Information processing apparatus and method, and recording medium

• US 20040198459A1
• Filed: 02/26/2004
• Published: 10/07/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Oba, Haruo, Rekimoto, Junichi, Sugawara, Taku, Ayatsuka, Yuji, Matsushita, Nobuyuki, Inagaki, Takeo
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,005 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4038 Image mosaicing, e.g. composing plane images from plane sub-images
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/3911 Fading models or fading generators
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/26 at least one of which is mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method, and a program in which information can be reliably exchanged when performing wireless communication by allowing a user to know a communication distance at which devices can be connected. A communication unit 28 performs Bluetooth communication with a communication unit, which serves as a Bluetooth module, provided for a cellular telephone. A CPU 21 displays an image corresponding to the cellular telephone based on the input level of Bluetooth radio waves transmitted from the cellular telephone. For example, when the input level of the radio waves transmitted from the cellular telephone is equal to the maximum input, the CPU 21 sets the level of transparency to be 0, and displays the image corresponding to the cellular telephone on an LCD 32 so that a background image is not transmitted at all. When the input level of the radio waves is almost equal to the reception sensitivity, the CPU 21 displays the image corresponding to the cellular telephone on the LCD 32 by setting the level of transparency to be 90% so as to transmit the background image. The present invention can be applied to an information processing apparatus, for example, a personal computer, a PDA, or a cellular telephone.

Claims

1-10. -10 (Cancelled)

11. An information processing apparatus comprising:

communication means for communicating with an electronic device via radio waves;

obtaining means for obtaining identification information concerning the electronic device; and

display control means for controlling, among a plurality of electronic devices, an image of the configuration of the electronic device specified from the identification information obtained by the obtaining means to be displayed based on an input level of the radio waves transmitted from the electronic device located in a communication range of communication performed by the communication means.

12. An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein:

the obtaining means obtains the identification information concerning the electronic device by one of a communication system in which information is sent and received by electromagnetic waves and a Bluetooth communication system in which a communicating party is specified by searching for devices in an extremely lower power mode; and

the communication means communicates with the electronic device based on the identification information.

14. An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the display control means controls the image to be displayed at a position corresponding to the input level of the radio waves.

15. An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the display control means controls the image to be displayed with a size corresponding to the input level of the radio waves.

16. An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the display control means controls the image to be displayed with a level of resolution corresponding to the input level of the radio waves.

19. An information processing method comprising:

a communication processing step of communicating with an electronic device via radio waves;

an obtaining processing step of obtaining identification information concerning the electronic device; and

a display control processing step of controlling, among a plurality of electronic devices, an image of the configuration of the electronic device specified from the identification information obtained by processing of the obtaining processing step to be displayed based on an input level of the radio waves transmitted from the electronic device located in a communication range of communication performed by processing of the communication processing step.

20. A recording medium in which a computer-readable program is recorded, the computer-readable program comprising:

an obtaining processing step of communicating with an electronic device via radio waves;

an obtaining processing step of obtaining identification information concerning the electronic device; and

a display control processing step of controlling, among a plurality of electronic devices, an image of the configuration of the electronic device specified from the identification information obtained by processing of the obtaining processing step to be displayed based on an input level of the radio waves transmitted from the electronic device located in a communication range of communication performed by processing of the communication processing step.