TWI728398B - Electronic device with display unit and display system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a electronic device with a display unit. The electronic device includes a image capture unit and a connection interface. The connection interface is configured to couple to a first electronic device having a first image capture unit via a cable. When a switch event is triggered on the electronic device, the connection interface transmits a control signal to the first electronic device via the cable to cause an application of the first electronic device to switch an image signal source from one of the image capture unit and the first image capture unit to another.

Description

Electronic device with display unit and display system

The invention relates to an electronic device and a display system with a display unit.

In the prior art, not only electronic devices such as smart phones, notebook computers, and tablet computers can be equipped with cameras and displays at the same time, but some dedicated display devices are also equipped with cameras. Based on the needs of users, these dedicated display devices can often be connected to electronic devices such as notebook computers for use. However, when the dedicated display device is connected to, for example, a notebook computer, one of the camera of the dedicated display device and the camera of the notebook computer must be selected as the device for image capture. The traditional method is to select by the operating system of the notebook computer. For the user, it is neither intuitive nor convenient.

The embodiment of the present invention discloses an electronic device with a display unit. The electronic device includes an image capture unit and a connection interface. The connection interface is used for coupling to a first electronic device having a first image capturing unit through a cable. When a switching event is triggered on the electronic device, the connection interface transmits a control signal to the first electronic device through the cable, so that an application program of the first electronic device can be controlled according to the control signal. The control signal switches the source of an image signal from one of the first image capturing unit and the image capturing unit to the other of the first image capturing unit and the image capturing unit.

Another embodiment of the present invention discloses a display system including a first electronic device and a second electronic device. The first electronic device includes a first image capturing unit and an application program. The second electronic device includes a display unit, a second image capture unit and a connection interface. The connection interface is used for coupling to the first electronic device through a cable. When a switching event is triggered on the second electronic device, the connection interface transmits a control signal to the first electronic device through the cable, so that the application program of the first electronic device can capture an image signal source from the first image according to the control signal One of the capturing unit and the second image capturing unit is switched to the other of the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit.

In order to have a better understanding of the above and other aspects of the present invention, the following specific examples are given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings to describe in detail as follows:

10: Display system

20: The first electronic device

30, 30a, 30b: second electronic device

201: The first display unit

203: The first image capture unit

205: memory unit

207: Processing Unit

2051: Apps

301: second display unit

303: The second image capture unit

305: connection interface

307: control unit

309: switching unit

311: Micro Processing Unit

CTL: Control signal

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a display system according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second electronic device according to another embodiment of the invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a display system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The display system 10 includes a first electronic device 20 and a second electronic device 30. The first electronic device 20 is, for example, a notebook computer, a smart phone, a tablet computer, etc. Like functional electronic devices. The first electronic device 20 includes a first display unit 201, a first image capturing unit 203, a memory unit 205, and a processing unit 207. The first display unit 201 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, a light-emitting diode display, or the like. The first image capturing unit 203 can be a camera. The memory unit 205 may be a non-volatile memory. The storage unit 205 stores the application program 2051. The processing unit 207 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processing wafer. The processing unit 207 is coupled to the first display unit 201, the first image capturing unit 203 and the memory unit 205. When the application program 2051 is executed by the processing unit 207, the processing unit 207 can be caused to perform related operations required to implement the first electronic device 20 of the present invention.

The second electronic device 30 includes a second display unit 301, a second image capturing unit 303 and a connection interface 305. The second display unit 301 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, a light-emitting diode display, or the like. The second image capturing unit 303 may be a camera. The type of connection interface can be USB or USB-C. The second electronic device 30 can be electrically connected to the first electronic device 20 by a cable coupled to the connection interface 305 so that the signal can be transmitted between the first electronic device 20 and the second electronic device 30.

