KR20140104892A - A method for sharing digital content between external devices and a display apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A display apparatus and a method of sharing digital content between external devices by using the display apparatus are provided. The method includes the steps of: displaying a user interface including one or more tabs which respectively correspond to one or more external devices, when the external devices are connected to the display apparatus; detecting a user operation to select a first external device and a second external device from among the external devices to perform a copy operation of the digital content; and copying the digital content from the first external device to the second external device.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and a device for sharing digital contents between external devices,

The present invention relates to the field of electronic devices, and more particularly, to a method and a display device for sharing digital content between external devices.

Digital content (e.g., music, video or photos) is typically stored in electronic devices (e.g., pen drives or smart phones). Such digital contents can be reproduced on a personal computer. Some home display devices (e.g., flat-panel televisions) used for watching television broadcasts and movies also have an extended function of playing digital content from electronic devices. However, the user may use the personal computer to share the digital content from the electronic device with other users and to store and organize the digital content. Further, the electronic device must be connected to a personal computer whenever reproduction of digital contents is required, which is tedious.

In view of the foregoing discussion, there is a need for an efficient method and system for sharing digital content between external devices and for storing and organizing digital content on a display device using a display device.

It is a technical object of the present invention to provide a method and a display device for sharing digital contents among external devices using a display device.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of sharing digital content among external devices in a display device, the method comprising: when one or more external devices are connected to a display device, Receiving a selection from a user of a first external device and a second external device to perform a copy operation of the digital content, And copying the digital content from the first external device to the second external device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display device sharing digital contents among external devices, comprising: a communication interface for electronic communication with the at least one external device; a memory for storing instructions; And a processor responsive to the instructions responsive to the instructions for, when the one or more external devices are connected to a display device, providing a user interface including one or more tabs each corresponding to the one or more external devices, Receives a selection of a first external device and a second external device to perform a copy operation of the digital content from a user, and copies the digital content from the first external device to the second external device Will.

In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals can refer to the same or functionally similar elements. These reference numerals are used in the detailed description to illustrate various embodiments and to explain various aspects and advantages of the disclosure.
Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the environment, and a number of embodiments may be implemented according to this environment.
2 is a block diagram of a flat panel television according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of sharing digital content among external devices using a flat panel television, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 illustrates, by way of example, a flat panel television, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 5A-5C illustrate, by way of example, a data slot connected to a flat panel television, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 6A-6F illustrate illustratively sharing digital content between external storage devices using a flat panel television, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

It should be understood that the steps and system components of the method are presented in the drawings by conventional symbols and represent only those specific details that are relevant for the understanding of this disclosure. In addition, items that may be obvious to a person skilled in the art may not be disclosed. In the present disclosure, terms indicating relationships such as first, second, etc. may be used to distinguish one entity from another, without unnecessarily suggesting an actual relationship or order between entities.

An embodiment of the present disclosure described herein is an example of a display device that uses a flat panel television to provide a method for sharing digital content between external storage devices and a flat television.

1 is a block diagram of an environment 100 to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and various embodiments may be implemented according to this environment.

1, environment 100 includes a flat panel television 105, one or more external storage devices (e.g., external storage device 110A and external storage device 110B), one or more electronic devices (e.g., electronic device 115A and electronic device 115B) And a disk drive 120. Examples of external storage devices include, but are not limited to, a universal serial bus (USB) device, a micro SD card, a mini SD card, a compact flash, and a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) card. The external storage devices are connected to different slots of the flat panel television 105. Examples of slots include, but are not limited to, a USB slot, a mini USB slot, a micro USB slot, and an HDMI slot. An external hard disk drive 120 is included in the data slot, which is also connected to the flat panel television 105. Examples of electronic devices include, but are not limited to, digital cameras, pendrive, card readers, smart phones, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet devices and laptops. In the present specification, an external device is used to mean both an external storage device, an electronic device, and an external hard disk drive.

The user can control the electronic device, the external storage device, the external hard disk drive 120, and the flat panel television 105.

