KR20030085268A - Remote Controller Having User Interface expressed in Icon Format - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A remote control having an icon type user interface is provided to easily and conveniently control functions of electric appliances by using operation keys formed as icons. CONSTITUTION: A touch screen(104) has a display window displaying operation key icons corresponding to operation keys of electric appliances. A microphone(106) receives a remote operation command of a user in a voice type. A speaker(108) outputs a fact that keys are pressed in a key pad(110). The key pad(110) includes buttons(114,116,118,120) controlling an icon type remote control(100). A USB(Universal Serial Bus) terminal(112) receives download of control codes of the operation keys of the electric appliances.

Description

Remote controller having user interface expressed in icon format

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote control having an interface for easily remotely controlling various electronic devices such as a television, a video cassette recorder, a DVD player, and audio. An icon-type remote control for generating an operation key for controlling a function as an icon and operating an electronic device using the icon of the generated operation key.

In general, a remote controller is an infrared remote control device that remotely controls various functions of an electronic device such as a television, a video cassette recorder, a DVD player, an audio, and the like by transmitting a control code using infrared rays. For remote control of an electronic device, the remote controller is provided with an infrared transmitter for carrying a control code in the infrared, and the electronic device is equipped with an infrared receiver for receiving a control code transmitted from the infrared transmitter.

However, when the infrared receiver of the electronic device is obstructed by an obstacle, there is a disadvantage in that the infrared ray transmitted from the infrared transmitter is blocked and the electronic device is not operated.

On the other hand, the remote control for remote control of the electronic device uses a control code of different frequency bands in order to prevent the malfunction of other electronic devices by the manufacturers and electronic devices that produce the electronic device. Therefore, each electronic device must be provided with a dedicated remote controller corresponding thereto.

In order to solve this drawback, a universal remote controller has been proposed that can remotely control a plurality of electronic devices with a single remote control. The universal remote control stores control codes of various electronic devices produced by each manufacturer. In order to use the universal remote control, a control code mapping operation for finding and mapping an electronic device that requires control and a control code among control codes stored in the universal remote control must be preceded.

The control code mapping operation extracts a plurality of control codes stored in the universal remote controller from the beginning to the end and performs an iterative operation until a control code matching the electronic device requiring control is detected.

This control code mapping task is quite complicated and cumbersome for users unfamiliar with universal remote controls. In order to control another electronic device with a mapped universal remote controller, such a control code mapping task has to be newly performed.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a remote control that allows the user to conveniently use the electronic device in a simple manner.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described needs, and the present invention provides an icon-type remote controller which generates an operation key for operating various functions of the electronic device as an icon, and operates a function of the electronic device using the generated icon. To provide that purpose.

1 is an external view of an icon-type remote control of the present invention,

2 is a view showing a configuration for downloading the control code of the electronic device in the icon-type remote control of the present invention,

3 is an internal block diagram of an icon-type remote controller according to the present invention;

4 is a diagram exemplarily illustrating a configuration of a control code storage unit illustrated in FIG. 3;

5 is a detailed block diagram of a voice input unit illustrated in FIG. 3;

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of downloading data of a control code to an icon-type remote controller of the present invention;

7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of bookmarking an electronic device icon and an operation key icon on an icon-type remote controller of the present invention;

8A and 8B illustrate screens generated when bookmarking an electronic device icon and an operation key icon, respectively;

8C and 8D illustrate screens of bookmarked electronic device icons and operation key icons, respectively.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: icon-type remote control 102: main body

104: touch screen 106: microphone

108: speaker 110: keypad

302: operation command input unit 304: operation command output unit

306: control code input unit 308: RF transmitter

310: control code storage unit 312: book mark storage unit

502: voice database 504: voice signal processing unit

506: feature vector extraction unit 508: feature vector comparison unit

According to the present invention for achieving the above object, a display window for displaying an operation key icon corresponding to the operation key of the electronic device to be operated; A control code storage unit storing operation commands generated from the operation keys as data of a control code, the data of the control code being linked with the corresponding operation key icons respectively; A control unit which extracts data of a control code linked to an operation key icon selected on the display; And an RF transmitter for transmitting the control code data extracted by the controller to the electronic device as an RF signal.

