User interface apparatus and broadcast receiving apparatus

• US 6,353,444 B1
• Filed: 03/02/1999
• Issued: 03/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Mori, Toshiaki, Kushiki, Yoshiaki, Katta, Noboru, Kawata, Hirotsugu, Kurosaki, Toshihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu, Kieu D.
• Application Number:
  US09/261,757
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: 345/327, 345/333, 345/352, 345/339, 345/328, 345/336, 345/338, 345/716, 345/810, 345/811, 345/764, 345/723, 345/705, 345/708, 348/906, 725/38, 725/39, 725/44, 725/46, 725/47, 725/56
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• 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 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape

Abstract

An user interface apparatus that receives a user operation of an electrical device and notifies the electrical device of the instruction to execute an action according to the user operation predicts at least one action, the execution of which is supposed to be desired by the user, provides a user interface for having the user designate one action out of the at least one action, and receives a designation by the user. When receiving the user designation, the user interface apparatus notifies the electrical device of the instruction to execute the action that has been designated by the user.

Claims

1. A user interface apparatus that receives a user operation of a broadcast receiving apparatus that displays an image of a received program on a monitor, and notifies the broadcast receiving apparatus of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user operation, comprising:

predicting means for predicting at least one action out of a plurality of actions, an execution of which is predicted to be desired by a user;

user interface means for automatically providing a user interface by displaying an image on the monitor for having the user designate one out of the plurality of actions that have been predicted by the predicting means, and for receiving a designation of an action by the user;

user information storage means for storing user information that is peculiar to a user of the broadcast receiving apparatus, wherein the predicting means predicts the actions according to the user information after a condition of the broadcast receiving apparatus becomes a predetermined condition;

program table storage means for storing a program table including information on a plurality of programs, wherein the user information is bedtime information that shows a predetermined bedtime period of the user, and

the user interface means refers to the program table and the bedtime information, compares the bedtime period with a time period when a program that the broadcast receiving apparatus is presently receiving ends, and displays an image on the monitor for having the user designate an execution of an action of recording the program when the program ends after the bedtime period; and

notifying means for notifying the broadcast receiving apparatus of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user action designation that has been received by the user interface means.

2. A user interface apparatus that receives a user operation of an electrical device and notifies the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user operation, comprising:

predicting means for predicting at least one action out of a plurality of actions, an execution of which is predicted to be desired by a user;

first user interface means for automatically providing a user interface in order to have the user designate one out of the plurality of actions that have been predicted by the predicting means, and for receiving a designation of an action by the user;

notifying means for notifying the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user action designation that has been received by the user interface means;

second user interface means for receiving a user operation of the electrical device other than the user action designation that the first user interface means receives;

general notifying means for notifying the electrical device of an execution instruction according to the user operation that has been received by the second user interface means; and

holding means for holding execution instruction information on the execution instruction according to the user operation that has been received by the second user interface means, wherein the predicting means predicts actions according to the execution instruction information that is held by the holding means and when an execution completion of an action of the electrical device is detected, and

the first user interface means provides the user interface when the predicting means has predicted the actions, wherein

the predicting means includes a priority storage unit for storing priority information in which priorities are set for actions of the electrical device,

the predicting means predicts actions, a number of which is at least one and no greater than a predetermined number, by referring to the priority information,

the second user interface means has an operation button, which is used by the user, displays an image for assisting a user operation, and receives a user operation corresponding to the image via the operation button,

the first user interface means has a designation button, which is different from the operation button and is used by the user, and receives a user action designation via the designation button, and

when an execution of the action according to the user action designation that has been received by the first user interface means needs setting information according to a user operation, the notifying means creates an execution instruction that includes the setting information by referring to the execution instruction information that is held by the holding means, and notifies the electrical device of the created execution instruction.

3. A user interface apparatus that receives a user operation of an electrical device and notifies the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user operation, comprising:

predicting means for predicting at least one action out of a plurality of actions, an execution of which is supposed to be desired by a user;

first user interface means for automatically providing a user interface in order to have the user designate an action predicted by the predicting means, and for receiving a designation of an action by the user;

second user interface means for receiving a user operation of the electrical device other than the action that the first user interface means receives, including an operation button, which is used by the user, displays an image for assisting a user operation, and receives a user operation corresponding to the image via the operation button, and

the first user interface means has a designation button, which is different from the operation button and is used by the user, and receives the user action designation via the designation button; and

notifying means for notifying the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user action designation that has been received by the first user interface means.

