Television viewing control apparatus

• US 10,630,932 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2017
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Byung Chul Moon
• Original Assignee: Byung Chul Moon
• Inventors: Moon, Byung Chul
• Primary Examiner(s): Monshi, Samira
• Application Number:
  US16/472,894
• Publication Number:
  US 20190320132A1
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/08 Systems for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S15/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/88 Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications seismic or acoustic prospecting or detecting G01V1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/12 Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/24 Keyboard-Video-Mouse [KVM] switch
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42206 characterized by hardware details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4222 Remote control device emulator integrated into a non-television apparatus, e.g. a PDA, media center or smart toy remote control device for a television receiver integrated into a mobile phone H04M1/72415
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43635 HDMI
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4854 for modifying image parameters, e.g. image brightness, contrast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/57 Control of contrast or brightness
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/104 Switchers or splitters

Abstract

A television viewing control apparatus includes a distance setting unit, a time setting unit, an ultrasonic sensor, a mounted wireless communication module, and a control unit to perform control to regulate television viewing when a distance between a viewer and the television is measured and the viewer views the television at a position within a set distance or when a remote control signal is received from a smartphone over a wireless network.

Claims

1. A television viewing control apparatus (100) comprising:

a first digital interface connector provided in a digital image source (200);

a second digital interface connector provided in a television (210);

a distance setting unit (140) setting a viewing distance between the television (210) and a viewer;

an ultrasonic sensor (150) measuring a viewing distance between the television (210) and the viewer;

an interface signal processing unit (110) receiving a digital image data signal from the first digital interface connector to process the digital image data signal for each of multiple channels and outputting the resulting signal to the second digital interface connector; and

a controller (104) storing viewing distance information set by the distance setting unit (140) and controlling the interface signal processing unit (110) to block the digital image data signal output from the first digital interface connector to the second digital interface connector when the viewing distance measured by the ultrasonic sensor (150) is within the viewing distance set by the distance setting unit (140),

wherein the television viewing control apparatus (100) further comprises a time setting unit (142) setting a viewing time that the viewer is allowed to continuously view the television (210), and

the controller (104) stores viewing time information set by the time setting unit (142) and further controls the interface signal processing unit (110) in such a manner that when the viewer is detected by the ultrasonic sensor (150) and the viewing time set by the time setting unit (142) elapses, blue light of the digital image data signal provided from the first digital interface connector is adjusted and the digital image data signal of which the blue light is adjusted is reprocessed and is output to the second digital interface connector,

wherein the television viewing control apparatus (100) further comprises a mounted wireless communication module (160) receiving a remote control signal from a smartphone (220) over a wireless network (20) and providing the remote control signal to the controller (104), and

the controller (104) further controls the interface signal processing unit (110) in such a manner that the digital image data signal output from the first digital interface connector to the second digital interface connector is blocked in response to the remote control signal provided from the mounted wireless communication module (160), or further controls the interface signal processing unit (110) in that the blue light of the digital image data signal provided from the first digital interface connector is adjusted and the digital image data signal of which the blue light is adjusted is reprocessed and output to the second digital interface connector,

wherein the first digital interface connector and the second digital interface connector are provided as connectors of a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard,

the interface signal processing unit (110) includes;

an HDMI input unit (111) receiving the digital image data signal from the first digital interface connector;

an HDMI output unit (117) outputting the processed digital image data signal to the second digital interface connector;

a switching unit (112) receiving the digital image data signal of each of the multiple channels from the HDMI input unit (111) and being switched to selectively output the digital image data signals for the respective channels by control of the controller (104); and

a transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS) transmitter (113) receiving the digital image data signals for the respective channels from the switching unit (112) and converting the digital image data signals into TMDS level signals for the respective channels for output to the HDMI output unit (117), and

the controller (104) is configured to,

cause switching-off in such a manner that the digital image data signals for the respective channels provided from the HDMI input unit (111) to the switching unit (112) are blocked from being output to the TMDS transmitter (113);

or

cause switching-on in such a manner that the digital image data signals of a red Yt channel and a green (G) channel among the digital image data signals for the respective channels provided from the HDMI input unit (111) to the switching unit (112) are transmitted to the TMDS transmitter (113), simultaneously cause switching-off in such a manner that the digital image data signal of a blue (B) channel is blocked and is provided to the controller (104) so that the blue light of the digital image data signal is adjusted, and output the digital image data signal of the B channel of which the blue light is adjusted to the TMDS transmitter (113) in such a manner that the TMDS transmitter (113) reprocesses the digital image data signals of the R channel and the G channel and the digital image data signal of the B channel of which the blue light is adjusted.