This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-181772, filed Jul. 11, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a video display device, more particularly, to a video display device, a video playback device, a video playback display system and a control method thereof, capable of controlling a playback device configured to play back video signals according to switching of input of the video signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a video display device such as a television is compatible with a plurality of input sources, and can display video signals by switching between those originating as broadcast signals and those from an externally connected video playback device. Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2008-34965, for example, discloses a technique of switching input from a television to a device equipped with a video playback function, when the device equipped with the video playback function makes a request for input switching to a television via a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection.
In the technique disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2008-34965, however, when switching of input of video signals is performed by a television, a video playback device connected to the television cannot start or stop playback in conjunction with the input switching of the video signals by the television side.
A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.
Various embodiments according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In general, according to one embodiment of the invention, a video display device includes: a first receiver module configured to receive video signals output from the video playback device; a second receiver module configured to receive video signals output from a video source other than the video playback device; a switching module configured to switch connection of video signals output from the first receiver module and the second receiver module; and a command output module configured to output a predetermined command when the connection of the video signals is switched from the first receiver module to the second receiver module.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
First, the video playback display system and the video display device according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to
As shown in
The video playback device 14 comprises a disk drive module 53 which plays back optical discs, for example, and is connected to the video display device 10 via a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable 13. The video display device 10 comprises a display module 29 such as a display, and displays video signals input from the video playback device 14 connected via HDMI, for example, on the display module 29. Further, video signals from other externally connected video source devices and originating as broadcast signals received by a built-in tuner are also displayed on the display module 29. Input switching between these video signals is performed by a controller module (which will be described below) included in the video display device 10. Input switching of video signals is performed when the video display device 10 transmits a predetermined command to the video playback device 14.
Input switching between these video signals can be performed based on an instruction from a remote controller 12 included with the video display device 10, for example. Input switching between the video signals may be performed by pressing down a predetermined button included in the video display device 10. In the present embodiment, the video display device 10 and the video playback device 14 are connected via an HDMI cable, but may be connected wirelessly over the radio. The connection form is not limited to a specific one and may be any form in which the video display device 10 can transmit a predetermined command to the video playback device 14.
The remote controller light receiver (command receiver module) 20 is an interface device which receives a signal such as an input switch request signal from the remote controller 12 and transfers the signal to the controller module 21. The controller module (switching module; command output module) 21 performs image processing of video signals received from the video playback device 14 and originating as broadcast signals and displays the signals on the display module 29. The controller module 21 performs switching of video signals input via the HDMI interface 27. When switching of the input video signals is performed, the controller module 21 transmits a predetermined command stored in the memory module 22 to the video playback device 14. When switching of the input video signals is performed, the memory 22 stores a command (which will be described later; see
The video playback device 14 comprises an HDMI interface 50, a playback processor module 51, a controller module 52, a disk drive module 53, and the like. The HDMI interface 50 is an interface device for connection with a device which displays video, such as the video display device 10. The playback processor module 51 performs a playback operation to decode video signals read from an optical disk, for example, by the disc drive module 53. The controller module 52 outputs video signals via the HDMI interface 50 based on video data decoded by the playback processor module 51. The controller module 52 performs an operation according to a command received from the video display device 10. For example, when the received command indicates a playback request, an optical disc, for example, is played back by the disk drive module 53. The disc drive 53 reads video signals from a recording medium such as an optical disc.
The procedures for the video playback display system and the control method to which the video playback display is applied with the above-described configuration according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in
There are two ways to control the video playback device 14 in conjunction with the input switching of video signals input to the video display device 10. In the first method, input switching of the video display device 10 is performed, and a selection command indicating that video signals output from the video playback device 14 has been selected or a release command indicating that selection of output of video signals from the video playback device 14 has been released is transmitted from the video display device 10 to the video playback device 14. The video playback device 14 starts playback upon receipt of the selection command and stops or suspends playback upon receipt of the release command.
In the second method, when input switching of the video display device 10 is performed, a command requiring the playback status is transmitted from the video display device 10 to the video playback device 14. Upon receipt of this command, the video playback device 14 transmits status notification information about whether the video playback device 14 is in a playback state or a stopped or suspended state to the video display device 10. The video display device 10 transmits a command requiring start of playback when the received status notification information indicates that the video playback device 14 is in the stopped or suspended state.
