KR20080064037A - Signal sink and operation method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A signal sink and an operation method of the same are provided to enable a user to switch a sound by a simple key operation and to mute a sound suited to mute conditions. An operation method of a signal sink includes the steps of: judging whether a user inputs a sound key(1200); judging whether operation conditions of the sound key satisfies mute conditions(1202); judging whether a sound is being reproduced through a speaker of a signal sink when the operation conditions of the sound key do not satisfy the mute conditions(1204); controlling the sound to be reproduced through the speaker of the signal sink(1206); controlling the sound to be reproduced through speakers of a signal source(1208); and muting a sound from the signal source and the signal sink when the operation conditions of the sound key satisfy the mute conditions(1210).

Description

Signal sink and operation method

1 is a schematic representation of an entire system of signal sinks and signal sources.

2 is a view for explaining the configuration of a signal sink according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view showing a schematic appearance according to the present invention of a remote controller belonging to a user command unit.

4 is a flowchart for explaining a method of operating a signal sink.

5A through 5C are diagrams illustrating examples of GUI screens.

6A through 6D are diagrams exemplarily illustrating GUI screens for explaining a process of changing menu items having the same function.

7 is a flowchart for explaining a method of operating a signal sink.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a signal sink according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

100, 500: signal sink 200 ~ 208, 400: signal sources

402, 506: main processing unit 404, 508: auxiliary processing unit

406: HDMI Transmitter 408, 502: HDMI Connection

412 ~ 422, 518: Speaker 504: HDMI Receiver

510: user command input unit 512: GUI screen generation unit

514: video and audio processing unit

The present invention relates to signal processing, and more particularly, to a signal sink and a method of operating the same.

Recently, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) standard for transmitting a digital video signal and a digital audio signal in a single digital interface method having a bandwidth of 5 Gbps or more has been developed and announced. HDMI is a digital audio / video interface capable of transmitting uncompressed streams, providing an interface between a compatible digital audio / video source and a compatible digital audio / video monitor (eg, television). .

In a situation where audio / video sources and an audio / video monitor are interfaced in an HDMI manner, a user can individually control audio / video sources through an integrated graphical user interface (GUI) screen. At this time, in order to switch speakers so that sound played from an audio / video monitor (such as a television) is played from an audio / video source (such as a home theater system), the user first brings up a GUI screen, and then on the GUI screen. You can try switching the speakers. In this way, a GUI screen is required to switch the place where sound is reproduced from the speaker of the audio / video monitor to the speaker of the audio / video source or the speaker of the audio / video source to the speaker of the audio / video monitor. Therefore, a need arises for simply switching the place where sound is reproduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a signal sink and a method of operating the same, which can mute and mute a place where a sound is reproduced with a simple key operation without the help of a GUI screen.

In order to achieve the above object, the operation method according to the present invention of the signal sink that can be interfaced with at least one signal source in the HDMI method, determining whether there is a user's voice key operation and if it is determined that the user's voice key operation, And switching the sound reproduced at the signal source to be reproduced at the signal sink, and switching the sound reproduced at the signal sink to be reproduced at the signal source.

Alternatively, the signal sink according to the present invention, which can interface with at least one signal source in an HDMI manner, has a sound key operated by a user and generates a key signal when the sound key is operated and the key signal. In response, preferably, the main processor is configured to switch the sound reproduced at the signal source to be reproduced at the signal sink, and to switch the sound reproduced at the signal sink to be reproduced at the signal source.

Hereinafter, an entire system including at least one signal source and a signal sink will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an entire system of a signal sink and a signal source, and includes a signal sink 100, signal sources 200 to 208, HDMI lines 310 to 318, and an HDMI-CEC (Consumer). Electronics Control) lines 320 to 328. Here, although four signal sources 200 to 208 are shown connected to the signal sink 100, four or more signal sources may be connected to the signal sink 100.

