KR102269926B1 - Method, user device, computer program and user interface for providing information for task and input device - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for providing information about a task and an external device, a user terminal, a computer program, and a user interface are provided. A user terminal for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an external device information providing unit that obtains and provides information on one or more external devices connected through an external input terminal or a wireless network, currently A task information providing unit that obtains and provides information on one or more tasks being executed, and an information display unit that displays information on the external device and information on the task together on a screen, wherein the information display unit includes a first Information on the external device is displayed on an axis, and information on the task is displayed on a second axis of the screen.

Description

How to provide information about tasks and external devices, user terminals, computer programs, and user interfaces {METHOD, USER DEVICE, COMPUTER PROGRAM AND USER INTERFACE FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION FOR TASK AND INPUT DEVICE}

The present invention relates to a technology for providing information about a task and an external device.

Recently, as digital broadcasting is generalized and the penetration rate of IPTV increases, the technology of a broadcast receiving device such as a set-top box is also developed.

That is, unlike the early days of simply tuning a channel, a recent broadcast receiving apparatus can be connected to various external devices and provides a multi-tasking environment through the connected external devices.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method for simultaneously checking information on various external devices connected to the broadcast reception device and information on a currently executing task, and for conveniently converting a currently executing task to another task.

The present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and simultaneously check information on various external devices connected to a broadcast receiving device and information on a currently running task, and conveniently convert the currently running task into another task We want to provide you with a way to convert.

In order to achieve the above object, the user terminal for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention obtains information on one or more external devices connected through an external input terminal or a wireless network, An external device information providing unit that provides, a task information providing unit that obtains and provides information on one or more tasks currently being executed, and an information display unit that displays information on the external device and information on the task together on a screen, The information display unit may display information on the external device on a first axis of the screen and display information on the task on a second axis of the screen.

In order to achieve the above object, a method for a user terminal to provide information about a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention is (a) an external input terminal or one or more external devices connected through a wireless network. Acquiring information, (b) acquiring information on one or more tasks being executed, and (c) displaying information on the external device and information on the task together on a screen, wherein (c) ) step is characterized in that the information on the external device is displayed on a first axis of the screen, and information on the task is displayed on a second axis of the screen.

In order to achieve the above object, a computer program for providing information about a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that it includes a series of instructions for performing the method.

In order to achieve the above object, the user interface is displayed on the screen of the user terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention and provides information about an external device connected to the user terminal and a task being executed in the user terminal. An external device information display area in which information on one or more external devices connected through an input terminal or a wireless network is displayed and a task information display area in which information on one or more tasks being executed is displayed, wherein information on the external device and The information about the task is displayed together on the screen of the user terminal, the external device information display area is displayed on a first axis on the screen of the user terminal, and the task information display area is displayed on the second axis on the screen of the user terminal characterized in that it is displayed in

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously check information on various external devices connected to a user terminal and information on a task currently being executed in the user terminal, and conveniently switch the currently running task to another task. .

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-described effects, and it should be understood to include all effects inferred from the configuration of the invention described in the detailed description or claims of the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a system for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal that provides information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a user interface for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating a screen for providing information on a task and an external device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 to 9 are diagrams illustrating screens for providing information on a task and an external device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention may be embodied in several different forms, and thus is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

And in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is "connected" with another part, this includes not only the case where it is "directly connected" but also the case where it is "indirectly connected" with another member interposed therebetween. .

Also, when a part "includes" a certain component, it means that other components may be further included, rather than excluding other components, unless otherwise stated.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a system for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A system for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention may include the user terminal 100 and the external device 200 .

Briefly describing each component, the user terminal 100 may include a broadcast receiving device such as a digital TV or a set-top box, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, and the like, and may be connected to the external device 200 . It may include at least one of an external input terminal and a wireless network module.

1 illustrates a case in which a set-top box, which is a broadcast reception device, is used as an embodiment of the user terminal 100 .

