Patent Application
20140132839
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling an audio/video system, especially a method for controlling a multimedia set-top box of the audio/video system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) is widely used as a transmission interface of TVs, displays, notebooks and tablets due to the HDMI being capable of transmitting uncompressed high definition video data and multichannel audio data. The set-top box, video game console, Blu-ray player or other peripheral devices with the audio/video (A/V) processing functions generally have an HDMI port which can transmit processed A/V data or multimedia data to a display device for displaying images, thus increasing the functions of the system and allowing the user to more conveniently view multimedia images. For example, the user may view multimedia data other than programs of TV channels through connecting a multimedia set-top box to the display. When the user is controlling the multimedia set-top box, the multimedia set-top box will generate an on-screen display (OSD) menu displayed on the TV and the user can use a remote control to control the set-top box.
However, if the user wants to control the TV and the multimedia set-top box at the same time, the user has to use two remote controls corresponding to the set-top box and TV respectively. This could be very inconvenient to operate. Besides, the image of the multimedia set-top box's user interface must be firstly generated by the multimedia set-top box and then transmitted to the display device for displaying. If the TV of a multimedia system incorporates the control function of the set-top box so the user can use the remote control of the TV to control the set-top box, the control signal to the set-top box will be transmitted from the TV to the set-top box when the user controls the set-top box, and then the set-top box will generate image of the user interface after processing the control signals. After the image of user interface is transmitted to the TV, and the TV can display the result corresponding to the control signal accordingly. In this way, a period of time is required for transmitting the control signal and images, thus delaying the result of the user's control operations to the set-top box. Under this situation, the multimedia system can not provide real-time operations to the user.
In addition, the display devices of prior art usually include multiple signal input ports, e.g. the video graphics array (VGA), digital visual interface (DVI) and HDMI ports, for coupling to multiple A/V peripheral devices, e.g. personal computers, notebooks and multimedia set-top boxes. However, when a specific input port of a display device is selected as the signal source, the A/V devices corresponding to the unselected input ports will remain in current state instead of entering standby state automatically, thus increasing the overall power consumption. Moreover, it is very inconvenient for the user to manually turn off the peripheral devices corresponding to the unselected input ports one by one.
An embodiment of the present invention relates to An A/V (audio/video) display system comprising a display and a peripheral device connected to the display. The display is capable of displaying a user interface. The peripheral device transmits raw data of the peripheral device to the display. The display enables an option corresponding to the peripheral device in the user interface after receiving the raw data of the peripheral device. Both the display and the peripheral device are controlled by a control device.
Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a method of controlling an A/V display system with a control device. The A/V display system comprises a display and a peripheral device connected to the display. The method comprises using the display to detect the peripheral device; using the display to receive raw data of the peripheral device; using the display to generate a user interface of the display and to enable an option of the user interface according to the raw data of the peripheral device, said option being used to control the peripheral device according to a user command received from the control device; using the display to provide the user interface with the enabled option, and using the display to generate and transmit a control command to the peripheral device after receiving the user command from the control device.
Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a display device comprising a display component, a receiver, a first connection port and a processor. The receiver is used to receive a user command from a control device. The first connection port is capable of connecting to a peripheral device. The processor is connected to the display component generating an user interface to be displayed by the display component, the user interface including a plurality of options to be selected by the user command. When the first connection port is connected to the peripheral device, the display device receives raw data from the peripheral device, the processor enables one of the options in the user interface according to the raw data of peripheral device, generates the user interface with the enabled option to be displayed by the display component, and generates a first command for controlling the peripheral device to be transmitted to the peripheral device.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Some phrases are referred to specific elements in the present specification and claims, please notice that the manufacturer might use different terms to refer to the same elements. However, the definition between elements is based on their functions instead of their names. Further, in the present specification and claims, the term “comprising” is open type and should not be viewed as the term “consisted of.” Besides, the term “electrically coupled” can be referred to either directly connecting or indirectly connecting between elements.
The embodiments and figures are provided as follows in order to illustrate the present invention in detail, but please notice that the claimed scope of the present invention is not limited by the provided embodiments and figures.
Please refer to
The signal transmission between the display 110 and the multimedia set-top box 120 is through an HDMI cable coupling the first HDMI connection port 112 and the second HDMI connection port 128. In addition, the transmission of commands between the first HDMI connection port 112 and the second HDMI connection port 128 conforms to the HDMI consumer electronic control (CEC) standard. In the present embodiment, the A/V signal input ports 121 and 122 can be respectively coupled to the A/V devices 161 and 162. Thus, the user can operate a remote control of display 110 in order to display A/V data stored in the A/V device 161 or 162 on the display 110. The A/V device 161 or 162 can be storage devices such as computers, hard drives or USB disks.