Referring to FIG. 1, the signal sink 100 receives and processes an audio and / or video signal from a signal source, and then processes the result through a display unit (not shown) or a monitor (not shown). Shows. As a signal sink 100 that performs this function, there is a video displayer such as a television (TV: TeleVision), a projector, a monitor, or the like. Here, the signal sink 100 may include at least one device.

Each of the signal sources 200-208 can store, play back, and / or process audio and / or video signals, provide audio and / or video signals to the signal sink, and signal sink 100 through at least one physical port. ) May be interfaced with One signal source may comprise at least one device. If a plurality of signal sources are connected to the signal sink 100 through one physical port in the form of a composite device, the present invention regards the composite device as one signal source, and each signal included in the composite device. The source is regarded as a device and described.

As a signal source, a set top box (STB), a personal computer (PC), a video game system, a digital video disc (DVD) recorder, an STB or DVD recorder Audio / video sources, such as hard disk drive (HDD) recorders, home theater systems (HTS) or video cassette recorders (VCR), may be included.

By the HDMI method, the signal sink 100 and each signal source are connected by lines 310 to 318 and HDMI-CEC lines 320 to 328 for HDMI channels. Here, for the sake of understanding, although the HDMI line and the CEC line are illustrated separately, the HDMI line and the CEC line are composed of one cable.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the signal sink 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

2 is a view for explaining the configuration of the signal sink 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, comprising a signal source 400, a signal sink 500, HDMI channel lines and HDMI-CEC line 520 do.

The signal source 400 corresponding to each of the signal sources 200 to 208 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a main processor 402, an auxiliary processor 404, an HDMI transmitter 406, and an HDMI connector 408. It consists of. The signal sink 500 includes an HDMI connector 502, an HDMI receiver 504, a main processor 506, an auxiliary processor 508, a user command input unit 510, a GUI screen generator 512, and an image. And a voice processing unit 514, a display unit 516, and a speaker 518.

The auxiliary processor 404 transmits the CEC frame to the signal sink 500 through the pin 410 of the HDMI connector 408 or receives the CEC frame transmitted from the signal sink 500 through the pin 410. The header block and the data block of the CEC frame are provided to the main processor 402. The auxiliary processor 508 transmits the CEC frame to the signal source 400 through the pin 503 of the HDMI connector 502 or receives the CEC frame transmitted from the signal source 400 through the pin 503. The header block and the data block of the CEC frame are provided to the main processor 506.

Pins 410 or 503 are assigned to pin 13 of the HDMI connector 408 or 502 if the HDMI connector 408 or 502 is A-type, and are assigned to pin 22 if the B-type is C-type. In this case, it can be assigned to pin 14. Each of the auxiliary processors 404 and 508 may use an interrupt of, for example, 0.1 ms to sample a CEC frame. The auxiliary processing units 404 and 508 may be included in the main processing units 402 and 506, respectively. However, the auxiliary processing units 404 and 508 preferably exist separately because sampling in units of 0.1 ms may impose a load on the operation of other units. In addition, each of the auxiliary processors 404 and 508 may perform a process of handling a CEC line error, identifying whether a CEC frame is valid, and re-transmissions of the CEC frame.

Each of the main processors 402 and 506 may process a CEC protocol layer and an application layer. The CEC protocol layer is a middleware layer that implements the operation of the CEC protocol, and provides a standard application programming interface (API) for application development. In addition, a porting layer may be provided in consideration of hardware changes of the auxiliary processing units 404 and 508. The main role of the CEC protocol layer is to organize and manage the device tree for the connected signal sink 500 and signal source 400, and to manage the state of each device. In particular, it encapsulates the CEC protocol inside from the application.

The HDMI transmitter 406 of the signal source 400 receives audio / video data from the main processor 402 and transmits it to the signal sink 500 through the HDMI connector 408. At this time, the audio / video data is transmitted through a transition minimized differential signaling (TDMS) method, also called a channel link. The TDMS clock is a clock for the TDMS scheme.

