JPH0775173A - Equipment controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an extremely convenient equipment control system when there are a lot of kinds of equipments or plural unskilled equipments exist by providing an operation as requested even without being especially conscious of the operating method of the target equipment when a user inputs the request in a prescribed form. CONSTITUTION:When a user tries inputting the request to observe the movie of 'Gone with the wind' through a user input/output part 1010, a CPU 130 on the side of a controller 100 is provided with a control procedure by accessing a storage part 120. When a command from the side of the device 100 is received, on the side of a terminal, the command is analyzed, and it is retrieved by accessing the program information list of a storage part 13 whether the movie 'Gone with the wind' exists in the category of movie or not. In this case, since the TV terminal owns the relevant program, the required information of a terminal ID and a channel number or the like is transmitted to the controller 100. When the user inputs the request without designating the title, the owning of any movie is inquired to all the terminals, and any one of responding terminals is selected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device controller for centrally controlling the operation of a plurality of devices such as AV devices installed in a home.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a technique for controlling equipment, particularly home electric appliances, a system for controlling by sending a control signal to an equipment connected to a control bus (hereinafter referred to as a home bus system). There are various types.
In a home bus system, data (address) designating a device to be controlled and the contents of control to be performed on the device are controlled according to a control procedure prepared in advance or a control procedure directly input by a certain input means. Device control is performed by generating a control signal composed of data (command) representing the data and sending the control signal to the control bus. In a home bus system, buttons for instructing “TV power on” or “CD (compact disc) player playback” are generally provided on the operation panel, and the user who controls the equipment presses those buttons. The corresponding control signal is thereby sent to the control bus.
Therefore, when the user wants to listen to a certain music by the CD player, the user presses the "CD player power on" button provided on the operation panel and then performs the operation such as pressing the "CD player play on" button. You can listen to your desired music.

[0003]

By the way, what the user who wants to perform the above-mentioned operation originally desires is that he / she wants to watch a movie or listens to ΔΔΔ music. Nevertheless, in the above home bus system, unless the user knows the device identification information that realizes his / her desire and knows how to operate the device, the user's request cannot be realized, which is troublesome for the user. It is an endless thing. In particular, since the number of types of home appliances has increased in recent years, and because they are becoming more sophisticated, the types of device operations have also increased, and it is often difficult to perform accurate pointing operations. Has become.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device control system which enables a user to easily realize an operation as he or she desires, without being aware of how to operate the device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention of claim 1, a transmission line is provided which includes a main terminal for inputting a user's request and an equipment terminal equipped with an apparatus for realizing the user's request. A device control system connected through a storage unit, which has a request reception unit that receives a request from a user in a predetermined format, a storage unit that has a correspondence table of request contents written in a predetermined format, and control procedures described in a predetermined rule. A reading means for reading the control procedure corresponding to the user's request from the storage means; a corresponding device identification information acquiring means for interpreting the read control procedure and acquiring the device identification information for realizing the user's request. Execution instructing means for sending a command for executing the content requested by the user to the device of the device identification information through a transmission path; and execution control means for receiving the command and controlling the operation of the device. Characterized in that it comprises a.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the device control system according to the first aspect, the request receiving means has a receiving section that receives an object requested by the user and a receiving section that receives the requested processing content. Is characterized by. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the equipment control system according to the second aspect, the storage means describes a control procedure of a predetermined rule corresponding to a set of an object and a processing content.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the device control system according to the third aspect, the control procedure is that any device has a target, has a predetermined function, or is in an ON state. And an execution statement for identifying a device based on a reply to the inquiry and executing the request. The corresponding device identification information acquisition means has a function unit for interpreting and executing the inquiry message,
The execution instructing means has a functional unit for interpreting and executing an execution statement.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the device control system according to the fourth aspect, the device terminal further accepts an inquiry from the main terminal, and when the device of the own terminal has a content related to the inquiry, a reply is sent. It is characterized by having a response means for transmitting. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the device control system according to the fifth aspect, the device included in the terminal is an audiovisual device such as a TV, a VTR, a CD player, and each terminal further includes a device included in its own terminal. It is provided with a program information table in which the held programs are organized by genre, and the response means of each terminal searches the corresponding genre of the program information table when the inquiry from the main terminal is an inquiry of the program holding. And

