screen.
This makes it possible to see in real time how the other party is watching TV during their daily actions of watching TV, and can confirm the other party's safety.
Furthermore, since the existing communication function of the television is used, it is not necessary to construct a watching system. Also, no knowledge of device operation is required beyond watching normal television.

  According to the specific feature disclosed in the above embodiment, when the program information is channel information and the broadcasting area is different between remote locations, the channel information transmitted from the other party is handled in the own broadcasting area. Convert to program channel information and display on TV screen. As a result, even if the other party's channel is different for the same program due to the difference in broadcasting area, it is displayed as a familiar channel in your own broadcasting area on your own TV screen, so you can accurately grasp the program information of the other party .

  According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, there is provided a coincidence detecting means for displaying on the own TV screen that the program information transmitted from the other party matches the own program information. . As a result, attention is drawn to the fact that they are watching the same program with each other, and it is possible to produce a simulated group of sharing experiences even in remote locations. In addition, by associating the programs that the two are watching, the sensation of being unilaterally monitored can be eased.

  According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, there is provided a selection means for selecting his / her appreciation program based on the program information transmitted from the other party. This makes it easier to select a program when you want to watch the same program that the other party is watching. This is because the program information necessary for selecting a program has already been transmitted from the other party and has already been obtained, so there is no need to search for the channel of the program or the download source of the program data.

  According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, a storage unit for storing transmission information transmitted from the other party is provided. This allows you to accumulate transmission information and know its history, so that you can know the transmission information of the other party that occurred before you turned on your TV, and the other party based on your history. It is also possible to analyze the operational status of

  According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, there is provided a determination means for determining whether the television operation of the other party satisfies a predetermined condition based on the transmission information transmitted from the other party. The television screen is controlled based on the result. This alerts the user to an abnormal condition such as the partner continuing to select a channel whose broadcast end time has passed.

  According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, when there is a third television having the same configuration in another remote place, the transmission information generated by the television operation of the third television is transmitted to the control unit of the first television. Is transmitted to. As a result, the TV screen of the first TV changes not only by the second TV but also by the operation of the third TV. For example, it is possible to grasp the status of multiple households at once, such as the parents of the husband and the parents of the wife. Can do.

  According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, the communication means is the second television side required to transmit the transmission information generated by the transmission information generation unit of the second television to the control unit of the first television. Setting means for performing the communication setting on the first television side. Thereby, even if the owner of the second TV is not informed of the communication setting, the owner of the first TV who is familiar with the setting can remotely control the communication setting of the second TV.

According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, the communication means is a personal computer communication means, and when the transmission information is generated in the transmission information generation section of the second television, the transmission information addressed to the control section of the first television The first television control unit controls the display of the television screen of the first television based on the transmission information by the received email.
In this way, if the electronic mail function of the personal computer function provided in the television is used, it is not necessary to construct a special monitoring system. Also, because email communication is automatic, even if the TV user has no knowledge of e-mail operation, the other party's TV usage can be automatically notified to the other party's TV usage status. I can know the situation.

  According to another specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, it has a remote control for operating the second television, and the transmission information generating unit of the second television transmits the transmission information when the remote control is abnormally operated. Occur. Accordingly, for example, a user who is in a panic state or is unaware of his / her consciousness can report his / her abnormal state on the other party's TV screen from the TV remote control he / she uses every day.

  The simplest television system based on the disclosure of the above embodiments includes a first television having a control unit that controls the display of the television screen in accordance with the television screen and externally transmitted information, and the operation of the television function unit and the television function unit. And a communication means for transmitting the transmission information generated in the transmission information generation unit of the second television to the control unit of the first television. Thus, the television screen of the first television is changed according to the operation of the television function unit of the second television.

The disclosure of the above embodiment is also provided when the transmission information is generated in the television function unit, the transmission information generation unit that generates transmission information related to the function of the television function unit, the personal computer communication function unit, and the transmission information generation unit. There is provided a television having a communication function, characterized by having an electronic mail automatic creating means for automatically creating an electronic mail for transmitting transmission information to a predetermined destination and automatically transmitting it by a personal computer communication function unit.
As a result, it is possible to automatically transmit information related to the function of the own TV to the outside without constructing a special system and without knowledge about the personal computer and the e-mail function.

According to the specific feature of the disclosure of the above embodiment, the automatic e-mail creating unit creates attached information to be attached to the e-mail based on the transmission information and automatically attaches the attached information to the e-mail.
Thus, the e-mail receiving side can cope with the transmission information by automatically opening the e-mail and automatically detecting the content of the attached information without reading the e-mail text. At this time, if the attached information is created based on a predetermined unified format, automatic detection of the attached information becomes easier.
Further, by making the transmission information in the form of attached information, various information can be transmitted to the outside, and the broadcast itself received by the television function unit can be used as the attached information. For example, if the TV function unit automatically receives a local emergency broadcast, it is automatically attached to an e-mail and sent automatically. Remote families can know.

In the television having the communication function disclosed in the above embodiment, if the predetermined transmission destination is set to the television in the remote home, the situation in the remote home is monitored according to the usage status of the television. I can get it.
In addition, when an agreement is made with an audience rating research institution to set a predetermined transmission destination as an audience rating research institution, the audience rating research institute does not need to distribute special equipment. can do.