Meanwhile, when the signal source 400 is a home theater system, the signal source 400 may further include an audio output unit 430 and speakers 412 to 422. In this case, the main processor 402 serves to read and reproduce video and audio recorded on a disc (not shown), a tape (not shown), a DVD (not shown), and output the same to the audio output unit 430. The audio output unit 430 outputs an audio signal received from the main processor 402 through the speakers 412 to 422 under the control of the auxiliary processor 404. In addition, the audio output unit 430 may adjust the level of the audio signal output to each speaker. In Fig. 2, the speakers 412 to 422 are shown in a line for convenience. However, when the home theater system reproduces and outputs 5.1 multi-channel audio in three dimensions, the speaker 412 is a front left speaker installed at the front left side and the speaker 414 is installed at the front right side based on the user. FR (Front Right) speaker, the speaker 416 is a Front Center (FC) speaker installed in the front center, the speaker 418 is a W (Woofer) speaker installed in the center left or right, the speaker 420 is A rear left (RL) speaker is installed at the rear left side, and the speaker 422 may be a rear right (RR) speaker installed at the right side.

The HDMI receiver 504 of the signal sink 500 receives audio / video data transmitted from the signal source 400 through the HDMI connector 502, and receives the received audio / video data from the main processor 506, an image, and the like. It outputs to the audio processing part 514, respectively. The user command input unit 510 outputs the user command operated and accepted by the user to the main processing unit 506.

3 is a view showing a schematic appearance according to the present invention of a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as a REMOte CONtroller) belonging to the user command unit 510.

If the user command input unit 510 is implemented as a remote controller, a hotkey 530 in the form of a button pressed by a user requesting a GUI screen to be displayed may be disposed on the remote controller.

The main processor 506 controls the units 508, 512, 514, and the like of the signal sink 500. Under the control of the main processor 506, the video and audio processor 514 processes the audio and / or video data received from the HDMI receiver 504, respectively, into audio signal processing and / or video signal processing. The video signal processing result of the video and audio processing unit 514 is visually provided to the user through the display unit 516, and the audio signal processing result of the video and audio processing unit 514 to the user through the speaker 518. It is provided acoustically. The GUI screen generator 512 generates a GUI screen under the control of the main processor 506, and outputs the generated GUI screen to the video and audio processor 514. The video and audio processor 514 mixes / processes the GUI screen generated by the GUI screen generator 512 with the video signal input from the HDMI receiver 504 and displays it on the display 516.

Although the signal source 206 illustrated in FIG. 1 may receive an audio / video signal from the signal source 208 and transmit it to the signal sink 100, the signal source 206 may process the received signal on its own. That is, if signal source 206 has each portion of signal sink 500 shown in FIG. 2, signal source 206 may serve as a signal sink for signal source 208.

Hereinafter, a method of operating a signal sink for a GUI function will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7. For the sake of understanding, the method of operating the signal sink is assumed to be performed in the signal sink 500 shown in FIG. 2, but is not limited thereto.

4 is a flowchart for explaining a method of operating a signal sink.

The main processor 506 determines whether a request user command for requesting a GUI of the user is input from the user command input unit 510 (step 600). If it is determined that there is a request of the GUI from the user, the main processor 506 checks whether a signal source connected to the signal sink 500 exists (step 602). As mentioned above, the signal source may have one device, but may have a plurality of devices. As a result, in operation 602, the main processor 506 checks the connection state of all devices connected to the main processor 506. To assist in the role of the main processor 506, the auxiliary processor 508 receives a CEC frame (or GUI frame) from the signal source 400, and receives a header / data block of the received CEC frame. 506). Using the logical address included in the header of the CEC frame, the main processor 506 may check the connection state between the device and itself. The logical address is preferably unique to each of the devices. This is because the main processor 506 checks the connection state of each device using the logical address. The main processor 506 may use not only the logical address but also the physical address of the signal source to confirm the connection state of each device. The signal sink 500 may generate a physical address included in a Vendor-Specific Data Block (VSDB) and transmit the physical address to a corresponding signal source, and check the connection state of the device using both the physical address and the logical address.