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the equipment control system according to the fourth aspect, the equipment provided in the equipment terminal is an audiovisual equipment such as a TV, a VTR, a CD player, etc., and the main terminal further comprises When the inquiry from the device identification information acquisition means is a program possession inquiry, the program information table in which the programs possessed by the equipment are organized by genre,
The program information table is searched for a corresponding genre, and a reply section for making a reply when the genre is held is provided.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device control system in which a main terminal for inputting a user's request and a device terminal having a device for realizing the user's request are connected via a transmission line. Request reception means for accepting the request of the target separately from the target and the processing content of what to do with the target, and device identification information uniquely determined from the target and the processing content, and necessary to realize the user's request. Applicable device indexing means for determining the operation mode of the device, control procedure generation means for generating a control procedure of a predetermined format from the indexed device identification information and the operation mode of the device, and interpreting and indexing the created control procedure. And an execution control unit that receives a command and controls the operation of the device.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the device control system according to the eighth aspect, the corresponding device indexing means provides the user with a request for realizing the user's request corresponding to a set of the object and its processing content. A first table in which output forms that need to be provided are described, a second table in which input forms and output forms of the device are described corresponding to each processing content of each device, and a user Is used to search the first table, and an output form search unit that obtains an output form for realizing the request, and device identification information that holds the target object are used to search the second table. A determination unit that determines the output form of the device to be output and determines whether the output form matches the output form obtained from the first table;
The device identification information having the output form obtained from the table as the input form is obtained from the second table, and is sent to the determination unit as a target for comparing the output form of the device with the output form obtained from the first table. And a dependent device detection unit that repeats the above operation until a determination is made that the device determines a candidate on the second table when the determination unit determines a match. In the case of a single device, a control procedure for creating the processing content requested by the user is created, and in the case where there are a plurality of candidates for the device on the second table, the control procedure for connecting the devices in the order of the candidates. It is characterized by creating.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the device control system according to the ninth aspect, the corresponding device indexing means further holds which device possesses the target object requested by the user prior to the determination by the determination section. It is characterized by having an inquiring section for inquiring whether or not each device terminal, and a response receiving section for receiving a reply from the apparatus holding the object to the inquiry.

According to the invention of claim 11, claim 10 is provided.
In the device control system described above, the device terminal is further characterized by having a response means for receiving an inquiry from the main terminal and transmitting a response when the device of the own terminal has the content related to the inquiry. According to the invention of claim 12, in the equipment control system according to claim 11,
The device included in the terminal is an audiovisual device such as a TV, a VTR, and a CD player, and each terminal further includes a program information table in which the programs included in the device included in the terminal are arranged by genre. The reply means of the terminal is characterized in that when the inquiry from the main terminal is an inquiry about holding a program, the corresponding genre of the program information table is searched.

[0014]

According to the invention of claim 1, when the user inputs a request in a predetermined format, the reading means reads the control procedure corresponding to the request from the storage means, and the corresponding equipment identification information acquiring means reads the control procedure. To acquire the device identification information that realizes the user's request, and notify the execution instruction unit of the device identification information. Upon receiving this notification, the execution instructing means transmits a command for executing the content requested by the user to the device of the name connected to the transmission path. On the other hand, the device connected to the transmission path has an execution control means, which receives the command and controls the operation of the device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the request content is input in the form of a combination of an object such as a movie name and a music name requested by the user and a processing content of how to process the object. It According to the invention of claim 3, in the storage means,
Since the control procedure of the predetermined rule is described corresponding to the set of the object and the processing content, the control procedure can be immediately obtained from the user's request and can be provided for interpretation / execution.

According to the invention of claim 4, the contents of the control procedure are composed of an inquiry sentence for the device and an execution sentence for specifying the device based on the reply to the inquiry and executing the request. The device identification information requested by the user can be obtained from all the devices connected to the transmission path by using the inquiry sentence, and the execution instructing unit can instruct the corresponding device by using the execution sentence.