In the present invention, the display window is characterized in that it comprises a touch screen for selecting the operation key icon by the touch of a hand or an input pen.

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

1 shows the appearance of an icon-type remote controller 100 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the icon-type remote controller 100 of the present invention includes a main body 102, a touch screen 104 disposed at the center of the main body 102, and a microphone disposed at the top of the touch screen 104. 106, a speaker 108 disposed at the bottom of the touch screen 104, a keypad 110, and a USB terminal 112.

The main body 102 of the icon-type remote controller 100 is smaller than a web pad, but has a larger size than a personal digital assistant (PDA). The web pad is a product that has a large screen size of about 6.4 inches. The web pad is a portable wireless terminal that is smaller than a notebook computer but larger than a portable information terminal, and has a medium size between the notebook computer and the portable information terminal. Most web pad input methods are based on a contact method using a user's hand or an input pen, and a keyboard may be connected separately. The web pad can also perform a networking function between a personal computer and a portable information terminal by mounting a wireless function using a wireless modem or a wireless LAN card.

The touch screen 104 is generally smaller than the screen used in a web pad, but has a larger display window than the screen used in a portable information terminal. The touch screen 104 is configured as a touch panel capable of contacting with a user's hand or inputting desired text or data using an input pen even without an input device such as the keypad 110. The touch screen 104 is basically composed of an electrode glass (ITO Glass) and an electrode film (ITO Film), and is a position recognition sensor that recognizes the position where the contact is made on the touch screen 104, that is, the x and y coordinates. Since a constant voltage is applied to the electrode glass and the electrode film, when the user touches the surface of the touch screen 104 with the user's hand or an input pen, the potential difference (Vx and Vy) at the position (x, y coordinate) where the contact occurred. Occurs. This potential difference is an analog value. The analog potentials Vx and Vy generated in the touch panel are converted into digital values, and can identify a location where a contact has occurred from the converted digital values.

In addition, the touch screen 104 displays an icon representing an operation key of the electronic device desired to be controlled by the icon type remote controller 100, for example, a power on / off key, a volume up / down key, a channel switch key, and the like. The user may remotely control the corresponding electronic device by touching an icon on the touch screen 104 with a hand or an input pen.

The microphone 106 receives the user's remote operation command in the form of a voice, and the speaker 108 converts the key from the keypad 110 into a form of voice to the user and outputs it to the outside.

The keypad 110 includes buttons for controlling the operation of the icon type remote controller 100, for example, a bookmark editing key 114, left and right direction keys 116 and 118, a setting key 120, and the like. The bookmark editing key 114 is a key used to execute a bookmark function for an icon, and the left and right direction keys 116 and 118 are used as keys for selecting an icon to be bookmarked, and the setting key 120 Is used as a key to set the icon selected by the left and right direction keys 116 and 118 as a bookmarked icon.

Originally, bookmarks originated from the idea of placing bookmarks to mark the places in the books. Recently, bookmarks are stored in a list so that specific web addresses can be easily browsed while using the World Wide Web. Say what you put. This bookmarking feature is very popular because when a user visits a website or home page and later wants to return there, there is no need to use a search engine or enter a new address to find it. It is becoming.

Meanwhile, in the present invention, the bookmark function is used to register an icon of an operation key for operating a function of an electronic device mainly used by a user, on the touch screen 104 of the icon type remote controller 100. When a television is taken as an example, operations for power on / off, volume up / down, and channel switching of the television are frequently used, but operations such as screen adjustment and channel search are rarely used. Accordingly, an icon that can operate the most frequently used power on / off, volume up / down, channel switching, and the like is registered on the touch screen 104 of the icon type remote controller 100 to allow a user to operate an electronic device. Can be easily performed.