When the user triggers a switching event on the second electronic device 30, the connection interface 305 transmits a control signal CTL to the first electronic device 20 through the cable. In response to the control signal CTL, the application program 2051 run by the processing unit 207 in the first electronic device 20 causes the processing unit 207 to source the image signal in use by the application program 2051 from the first image capturing unit 203 and the second image capturing unit 203 according to the control signal CTL. One of the two image capturing units 303 is switched to the other of the first image capturing unit 203 and the second image capturing unit 303. The above application 2051 is in use The image signal can be synchronously transmitted to the second electronic device 30 via a cable or can be synchronously displayed on the first display unit 201.

For example, the first electronic device 20 is a notebook computer 20 and the second electronic device 30 is a plasma TV 30. The notebook computer 20 is connected to the plasma TV 30 through a video cable. The display screen 301 of the plasma TV 30 will display the same content as the display screen 201 of the notebook computer 20. When the notebook computer 20 is running the video call application The image signal used for the video call comes from the first image capturing unit 203 of the notebook computer 20 to capture the image of the near-end user. When the user moves to the plasma TV 30 to watch the same image, the user can A switching event is triggered on the plasma TV 30, causing the connection interface 305 to transmit the control signal CTL to the notebook computer 20, so that the processing unit 207 of the notebook computer 20 switches the video signal source of the video call from the first image capturing unit 203 To the second image capturing unit 303 of the plasma TV 30. In this way, the user does not need to operate in front of the first electronic device 20 to provide the image signal source of the video call by the second image capturing unit 303, and watch the call provided by the other party on the large screen. Picture.

Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The second electronic device 30a includes a second display unit 301, a second image capturing unit 303, a connection interface 305, a control unit 307, and a switching unit 309. The second display unit 301, the second image capturing unit 303, and the connection interface 305 can refer to the foregoing description, and will not be repeated here. The control unit 307 is, for example, a scaler. The control unit 307 is coupled to the second image capturing unit 303, the connection interface 305 and the switching unit 309. The switching unit 309 may include a switch and a cover of the second image capturing unit 303. In reality In an embodiment, the switching unit 307 is coupled to the connection interface 305 and the control unit 307 through general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, and the control unit 307 is connected to the control unit 307 through an integrated circuit bus (inter-integrated circuit bus). , I2C bus) is coupled to the connection interface 305.

In this embodiment, the switching event is triggered by changing the switching unit 309 from a first state to a second state. When the switching event is triggered, the control unit 307 enables or disables the second image capturing unit 303 and transmits the control signal CTL to the connection interface 305, and then transmits the control signal CTL to the first electronic device 20 from the connection interface.

For example, a cover may be provided in front of the second image capturing unit 303 to protect the camera of the second image capturing unit 303, and the cover may be a sliding cover or a flip cover. When the cover covers the camera of the second image capturing unit 303, the switching unit 309 is in the first state. When the cover does not cover the second image capturing unit 303, the camera of the second image capturing unit 303 is exposed, and the switching unit 309 is in the first state. The second state. When the switching unit 309 transitions from the first state to the second state, a switching event is triggered, and the cover touches the switch to cause the switching unit 309 to send a notification signal (for example, the signal of the GPIO pin changes from logic 0 to logic 1) to the connection interface 305 and Control unit 307. Then, the control unit 307 responds to the notification signal to enable the second image capturing unit 303 to start image capturing and sends a control signal CTL indicating enabling and the captured image to the connection interface 305, and the connection interface 305 sends the control signal The CTL is transmitted to the first electronic device 20. The application program 2051 of the first electronic device 20 switches the source of the image signal from the first image capturing unit 203 to the second image capturing unit 303 according to the control signal CTL.

On the other hand, when the switching unit 309 changes from the second state to the first state (that is, the cover is covered so that the second image capturing unit 303 is covered), the switching event is triggered, and the cover releases the switch to cause the switching unit 309 to send A notification signal (for example, the signal of the GPIO pin is converted from logic 1 to logic 0) is sent to the connection interface 305 and the control unit 307. Then, the control unit 307 responds to the notification signal to disable the second image capturing unit 303 and transmits a control signal CTL indicating the disablement to the connection interface 305, and the connection interface 305 transmits the control signal CTL to the first electronic device 20. The application program 2051 of the first electronic device 20 switches the source of the image signal from the second image capturing unit 303 to the first image capturing unit 203 according to the control signal CTL.