According to the invention of claim 5, since the device terminal side receives the inquiry sentence from the main terminal and sends the reply only when the inquiry terminal has the contents related to the inquiry, the main terminal side sends the reply device to the user. It can be determined that the device fulfills the requirement of. According to the inventions of claims 6 and 7, when the terminal device is the audiovisual device, the program information is provided, and when the inquiry from the main terminal is an inquiry about the possession of the predetermined program, the program information table is searched. However, it will reply to the main terminal only if it owns it.

According to the invention of claim 8, the storage means for storing the control procedure as in claim 1 is not provided, and instead, the device identification information and the request are realized from the target object and the processing content requested by the user. The operation mode of the equipment required for is calculated, and the control procedure is dynamically created based on these information. Controlling the corresponding device using the created control procedure is the same as in claim 1.

According to the invention of claim 9, even when the user's request is realized by the cascade connection of two or more devices by the two tables, the output form search unit, the determination unit, and the slave device detection unit. Those devices, operation modes, and connection order are determined. According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, each device terminal is queried as to which device holds the target product requested by the user, and the corresponding device is determined in response to the reply from the device holding the target product.

Since the inventions of claims 11 and 12 are the same as those of claims 5 and 6, the description thereof will be omitted.

[0021]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a device control system as an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the present system includes home electric appliances such as a television 10, a video tape recorder 20, an audio tuner 30, a CD player 40, and a laser disc player 50, and a home control bus (hereinafter referred to as a control bus) 60. And a device control device 100 for controlling the operation of these devices via the. Then, the device control apparatus 100 centrally controls the operation of the home electric device or the like by sending a control signal to a desired device via the control bus 60.

FIG. 2 shows the equipment control device 100 and each terminal 10.
~ 50 block configurations are shown. Equipment control device 10
0 is a user input / output unit 110, a storage unit 120, a CPU 13
0 and a transmitter / receiver 140. User input / output unit 110
Is a portion for inputting user's wishes and requests, and displaying a reply from the device side to the user's wishes, and is composed of a keyboard and a CRT 150. As an input method, for example, in the case of inputting a request to watch a movie with the title “Gone with the Wind”, the CRT 150 shown in FIG.
In the input screen of, the movie “Gone with the wind” is entered in the “Target” column 151, and “Watch” is entered in the “Processing content” column 152. Although the output method is not shown, a comment is displayed on the display screen ("The requested program name, movie, or music cannot be found.", "The requested program is 8: 0pm today.
It will be broadcast from 0 to 9:00. "," We have set the recording set for the program you requested. ").

The storage unit 120 stores a table including a target field 121, a processing content field 122, and a control procedure field 123, as shown in FIG. The target field 121 is for movies, music, etc. that the user may request.
The target that can be provided on any terminal such as the weather forecast is described. Na of [, name] in the target field
me is a place to specify the title of movie, music, etc.,
[] Indicates that the title specification can be omitted. “View” is displayed in the processing content field 122.
Described is a mode in which the terminal can process target contents such as “record” and “listen”.

In the control procedure field 123, the procedure necessary for realizing the user's request specified by the object and the processing content is described in a predetermined rule or language. Prior to the explanation of each control procedure, some of the main terms used in them are explained. -WhichHas: whichHas (type, name) Inquires whether all terminals have a program (software) of the existing type and name.

The return values are equipment and arg1, arg2, ...
A structure that has as a member. equipment A terminal that has a specified program arg1, arg2, ... A list of arguments that should be specified when "show" is instructed to that terminal. whichCan: whichCan (function) Do all terminals have a function function? Inquiries about whether or not.

The return values are equipment and arg1, arg2, ...
A structure that has as a member. equipment A terminal with the specified function arg1, arg2, ... A list of arguments that should be specified when executing the specified function ・ whichIs: whichIs (status) Inquire whether all terminals are in status status .

The return value is the corresponding terminal: execute: execute (equipment, command, arg1, arg2, ...) The command co with the arguments arg1, arg2 ,.
Instruct to execute mmand. -Connect: connect (equipment1, equipment2) Connects the output of device equipment 1 to the corresponding input of device equipment 2.・ Where: Indicates that execution is to be performed under the conditions that follow.