The main processor 506 outputs the result of confirming the connection state of the device to the GUI screen generator 512 (step 604). Using the verification result provided from the main processor 506, the GUI screen generator 512 generates a GUI screen showing the connection state of each device, and outputs the generated GUI screen to the video and audio processor 514 ( Step 604). The video and audio processor 514 displays a GUI screen for displaying the connection state of each device on the menu items through the display unit 516 (step 604). If there is no device connected to the signal sink 500, the GUI screen generator 512 may generate a GUI to display it on menu items, but a separate message (eg, "No device connected") is displayed. ) May be generated as a GUI screen (step 606).

Hereinafter, a method of generating a GUI screen by the GUI screen generator 512 and the GUI screens thereof will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A to 5C and 6A to 6D.

5A to 5C show examples of GUI screens, and menu items 800 to 808 corresponding to a user selectable function are shown on the GUI screen.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5A to 5C, in a GUI screen, a menu item may be displayed by at least one of a device name (TV, DSIC, VCR, HDD, etc.) and an icon. Therefore, the user can more easily recognize the connection status of the device through the GUI screen.

In the GUI screen, menu items corresponding to functions selectable by the user and menu items corresponding to functions not selectable by the user are displayed separately from each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, the font color of the menu items 800, 802, 806, and 808 corresponding to the user selectable function is displayed by being processed 824, and the menu items 804 not displayed. The font color of may be grayed out 822 and displayed. If a signal source 400 having a device called 'HDD recorder' is connected to the signal sink 500, the menu item 806 indicates in bright text that the user can select the 'Listen to HDD Recorder' function. However, if a signal source 400 having a device called 'VCR' is not connected to the signal sink 500, the menu item 804 will indicate that the user cannot select the 'Watch VCR' function. Indicated by. According to another example of the present invention, a menu item corresponding to a function selectable by the user may be displayed in the GUI, and a menu item corresponding to a function not selectable by the user may not be displayed in the GUI.

In the GUI screen, a menu item corresponding to a function selected by the user and a menu item corresponding to a function not selected by the user may be separately displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, the background color 820 of the menu item 802 corresponding to the function selected by the user is displayed differently from the background colors of the other menu items 800, 804, 806, and 808. .

In the GUI screen, menu items corresponding to the function currently being operated and other menu items may be displayed separately from each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, if the 'TV watching' function is currently in operation, the menu item 800 may have a chevron display 840 unlike other menu items 802 to 808. The user may know via the chevron display 840 that the television is in operation.

In addition, when homogeneous or heterogeneous devices providing the same function are connected to the signal sink, menu items of the same function provided by the plurality of devices in the GUI screen may be sequentially displayed according to a user's selection. For example, suppose that heterogeneous devices that provide the same function as 'DISC Watching' are 'Recorder Combi' and 'HDD DVD Recorder'. In this case, when the user manipulates the left / right keys 830 shown in FIG. 5B by using a mouse or a ricomon, the menu item 832 is replaced with the menu item 834 as shown in FIG. 5C. .

6A through 6D are diagrams exemplarily illustrating GUI screens for explaining a process of changing menu items having the same function.

6A to 6D, while the menu item 900 corresponding to the function selected by the user and the menu item corresponding to the function not selected by the user are displayed separately from each other by the background color, the function currently being operated ( It can be seen that the chevron display of the menu item of 'TV watching' is displayed on the GUI as it is.

If different kinds of heterogeneous devices (eg 'DVD home theater' and 'HDD DVD recorder') are connected to the signal sink, the same functions provided by the heterogeneous devices (eg 'DISC watching') As described above, the menu items 900 and 902 may be changed from FIG. 6A to FIG. 6B when the user operates the left / right keys. In addition, if homogeneous devices of the same type (e.g., 'Blu-ray Home Theater') are connected to the signal sink, the same functions provided by the homogeneous devices (e.g. 'VCR Listening1' and 'VCR Listening2' The menu items 1000 and 1002 of ') may be changed from FIG. 6C to FIG. 6D when the user operates the left / right keys as described above.