In one embodiment, the second electronic device 30a may further include a user operation interface. The user operation interface may be displayed on the second display unit 301, for example, for the user to operate. The user operation interface can be used to enable or disable the control unit 307 to transmit the control signal CTL to the connection interface 305 according to a user selection. In other words, the user can select whether to enable the functions described above by operating the user interface, for example, when the slide cover is opened to expose the second image capturing unit, the control signal is sent to the first electronic device to enable the first electronic device The image signal source is automatically switched to the second image capturing unit. In another embodiment, the user can also select whether to enable the functions described above by operating the application 2051 of the first electronic device 20, such as sending a control signal when the slide cover is opened to expose the second image capturing unit To the first electronic device so that the first electronic device automatically switches the image signal source to the second image capturing unit.

In one embodiment, when the first electronic device 20 uses the image source of the second image capturing unit 303 and the second image capturing unit 303 is in an enabled state and is not operated for a specific period of time (for example, the application 2051 continues If it is detected in 30 seconds that the first electronic device 20 does not have any program using the image capturing unit 303), then the second electronic device 30a and/or the first electronic device 20 can display a prompt message on the second display unit 301 and/or the A display unit 201 reminds the user to change the state of the switching unit to disable the second image capturing unit 303.

In one embodiment, when the first electronic device 20 uses the image source of the second image capturing unit 303 and the second image capturing unit 303 is in the enabled state, the application 2051 of the first electronic device 20 can be based on the second One or more images provided by the image capturing unit 303 determine whether a login failure event has occurred, where the login failure event is, for example, a user who has not passed the verification of face recognition, eyeball recognition, etc. attempts to log in/unlock the first electronic device 20 and /Or the second electronic device 30a. When a login failure event occurs, the application 2051 of the first electronic device 20 can record the image provided by the second image capturing unit 303 for viewing by the legal user.

It should be noted that in the embodiment where the type of the connection interface 305 is USB, the second electronic device 30a may include an audio-visual signal transmission interface, such as a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), to pass another A cable is connected to the first electronic device 20 to transmit video and audio signals, where the video and audio signals may include the second image capturing unit and the images captured/photographed by the first image capturing unit. In other words, the control signal CTL and the video and audio signal use different transmission paths. The type of connection interface 305 is USB-C In an embodiment, the video and audio signal between the second electronic device 30a and the first electronic device 30 can be transmitted through the connection interface 305 (ie, the USB-C interface).

Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second electronic device according to another embodiment of the present invention. The second electronic device 30b includes a second display unit 301, a second image capturing unit 303, a connection interface 305, and a micro-processing unit 311. The second display unit 301, the second image capturing unit 303, and the connection interface 305 can refer to the foregoing description, and will not be repeated here. The micro-processing unit 311 can be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processing wafer. The micro-processing unit 311 is coupled to the second image capturing unit 303 and the connection interface 305. The micro-processing unit 311 can be used to determine whether the switching event is triggered according to one or more images captured by the second image capturing unit 303. When it is determined that the switching event is triggered, the control signal CTL is transmitted to the connection interface 305, and the control signal CTL is transmitted to the first electronic device 20 through the cable from the connection interface 305.