Next, the control procedure of FIG. 4 will be described in order from the first stage. First, the control procedure 123a of the first stage
Asks whether any terminal owns the movie of the title indicated by name, and requests the terminal to execute "show" using the owning terminal as a return value. . However, na
When me is omitted, the genre "movie" is simply used as a key to inquire about the possession of the genre, and the returned device is used as the return value.

The second-stage control procedure 123b is [, nam
The terminal that owns the movie specified in [e] is set as the return value 1, and the terminal having the function of "record Video" is set as the return value 2, and the equipm of the return value 1 is set.
Connect the output of ent to the input of equipment with return value 2 and input the equipment with return value 2 “rec
ord Video ”function is executed and the return value is 1
The content is to make the equipment execute "show".

Third- and fourth-stage control procedures 123c, 12
In 3d, the format of the statement is the same as the control procedures 123a and 123b of the first and second stages, only the difference between the movie and the music. The control procedure 123e of the fifth step is "we
A terminal capable of reporting a program of "other forecast" is used as a return value for the terminal equipment.
The content is to execute "show".

Control procedures 123f and 123g for the sixth and seventh stages
Sets the terminal in the ON state to running and
ume UP "volume down" terminal as a return value, the terminal indicated by the return value and r
The terminal that is running is compared, and if the terminal indicated by the return value is running, "volumeU
P "" volume down "is executed. Although Fig. 4 shows only the above-mentioned seven types of requests and corresponding control procedures, an air conditioner, an electric shutter, etc. are provided as terminals. If so, it is possible to provide a request and a control procedure corresponding to those terminals.

When a request is input from the user input / output unit 110, the CPU 130 is a functional unit that searches the storage unit 120 to obtain a corresponding control procedure and interprets and executes the control procedure. Is shown in. The transmission / reception unit 140 is a transmission / reception unit that causes the content transmitted from the CPU 130 to flow on the bus 60 and receives a response from the terminal. Next terminal 10
Is a transmission / reception unit 11, a CPU 14, a clock 12, and a storage unit 1.
3, device input / output unit 15, device main body 16, and control information input unit 17. Since the other terminals 20, 30, ... Have substantially the same configuration, the terminal 10 is representatively shown in FIG.

The device body 16 refers to a control target itself such as a television or an audio tuner. The transmission / reception unit 11 has the same configuration and function as the transmission / reception unit 140 on the control device 100 side.
The clock 12 counts the current time and notifies the CPU 12 of the current time when requested by the CPU 14. The storage unit 13 stores a command table and information determined by the type of device body. For example, when the terminal is a television, as shown in FIG. 6, a field 141 in which genres such as movie, music, and sports are entered, and a field 142 in which broadcasting times, channels, and program names of all programs belonging to the genre are listed. A program information table consisting of is stored. The storage of the program guide in the storage unit 13 is performed through the control information input unit 17. Control information input unit 17
May be a character input means such as a keyboard, or if the service for transmitting the program guide as character information in the character multiplex broadcasting is received, the character information is received,
Means for writing to the storage unit is used. In addition, a card reader corresponds to the case where the program guide is written in the IC card.

FIG. 7 shows a command table which is another storage information of the storage unit 13. This command table is for the case where the terminal is a television, and the command sent from the control device 100 and the information necessary for controlling the device body 16 according to the contents of the command are displayed in association with each other. There is. 8, 9, 10 and 11 show that the terminal is an audio tuner and a VT.
The example of the program information table and command table in the case of R is shown.

The CPU 14 receives the control information from the control device 100, and based on the received information, the storage unit 13, the clock 12
Is a functional unit that retrieves and refers to and returns a response to the control device 100 or controls the device body 16 to perform a predetermined operation. Details of the control are shown in FIG. The device input / output unit 15 is the CPU 1
Switch the device main body 16 to the switch O based on the control information from
It is a functional unit for turning on, changing the channel, and setting the recording mode.

