JPH096572A - Device and method for controlling information display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide information at low cost by reading the display data corresponding to the display capacity of a display device from application programs including plural of display data. CONSTITUTION: A graphic dispatcher inquires the display capacity of a display part (S1) and detects display capacity information (S2). Next, when the graphic dispatcher is requested to plot presentation information from an application program (S3), the graphic dispatcher requests the graphic context adaptive to the display capacity of the display part for the application program (S4). The adaptive graphic context is read from the application program (S5) and the read graphic context is supplied from the graphic dispatcher to a display driver.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information display control device and an information display control method, and more particularly to an information display control device in which the same application program operates regardless of the display capability of the display device on the user side. And an information display control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An information providing service system is realized as a database system or a personal computer communication system for connecting a user's terminal and an information providing device of an information provider by using a communication line or the like and extracting information desired by the user. .

The information provider provides the information in response to the user's request for information provision, and the user receives the information by displaying the information transmitted from the information provider on a television receiver or the like. .

FIG. 11 shows a display example of a television receiver owned by the user when a shopping application is provided from the information providing device,
The appearance of the product (in this case, a video tape recorder) is displayed in the window located in the upper left of the screen, and the function, features, and price of the product are displayed on the right side of the window. ) Is displayed at the bottom of the window.

Since the display as shown in FIG. 11 is made by bitmap graphics, the television receiver is a high-resolution bitmap such as VGA (Video Graphics Array) (video adapter released by IBM). It is required to have a graphics system.

[0006]

The above-mentioned V
Bitmap graphic systems such as GA are expensive and are rarely installed in consumer television receivers. Normally, the OSD that can display only letters and numbers is a function for displaying transmitted information.
(On Screen Display) and a character generator (Caracter Generator) that is a device that creates patterns such as somewhat advanced patterns (for example, brick patterns) and letters
The OSD provided above is used.

However, when the image information transmitted from the information provider requires a high level of display capability in displaying the image information (for example, when the image information as shown in FIG. 11 is transmitted), the television of the transmission destination. If the display capability of the receiver is lower than the required display capability (ie,
In the case where it has only a display function such as OSD and OSD including a character generator), the television receiver cannot display the transmitted image information.

Therefore, the conventional information providing apparatus prepares a plurality of application programs for one piece of provided information according to the display capability of the television receiver owned by each user, and displays the television receiver owned by the user. Transmit the application program corresponding to the ability,
Since the provided information is transmitted and displayed by executing it, it is necessary to create a plurality of application programs for the same information, which causes a problem of increasing cost.

Further, in such a conventional information providing apparatus, a platform such as an OS (Operating System) for managing a plurality of application programs is required, and there is a problem that the cost is further increased.

Further, in order to provide an application program corresponding to the display capability of the television receiver owned by the user, before the information provision is started, the display capability information of the television receiver is transmitted from the user to the information provider. Therefore, there is also a problem that communication redundancy increases and transmission line congestion occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide information at low cost.

[0012]

An information display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information display control apparatus causes display information to be provided and displayed on an information display section which receives and transmits the display data. From the capability detection means for detecting the information display capability of the display unit and the application program having a plurality of display data corresponding to a plurality of information display capabilities,
It is characterized in that it is provided with a reading means for reading the display data corresponding to the detection result of the capability detecting means and a providing means for providing the read display data to the information display section.

An information display control method according to a second aspect of the present invention detects an information display capability of an information display unit which receives and transmits display data and displays the application, and has an application having a plurality of display data corresponding to the plurality of information display capabilities. The display data corresponding to the detected information display capability is read from the program, and the read display data is provided to the information display unit for display.

According to another aspect of the information display control device of the present invention, in the information display control device for displaying predetermined information on the information display portion, storage means for storing a plurality of display data corresponding to the information display capability of the information display portion. And an output unit that receives data representing the information display capability from the information display unit and outputs display data of the corresponding information display capability to the information display unit.

[0015]

In the information display control device according to the present invention, the ability detecting means detects the information display ability of the information display section, and the reading means has an application having a plurality of display data corresponding to the plurality of information display abilities. The display data corresponding to the detection result of the capability detecting means is read from the program, and the providing means provides the read display data to the information display section.

In the information display control method according to the second aspect, the information display capability of the information display unit which receives and transmits the display data is detected, and the information display control unit has a plurality of display data corresponding to the plurality of information display capabilities. Display data corresponding to the detected information display capability is read from the application program, and the read display data is provided to the information display unit and displayed.