The CEC standard provides multiple applications for multiple electronic devices connected with HDMI cables. With the CEC standard, the user can control all the connected electronic devices through merely providing commands to one of the electronic devices, so that interaction among the electronic devices can be performed. For example, the CEC standard provides multiple standby commands for a system, which can allow the user to force all electronic devices connected with HDMI cables to enter into standby state by issuing a system standby command, or allow the user to force a specific electronic device in the system to enter into standby state by issuing a specific standby command through an HDMI cable to the specific electronic device. Further, the CEC standard provides bidirectional transmissions of system commands among the electronic devices, that is, commands can be transmitted to the multimedia set-top box 120 from the display 110, and can be also transmitted to the display 110 from the multimedia set-top box 120. The detailed contents of the CEC standard are enacted in the current version of HDMI standard, thus will not be further described hereinafter. The current CEC standard only provides commands inputted by the user which can be received by the electronic devices passively. For example, the user can control both the display 110 and multimedia set-top box 120 with one remote control when the display 110 is coupled to the multimedia set-top box 120 through a HDMI cable, and the display 110 and the multimedia set-top box 120 will passively receive the commands inputted by the user and perform related procedures. However, the CEC standard does not provide any functions to electronic devices that allow the electronic devices to automatically communicate or interact when the electronic devices are coupled or switched in the system. Thus, the user still has to input related commands to the electronic devices one by one.
Please refer to
Step 202: after the first HDMI port 112 is coupled to the second HDMI port 1287, the display 110 will detect the multimedia set-top box 120 and obtain the information about the connection ports 121 and 122 and the information about the channel contents of the multimedia set-top box 120;
Step 203: enabling the second options 151 and 152 corresponding to the multimedia set-top box 120 in the OSD menu of the display 110;
Step 204: when the user calls the OSD menu, the user interface 130 displayed by the display 110 will show a plurality of the first options 141-147, which are original options in the OSD menu, and the second options 151-152 corresponding to the multimedia set-top box 120 are shown near the first options 141-147;
Step 206: when the user selects the option for switching the A/V input source in the user interface 130, the display 110 shows the information of the first HDMI connection ports 112 and the connection port 113 for switching, and if there are devices coupled to the A/V signal input ports 121 and/or 122 on the multimedia set-top box 120, the user interface will show the information of the A/V signal input ports 121 and/or 122 replacing the information of the first HDMI connection port 112.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the first options 141-147 and the second options 151-152 can be shown as icons with descriptions. When the first HDMI connection port 112 is not coupled to the second HDMI connection port 128, the user interface 130, which may be as depicted in
Besides enabling the second options 151 and 152, the functions of first options 141-147 in the user interface 130 can be also updated accordingly after the display 110 receives the raw data. For example, if there are devices coupled to the A/V signal input ports 121 and/or 122 on the multimedia set-top box 120, the option for selecting the A/V input source in the user interface 130 of the display 130 may show the connection port 113 and the A/V signal input ports 121-122 without showing the first HDMI connection port 112 for selection of input source. Further, the display 110 can integrate the received channel data of the multimedia set-top box 120 and the channel data of the display 110 and generate an integrated channel list in the option for switching channels. For example, the display 110 can be a TV for receiving multiple TV channels, and the multimedia set-top box 120 can provide the video-on-demand (VOD) service or receive A/V signals from other connected playback devices. After the display 110 is coupled to the multimedia set-top box 120, the display 110 can receives the information of A/V signals from the multimedia set-top box 120 and integrate the A/V signals with the TV channels as virtual channels provided by the multimedia set-top box 120. Thus, the user can utilize the remote control of the display 110 to switch channels included in the integrated channel list, including the TV channels belonging to the display 110 and the virtual channels belonging to the multimedia set-top box 120, and the input sources of the display 110 will be switched with the channel switching automatically. That is, when the currently displayed TV channel, belonging to the display 110, is switched to a virtual channel, belonging to the multimedia set-top box 120, the display 110 will automatically switch the input source to the multimedia set-top box 120 and receive A/V data of the virtual channel, thus the user need not first manually switch the input source to the multimedia set-top box 120 and then select the desired A/V content provided by the multimedia set-top box 120. In addition, the display 110 can generate the integrated channel list by assigning successive numbers to the TV channels and virtual channels, wherein the assigned channel numbers can be increased or decreased progressively. For example, the channel numbers of the TV channels can be configured to be 1 to 100, and the channel numbers of the virtual channels can be configured to be 101 to 130. Besides, the channel numbers of the virtual channels can be also configured as minor channels, such as be 1-1, 2-1, . . . , and 30-1, or 1-1 to 1-30. After the display 110 receives the settings of the multimedia set-top box 120, the display 110 can generate setting options for images, sounds, channels or system corresponding to the multimedia set-top box 120. Thus, the user can directly set the multimedia set-top box 120 with the remote control of the display 110, and the display 110 will transmit the setting commands to the multimedia set-top box 120 for processing.