Next, the operation of the above equipment control system will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 12. For example, if the user inputs through the user input / output unit 110 that he / she wants to watch the movie "Gone with the Wind" (S1), the control device 100 is displayed.
The side CPU 130 accesses the storage unit 120 and acquires the control procedure 123a of FIG. 4 (S2). Then, it interprets the control procedure and inquires of all terminals whether or not they own the movie of the title (S3).

When the terminal side receives the command from the control device 100 side (S11), the command is analyzed (S1).
2). Since the received command is an inquiry command for holding a program (S13), the program information table of the storage unit 13 is accessed to search for "go with the wind" in the genre of movie (S16). In this case, since no other program except the television terminal owns the corresponding program, no response is given to the control device 100 except the television terminal. However, in the case of the television terminal, since the corresponding program is owned, the terminal ID
Then, necessary information such as a channel number is transmitted to the control device 100 (S17).

When the user inputs the request without designating the title as described above, S1, S
2. Through the process of S3, either of the mo
It inquires whether or not the user owns the movie, and waits for a response from the terminal side that owns the movie (S17). Upon receiving the response from the device terminal, the control device 100 side determines that there is a terminal that owns the program or some movie (S4), and issues a command "show" to the terminal.
And the channel number is sent as n (S5). If there is more than one terminal that has returned a response (S
In 8), the user is notified to that effect through the monitor screen, and the user is made to select one as a desired terminal (S9).
Send the command only to the relevant terminal.

Upon receiving the command from the control device 100, the television terminal analyzes the command, determines that it is an execution command (S13, S14, S15), and executes the command (S22). The command is executed after recognizing from the command table (FIG. 7) that the "show n" command is power-on and channel switching. Then, the execution result is returned to the control device 100 (S23). When the control device 100 receives the reply, C
A message such as “21:00 to 23:21, the desired program will be broadcast on the television” is displayed on the RT screen (S6).

The above operation is for a request to watch a predetermined program or to watch a movie regardless of title, but any request can be realized as long as the control procedure shown in FIG. 4 is prepared. it can. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an interaction sequence between the control device and the terminal when the user inputs a request to know the weather forecast. From the figure, it can be seen that the television 1 that owns the weather forecast program operates (switches on, switches channels) and has a system for reporting the weather forecast.

In the above embodiment, each terminal has the program information table shown in FIGS. 6, 8 and 10 and the command table shown in FIGS. On the other hand, each terminal responds with reference to its own program information table, and the terminal controls the device body by changing the command sent from the control device 100 from the command table to predetermined control information. The program information table and command table of the terminal can be implemented in a form held by the control device 100 side. In that case, the inquiry from the control device 100 to each terminal is almost unnecessary, and only the control information such as "switch on" or "switch channel to n" is transmitted from the control device to the terminal. FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of such a device control system.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above embodiment, the control procedure stores the control procedure corresponding to the set of the target and the processing content as shown in FIG. 4, and reads and interprets the appropriate control procedure in response to the request from the user. Although it has been configured to execute, in this embodiment, the control procedure shown in FIG. 4 is not provided, and the control procedure is dynamically generated based on the user's request. That is, in this embodiment, the storage unit 120 of the control device 100 has the tables of FIGS. 15 and 16, and the CPU 130 is configured to proceed with the processing according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 17 and 18. FIG. 15 is a table including a target field 121, a processing content field 122, and an output field 123.
1 and the processing content field 122 are the same as the corresponding portions in the table of FIG. 4, and the target input by the user and the mode of processing are described. In the output field 123, the final output form determined by the combination of the target and the processing content is described. For example, if the target is "movie" and the processing content is "view", both audio and video are output forms, and if the target is "movie" and the processing content is "record", a video tape, The output form is an audio / video recordable medium such as a digital video disc. In the output field 123, the mark * means that both output forms on both sides of the mark are required, and the mark + means that either one of them is required.

FIG. 16 is a table including a device field 131, a command field 132, an input field 133, and an output field 134. Equipment field 131
Lists the types of devices that can be terminal devices. In the command field 132, a command name that can be instructed to the device is described. In the command field, n indicates the nth program or n channel. The input field 133 and the output field 134 respectively describe the input form to the device and the output form of the device.