According to another aspect of the information display control device of the present invention, the storage means stores a plurality of display data corresponding to the information display capability of the information display section, and the output means includes the information display section. Upon receiving the data representing the information display capability, the display data of the corresponding information display capability is output to the information display unit.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, but before that, in order to clarify the correspondence between each means of the invention described in the claims and the following embodiments. To
The features of the present invention will be described below by adding a corresponding embodiment (but one example) in parentheses after each means.

An information display control device according to a first aspect of the present invention is an information display control device which provides display data to an information display unit which receives and transmits display data to display the display data.
The detection result of the capability detection unit is determined from the capability detection unit that detects the information display capability of the information display unit (for example, steps S1 and S2 in FIG. 4) and the application program that has a plurality of display data corresponding to the plurality of information display capabilities. It is characterized in that it is provided with reading means for reading the corresponding display data (for example, steps S4 and S5 of FIG. 4) and providing means for providing the read display data to the information display section (for example, step S6 of FIG. 4).

According to another aspect of the information display control device of the present invention, in the information display control device for displaying predetermined information on the information display section, storage means for storing a plurality of display data corresponding to the information display capability of the information display section. (For example, the storage section A1 of the application program in FIG. 4) and the information display section,
It is characterized by comprising an output unit (for example, step S5 of the application program of FIG. 4) which receives the data representing the information display capability and outputs the display data of the corresponding information display capability to the information display unit.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an information providing service system to which the present invention is applied. The information providing service system according to the present embodiment is a television that displays information by providing an information providing apparatus 1 that provides information and information provided by the information providing apparatus 1 (downloading information from the information providing apparatus 1). Information transmission between the information providing apparatus 1 and the television receiver 2 is performed by a wired communication network 3.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information providing device 1 of FIG. In this information providing device 1,
The information storage device 11 stores an application program of information to be provided to the user, and the encryption / decryption circuit 12 encrypts the information to be sent and supplies it to the conversion circuit 13 or the television receiver 2 The encrypted information transmitted from the communication network 3 is decrypted. The conversion circuit 13 converts the information encrypted by the encryption / decryption circuit 12 into transmission information in a predetermined format, and the communication interface unit 14
Is configured to transmit the transmission information in a predetermined data format from the conversion circuit 13 to the communication network 3, or receive the information transmitted from the television receiver 2 and transmitted through the communication network 3. . Hereinafter, the term "interface" is abbreviated as "I / F".

The ROM 15 stores a control program for controlling the sending of information, and the CPU 16 executes the control program stored in the ROM 15. The RAM 17 is configured to store various status data and the like according to the control program executed by the CPU 16. Further, the information storage device 11, the encryption / decryption circuit 12, the ROM 15, the CPU 16 and the RAM 1
Reference numeral 7 is connected to a system bus 18 of the CPU 16 including a data bus, an address bus, a control bus, and the like, and is configured to exchange data via the system bus 18.

Only one application program stored in the information storage device 11 is set for each piece of provided information, and this application program has a plurality of graphic contexts (for each display capability of the television receiver 2 on the user side). The text data of the additional information plus the image data) is included (in FIG. 4, which will be described later, expressed as graphic contexts of level 1, level 2 and level 3).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the television receiver 2 shown in FIG. This television receiver 2
Has a function of downloading an application program (provided information) stored in the information storage device 11 of the information providing device 1, executing the application program, and performing a predetermined display. The communication I / F unit 31 operates from the information providing device 1 to the communication network 3
To the encryption / decryption circuit 32.
Decrypts the information received by the communication I / F unit 31 and encrypted by the encryption / decryption circuit 12,
The information sent to the communication network 3 is encrypted.

The information storage device 33 is adapted to store the received application program (provided information). The ROM 34 includes a control program (described later) for controlling reception and display of information and a graphic dispatcher (Graphic Dispatcher) which is a program for detecting the display capability of the display unit 38 and reading out a graphic context corresponding to the detected display capability. Memorize, CPU
Reference numeral 35 executes a control program or the like stored in the ROM 34, and RAM 36 stores various status data or the like according to the control program executed by the CPU 35.

The operating device 37 is operated when the user inputs a desired command or the like, and the display section 38 displays the received provided information. Also, the encryption / decryption circuit 32, the information storage device 33, the ROM 34, the CP
U35, RAM36, operating device 37 and display unit 38,
CP consisting of data bus, address bus, control bus, etc.
System bus 4 connected to the system bus 40 of U35
Data is exchanged via 0.

The above-mentioned program stored in the ROM 34 includes a display driver (Display Driver) for drawing the provided information on the display unit 38, and the display capability of the display unit 38 is set in this display driver. Has been done. Therefore, the above-mentioned graphic dispacha reads the display capability of the display unit 38 from this display driver.