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the icons of the plurality of options in the user interface 130 are not limited to be arranged in the nine-square division manner as depicted in
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the raw data transmitted to the display 110 from the multimedia set-top box 120 may also comprise data of application programs to be processed by the display 110. When transmitting raw data, the transmissions can be performed following existing connection interfaces standard and protocols in the A/V system 100. For example, the pin 14 or pin 19 of HDMI standard interface can be utilized to transmit raw data. The aforementioned pins can be utilized to transmitting data optionally as a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) or an inter-integrated circuit (I2C). In an embodiment of the present invention, the connection port 113 of the display 110 can be further coupled to the multimedia set-top box 120 in order to provide another transmission path for transmitting large raw data. For example, the connection port 113 can include an USB port for coupling to the multimedia set-top box 120 and providing data transmission function. In another embodiment of the present invention, the transmission of raw data between the display 110 and the multimedia set-top box 120 can utilize wireless transmitters/receives following wireless communications protocols and needs no connection of physical cable.
In the prior art, the user interface of the set-top box is generated by the set-top box itself and transmitted to the display along with the image data to be displayed. However, the commands from the user still have to be received by the set-top box, and then the set-top box will process the commands and transmit the result images to the display, so that the user can see the result images from the display. In this way, severe delay exists between the operation of the user and showing of the result images. In the present invention, the raw data is firstly transmitted to the display 110 from the multimedia set-top box 120, and then the display 110 enables the second options 151-152 and the additional functions of the first options 141 to 147 corresponding to the multimedia set-top box 120 in the user interface 130, thus improving the defects in the prior art and the HDMI CEC standard. After the display 110 receives the raw data and enables related functions, the user can control the multimedia set-top box 120 through using the remote control of the display 110 to send commands to the display 110. After receiving commands from the user, the display 110 will generate control signals and transmit the control signals to the multimedia set-top box 120 for processing. If a few peripheral devices are coupled to the multimedia set-top box 120, the multimedia set-top box 120 can also receive the raw data of the peripheral devices, and transmit the received raw data to the display 110. After that, the display 110 will enable additional options and functions of enabled or original options corresponding to the peripheral devices coupled to the multimedia set-top box 120, so the user can control the multimedia set-top box 120 and the peripheral devices coupled thereto by using the remote control of the display 110 to send operation commands. Compared with the prior art, the system and method of the present invention can increase the transmission and processing speed and efficiency, and solve the delay problem in the prior art system. In other words, the present invention provides real-time control operations of the multimedia set-top box 120 and the peripheral devices in the system for users.
Please refer to
Step 502: the display 410 displays images according to the A/V signals of the first A/V device 460;
Step 504: the display 410 receives a command to call the user interface 430 and displays the user interface 430 when displaying images according to the A/V signals of the first A/V device 460;
Step 506: the user selects the second A/V device 470 as the input source of the display 410 from the user interface 430;
Step 508: when the second A/V device 470 is selected, the display 410 will send a command to turn off the first A/V device 460 or force the first A/V device 460 to enter into a standby state through the first A/V port 116, and the display 410 will send a command to turn on the second A/V device 470 through the second A/V port 117.
In Step 502, the display 410 may also play the audio data along with the video data from the A/V device 460. In Step 508, if the first A/V port 116 and the second A/V port 117 are HDMI ports, the display 410 can turn off the first A/V device 460 through the first A/V signal 116 with the CEC commands. If the first A/V port 116 and the second A/V port 117 are VGA ports, the display 410 can turn off the first A/V device 460 through sending DDC2B+ commands to the first A/V device 460.
