KR20090074637A - Method for controlling tv by using remote control with trackball - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for controlling a TV set with a remote controller equipped with a trackball is provided to offer an intuitive interface and make the user conveniently use the intuitive interface by controlling all function with the trackball of the remote controller. A remote controller receives a click signal from a trackball(S310). A TV set is switched into a trackball mode by responding to the click signal of the trackball. A trackball moving signal is received from the remote controller. Operation of the TV set is controlled by responding to the trackball moving signal.

Description

TV control method using a remote control equipped with a trackball {Method for Controlling TV by using remote control with trackball}

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a TV using a remote control having a built-in trackball. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of controlling a TV by clicking a trackball or moving a trackball. It is about.

In general, an infrared signal type wireless remote control is used to remotely control an electronic device. The problem is that the use of a remote control to control the device is complicated by the development of electronic technology, which increases the convenient functions of various devices. It takes a long time to understand the function.

Accordingly, general users are using only the most basic functions, and people who are familiar with all the functions are not able to use them sufficiently due to inconvenience of operation. In addition, in recent years, a remote controller has various menus for setting the environment of electronic products, in addition to buttons for simple operation such as applying power or switching channels, and moves the cursor as a means for selecting a desired menu. Should be turned on.

For example, if a user wants to select a specific menu on a graphical menu screen, the user needs to press the direction key several times to move to the desired menu, and then move to the desired menu and press the select key. You can run the menu.

In addition, even when changing the channel, the desired channel number can be selected immediately by using the numeric keys, but when the desired channel number is not remembered, it is cumbersome to continuously press the channel UP button or the channel Down button.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a user-friendly interface and a convenient way to use all the functions by only one trackball operation on the remote control In providing.

TV control method using a remote control equipped with a trackball according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the step of receiving a trackball click signal from the remote control; Switching the tv to a trackball mode in response to the trackball click signal; Receiving a trackball movement signal from the remote controller; And controlling the operation of the TV in response to the movement signal.

In addition, the trackball mode is a channel volume control mode using the trackball, and in the control step, when a movement signal indicating movement of the trackball in any one direction of up, down, left, and right is received, the channel is changed. It is desirable to increase or decrease the volume.

In the controlling step, it is preferable to change the channel changing speed or the volume increasing / decreasing speed according to the moving speed of the track ball.

In addition, the trackball mode is a menu selection mode using the trackball, and in the control step, when the movement signal indicating movement of the trackball in any one direction of up, down, left, and right is received, the movement signal Moving the cursor correspondingly; Determining whether the moved cursor is located on a menu; Activating the menu at which the cursor is located; Executing a menu corresponding to the activated menu when a trackball click signal is received from the remote controller; It is preferable to include.

The menu selection mode may be any one of an EPG menu mode and a function menu mode.

The trackball mode may include a channel volume control mode, an EPG menu mode, and a function menu mode, and the switching step includes one of the channel volume control mode, the EPG menu mode, and the function menu mode according to the number of clicks of the trackball. It is preferable to switch to either mode.

The remote controller may further include a mode selection key corresponding to a trackball mode, and further comprising receiving a click signal of the mode selection key, wherein the mode is switched according to the clicked mode selection key.

As described above, according to the present invention, all functions can be operated by only one trackball operation on the remote controller, thereby providing an intuitive interface to the user and conveniently using the same.

Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings will be described the present invention in more detail.

1A is a view illustrating a remote controller equipped with a trackball according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1a, the remote control 100 used in the present invention is equipped with a track ball 110. For reference, a trackball (trackball) refers to a form that looks like a ball mouse upside down, in this embodiment, the ball (hereinafter referred to as trackball) 110 is located on the upper surface of the remote control (100). When the user rolls the trackball 110 with a finger, the cursor moves in the direction in which the trackball 110 moves.

FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line X-X 'of FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B, rotation detection units 120 and 130 are provided at both sides of the track ball 110 to rotate the track ball 110 to detect the rotation and transmit a movement signal. In addition, the click detection unit 140 exists under the track ball 140, and when the track ball 110 is clicked, it is detected here and the track ball click signal is transmitted.

2 is a block diagram of a TV controlled according to a remote controller according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the TV 200 includes a broadcast receiver 210, a broadcast processor 220, a display information generator 230, an outputter 240, an inputter 250, a storage 260, The interface unit 270 and the controller 280 are provided.

The broadcast receiver 210 tunes and demodulates any one of broadcasts wirelessly received through the air. The broadcast processor 220 performs signal processing on the broadcast signal output from the broadcast receiver 210. The broadcast signal processed by the broadcast processor 220 is applied to the display information generator 230 and added to the video to be displayed on the display.

The display information generator 230 processes an image to be added to the broadcast signal, and the output unit 240 outputs a broadcast signal output from the broadcast processor 220 and a signal output from the display information generator 230 to the user. To provide.

The input unit 250 transmits a user command received from the remote controller to the controller 280, and the controller 280 controls the overall operation of the TV 200 according to the user command received from the input unit 250.

The storage unit 260 performs a function of storing various programs and data, and the interface unit 170 performs a function of communicating with an external AV device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart provided to explain how the TV shown in FIG. 2 switches to the trackball mode. In the present exemplary embodiment, the trackball mode refers to a mode in which the TV is controlled according to the movement of the trackball 110 in the remote controller 100. The trackball mode includes three channel volume control modes, an EPG menu mode, and a function menu mode.

First, when the user clicks the trackball 110, the controller 280 receives the trackball click signal from the remote controller 100 (S310).

In this case, when clicking only once (S320-Y), the channel volume control mode is switched (S340). If it is clicked twice in a row (S330-Y), it is converted to the EPG menu mode (S350). Or, if it is clicked three or more times in succession (S330-N), it is switched to the function menu mode (S360).

For reference, in the present embodiment, the type of the mode is determined as the number of times the trackball is clicked continuously, but this is only an example for convenience of description. Therefore, it is also possible to determine the type of mode in a variety of ways, such as clicking continuously or shortly for a predetermined time.

In addition to this, in addition to the remote control 100, by adding a mode selection key, it is also possible to determine the mode accordingly by pressing the mode selection key.

Meanwhile, the channel volume control mode will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4, the EPG menu mode in FIG. 5, and the function menu mode in FIG. 6.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart provided to explain a control method of a TV according to a movement signal of a track ball when the channel volume control mode is changed among the track ball modes in FIG. 3.

When the channel volume control mode is entered, the control unit 280 of the TV 200 first receives a movement signal of the track ball (S410).

If the track ball 110 is moved up and down in the received movement signal (S420-Y), it is again checked whether it is upward or downward (S430), and if it is upward (S430-Y), the channel is held more than the current channel. If it is converted to null (S450), and if it is downward (S430-N), the channel is converted one channel below the current channel (S440).

On the contrary, if the track ball 110 is moved from side to side in the received movement signal (S460-Y), it is again checked whether it is left or right (S470), and if it is right (S470-Y), the volume is increased ( S490), if it is in the left direction (S470-N), the volume is reduced (S480).

After the trackball is clicked again (S495-Y), the channel volume control mode is terminated.

On the other hand, the movement signal may include not only the movement direction information of the track ball but also movement speed information. In this case, if the volume or channel change speed is changed according to the speed information in the trackball movement signal, more convenient and intuitive operation will be possible for the user.

In the present embodiment, the channel and the volume are increased or decreased depending on the moving direction of the trackball 110, but this is merely an example for convenience of description. Therefore, unlike the present embodiment, the channel may be changed when moving left and right, and the volume may be changed when moving up and down.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart provided to explain a method of controlling a TV according to a movement signal of a track ball when the track ball mode is changed to an EPG menu mode.