When the user manipulates the left and right keys shown in FIG. 6C using a mouse or a lycomon, the menu item 1004 showing 'listen on TV' in the 'speaker switching' function is shown in FIG. 6D. The other menu item 1004 of "Listen to the theater" is displayed. If only one device that performs a particular function (e.g., 'HDD recorder listening' function) is connected to the signal sink, menu items of the 'HDD recorder listening' function as shown in FIGS. No left / right keys

There are various methods of manipulating GUI screens as shown in FIGS. 5A-5C and 6A-6D by a remote control. By operating the left / right / up / down arrow keys 534 shown in FIG. 3, the menu items may be scrolled left / right / up / down on the GUI screen, or a desired menu item may be selected by pressing the confirmation button 536. have. The remote controller may also include a cancel key 532 or the like for turning on / off the GUI screen. In addition, when the hot key 530 is pressed, there is no input until a predetermined time (eg, 40 seconds) from the user has elapsed, or when another menu (eg, TV Guide) is activated, the GUI screen is displayed. It may be made to disappear at (516). As described above, various embodiments are possible in the method of operating the GUI screen by the remote controller.

7 is a flowchart for explaining a method of operating a signal sink.

The main processor 506 checks whether a menu item displayed in the GUI screen has been selected by the user (step 1100). If a menu item is selected through the user command input unit 510, the main processor 506 may generate a command for controlling a device that provides a function corresponding to the selected menu item, and the generated command may be processed by the auxiliary processor 508. Through the transmission to the corresponding device through the step 1102.

The main processing unit 506 confirms with the auxiliary processing unit 508 whether the power of the device that provides the function corresponding to the menu item selected by the user in the GUI is turned off or on. If it is determined that the device is powered off, the main processor 506 generates a signal for turning on the device and transmits the signal to the corresponding device through the auxiliary processor 508. After powering on the corresponding device, the main processing unit 506 causes the device to provide the function of the menu item selected by the user.

6A-6D, in order for the user to switch the speaker from 'Listen to TV' to 'Listen to Home Theater', the GUI screen must be displayed once through the display unit 516 of the signal sink 500. do. Subsequently, the user may operate the user command input unit 510, that is, operate the left / right keys provided in the menu item 1004 of FIG. 6A to select and switch the desired speaker. In this manner, the user can select the desired speaker through the GUI screen, but according to the present invention, the desired speaker can be selected by other methods. Hereinafter, a signal sink and an operation method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention for switching a speaker without the help of a GUI screen will be described as follows with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 and FIG. 8. For better understanding of the present invention, the method of operating the signal sink according to the present invention shown in FIG. 8 is described as being performed in the signal sink 500 shown in FIG. 2, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating a signal sink according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The main processor 506 shown in FIG. 2 determines whether the user has a sound key operation (step 1200). The user command input unit 510 has a sound key 538 shown in FIG. 3 operated by a user, and generates a key signal when the sound key 538 is operated and outputs it to the main processing unit 506. Therefore, the main processing unit 506 recognizes that there is a user's sound key operation when the key signal is provided from the user command input unit 510.

If there is an operation of the sound key 538, the main processing unit 506 determines whether the condition under which the sound key is operated (for example, the operation period) satisfies the mute condition (for example, the critical period) (step 1202). . For example, it is possible to set the mute condition to be satisfied if the period during which the sound key 538 is pressed exceeds the threshold period, or set to satisfy the mute condition if the period during which the sound key 538 is pressed is less than the threshold period. It may be.

If it is determined that the operation condition of the sound key 538 satisfies the mute condition, the main processing unit 506 mutes the reproduction of the sound from the signal source 500 and the signal sink 400 (first). Step 1210). That is, the main processor 506 may mute the sound key 538 when it is determined that the sound key 538 is long pressed or mute the sound key 538 when it is determined that the sound key 538 is shortly pressed. If sound is being reproduced through the speaker 518, the main processor 506 controls the image and audio processor 514 to stop the sound from being reproduced through the speaker 518 (step 1210). Alternatively, if sound is being reproduced through the speakers 412 to 422, the main processor 506 transmits a stop command of the sound to the auxiliary processor 404 through the auxiliary processor 508, and the auxiliary processor 404 The audio output unit 430 is controlled according to the sound stop command to stop the sound from being played through the speakers 412 to 422 (step 1210).