The contents of the output field 123 shown in FIG. 15 and the contents of the input field 133 and output field 134 shown in FIG. For example, the “audio / video recordable medium” in the output column of FIG. 15 indicates a medium (video tape, digital video disk, etc.) capable of recording both audio and video, and this is the output column of FIG. The value of "video tape" or the like is suitable.

"Voice recordable medium" indicates a medium on which voice can be recorded. Although "audio tape" is suitable in the values in the output column of FIG. 16, it is "video tape". This is likewise suitable as voice can be recorded. Therefore, the storage unit of the main terminal stores the tree structure showing the inclusion relationship as shown in FIG. 19, and the values obtained from the output field of FIG. 15 and the values obtained from the input field 133 and the output field 134 of FIG. I am determining if there is.

Next, a method of dynamically generating a control procedure from a request input by a user will be described with reference to the above tables and FIGS. 17 and 18. First, when the user inputs the target and the processing content (S31), the final output form determined by the set of the input target and the processing content is read from the output field 133 with reference to the table of FIG. 16 (S32). continue,
An inquiry is made to each terminal device as to whether or not it holds the target input by the user (S33). As a result of this inquiry, a response to that effect and a command for transmission to the device are received from the device holding the target (S34). In this case, if there is no response from any of the devices that the device is owned, a message to that effect is displayed through the user input / output unit 110 (S35). On the other hand, if there is a reply, the table of FIG. 16 is searched using the device identification information and the command name to be transmitted, and the corresponding input / output information is read from the input field 133 and the output field 134 (S36), The read set of input and output information is stored as one record as a candidate path of the candidate path list set in the storage unit (S37). Here, the terms used in the steps after step S37 will be explained prior to the explanation of the operation. First, "Record"
Is a set of input and output information described in the input field 133 and the output field 134 in the same row in FIG.
Each record is accompanied by information on what line it is in FIG. "Path" is one record or S
A record string obtained by combining a plurality of records by the processing of 42. A “candidate path” is a path that may not be a final requirement but may be part of it. The “list of candidate paths” is a list of candidate paths to be processed, and the place for storing the list is set in the storage unit. The “target candidate path” refers to the candidate path currently focused on. The "request fulfillment path" is a path that has all the records necessary to fulfill the request. "List of required fulfillment paths" is a list of required fulfillment paths (multiple candidates).
A place for storing this list is provided in the storage unit.

When the creation of the list of candidate paths is completed in S37, the candidate path at the head of the list is read as the target candidate path and the path is deleted from the list (S38). Then, it is judged whether or not the output type at the end of the read target candidate path matches the output type obtained from the table of FIG. 15 (S39), and when they do not match, the table of FIG. 16 is searched. A record which has the output type at the end of the target candidate path as an input type and whose output type is not included in any of the records of the target candidate path is taken out (S40). Then, this record is added to the end of the target candidate path to create a new candidate path (S42), and the new candidate path is additionally stored in the candidate path list.

Here, the case where the output types do not match in S39 occurs when the user's request is to record movie or music. For example, it is assumed that the user inputs a request to record a movie of a certain title and inquires of all the devices, and as a result, there is a TV and a video tuner as the devices holding the movie of the title. The records obtained from the input field 133 and the output field 134 of the table of FIG. 16 using the replies from these devices are “radio wave” “video signal, audio signal” or “radio wave” “video, audio”. On the other hand, since the output type obtained from the table of FIG. 15 based on the above-mentioned request from the user is “audio / video recordable medium”, it is different from the output type of the record obtained from FIG. In this case, step S40
16. In FIG. 16, a record having the output type of the record as the input information of the input field is searched from FIG. In the above example, when the device is a TV, the output information in the output field is “video, audio”, and there is no device having this as input information in FIG. 16, while when the device is a video tuner, the output field is Output information is "video signal, audio signal", and there are two types of devices having this as input information, that is, VTR and TV. Therefore S
At 42, the records corresponding to these two types of devices are combined with the record and stored in the list as a new candidate path. The output information of the VTR having "video signal, audio signal" as input information is "video tape", and the output information of the TV having "video signal, audio signal" as input information is "video, audio". Figure 1 shows these two output types.
Comparing with the output type obtained from No. 5, it can be seen that the output information of the VTR matches. If the output information matches the output type, the process proceeds to step S43.