The controller module 21 of the video display device 10 monitors whether a video input switching operation has been performed or not. As shown in
In block S102, the controller module 21 of the video display device 10 determines the switching status of input switching of the video display device 10. When the controller module 21 of the video display device 10 determines in block S102 that input from the video playback device 14 has been selected (when input has been switched from broadcast signals to the video playback device 14, for example), a command indicating selection of input from the video playback device 14 is transmitted to a playback device connected via HDMI, such as the video playback device 14. When the controller 21 of the image display device 10 determines in block S102 that input from the video playback device 14 has been released (such as when input has been switched from the video display device 14 to broadcast signals) (“Release HDMI-connected device” in block S102), a command indicating release of input from the video playback device 14 is transmitted to an HDMI connection playback device such as the video playback device 14 (block S104). The command indicating selection of input from the video display device 14 or the command indicating release of input from the video playback device 14 can be accomplished by using Vendor Specific Commands defined as Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) commands of HDMI. The following command will be preset for example.
Input selected command
Initiator: TV (Video display device 10)
Destination: Currently active source (Video display device 14)
Opcode: <Vendor Command>
Parameter: select
Input released command
Initiator: TV (Video display device 10)
Destination: Currently active source (Video display device 14)
Opcode: <Vendor Command>
Parameter: cancel
Next, as shown in
When the controller module 52 of the video playback device 14 determines in block S202 that the received command is the input released command (“Release notification” in block S202), the video playback device 14 determines the playback status of the video playback device 14 itself (block S203). When the controller 52 of the video playback device 14 determines in block S203 that the video playback device 14 is in a playback state (“Playback state” in block S203), playback of an optical disc, for example, by the video display device 14 is stopped or suspended (block S204). When the controller 52 of the video playback device 14 determines in block S203 that the video playback device 14 is in a state other than the playback state (“Other states” in block S203), the procedure is finished (by ignoring the received “input released command”).
The video display device 10 monitors whether a video input switching operation has been performed or not. As shown in
Command requiring transmission of status notification information
Initiator: TV (Video display device 10)
Destination: Currently active source (Video playback device 14)
Opcode: <Give Deck Status>
The video display device 10 receives status notification information indicating the playback status of the video playback device 14 from the video playback device 14 and holds (stores) the status notification information in the memory module 22, for example (block S303). The video display device 10 determines the playback status of the video playback device 14 and input switching based on the received status notification information (block S304). When the controller module 21 of the video display device 10 determines in block S304 that the video playback device 14 is in the playback state and that selection of the video playback device 14 connected via HDMI is released (“Playback state and release of selection of HDMI-connected playback device” in block S304), the video display device 10 issues and transmits a command requiring stop or suspension to the video playback device 14 (block S305). When the controller 21 of the video display device 10 determines in block S304 that the video playback device 14 is in a stopped or suspended state and that the video playback device 14 connected via HDMI has been selected (“Stopped/suspended state and selection of HDMI-connected playback device” in block S304), the video display device 10 issues and transmits a command requiring start of playback to the video playback device 14 (“Issue playback start command” in block S305). The command requiring stop or suspension and the command requiring start of playback can be accomplished by using Deck Control defined as Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) commands of HDMI. If specific commands do not exist, Vendor Specific Commands may be used to accomplish the commands.
For example,
Stop command
Initiator: TV (Video Display device 10)
Destination: Currently active source (Video display device 14)
Opcode: <Deck Control>
Parameter: stop
Playback start command
Initiator: TV (Video display device 10)
Destination: Currently active source (Video playback device 14)
Opcode: <Play>
Suspension command
Initiator: TV (Video display device 10)
Destination: Currently active source (Video playback device 14)
Opcode: <Vendor Command>
Parameter: pause
Next, the video playback device 14 receives a status notification request command (requiring transmission of status notification information) from the video display device 10, as shown in
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a video display device, a video playback device, a video playback display system and a control method thereof, capable of starting and stopping playback in conjunction with input switching of video signals by the television side.
According to the above-described embodiment, playback of the video playback device connected in conjunction with input switching of video signals by the video display device such as a television can be started or stopped. The user only needs to operate the video display device 10 and switching is automatically performed, without the need to make complicated operations on the video playback device 14. Thereby, improved user-friendliness can be achieved.
Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. The present invention can be embodied by modifying structural elements within the range of the spirit or scope of the invention.
Further, various inventions can be made by combining the structural elements disclosed in the above-described embodiment as appropriate. For example, some of the structural elements may be deleted from all the structural elements disclosed in the embodiment. Moreover, the structural elements of different embodiments may be combined as appropriate.
While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-181772 | Jul 2008 | JP | national |