The disclosure of the above embodiment also includes information on the television of the receiving party transmitted by e-mail from the predetermined receiving party automatically received by the TV function unit, the TV screen, the PC communication function unit, and the PC communication function unit. Accordingly, a television having a communication function is provided that includes a control unit that automatically controls display of the television screen of the user.
The transmitted information is, for example, the on / off state of the other party's television or the program information that the other party is watching, and the control unit can display the on / off state of the other party's television and the program information on his / her TV screen.
This makes it possible to see in real time how the other party is watching TV during their daily actions of watching TV, and can confirm the other party's safety.
Further, the transmitted information is, for example, transmission image appreciation information by the other party, and the control unit that has received this information sets its own TV screen to display the transmission image appreciation state.
For example, when an image such as a digital photo or digital video of a child is sent to a remote parent using the e-mail function, the parent can see whether or not the video has been viewed on his / her TV screen. It is possible to communicate more closely through images that inform the current situation.

The above embodiment also discloses an operation unit, a normal function unit that functions in response to normal operation of the operation unit, a detection unit that detects abnormal operation of the operation unit, and a predetermined communication destination in response to the detection unit. And an emergency transmission information generating unit for automatically transmitting predetermined transmission information. An apparatus operating device having a communication function is provided.
If the person feels something abnormal, it may be possible to contact an acquaintance or family member using a mobile phone or make a 119 call. However, even if there are abbreviated dialing and a telephone directory function, if the person is in a panic state or is not conscious, the operation is not always easy. Fortunately, even if the phone is connected, the person is not always in a state where the situation can be spoken verbally.
On the other hand, when a dedicated emergency call device is provided, the operation is simple and the number of notification destinations and requirements is limited, but false alarm operations are likely to occur. Moreover, since it may not operate for many years if it is safe, it is possible to forget that there is an operation method or a device itself, or to be useless when the device runs out of batteries.
On the other hand, the operating device disclosed by the above embodiment uses an operating device having a communication function that is used every day, and even if the person can no longer operate normally, an abnormality that tends to be in such a state. When an operation is detected, the specified communication information is automatically transmitted to the specified communication destination, so it is possible to report an emergency situation, there is little fear of false alarms, and training and maintenance for reporting are also required It provides a reporting means that does not.
As such an operation device, a TV remote control can be specifically considered, but it can also be implemented as a normal telephone or a mobile phone.

  The present invention can be applied to an image device for viewing digital photographs using electronic mail.

8, 12 Screen 15, 16 Communication function unit 5, 9 Control unit 6, 10 Storage unit 63 Notification unit 7, 11 Manual operation unit

Claims (6)

A screen that can display an image, a storage unit that stores digital photo information that can be displayed on the screen, and an email attached with information from a specific communication partner registered in advance are automatically received and A communication function unit that does not automatically receive e-mails from other than a specific communication partner, and an e-mail from the specific communication partner that is automatically received by the e-mail communication function unit is automatically opened and attached to the opened e-mail. A storage control unit for automatically storing the digital photo information in the storage unit, and automatically displaying on the screen that the digital photo information from the specific communication partner is newly received and is automatically stored in the storage unit and is not yet viewed. It has a display control unit, the field having a communication function, wherein the incoming display of the normal E-mail is performed for E-mail that is not automatically opened without being automatically received Viewing devices. The display control unit has a manual operation unit, and in response to the operation of the manual operation unit, the digital photo information is newly stored and automatically stored in the storage unit and undisplayed to indicate that it is unviewed, 2. The image appreciation apparatus having a communication function according to claim 1, wherein the communication function unit transmits newly arrived image appreciation information to the specific communication partner in response to an operation of the manual operation unit. Image viewing device having a communication function according to claim 1, wherein the incoming display of the normal E-mail is not performed for E-mail from the specific communication partner is automatically received is automatically opened. A screen that can display an image, a storage unit that stores digital photo information that can be displayed on the screen, and an email attached with information from a specific communication partner registered in advance are automatically received and A communication function unit that does not automatically receive e-mails from other than a specific communication partner, and an e-mail from the specific communication partner that is automatically received by the e-mail communication function unit is automatically opened and attached to the opened e-mail. A storage control unit for automatically storing the digital photo information in the storage unit, and automatically displaying on the screen that the digital photo information from the specific communication partner is newly received and is automatically stored in the storage unit and is not yet viewed. and a display control unit, the communication function unit is the E-mail of the to a specific communication partner automatically creates, automatically attach a digital photograph information to E-mail created automatically As well as signal, the display control section, the image viewing apparatus having a communication function, characterized by automatic display that has transmitted the digital photograph information attachment E-mail to said specific communication partner on the screen. When receiving the new image appreciation information about the digital photo information transmitted from the specific communication partner, the display control unit displays a display indicating that the digital photo information attached email is transmitted to the specific communication partner. 5. The image appreciation device having a communication function according to claim 4, wherein the image appreciation device automatically deletes the image. The display control unit has a manual operation unit, and in response to the operation of the manual operation unit, the digital photo information is newly stored and automatically stored in the storage unit and undisplayed to indicate that it is unviewed, 6. The image appreciation apparatus having a communication function according to claim 4, wherein the communication function unit transmits newly arrived image appreciation information to the specific communication partner in response to an operation of the manual operation unit.

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