Next, the operation of the information providing service system of the present embodiment thus constructed will be described with reference to the flowchart of the information providing service system shown in FIG.

The user operates the operation device 37 to instruct the CPU 35 to request the desired information provision.
At this time, the CPU 35 executes the control program stored in the ROM 34, and the information storage device 1 of the information providing device 1
1 to generate a signal requesting the transmission of the application program stored in memory 1. This signal is sent to the communication network 3 via the communication I / F unit 31 and transmitted to the information providing device 1.

This signal is received by the communication I / F unit 14 of the information providing apparatus 1, supplied to the conversion circuit 13, the encryption / decryption circuit 12, and further supplied to the CPU 16 via the system bus 18. Upon receiving the supply of this signal, the CPU 16 reads out an application program desired by the user from a plurality of types of application programs stored in the information storage device 11.

The read application program is input to the encryption / decryption circuit 12 via the system bus 18 and encrypted. The application program encrypted by the encryption / decryption circuit 12 is supplied to the conversion circuit 13 and converted into a signal of a predetermined format so as to be transmitted to the communication network 3. The application program converted into a predetermined format is a communication I / F.
It is transmitted from the section 14 to the television receiver 2 via the communication network 3.

Communication I / F section 31 of television receiver 2
Receives the application program transmitted via the communication network 3 and supplies it to the encryption / decryption circuit 32. The encryption / decryption circuit 32 decrypts the encrypted application program and supplies it to the information storage device 33 via the system bus 40. Information storage device 33
Stores (downloads) the supplied application program.

In this way, when the application program is downloaded, the CPU 35 executes the application program. This is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1 of FIG.
The graphic dispatcher stored in the OM 34 requests the display driver to output data representing the display capability of the display unit 38. Next, step S2
In, the display driver reads the set display capability information of the display unit 38 and supplies it to the graphic dispatcher.

Therefore, in step S3, when the application program requests the graphic dispatcher to draw the additional information, the graphic dispatcher determines in step S4 the display unit 3
The application program is requested to send out a graphic context adapted to the display capability of 8 (detected in step S2).

In step S5, the application program supplies the graphic dispatcher with a graphic context adapted to the display capability of the display unit 38 in response to the request. That is, the graphic dispatcher detects the display capability of the display unit 38,
Read out the graphics context that matches the display capability.

When the graphic dispatcher reads the adaptive graphic context, it supplies the read graphic context to the display driver in step S6. The display driver displays the provided information on the display unit 38 according to the supplied graphic context.

Next, referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, the display unit 3
A specific example of the display capability of No. 8 will be described.

In this embodiment, the application program (for example, an application program for so-called TV shopping) corresponds to the display capability of the display unit 38 of the television receiver 2 arranged in each home. The following three types of graphic contexts are stored in the storage unit A1.

That is, the display unit 38 has a display function capable of displaying only text such as letters and numbers (for example, OS.
D) (when the display capability of the display unit 38 is level 1), the level 1 graphic context corresponding thereto, the display unit 38 can display a somewhat advanced pattern (for example, a brick pattern, etc.), a character shape, etc. A level 2 graphic context corresponding to a display function (for example, OSD including a character generator in RAM) (when the display capability of the display unit 38 is Level 2), and the display unit 38 has a bit such as VGA. When equipped with a map graphic system (display unit 38 has a display capability of level 3)
Case)), three types of graphic contexts of the level 3 graphic contexts are included in the application program (see the application program in FIG. 4).

When the display capability of the display unit 38 of the television receiver 2 is level 1, the graphic context of level 1 is read from the application program by the graphic dispatcher and displayed on the display unit 38 of the television receiver 2. It is displayed as shown in FIG. In this case, the external view of the product is not displayed, but the function, the feature, the price, and the selection command (“Purchase”, “Stop”, “Next page”) selectable by the user are displayed only in characters.

When the display capability of the display section 38 of the television receiver 2 is level 2, the graphic context of level 2 is read by the graphic dispatcher from the shopping application program, and the display shown in FIG. Done. In this case, the external view of the product is not displayed, but the selection commands (icons) that the user can select (“Purchase”, “Stop”, “Next page”) are the figures surrounded by the brick pattern, The display is more beautiful than in the case of level 1.

When the display capability of the display section 38 of the television receiver 2 is level 3, the graphic context of level 3 is read by the graphic dispatcher from the application program, and the display shown in FIG. It In this case, the external view of the product (video tape recorder) is displayed in the window arranged at the upper left of the screen, so that the user can confirm the external appearance of the product. Furthermore, a selection command (icon) (“purchase”, “stop”, “next page”) is displayed in a shape close to an actual operation button.