Here, the 'external input terminal' is USB (Universal Serial Bus), HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface), DVI (Digital Video/Visual Interactive), composite, S-video (Separate-Video), component (component) , MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link), and the like, and the wireless network module may include a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiBro module, and the like.

Accordingly, the external device 200 may be connected to the user terminal 100 using at least one of an external input terminal and a wireless network.

The user terminal 100 recognizes the external input terminal and an external device connected to the wireless network, detects tasks currently being executed through the external device, and displays information about the external device and information about the task together on the screen. have.

In this case, the user terminal 100 may display the information on the external device and the information on the task on the axis (eg, a horizontal axis and a vertical axis) intersecting each other on the screen, or on the same axis (eg, on the same axis) , horizontal axis or vertical axis).

For reference, the task may include not only a task currently being executed through an external device, but also a task being executed in the user terminal 100 itself.

On the other hand, the external device 200 is a device that can be connected to the user terminal 100 through the external input terminal or a wireless network, for example, a game machine, DVD / MP3 player, USB storage (memory, external hard drive, etc.) , a smart phone, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, and the like, may include various devices.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal that provides information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The user terminal 100 for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an external device information providing unit 110 , a task information providing unit 120 , an information display unit 130 , and a task switching unit. (140).

When explaining each component, the external device information providing unit 110 recognizes the first external device connected to the external input terminal of the user terminal 100, obtains information on the recognized first external device, the information display unit ( 130) can be provided.

In addition, the external device information providing unit 110 recognizes a second external device connected to the user terminal 100 through a wireless network such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and obtains information on the recognized second external device. Thus, it can be provided to the information display unit 130 .

Meanwhile, the task information providing unit 120 detects a task being executed in the user terminal 100 , for example, an application, content, and the like, and information about the detected task (eg, name, icon, thumbnail image, etc.) may be obtained and provided to the information display unit 130 .

Here, the task may be performed by the first external device or the second external device, or may be performed by the user terminal 100 itself.

Also, when information on a plurality of tasks cannot be provided according to an external device, the task information providing unit 120 may obtain and provide only information on the final task.

For reference, the external device information providing unit 110 and the task information providing unit 120 provide information on recently used n external devices or tasks in order to relieve an overload on the memory (not shown) of the user terminal 100 . It may be provided by limiting the number of logs.

Meanwhile, the information display unit 130 may display information received from the external device information providing unit 110 and the task information providing unit 120 together on the screen.

In this case, the information display unit 130 may display information on the external device (the first external device and the second external device) on the first axis of the screen and display the task information on the second axis of the screen.

For example, the horizontal axis of the screen may display information about one or more tasks, and the vertical axis of the screen may display information about one or more external devices (or vice versa, that is, the vertical axis may display information about one or more external devices). Information about an external device may be displayed on a horizontal axis and information about a task may be displayed).

In this case, the user uses the up/down/left/right direction keys of the remote control (if the screen is a touch screen, using the up/down/left/right touches), information about the task displayed on the horizontal axis You can check the information on the external device displayed on the vertical axis.

At this time, when checking the information on the task displayed on the horizontal axis, the information on the external device displayed on the vertical axis is displayed to have a relatively high transparency compared to the information on the task, so that the information on the task is displayed on the external device. It can be more easily identified than information. Of course, the opposite is also true.

In addition, the information display unit 130 displays the information located in the center of the screen while checking the information on each axis by expanding the size of the information located in the center of the screen relatively larger than that of neighboring information. It can make the information more easily identified.

On the other hand, when any one of information on a task displayed on one axis (horizontal axis in the above embodiment) is selected, the task switching unit 140 may convert the task currently displayed on the screen to the selected task and display it on the screen. .

In this case, information on an external device that executes a corresponding task among the information on the external device displayed on the screen may be activated (emphasized) and displayed by the information display unit 130 .

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 may be performed by the user terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2 . Hereinafter, the flowchart of FIG. 3 will be described with the user terminal 100 as an execution subject.

The user terminal 100 receives a request for providing information about a task and an external device from a remote controller (not shown) (S301).