The flat panel television 105 is connected to an external storage device (e.g., an external storage device 110A and an external storage device 110B) or connected to an electronic device (e.g., electronic device 115A and electronic device 115B) Display the user interface. The tab corresponds to an external storage device and includes one or more folders. The user can first perform a copy operation of selecting the first external storage device and the second external storage device and then copying the digital contents from the first external storage device to the second external storage device. A progress bar associated with the copy operation may also be displayed in the user interface. The external hard disk drive 120 can store digital contents.

In some embodiments, the USB hub device may be connected to one of the different slots (e.g., a USB slot). A USB hub device can convert a USB slot to multiple USB slots, so users can connect USB-enabled electronic devices. The connected electronic devices can be viewed in the form of tabs and folders on a flat panel television. In this specification, the term " tab " is provided in the user interface to correspond to each of a plurality of external devices, which may be referred to as an " item " The data folder included in the external device to be displayed may also be displayed.

A flat panel television 105 including a plurality of elements will be described in detail with reference to Fig.

2 is a block diagram of a flat panel television 105, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

The flat panel television 105 includes a bus 205 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 210 coupled to bus 205 for processing information. The flat panel television 105 also includes a memory 215 (e.g., random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device) coupled to the bus 205, which stores instructions and information to be executed by the processor 210. The memory 215 may be used to store temporary variables or other intermediate information while the processor 210 executes the instructions. The flat panel television 105 also includes a ROM 220 or other static storage device coupled to the bus 205 and storing instructions and static information for the processor 210. A storage unit 225 (e.g., magnetic or optical disk) is provided and connected to bus 205 for information storage.

The flat panel television 105 may be connected to the display 230 via a bus 205 to display a plurality of tabs and folders corresponding to a plurality of external storage devices. Examples of flat panel televisions 105 include, but are not limited to, liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions, light emitting display (LED) televisions, plasma televisions, organic light emitting diode (OLED) televisions, and quantum dot display Do not. An input device 235 with alphanumeric and other keys is coupled to bus 205 for communicating information and command selections to the processor 210. Another type of user input device is cursor control 240 (e.g., a mouse, trackball, or cursor direction key) for communicating direction information and command selections to processor 210 and for controlling cursor movement on display 230.

Various embodiments relate to the use of the flat panel television 105 to implement the techniques described herein. In some embodiments, flat panel television 105 performs this technique in response to processor 210 executing instructions contained in memory 215. Such instructions may be read into memory 215 from another machine-readable medium (e.g., storage unit 225). By the execution of the instructions contained in memory 215, processor 210 performs the process steps described herein.

In some embodiments, the processor 210 may include one or more processing units that perform one or more functions of the processor 210. Processing units are hardware circuits that are used in place of or in combination with software instructions to perform a particular function.

The term " machine-readable medium " as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing data for a machine to perform a particular function. In an embodiment implemented using flat panel television 105, a variety of machine-readable media may be involved, for example, in providing instructions to processor 210 for execution. The machine-readable medium may be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium. The volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as memory 215, for example. Non-volatile media include optical or magnetic disks, such as storage unit 225, for example. All of these media must be tangible, so that the physical mechanism by which the instructions are loaded into the machine can detect the instructions the media has.

Typical forms of machine-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape or other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, other optical media, punchcards, papertape, other physical medium having a pattern of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, or other memory chip or cartridge.

In another embodiment, the machine-readable medium can be a transmission medium comprising a coaxial cable, a copper wire and a transmission medium comprising an optical fiber or a wire comprising a bus 205. The transmission medium may take the form of an acoustic or optical wave, such as a wave, generated during radio-wave and infrared data communication. Examples of machine-readable media include, but are not limited to, a carrier wave as described below, or any medium that can be read by the flat panel television 105. For example, the instructions may initially be stored on the remote computer's magnetic disk. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over the telephone line using the modem. A local modem on flat panel television 105 can receive data on a telephone line and use an infrared transmitter to convert the data to an infrared signal. The infrared detector may receive data carried in the infrared signal and an appropriate circuit may provide the data to the bus 205. The bus 205 sends the data to the memory 215, which retrieves and executes the instructions from the memory. The instructions received by memory 215 may be selectively stored in storage unit 225 either before or after execution by processor 210. All such media must be tangible so that the instructions contained in the medium can be detected by a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into the machine.