The USB terminal 112 is connected to an external communication terminal, for example, a computer, and serves as a path for downloading control codes of operation keys for controlling various functions of the electronic device from the computer. In general, information on a control code of operation keys of an electronic device produced by a manufacturer of an electronic device is provided by a server operated by the manufacturer. The control codes of the operation keys are data of different frequency values for each key. Different models of electronic devices have different values.

2 illustrates a configuration in which a control code of operation keys for operating various functions of a control device in the icon-type remote controller 100 of the present invention is downloaded.

The manufacturer server 202 has data of control codes of each electronic device classified by model. The computer 204 is one of the above-mentioned communication terminals, and is a computer equipped with a web browser that allows a user of the iconic remote controller 100 of the present invention to connect to the manufacturer server 202 via the Internet 206. The computer 204 finds a model of the electronic device to be controlled from the manufacturer server 202 and downloads and stores data of the control code of the corresponding electronic device model. The user of the icon-type remote controller 100 according to the present invention connects the USB terminal 112 of the icon-type remote controller 100 to the computer 204 to display data of the control code of the electronic device model stored in the computer 204. You can download it.

3 is a block diagram illustrating an internal block of the icon-type remote controller 100 shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the icon type remote controller 100 includes an operation command input unit 302, an operation command output unit 304, a control code input unit 306, an RF transmitter 308, and a control code storage unit 310. , The bookmark storage unit 312 and the control unit 324.

The operation command input unit 302 performs a function of inputting an operation command for remotely controlling the electronic device, and in order to correspond to various input methods of the operation command, the keypad input unit 314, the touch screen input unit 316, and the voice input unit ( 318).

The keypad input unit 314 receives an operation command of the electronic device through the keypad 110.

The touch screen input unit 316 receives an operation command of the electronic device through the contact of the user's hand or the input pen with respect to the touch screen 104.

The voice input unit 318 receives an operation command of the electronic device as the user's voice through the microphone 106, and processes the input voice and converts the input voice into an operation command of the electronic device.

The operation command output unit 304 performs a function of outputting various types of operation commands input through the operation command input unit 302, and includes a screen display unit 320 and a sound output unit 322.

The screen display unit 320 controls to display the contents and results of the user's operation command on the touch screen 104 as numbers or letters.

The sound output unit 322 converts a certain key pressed on the keypad 110 into a voice form to the user and outputs it to the outside through the speaker 108.

The control code input unit 306 receives the data of the control code of the electronic device through the USB terminal 112 connected to the external computer 204. Data of the control code input from the control code input unit 306 is stored in the control code storage unit 310.

The RF transmitter 308 transmits the operation command input through the operation command input unit 302 as an RF signal to the electronic device. The RF signal transmitted from the RF transmitter 308 is received by an RF receiver (not shown) of the electronic device to control the electronic device.

The control code storage unit 310 basically stores an electronic device icon representing an electronic device and operation key icons of operation keys of the electronic device. In addition, the control code storage unit 310 stores data of the control code of the electronic device downloaded through the electronic device icon and the control code input unit 306.

4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between data of an electronic device icon, an operation key icon, and a control code. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the control code storage unit 310 includes an electronic device icon storage area 402, an operation key icon storage area 404, and a data storage area 406 of the control code. In the electronic device icon storage area 402, electronic device icons such as a television, a video cassette recorder, a DVD player, and the like are stored in the form of a "TV" icon, a "VCR" icon, and a "DVD" icon, respectively. In the operation key icon storage area 404, operation key icons of respective electronic devices are stored. Each electronic device icon is linked with corresponding operation key icons. For example, the TV icons representing the television are icons of "TV power on", "TV power off", "TV volume up", "TV volume down", "TV channel up", "TV channel down" and "TV screen adjustment" icons. Linked to: In addition, the control code data storage unit 406 stores the data of the control code corresponding to each operation key icon, and the data of the control code is linked with the operation key icon corresponding thereto.

The bookmark storage unit 312 stores icons of operation keys that require frequent operation for the electronic device as bookmark data.

The central processing unit 314 may be implemented as a central processing unit (CPU), and includes an operation command input unit 302, an operation command output unit 304, a control code input unit 306, an RF transmitter 308, and a control code storage unit. The overall control and data input / output processing operations of the 310 and the bookmark storage unit 312 are controlled.