The output type at the end of the target candidate path is shown in FIG.
If the output type does not match (S39), S40, S
The process of 42 and S38 is repeated to generate a new candidate path. On the other hand, if it is determined in S39 that they match, the target candidate path at that time is stored in the requested realization path list (S43), the new candidate path at the head of the candidate path list is read again, and the steps S38 to S44 are executed. Processing will be performed. Then, when no candidate path exists in the candidate path list (S44), the process proceeds to S45 and thereafter. That is, for each request fulfillment path in the request fulfillment path list, it is checked whether a device having each record as an element of the request fulfillment path exists on the bus (S45), and if there is no device, an error message is displayed (S47). If it exists (S46), if it is a single request fulfillment path, the path is taken out. If there are multiple requests fulfillment path (S48), the request fulfillment path selected by the user (S49) is taken out, and the path is constructed. Based on each record, referring to FIG. 16, a plurality of devices must be combined in order to realize the request, but it is determined whether a single device is sufficient (S5).
0). If the request to record a movie as in the example described above can be realized by the combination of the video tuner and the VTR, the process proceeds to S52, and the control procedure is performed so that the two devices are connected in the searched order. create. As a result, the output of the video tuner is connected to the input of the VTR according to the created control procedure, and then the command is sent to each device. As a result, the user's request is realized.

On the other hand, when the number of devices that fulfill the request is single, a predetermined execution command is created in S51 and sent to the device (S53). Although the table of FIG. 16 is created and held in advance on the main terminal side in the above-described embodiment, it may be created each time an inquiry is made to the device terminal if necessary.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, the user only needs to input a request in a predetermined format, and the required operation can be realized without being particularly conscious of the operation method of the target device. Therefore, this is an extremely convenient device control system when there are many types of devices or when there are a plurality of devices that are unfamiliar.

In addition, if the control procedure can be dynamically created as in the eighth aspect of the invention, there is an effect that it is possible to flexibly cope with the case where a device is newly added on the transmission path.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a device control system as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a main terminal and a device terminal of the device control system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a screen for inputting a request from a user in the main terminal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a table held by a main terminal side storage unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a control operation on the main terminal side.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a program information table stored in a storage unit on the device terminal side.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a command table stored in a storage unit on the device terminal side.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a program information table stored in a storage unit on the device terminal side.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a command table stored in a storage unit on the device terminal side.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a program information table stored in a storage unit on the device terminal side.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a command table stored in a storage unit on the device terminal side.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a control operation on the device terminal side.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an interaction sequence between a main terminal and a device terminal.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a view for explaining still another embodiment of the present invention,
It is a table held in the storage unit of the main terminal.

FIG. 16 is a view for explaining still another embodiment of the present invention,
It is a table held in the storage unit of the main terminal.

FIG. 17 is a view for explaining still another embodiment of the present invention,
It is a flow chart which shows control operation in a main terminal.

FIG. 18 is a view for explaining still another embodiment of the present invention,
It is a flow chart which shows control operation in a main terminal.

19 is a tree diagram showing the inclusion relation of the objects described in the output column of FIG. 15 and the input / output column of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 main terminal 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 device terminal 110 user input / output unit 120 storage unit 130 CPU 140 transmission / reception unit