For reference, a request for providing information about a task and an external device may be requested when a hot key of a remote controller (not shown) is selected or entered through a separate menu.

After S301, the user terminal 100 recognizes at least one of the first external device connected to the external input terminal and the second external device connected through the wireless network (S302).

After S302, the user terminal 100 detects tasks performed by each external device (S303).

For reference, although it has been described that S302 is performed first and S303 is performed later, S303 may be performed first and S302 may be performed later.

After S303, the user terminal 100 displays information on one or more of the connected first external device and the second external device as a first axis (eg, a vertical axis) of the screen, the first external device or the second external device Information on the task being executed by the second axis (eg, horizontal axis) is displayed together on the screen (S304).

After S304, when any one of the tasks displayed on the horizontal axis is selected, the user terminal 100 converts the task currently displayed on the screen to the selected task and displays it on the screen (S305).

4 is a diagram illustrating a user interface for providing information on a task and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the user interface 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a task information display area 410 in which information on a plurality of tasks currently being executed is displayed on the horizontal axis of the screen and a vertical axis of the screen. The axis may include an external device information display area 420 in which information on a plurality of external devices currently connected to the user terminal 100 is displayed.

In this case, the information on the task may include one or more of the name, icon, and thumbnail image of the running application or content, and the information on the external device may include one or more of the name, icon, and thumbnail image of the corresponding external device. can

The user can use the left and right direction keys of the remote control to display information about a plurality of tasks displayed on the horizontal axis of the current screen (if the screen is a touch screen, use left and right touches) to display the information on the horizontal axis. Information on the task may be checked, and in this case, the transparency of the information on the external device displayed on the vertical axis may be set to be relatively higher than the information on the task.

In addition, the size of the thumbnail image of the task located in the center of the screen is displayed in a larger size than the thumbnail image size of other tasks located on the same axis, so that the identification of the corresponding information can be increased.

For reference, in FIG. 4 , the task information display area 410 is displayed on the horizontal axis and the external device information display area 420 is displayed on the vertical axis, so that the axes on which the two areas 410 and 420 are displayed intersect each other. However, the task information display area 410 and the external device information display area 420 may be displayed on the same axis.

For example, based on a horizontal axis passing through the center of the screen, the task information display area 410 may be displayed at the upper end of the horizontal axis, and the external device information display area 420 may be displayed at the lower end of the horizontal axis, respectively. Based on a passing vertical axis, the task information display area 410 may be displayed on the left side of the vertical axis and the external device information display area 420 may be displayed on the right side of the vertical axis, respectively.

5 is a diagram illustrating a screen for providing information on a task and an external device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 5, information on a plurality of external devices currently connected is displayed on the vertical axis of the screen, and the user uses the up/down direction keys of the remote control (if the screen is a touch screen, You can check each external device using touch).

For reference, in FIG. 5 , the transparency of information on a plurality of tasks displayed on the horizontal axis is set to be very high, and thus it is almost invisible.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the information on the external device located at the center of the screen may include the name and thumbnail image of the corresponding external device, and the information on the other external device located on the same axis includes the external input terminal and the external device. Only the name of is displayed and the thumbnail image may not be displayed.

6 is a diagram illustrating a screen for providing information on a task and an external device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 6 , as in the case shown in FIG. 4 , information on a plurality of external devices currently connected to the user terminal 100 is displayed on the vertical axis of the screen, and the user presses the up and down keys of the remote control. You can check each external device by using (if the screen is a touch screen, by using touch in the up/down direction).

At this time, as information about the external device 610 located in the center, the name and thumbnail image of the corresponding external device may be displayed. In addition, information on the tasks 611 and 612 currently being executed using the corresponding external device is displayed. It can be displayed in the margins of the screen.

For reference, when checking information about a task, the name and thumbnail image of the task may be displayed as information about the task, and the name or thumbnail image of an external device executing the task is displayed in the blank space of the screen. may be displayed.

7 and 8 are diagrams illustrating a screen for providing information on a task and an external device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a modified example of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 , and information about a task currently being executed by an external device located in the center (selected by the user) may be displayed on the horizontal axis of the screen.