In one embodiment, the first electronic device 20 is connected to the second electronic device 30b, and the second image capturing unit 303 can be constantly enabled to continuously provide images to the processing unit 311 for identification. 311 determines whether the switching event is triggered by performing face recognition, eye tracking, or specific motion recognition based on the one or more images. The implementation may be: the first electronic device 20 is in the locked state, the processing unit 311 determines that there is a human face in the image captured by the second image capturing unit 303, and the processing unit 311 transmits the control signal CTL to the connection interface 305 to make the first The electronic device 20 uses the image source of the second image capturing unit 303 and further performs face recognition on the received image to determine whether it is a legitimate user of the first electronic device 20. If so, the first electronic device can be unlocked. Device 20; another implementation can only The micro-processing unit 311 directly determines whether the human face is a legitimate user of the first electronic device 20, and if so, the control signal CTL is sent to the connection interface 305, so that the first electronic device 20 is unlocked and can be used. In this type of embodiment Among them, the first electronic device 20 may be, for example, a notebook computer, and the second electronic device 30b may be, for example, an All-in-One computer or a display with an image recognition function.

According to the present invention, the user can trigger a switching event on the second electronic device side, which causes the application program on the first electronic device side to change the source of the image signal. Compared with the prior art where the user has to operate on the first electronic device to switch the source of the image signal, the present invention is more convenient and intuitive.

In summary, although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to those defined by the attached patent application scope.

10: Display system

20: The first electronic device

30: second electronic device

201: The first display unit

203: The first image capture unit

205: memory unit

207: Processing Unit

2051: Apps

301: second display unit

303: The second image capture unit

305: connection interface

CTL: Control signal

Claims (9)

An electronic device with a display unit includes: an image capture unit; a connection interface for coupling to a first electronic device having a first image capture unit through a cable; and a switching unit coupled to Connected to the connection interface; wherein, when a switching event is triggered on the electronic device, the connection interface transmits a control signal to the first electronic device through the cable, so that an application program of the first electronic device is based on The control signal switches the source of an image signal from one of the first image capturing unit and the image capturing unit to the other of the first image capturing unit and the image capturing unit; and wherein the The switching event is triggered by changing the switching unit from a first state to a second state, and when the switching event is triggered, a control unit coupled to the switching unit and the image capturing unit enables the image The capturing unit sends the control signal to the connection interface. For the electronic device described in claim 1, wherein the switching unit includes a cover of the image capturing unit, and the cover shields the image capturing unit in the first state, and in the second state The image capturing unit is exposed and the switching event is triggered, and the control unit enables the image capturing unit. For the electronic device described in claim 1, wherein the switching unit is a button. When the button is pressed, the button changes from the first state to the second state, triggers the switching event, and causes the control The unit enables the image capturing unit. For example, the electronic device described in item 1 of the scope of patent application further includes: a user operation interface for enabling or disabling the control unit to transmit the control signal to the connection interface according to a user's choice. For example, the electronic device described in claim 1 further includes: a micro-processing unit, coupled to the image capturing unit and the connection interface, and used for depending on one or more captured from the image capturing unit An image determines whether the switching event is triggered, and when it is determined that the switching event is triggered, the control signal is sent to the connection interface. For the electronic device described in item 5 of the scope of patent application, wherein the micro-processing unit determines whether the switching event is triggered by performing face recognition, eye tracking, or specific motion recognition based on the one or more images. For example, the electronic device described in item 5 of the scope of patent application further includes: a user operation interface for determining whether the switching event is triggered according to a user's choice to enable or disable the micro-processing unit. For the electronic device described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, the connection interface is USB or USB-C. A display system includes: a first electronic device including: a first image capturing unit; and an application program; and a second electronic device including: a display unit; a second image capturing unit; and a connection Interface for coupling to the first electronic device through a cable; a switching unit coupled to the connection interface; wherein, when a switching event is triggered by the second electronic device, the connection interface will generate a control signal It is transmitted to the first electronic device through the cable, so that the application program of the first electronic device transfers an image signal source from one of the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit according to the control signal One is switched to the other of the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit; and wherein the switching event is triggered by changing the switching unit from a first state to a second state, And when the switching event is triggered, a control unit coupled to the switching unit and the image capturing unit enables the image capturing unit and transmits the control signal to the connection interface.

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