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A device control system in which a main terminal for inputting a user's request and a device terminal equipped with a device for realizing the user's request are connected through a transmission line, and the request from the user is accepted in a predetermined format. Request receiving means, storage means having a correspondence table of request contents written in a predetermined format and control procedures described in a predetermined rule, and reading means for reading control procedures corresponding to user requests from the storage means , A corresponding device identification information acquisition means that interprets the read control procedure and acquires device identification information that fulfills the user's request, and a command that executes the user's request content for the device of the acquired device identification information A device control system, comprising: an execution instruction unit that sends out via a command line; and an execution control unit that receives a command and controls the operation of the device. 2. The device control system according to claim 1, wherein the request receiving unit includes a receiving unit that receives a target requested by a user and a receiving unit that receives requested processing content. system. 3. The device control system according to claim 2, wherein the storage unit describes a control procedure of a predetermined rule corresponding to a set of an object and a processing content. 4. The device control system according to claim 3, wherein the control procedure includes whether any device has a target,
The corresponding device identification information acquisition means is composed of an inquiry sentence for inquiring whether the device has a predetermined function or is in an ON state, and an execution sentence for specifying a device based on a reply to the inquiry and executing the request. A device control system having a functional unit for interpreting and executing an inquiry sentence, and the execution instructing unit having a functional unit for interpreting and executing an executable sentence. 5. The device control system according to claim 4, wherein the device terminal further receives an inquiry from the main terminal,
A device control system having a response means for transmitting a response when the device of the own terminal has contents related to an inquiry. 6. The device control system according to claim 5, wherein the device included in the terminal is a video / audio device such as a TV, a VTR, or a CD player, and each terminal further has a program owned by the device included in the own terminal. Is provided for each genre, the response means of each terminal, when the inquiry from the main terminal is the inquiry of the program holding, the device characterized by searching the genre of the program information table Control system. 7. The device control system according to claim 4, wherein the device provided in the device terminal is a video / audio device such as a TV, a VTR, a CD player, and the main terminal further provides a program held by the device of each device terminal. When the inquiries from the device identification information acquisition means are inquiries about holding programs, the program information table arranged by genre is searched, and the corresponding genre in the program information table is searched.
A device control system, comprising: a reply unit that makes a reply when the device is held. 8. A device control system in which a main terminal for inputting a user's request and a device terminal equipped with a device for realizing the user's request are connected via a transmission line, wherein the user's request is a target object. Request reception means for separately accepting the target and the processing content of what to do with the target, device identification information uniquely determined from the target and the processing content, and an operation mode of the device necessary to realize the user's request. A corresponding device indexing means to be sought, a control procedure creating means for creating a control procedure of a predetermined format from the indexed device identification information and an operation mode of the device, and a user for the indexed device by interpreting the created control procedure. A device control system comprising: an execution instructing unit that sends out a command that realizes the above request; and an execution control unit that receives the command and controls the operation of the device. 9. The device control system according to claim 8, wherein the corresponding device indexing means needs to provide an output to the user in order to realize the user's request corresponding to the set of the object and its processing content. A first table in which the form is described, a second table in which the input form and the output form of the device are described corresponding to each processing content of each device, and the first table using the user's request The table of No. 1 is searched, and the output form search unit that obtains the output form for realizing the request, and the second table is searched by using the device identification information that holds the object, and the output form of the corresponding device The determination unit that determines the match between the output form obtained and the output form obtained from the first table and the device identification information that has the output form obtained from the second table as the input form if there is no match From the table Therefore, a slave device detection unit that sends the output form of the device to the determination unit as a target to be compared with the output form obtained from the first table, and repeats the above operation until the determination is a match. The control procedure generation means creates a control procedure that realizes the processing content requested by the user when the determination unit determines that there is a single candidate device on the second table. A device control system, wherein when there are a plurality of candidates for devices on the second table, a control procedure for connecting the devices in the candidate order is created. 10. The device control system according to claim 9, wherein the corresponding device indexing unit further determines to each device terminal which device holds a target object requested by the user, prior to the determination by the determination unit. A device control system comprising: an inquiry unit for making an inquiry, and a reply receiving unit for receiving a reply from the device that possesses the object in response to the inquiry. 11. The device control system according to claim 10, wherein the device terminal further receives an inquiry from the main terminal,
A device control system having a response means for transmitting a response when the device of the own terminal has contents related to an inquiry. 12. The device control system according to claim 11, wherein the device included in the terminal is an audiovisual device such as a TV, a VTR, or a CD player, and each terminal further has a program owned by the device included in the own terminal. Is provided for each genre, the response means of each terminal, when the inquiry from the main terminal is the inquiry of the program holding, the device characterized by searching the genre of the program information table Control system.