FIG. 5 shows a detailed block configuration of the voice input unit 318 shown in FIG.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the voice input unit 318 includes a voice database 502, a voice signal processor 504, a feature vector extractor 506, and a feature vector comparator 508.

The voice database 502 stores a feature vector for an operation command of an electronic device through a user's voice using the iconic remote controller 100 of the present invention, for example, an operation command of a voice such as "TV on" or "TV off". Saving. This feature vector is matched one-to-one with an operation key icon stored in the control code storage 310. For example, the operation commands of the voices "TV on" and "TV off" are matched with the "TV power" icon of the control code storage 310.

The voice signal processing unit 504 converts the user's voice input from the microphone 106 into voice digital data, and extracts the digital data of the voice section excluding the silent section of the voice digital data. The digital data of the speech section extracted by the speech signal processor 504 is provided to the feature vector extractor 506.

The feature vector extractor 506 converts digital data of the voice interval into feature parameters using a hidden Markov model and extracts a feature vector of the user's voice from the converted feature parameters. The feature vector extracted by the feature vector extractor 506 is provided to the feature vector comparator 508.

The feature vector comparator 508 compares the feature vector provided from the feature vector extractor 506 with the feature vector stored in the speech database 502, and is most similar to the feature vector extracted by the feature vector extractor 506. Select a vector. The feature vector comparator 508 interprets the manipulation command through the user's voice from the feature vector selected by the voice database 502 and provides the interpreted result to the controller 324. The control unit 324 extracts the data of the corresponding control code from the control code storage unit 310 according to the analysis result provided from the feature vector comparison unit 508, and extracts the extracted control code data through the RF transmitter 308. Send to an electronic device.

Referring to the operation of the icon-type remote controller 100 of the present invention having the above-described configuration is as follows.

First, a process of downloading data of a control code to the icon type remote controller 100 of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6.

In step S602, a user of the icon-type remote controller 100 of the present invention uses his computer 204 to connect to the manufacturer server 202 of the electronic device he wants to control.

Next, the user of the icon-type remote controller 100 searches for the model of the electronic device to be controlled by the manufacturer server 202 (step S604), and downloads the data of the control code of the found electronic device model (step S606).

In step S608, data of the control code downloaded from the manufacturer server 202 is stored in the computer 204.

Then, the user of the iconic remote control 100 connects the USB terminal 112 of the iconic remote control 100 to the computer 204 (step S610), and downloads the data of the control code stored in the computer 204 (Step S612).

Data of the control code downloaded from the computer 204 is stored in the control code storage unit 310 of the icon type remote controller 100 (step S614).

7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of bookmarking an icon corresponding to data of a control code stored in the control code storage unit 310.

First, in the keypad 110 of the icon-type remote controller 100 of the present invention, the bookmark editing key 114 is clicked to proceed to the bookmark editing mode (step S702).

In the bookmark editing mode, the controller 324 causes the bookmark editing menu screen as illustrated in FIG. 8A to be displayed on the touch screen 104 of the icon-type remote controller 100 (step S704). In the bookmark editing menu screen illustrated in FIG. 8A, a "TV" icon 802, a "VCR" icon 804, and a "DVD" icon 806 are arranged, and a cursor 808 and a "confirmation" icon 810 are arranged. This is arranged. The TV icon 802, the VCR icon 804, and the DVD icon 806 are icons representing various electronic devices to be controlled by the user, and are read and displayed from the control code storage unit 310 of the icon-type remote controller 100. Icons.

The user wants to bookmark while moving the cursor 808 in the bookmark editing menu screen by using the left and right direction keys 116 and 118 on the keypad 110 of the icon type remote control 100 or a contact method using a hand or an input pen. The electronic device icon is searched for (step S706).

If you want to bookmark the electronic device icon indicated by the cursor 808, for example, the TV icon 802 while searching for the electronic device icon, click the setting key 120 of the keypad 110 to select the electronic device icon to bookmark. (Step S708).