The flat panel television 105 also includes a communication interface 245 connected to the bus 205. [ The communication interface 245 provides bidirectional data communication between the flat panel television 105 and an external device, i.e., an external storage device, an electronic device, or an external hard disk drive. For example, communication interface 245 may be an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) card or modem for providing a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, the communication interface 245 may be a LAN card that provides a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. In all these implementations, communication interface 245 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals, which carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

The processor 210 of the flat panel television 105 may be operable to display a user interface when an external storage device is connected or an electronic device is connected. A plurality of tabs may be displayed on the user interface. The tab corresponds to an external storage device and may also include one or more folders. The processor 210 can perform a copy operation in which the user copies the digital content from the first external storage device selected by the processor 210 to the second external storage device selected by the processor 210. [ In addition, the processor 210 may display a progress bar associated with the copy operation in the user interface. The external hard disk drive 120 can store digital contents.

3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of sharing digital content among external storage devices using a flat panel television (e.g., flat panel television 105), in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

The user can watch the television while sharing digital contents. Examples of digital content include, but are not limited to, photographs, music, videos, and movies.

In step 310, when one or more external devices are connected to the flat panel television, a user interface including one or more tabs corresponding to each of the one or more external devices is displayed. Here, one or more external devices may be external storage devices, electronic devices, external hard disk drives, etc., as shown in FIG. One or more external devices are connected through one or more slots provided in the flat panel television.

Figure 4 illustrates, by way of example, a flat panel television 105 including slots 120, 130 for connecting external storage device 110A and external storage device 110B, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an example in which, when an external device, for example, an external storage device, an electronic device, or an external hard disk drive is connected to a flat panel television in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, And the user interface is displayed on a flat panel television. 6A, the user interface 600 includes a tab 601 corresponding to an internal storage unit, a tab 602 corresponding to an external storage device, a tab 603 corresponding to an electronic device, and a corresponding 604 corresponding to an external hard disk drive. The user interface displayed when the external device is connected to the flat panel television includes a tab corresponding to the connected external device as shown in Fig. 6A, wherein a tab corresponding to the internal storage unit inside the flat panel television is also provided It will be understood by those skilled in the art that other embodiments may be used.

In addition, a user may connect external devices to a slot to share digital content among external devices while watching audio video on a flat panel television. At this time, in order not to interfere with the viewing of the user's TV, the displayed user interface may be provided on a part of the screen so as not to interfere with the watching of the user's TV. As shown in FIG. 6A, if the user interface is displayed only on the lower end of the flat panel television screen, the user can share digital content among the external devices without being disturbed by his / her TV viewing.

6B shows an example of a user interface displayed when an external hard disk drive, an external storage device 1, and an external storage device 2 are connected to the flat panel television 105, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

6B, the user interface 605 includes a tab 606 corresponding to an external hard disk drive HDD, a tab 607 corresponding to USB1, and a tab 608 corresponding to USB2.

As such, the tabs included in the user interface correspond to external devices and may also include one or more folders. 6C illustrates, illustratively, a folder 615 corresponding to a selected tab in the user interface 610, including tabs, according to one embodiment.

In step 320, a selection of a first external device and a second external device to perform the copy operation of the digital content is received from the user. For example, the user can perform a copy operation of copying the digital content from the first external storage device to the second external storage device. An option for the copy operation may be provided to the user, and the user selects the first external storage device and the second external storage device. Figure 6D illustrates, illustratively, enabling a user to select a copy operation, in accordance with one embodiment. A drop down menu 620 is provided to the user with options for the copy operation, and the user can select the first external storage device and the second external storage device.

In step 330, the digital content is copied from the first external device to the second external device.

In some embodiments, the digital content may be displayed on a flat panel television from one of the first external storage device and the second external storage device.