4. A user interface apparatus that receives a user operation of an electrical device and notifies the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user operation, comprising:

predicting means for predicting at least one action out of a plurality of actions, an execution of which is supposed to be desired by a user;

user interface means for automatically providing a user interface in order to have the user designate one out of the actions that have been predicted by the predicting means, and for receiving a designation of an action by the user; and

notifying means for notifying the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user action designation that has been received by the user interface means;

wherein

the electrical device is a broadcast receiving apparatus that displays an image of a received program on a monitor,

the electrical device includes;

receiving means for receiving a program on a channel; and

condition detection means for detecting a condition where the receiving means had received a program on a first channel for at least a first period, the first channel was switched to a second channel according to a user operation, and a second period has elapsed,

the predicting means predicts a switching action to the first channel as one action, an execution o f which is supposed to be desired by the user when the condition is detected by the condition detection means,

the user interface means displays an image on a monitor for having the user designate an execution of the switching action to the first channel that has been predicted by the predicting means, and receives the user action designation, and

when notified of the switching action to the first channel by the notifying means, the broadcast receiving apparatus controls the receiving means and has the receiving means receive the program on the first channel.

5. A user interface apparatus that receives a user operation of an electrical device and notifies the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user operation, comprising:

predicting means for predicting at least one action out of a plurality of actions, an execution of which is supposed to be desired by a user;

user interface means for providing a user interface in order to have the user designate one out of the actions that have been predicted by the predicting means, and for receiving a designation of an action by the user;

evaluation value storage means for storing evaluation values that each correspond to different actions of the electrical device;

semantic relation information storage means for storing semantic relation information on semantic relations between the actions of the electrical device and a plurality of keywords;

keyword receiving means for receiving a designation of a keyword by the user;

initializing means for initializing the evaluation values that are stored in the evaluation value storage means and setting each of the evaluation values at a predetermined value; and

evaluation value increasing means for referring to the semantic relation information and for increasing an evaluation value corresponding to an action that has a semantic relation to the keyword, the designation of which has been received by the keyword receiving means, wherein

when the keyword receiving means receives the keyword designation, the predicting means predicts actions by specifying a predetermined number of actions in decreasing order of evaluation value according to the evaluation values that are stored in the evaluation value storage means;

the user interface means provides a user interface for having the user designate one action out of the predetermined number of actions, which have been predicted by the predicting means, and

notifying means for notifying the electrical device of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user action designation that has been received by the user interface means.

6. The user interface apparatus according to claim 5, wherein

the keyword receiving means receives the designation of the keyword after creating a dedicated menu for having the user designate an action of the electrical device that includes a plurality of keywords having semantic relations to at least one of the actions of the electrical device by referring to the semantic relation information and displaying the dedicated menu, and

the user interface means provides the user interface by displaying an image for having the user designate one out of the predetermined number of actions.

7. The user interface apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

general operation receiving means for receiving a user operation of the electrical device other than the keyword designation that the keyword receiving means receives and the user action designation that the user interface means receives; and

general notifying means for notifying the electrical device of an execution instruction according to the user operation that has been received by the general operation receiving means, wherein

the general operation receiving means has an operation button, which is used by the user, displays an image error assisting a user operation, and receives a user operation corresponding to the image via the operation button,

the user interface means has a designation button, which is different from the operation button and is used by the user,

the keyword receiving means receives the user keyword designation by the user via the designation button, and

the user interface means receives the user action designation via the designation button.

8. A broadcast receiving apparatus that displays an image of a received program on a monitor, comprising:

execute control means for receiving an instruction, for controlling elements in the broadcast receiving apparatus in response to the instruction to have an action be executed;

user information storage means for storing user information;

user interface means for displaying at least one image for having the user designate an action out of at least one action, an execution of which is supposed to be desired by the user according to the user information that is stored in the user information storage means, and for receiving a designation of the action by the user after the broadcast receiving apparatus is in a predetermined condition;

program table storage means for storing a program table including information on a plurality of programs, wherein

the user information is bedtime information that shows a bedtime period of the user, and

the user interface means refers to the program table and the bedtime information, compares the bedtime with a time period when a presently received program ends, and displays an image on the monitor for having the user designate an execution of an action of recording the presently received program when the program ends after the bedtime period; and

notifying means for notifying the execute control means of an execution instruction relating to an action according to the user action designation that has been received by the user interface means.

9. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising temporary storage means for temporarily storing data on the received program, wherein when notified of an execution instruction for the action of recording the received program by the notifying means, the execute control means has recording means in the broadcast receiving apparatus record the received program from a part that has been received before a notification of the execute instruction for the action of recording using the data stored in the temporary storage means.