If it is determined that the operation condition of the sound key 538 does not satisfy the mute condition, the main processing unit 506 determines whether sound is being reproduced through the speakers 412 to 422 of the signal source 400. It is determined whether sound is being reproduced through the speaker 518 of step 500 (step 1204). If it is determined that sound is reproduced through the speakers 412 to 422 of the signal source 400, the main processor 500 stops reproducing the sound from the speakers 412 to 422, and the sound is signal sinked. Control to reproduce through the speaker 518 (500) (step 1206). In order to perform step 1206, the main processor 506 transmits a command to the sub processor 404 to stop the sound through the sub processor 508, and the sub processor 404 transmits a command to the received sound stop command. Accordingly, the audio output unit 430 is controlled to stop reproduction of the sound, while the main processor 506 controls the image and audio processor 514 to reproduce the sound through the speaker 518. However, if it is determined that sound is reproduced through the speaker 518 of the signal sink 500, the main processor 506 controls the image and voice processor 514 to stop the reproduction of the sound through the speaker 518. In operation 1208, the sound is controlled to be reproduced through the speakers 412 to 422 of the signal source 400. In order to perform step 1208, the main processor 506 controls the image and audio processor 514 to stop the reproduction of the sound through the speaker 518 and to perform the reproduction of the sound through the auxiliary processor 508. The request command is transmitted to the auxiliary processor 404, and the auxiliary processor 404 controls the audio output unit 430 according to the received command so that the sound is reproduced through the speakers 412 to 422.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the method shown in FIG. 8 may not include steps 1202 and 1210. In this case, if there is operation of the user's voice key 538, the process proceeds to step 1204.

After all, when the signal sink 500 corresponds to the television and the signal sink 400 corresponds to the home theater system, the speaker is operated only by the operation of the sound key 538 without the help of the GUI screen as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6D. It can be seen that it is possible to simply switch.

Computer-readable recording media include all kinds of storage devices that store data that can be read by a computer system. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like, and may also be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet). Include. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the user tracking method can be easily inferred by programmers in the art to which the present invention belongs.

Above, preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for the purpose of illustration. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will be able to make various other embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention as disclosed in the claims by way of improvement, modification, replacement, or addition of the disclosed embodiments.

As described above, the signal sink and its operation method according to the present invention can not only conveniently switch the speaker by manipulating the sound key without the help of the GUI screen, but also operate the sound key according to the mute condition. Has the effect of muting.

Claims (5)

In the method of operating a signal sink that can interface with at least one signal source in an HDMI manner, Determining whether there is a user's voice key operation; And If it is determined that there is a sound key operation of the user, switching the sound reproduced from the signal source to be reproduced at the signal sink, and switching the sound reproduced from the signal sink to be reproduced from the signal source. A method of operating a signal sink. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal sink corresponds to a television and the signal source corresponds to a home theater system. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal sink is operated. Determining whether the condition in which the sound key is operated satisfies a mute condition; And And if it is determined that the operation condition satisfies the mute condition, stopping the reproduction of the sound at the signal source and the signal sink. A signal sink that can interface with at least one signal source in an HDMI manner, A user command input unit having a sound key operated by a user and generating a key signal when the sound key is operated; And And a main processor for responsive to the key signal, for reproducing the sound reproduced at the signal source to be reproduced at the signal sink and for reproducing the sound reproduced at the signal sink to be reproduced at the signal source. Sink. The method of claim 4, wherein the main processing unit Checking whether the keyed condition satisfies a mute condition, and stopping the sound from being reproduced at the signal source and the signal sink in response to the checked result.

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