In some embodiments, the digital content may be stored on an external hard disk drive (e.g., external hard disk drive 120). The external hard disk drive may be included in a data slot connected to the flat panel television.

In another embodiment, the digital content may be stored in an internal memory (e.g., memory 215).

Also, in some embodiments, a progress bar associated with a copy operation may be displayed on the user interface. 6E illustrates, by way of example, a progress bar 625 illustratively. The progress bar 625 is closed when the copy operation is completed.

In some implementations, the full screen mode 630 of the folder may be displayed in the user interface as illustrated in Figure 6F.

In some implementations, the flat panel television includes an application that is preinstalled in an internal memory (e.g., memory 215) and can be updated using an external storage device. Examples of pre-installed applications include, but are not limited to, games, religious calendars, and screen savers.

In some embodiments, the flat panel television includes an integrated pen drive that functions as an internal memory or as a simple pen drive.

5A illustrates, by way of example, a data slot 505 connected to a flat panel television 105, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The data slot 505 is adjustable to the thickness of the external hard disk drive 120 or other electronic device, as illustrated in Figures 5B and 5C. In some implementations, data slot 505 is a flexible plastic panel behind flat panel television 105.

Preferably, the embodiment specified in this disclosure makes it possible to share digital content between external storage devices, using a flat panel television. Thus, the user can transfer digital content from one external storage device to another external storage device without using a computer, thus saving time, enabling multi-tasking, and being easy to use by users of other age groups. The present disclosure also provides a flat panel television with a data slot that supports an external hard disk drive or other electronic device.

The present invention can also be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like. The computer readable recording medium may also be distributed over a networked computer system and stored and executed in computer readable code in a distributed manner.

The present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope of equivalents thereof should be construed as being included in the present invention.

Claims (19)

A method of sharing digital content between external devices in a display device,
When one or more external devices are connected to the display device, displaying a user interface including one or more tabs each corresponding to the one or more external devices,
Receiving from the user a selection of a first external device and a second external device to perform a copy operation of the digital content, and
And copying the digital content from the first external device to the second external device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the one or more tabs include one or more folders. 3. The method of claim 2,
Further comprising displaying the user interface wherein a full screen mode of the one or more folders is provided. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising displaying the user interface including a progress bar associated with the copying operation. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the connection of the one or more external devices to the display device occurs while displaying another content on the display device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the displaying the user interface comprises:
And displaying the user interface on a portion of the screen of the display device so as not to disturb the viewing of the user to the display device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the digital content is displayed on the display device from one of the first external device and the second external device. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising storing the digital content in an external hard disk drive, wherein the external hard disk drive is included in a data slot connected to the display device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the display device comprises one or more applications preinstalled in an internal memory and updated using the plurality of external devices and a plurality of applications the user installs using the plurality of external devices. A display device sharing digital contents among external devices,
A communication interface for electronic communication with said one or more external devices,
A memory for storing instructions, and
And a processor responsive to the instructions,
The processor, responsive to the instructions,
When the one or more external devices are connected to the display device, displaying a user interface including one or more tabs each corresponding to the one or more external devices,
Receiving from the user a selection of a first external device and a second external device to perform the copy operation of the digital content, and
And copies the digital content from the first external device to the second external device. 11. The method of claim 10,
One or more slots for receiving the one or more external devices, and
And a data slot for supporting an external hard disk drive. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the one or more items comprise one or more folders. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the processor displays the user interface in response to instructions in which a full-screen mode of the one or more folders is provided. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the processor is responsive to the instructions to display the user interface including a progress bar associated with the copy operation. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein connection of the one or more external devices to the display device is performed while displaying another content in the display device. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the processor, in response to the instructions, when displaying the user interface,
And displays the user interface on a part of the screen of the display device so as not to interfere with the viewing of the user to the display device. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the digital content is displayed on the display device from one of the first external device and the second storage device. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the display device includes one or more applications installed in advance in the internal memory and updated using the plurality of external devices, and a plurality of applications that the user installs using the plurality of external devices. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for carrying out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is recorded.

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