Though the display 410 might be coupled to multiple A/V devices, the user probably does not watch content from more than one A/V device at one time, and the user may switch the input source of the display 410 among the multiple A/V devices to search the content desired to watch. It is important to reduce the power consumption of devices whose contents are not being currently watched. Steps 504 and 506 describe the scenario that the user calls for the ODD menu. The display 410 will show the ODS menu right after receiving the commands from the user. The user can select the A/V input source switching option in the OSD menu, and the display 410 will display the interface for switching input source to the user, wherein the interface for switching input source may comprise a list, a menu, or other selection format of selectable input sources. At Step 506, the second A/V device 470 is selected as the current A/V input source of the display 410. And then in Step 508, the display 410 will transmit a CEC command or DDC2B+ command to the second A/V device 470 to wake up the second A/V device 470. In this way, the second A/V device 470 will be turned on and begin to process A/V data. After that, the display 410 can display the contents from the second A/V device 470. Moreover, the display 410 will transmit CEC commands or DDC2B+ commands to the devices which are not the current input source to shut down those devices, e.g. the first A/V device 460, in Step 508. The devices which are not the current input source will enter into standby state after receiving the CEC commands or DDC2B+ commands comprising standby commands. In an embodiment of the present invention, after receiving the commands for switching the currently displayed A/V signal source, the display 410 will wait a predetermined period of time and transmit the standby commands to peripheral devices which are not the current input source if there is no other command for switching input source received from the user in the predetermined period of time. Thus, if the user keeps switching input sources during the predetermined period of time, the display 410 will not wake up the peripheral devices which just enter into the standby state immediately. In this way, the peripheral devices can be prevented from keeping turning on and off while the user keeps switching input source. Until the input source selection stops long enough, the peripheral devices which are not current input source will enter into the standby state. Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the display 410 can transmit the standby commands to the peripheral devices right after each time the display 410 receives command to switch the current input source, and the peripheral devices will wait a predetermined period of time and enter into the standby state if no other standby or wake up command is received in the predetermined period of time, so as to avoid being waked up immediately after entering into standby state by the display 410.
The A/V system of the present invention can automatically manage the power state of a plurality of peripheral devices in order to reduce the overall power consumption, and each A/V device in the A/V system will be turned on or off automatically after the user switches current input source of the display in the A/V system. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the display 410, the first
A/V device 460 and the second A/V device 470 can be controlled with one single remote control. Besides, the display 410 can be informed of the power states of the A/V devices according to the CEC commands or DDC2B commands returned from the A/V devices. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the user can use the single remote control to control the first A/V device 460, the second A/V device 470 but also the peripheral devices coupled to the first A/V device 460, the second A/V device 470. The first A/V device 460 and the second A/V device 470 can transmit the raw data and states of the peripheral devices coupled thereto to the display 410 through HDMI or VGA interface, so the display 410 can arrange the power state of a specific peripheral device. If the first A/V port 116 and the second A/V port 117 are VGA ports, the transmission between the display 410 and the first A/V device 460 or the second A/V device 470 is defined to utilize the pins of VGA interface to transmit specific commands and compatible with the VGA interface standard. For example, Pin 12 of the VGA interface can transmit data compatible with the DDC2B+ protocol and some kinds of data can be pre-defined as control commands in the A/V system. As long as the first A/V device 460 or the second A/V device 470 can identify the data transmitted from the display device 410 through the VGA interfaces are specific commands and execute accordingly, the display 410 can control the first A/V device 460 or the second A/V device 470 through the VGA interface. Though the applications of the VGA interface are described above, the present invention is not limited to utilize the Pin 12 or the DDC2B+ protocol only. The DDC2B+ protocol is an exemplary protocol allowing bi-directional code transmissions between the host and the display, where the control commands are delivered to the display from the host. Other similar protocol or usable pin can be utilized in the present invention instead.
In view of above, the embodiments of the present invention provide the A/V systems 100, 400 and method for controlling the A/V systems 100, 400. The displays 110, 410 and other peripheral A/V devices in the A/V system can be controlled with one single remote control. The display 110 integrates the control options of the peripheral A/V devices into the OSD menu of the display 110. Moreover, the present invention can greatly reduce the delay of indirectly control the multimedia set-top box 120 through display 110, so real-time operations for the user can be achieved. In addition, the display 410 can automatically turn off coupled A/V devices which are not the input source when the input source is switched by the user, so as to save energy.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101142425 | Nov 2012 | TW | national |