Information of the electronic device icon selected by the setting key 120 is registered in the bookmark storage unit 312, and as illustrated in FIG. 8B, an operation key icon linked to the selected electronic device icon, that is, the TV icon 802. Screens of TV power on and off icons 812 and 813, TV volume up and down icons 814 and 815, TV channel up and down icons 816 and 817, and TV screen adjustment icons 818 are displayed. It is displayed on the touch screen 104 (step S710).

Thereafter, in a manner similar to the bookmark operation of the electronic device icon described above, the operation key icons 812 to 818 are searched (step S712), and an operation key icon to be bookmarked is selected from the operation key icons 812 to 818. (Step S714) By clicking the setting key 120, the information of the selected operation key icon is registered in the bookmark storage unit 312 (step S716).

The search, selection and registration steps S712 to S716 of the operation key icons are repeated until all of the operation key icons frequently used by the user are bookmarked.

Thereafter, when the registration of the operation key icons is completed and the confirmation icon 810 is clicked on the screen illustrated in FIG. 8B, the electronic device icon and the operation key icon bookmarked by the user are touch screen 104 of the icon-type remote controller 100. Is displayed.

The process of searching for, selecting and registering other electronic device icons is performed by repeating the aforementioned steps of FIG. 7.

In FIG. 8C, the bookmarked electronic device icon, for example, the TV icon 802 and the VCR icon 804 are repeatedly disposed on the touch screen 104 of the icon type remote controller 100 by repeating the aforementioned bookmark process of FIG. 7. The screen is shown.

In the screen of FIG. 8D, when an electronic device icon such as the TV icon 802 is selected on the screen of FIG. 8C, an operation key icon selectively bookmarked by the user, for example, the TV power on and off icon 812. And 813, the TV volume up and down icons 814 and 815 and the TV channel up and down icons 816 and 817 are displayed on the touch screen 104. In the screen of FIG. 8D, when the user touches the TV power on icon 812 with a hand or an input pen, the data of the control code linked to the TV power icon 812 is transmitted to the television via the RF transmitter 308. The TV can be turned on.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the technical scope of the present invention.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the operation keys for controlling the functions of various electronic devices are constituted by icons, and the functions of the electronic devices are controlled by using the operation key icons, thereby providing a simpler and convenient interface for remote control to the user. .

In addition, since the operation command of the electronic device is transmitted by the RF method according to the present invention, even if an obstacle exists between the icon-type remote control and the electronic device of the present invention, the operation command of the icon-type remote control transmitted to the electronic device is stopped. There is no effect.

Claims (15)