Next, in the information providing service system shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an EPG (Electrical Program Guide) is used.
de) will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10. Even in this case, the information storage device 1
It is assumed that the EPG application program stored in No. 1 includes three types (level 1, level 2, and level 3) of graphic contexts.

FIG. 8 is a display example of the display unit 38 of the level 1 graphic context. In this case, information such as the name of the TV station, the name of the selected TV station, the program name, and the content of the selected program is displayed on the screen only in characters and numbers (text). By operating the operating device 37, the user moves a cursor that is displayed brighter than other areas to select a program whose contents are desired to be known. Further, the selected program content and the selected television station name are displayed in correspondence with the position where the cursor is placed (in the case of the display instruction of FIG. 8, “Top 20 Countdown” is selected).

FIG. 9 is a display example of the display unit 38 of the level 2 graphic context. In this case as well, basically only characters are displayed as in level 1, but unlike in the case of level 1, the placement block of the cursor moved by the operation of the operating device 37 (in this case,
A block of “Top 20 Video Countdown” is displayed in a pattern different from the surroundings, and is displayed more easily than in the case of level 1.

FIG. 10 is a display example of the display unit 38 of the level 3 graphic context. In this case, since the display is done in bitmap graphics, all the display is
It is easy to see and is beautiful.

In this embodiment, a plurality of graphic contexts corresponding to the display capability of the display unit 38 are included in one application program, and the graphic dispatcher stored in the television receiver 2 (ROM 34) is used. Since the graphic context adapted to the display capability of the display unit 38 is read out, a platform for creating a plurality of application programs for each display capability and managing the plurality of application programs is provided as in the conventional case. It is not necessary to prepare, and information can be provided at low cost.

Further, since a plurality of graphic contexts corresponding to a plurality of display capabilities of the display device on the user side are included in the application program and the application program is provided to the user, the information from the user side to the information provider side is The transmission of the display capability information of the display device is omitted, and the problem of transmission line congestion is alleviated.

Even when a device having a new display capability is developed, a graphic context corresponding to the display capability is included in the application program in advance so that the application program can be executed without being changed. be able to.

Further, in the present embodiment, the television receiver having the download function is used as the information terminal device, but other information terminal devices (for example, personal computer and display device) may be used.

Since the graphic context described above has a large amount of data, a storage device such as a hard disk may be provided in the television receiver and stored in the storage device in advance.

In this embodiment, the communication network 3 is used as the information transmission path, but a satellite line is used as the information transmission path for the information transmitted from the information providing apparatus 1, and the user (television receiver) A telephone line may be used as a transmission path for information transmitted from 2) to the information providing apparatus 1.

The present invention is applicable not only to the interactive shopping application and EPG described above, but also to various application software.

[0056]

As described above, according to the information display control device and the information display control method of the present invention, the display data corresponding to the display capability of the display device can be read from the application program including a plurality of display data. Because I did
It is possible to provide information at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of an information providing service system to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information providing device 1 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a television receiver 2 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the information providing service system shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a level 1 graphic context in a shopping application.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a level 2 graphic context in a shopping application.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of a level 3 graphic context in a shopping application.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a level 1 graphic context in an EPG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example of a level 2 graphic context in an EPG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example of a graphic context of level 3 in the EPG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example when a shopping application is executed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Information Providing Device 2 Television Receiver 3 Communication Network 11 Information Storage Device 12 Encryption / Decryption Circuit 13 Conversion Circuit 14 Communication I / F Section 15 ROM 16 CPU 17 RAM 18 System Bus 31 Communication I / F Section 32 Encryption / Decoding circuit 33 Information storage device 34 ROM 35 CPU 36 RAM 37 Operating device 38 Display unit 40 System bus

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Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information display control device for providing and displaying the display data on an information display unit which receives and transmits the display data, and a capability detecting unit which detects an information display capability of the information display unit, Read means for reading the display data corresponding to the detection result of the capability detecting means from an application program having a plurality of display data corresponding to the plurality of information display abilities, and providing the read display data to the information display section. An information display control device, comprising: 2. The information display capability of an information display unit that receives and transmits display data is detected, and the detected information display is detected from an application program having a plurality of display data corresponding to the plurality of information display capabilities. Reading the display data corresponding to the capability, providing the read display data to the information display unit,
An information display control method characterized by displaying. 3. An information display control device for displaying predetermined information on an information display section, comprising: storage means for storing a plurality of display data corresponding to the information display capability of the information display section; An information display control device comprising: an input unit that receives data representing information display capability and outputs corresponding display data of the information display capability to the information display unit.