When the EPG menu mode is entered, an EPG screen and a cursor are displayed on the screen of the TV 200 (S510).

After being displayed like this, in the past, the menu selection has to be moved one space by using the cursor keys. However, in the present embodiment, the movement signal of the track ball is received instead of the cursor keys (S520), and the cursor is moved according to the movement signal. (S530).

In other words, the user can naturally move the cursor using the trackball 110 of the remote controller 100 as the user moves the cursor on the PC screen in up, down, left, and right directions.

When the cursor is moved on the menu (S540-Y), the menu where the cursor is located is activated (S550). There are many ways to activate it, and it's easiest to change the color of the menu to distinguish it from other menus around you.

Thereafter, when the click signal of the trackball is received (S560-Y), the corresponding menu is executed (S570).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart provided to explain a method of controlling a TV according to a movement signal of a track ball when the function is changed to a function menu mode among track track modes in FIG. 3.

When the function menu mode is entered, the function menu screen and the cursor are displayed on the screen of the TV 200 (S610). After the function menu screen is displayed, the user can naturally move the cursor using the trackball 110 of the remote controller 100 as if the user moves the cursor on the PC screen. Hereinafter, steps S620 to S670 are similar to steps S520 to S570 of FIG. 5, and thus descriptions thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, three modes, which are referred to as the channel volume control mode, the EPG menu mode, and the function menu mode, are assumed as examples of the trackball mode, but this is merely an example for convenience of description. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to all functions used in the TV using the remote controller in addition to these three modes.

In addition, although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but the technical field to which the invention belongs without departing from the spirit of the invention claimed in the claims. Of course, various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art, and these modifications should not be individually understood from the technical spirit or the prospect of the present invention.

Figure 1a is a view showing a remote control equipped with a trackball according to an embodiment of the present invention,

Figure 1b is a cross-sectional view divided by the X-X 'axis in Figure 1a,

2 is a block diagram of a TV controlled by a remote controller according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart provided for explaining a method of switching to the TVTV mode shown in FIG.

4 is a flowchart provided to explain a method of controlling a TV according to a movement signal of a track ball when the channel volume control mode is changed among the track ball modes in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart provided to explain a method of controlling a TV according to a movement signal of a track ball when the track ball mode is changed to an EPG menu mode in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart provided to explain a method of controlling a TV according to a movement signal of a track ball when the function is changed to a function menu mode among track track modes in FIG. 3.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: remote controller 110: trackball

120,130: left and right movement sensor unit 140: click sensor unit

Claims (6)

In the TV control method using a remote control equipped with a trackball, Receiving a trackball click signal from the remote control; Switching the TV to a trackball mode in response to the trackball click signal; Receiving a trackball movement signal from the remote controller; And Controlling the operation of the TV in response to the movement signal. The method of claim 1, The trackball mode The channel volume control mode using the trackball, The controlling step may include changing the channel or increasing or decreasing the volume when a movement signal indicating movement of the trackball in one of up, down, left, and right directions is received. The method of claim 2, The controlling step, the TV control method, characterized in that for changing the channel change speed or the volume increase / decrease speed according to the movement speed of the track ball. The method of claim 1, The trackball mode is a menu selection mode using the trackball, The control step, Moving a cursor corresponding to the movement signal when a movement signal indicating movement of the track ball in one of up, down, left, and right directions is received; Determining whether the moved cursor is located on a menu; Activating the menu at which the cursor is located; And Executing a menu corresponding to the activated menu when a trackball click signal is received from the remote controller; TV control method comprising a. The method of claim 1, The trackball mode It includes channel volume control mode, EPG menu mode and function menu mode. The switching step, the TV control method, characterized in that switching to any one of the channel volume control mode, the EPG menu mode and the function menu mode according to the number of clicks of the track ball. The method of claim 1, The remote control includes a mode selection key corresponding to the trackball mode, Receiving a click signal of the mode selection key; And a mode is switched according to the clicked mode selection key.

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