A display window for displaying an electronic device icon representing an electronic device and an operation key icon representing an operation key for respectively operating a function of the electronic device, using the electronic device icon displayed on the display window and the operation key icon Icon-type remote control, characterized in that the remote control of the function of the electronic device. The method of claim 1, And the display window includes a touch screen for selecting the operation key icon by a touch of a user's hand or an input pen. The method of claim 1, The icon-type remote control, An operation command input unit for inputting an operation command for remotely controlling the electronic device to the icon type remote controller; An operation command output unit for outputting various types of operation commands inputted through the operation command input unit; A control code input unit which receives data of a control code of the electronic device through an external control code source; A control code storage unit for storing data of the electronic device icon, the operation key icon, and the control code, wherein data of the electronic device icon, the operation key icon, and the control code are linked; An RF transmitter for transmitting an operation command input through the operation command input unit as an RF signal to the electronic device; And a control unit for controlling the operation command input unit, the operation command output unit, the control code input unit, the RF transmitter, and the control code storage unit as a whole. The method of claim 3, wherein The operation command input unit, A keypad input unit which receives an operation command of the electronic device through a keypad; A touch screen input unit configured to receive an operation command of the electronic device through the touch screen; And And a voice input unit for receiving an operation command of the electronic device as a voice of a user through a microphone, and processing the input voice to convert the input voice into an operation command of the electronic device. The method of claim 4, wherein The voice input unit, A feature vector for storing an operation command of the electronic device through a voice of a user using the icon-type remote controller, the feature vector comprising: a voice database associated with an operation key icon stored in the control code storage; A voice signal processor for converting the voice of the user into voice digital data and extracting digital data of a voice section from the converted voice digital data; A feature vector extracting unit converting digital data of the speech section into a feature parameter and extracting a feature vector of the user's voice from the converted feature parameter; And And a feature vector comparator that finds a feature vector closest to the feature vector provided from the feature vector extractor from the voice database, analyzes an operation command of the electronic device, and provides the analyzed result to the controller. Icon type remote control. The method of claim 2, The icon-type remote control, Means for bookmarking an operation key icon requiring frequent operation on the electronic device, The bookmark means, A bookmark editor for selecting to display the electronic device icon and the operation key icon stored in the control code storage unit on the touch screen; A selection key for selecting an electronic device icon to be bookmarked and the operation key icon among an electronic device icon and an operation key icon displayed on the touch screen; A setting key for setting the selected electronic device icon and the operation key icon as the bookmark; And And a bookmark storage unit for storing the information of the electronic device icon and the operation key icon set by the setting key as bookmark data. The method of claim 3, wherein The control code input unit may include a USB terminal connected to the external control code source to download data of the control code from the control code source, and the downloaded control code data may be stored in the control code storage unit. Icon type remote control characterized by the above. The method of claim 7, wherein The external control code source includes a computer having a web browser connectable to the Internet, wherein the computer downloads and stores data of the control code of the electronic device provided by the manufacturer of the electronic device. remote control. In the remote control for controlling the operation of the electronic device, A display window for displaying an electronic device icon representing an electronic device and an operation key icon representing an operation key for operating a function of the electronic device; A control code storage unit for storing an operation command corresponding to an operation of the operation key as data of a control code, the data of the control code being linked to the corresponding operation key icon respectively; A control unit which extracts data of a control code linked to an operation key icon selected in the display window; And And an RF transmitter for transmitting the control code data extracted by the controller to the electronic device as an RF signal. The method of claim 9, And the display window includes a touch screen for selecting the operation key icon by a touch of a hand or an input pen. The method of claim 9, The icon-type remote control, A voice input unit for inputting the operation command as voice; The voice input unit, A feature vector for storing an operation command of the electronic device through a voice of a user using the icon-type remote controller, the feature vector comprising: a voice database associated with an operation key icon stored in the control code storage; A voice signal processor for converting the voice of the user into voice digital data and extracting digital data of a voice section from the converted voice digital data; A feature vector extracting unit converting digital data of the speech section into a feature parameter and extracting a feature vector of the user's voice from the converted feature parameter; And And a feature vector comparator that finds a feature vector closest to the feature vector provided from the feature vector extractor from the voice database, analyzes an operation command of the electronic device, and provides the analyzed result to the controller. Icon type remote control. The method of claim 9, And the voice input unit extracts the feature vector and changes the feature parameter using a hidden Markov model. The method of claim 9, The icon-type remote control, Means for bookmarking an operation key icon requiring frequent operation on the electronic device, The bookmark means, A bookmark editor for selecting to display the electronic device icon and the operation key icon stored in the control code storage unit on the touch screen; A selection key for selecting an electronic device icon to be bookmarked and the operation key icon among an electronic device icon and an operation key icon displayed on the touch screen; A setting key for setting the selected electronic device icon and the operation key icon as the bookmark; And And a bookmark storage unit for storing the information of the electronic device icon and the operation key icon set by the setting key as bookmark data. The method of claim 9, The icon-type remote control, Further comprising a control code input unit for receiving a control code of the electronic device through an external control code supply source, The control code input unit, And a USB terminal connected to an external control code source for downloading data of the control code from the control code source, wherein the downloaded control code data is stored in the control code storage unit. . The method of claim 14, The external control code source includes a computer having a web browser connectable to the Internet, the computer downloading and storing data of the control code of the electronic device provided by the manufacturer of the electronic device, and storing the stored control code. Icon-type remote control, characterized in that to provide data to the icon-type remote control through the USB terminal.