In this case, information on the currently executing task may be displayed on the left or right side of the centrally located external device.

7 is a case in which information on a currently executing task is displayed on the right side of an external device located in the center. When the display space is insufficient, an icon 710 indicating that there are more tasks being executed is displayed as shown in FIG. 7 . may be, and when the corresponding icon 710 is selected, information about the remaining running tasks may be displayed in the display space.

FIG. 8 is a modified example of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 , in which information on a task currently being executed is displayed on the horizontal axis of the screen by an external device located in the center, and information on the currently executed task is displayed in the center of an external device located in the center. It may be divided and displayed on the left and right sides based on the device.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 , by consistently displaying information on a task being executed by an external device located in the center on the horizontal axis, when users use the user interface according to the embodiment of the present invention, users can efficiently external You can search and check information about devices and tasks.

9 is a diagram illustrating a screen for providing information on a task and an external device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Among the information about the task displayed on the horizontal axis, the information on the external device that executes the task (task 4) located in the center (selected by the user) is the upper part (of course, the lower part of the information about the task) as shown in FIG. ) can be displayed.

In this case, information on an external device executing a corresponding task may be consistently displayed on the vertical axis of the screen.

In FIG. 9 , the case in which information on an external device executing the task (task 4) is displayed alone on the vertical axis of the screen has been described, but in a state in which information on a plurality of external devices is displayed on the vertical axis of the screen, Information on an external device executing the corresponding task (task 4) may be activated (highlighted) and displayed.

The above description of the present invention is for illustration, and those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can understand that it can be easily modified into other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. will be.

Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive.

For example, each component described as a single type may be implemented in a dispersed form, and likewise components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is indicated by the following claims, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

100: broadcast receiving device
110: external device information providing unit
120: task information providing unit
130: information display unit
140: task switching unit

Claims (19)

In a user terminal that is controlled through a remote control and receives broadcast information,
an external device information providing unit for obtaining and providing information on one or more external devices connected through an external input terminal or a wireless network;
a task information providing unit for obtaining and providing information on one or more tasks being executed in each of the one or more external devices;
an information display unit for displaying information on the one or more external devices on a first axis of a screen and displaying information on the one or more tasks on a second axis of the screen; and
When any one of the one or more tasks displayed on the second axis is selected through the remote control, a task switching unit that converts and displays the task currently displayed on the screen to the selected task,
The information display unit,
When any one of the one or more external devices displayed on the first axis of the screen is selected through the remote control, information on the task being executed by the selected external device is displayed together on the second axis of the screen,
When any one of the one or more tasks displayed on the second axis of the screen is selected, information on an external device that executes the selected task is displayed together on the first axis of the screen. delete delete delete The method of claim 1,
The information display unit,
The user terminal, wherein the information on the task is displayed on the second axis of the screen, within a range not exceeding a predetermined number for each external device.
The method of claim 1,
The information display unit,
The user terminal, wherein the information on the task is displayed on the second axis of the screen, and information on the most recently executed task for each external device is displayed.
A method for providing information about a task and an external device by a user terminal controlled through a remote control and receiving broadcast information, the method comprising:
(a) acquiring information about one or more external devices connected through an external input terminal or a wireless network;
(b) obtaining information on one or more tasks being executed in each of the one or more external devices;
(c) displaying information on the one or more external devices on a first axis of a screen, and displaying information on the one or more tasks together on a second axis of the screen; and
(d) when any one of the one or more tasks displayed on the second axis is selected through the remote controller, converting the task currently displayed on the screen to the selected task and displaying the selected task;
including,
The step (c) is,
When any one of the one or more external devices displayed on the first axis of the screen is selected through the remote control, information on the task being executed by the selected external device is displayed together on the second axis of the screen,
When any one of the one or more tasks displayed on the second axis of the screen is selected, information on an external device that executes the selected task is displayed together on the first axis of the screen. How to provide.
delete delete delete A computer program stored on a medium comprising a series of instructions for performing the method according to claim 7 .
delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete

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