Apparatus and method with receiving of broadcast data signal, communicating with external device, and controlling image to be displayed in accordance with communication

• US 7,697,068 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2001
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Shibamiya, Yoshikazu, Mori, Shigeki, Aratani, Shuntaro, Ohno, Tomoyuki, Miyamoto, Katsuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Yenke; Brian P
• Application Number:
  US09/987,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20020060748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,071 Days
• Field of Search: 348460-461, 348/465, 348473-474, 348552-553, 725/133, 725/141, 725/153, 725/144
• US Class Current: 348/553
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00291 with receiver circuitry television receiver circuitry per se H04N5/44
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4117 for generating hard copies of the content, e.g. printer, electronic paper interfaces to printers G06F3/12; printing data G06K15/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4143 embedded in a Personal Computer [PC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42676 for modulating an analogue carrier signal to encode digital information or demodulating it to decode digital information, e.g. ADSL or cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4349 by extracting from data carousels, e.g. extraction of software modules from a DVB carousel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4431 characterized by the use of Application Program Interface [API] libraries
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/488 Data services, e.g. news ticker systems specially adapted for using meteorological information in broadcast systems H04H60/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/445 for displaying additional information H04N5/50 takes precedence

Abstract

A television signal receiving apparatus receives television signals including broadcast data signals and outputs the received data signals to a display device. The display device displays an image that has characters and/or pictures generated from the data signals. A communication unit of the receiving apparatus is connected to and communicates with an external device. A control unit controls the image to be displayed on the display device according to results of communication with the communication unit.

Claims

1. A television signal receiving apparatus (a) connected to a printer in a manner to allow the apparatus to communicate with the printer and (b) capable of sending to the printer data obtained from contents data, the contents data having been sent multiplexed in broadcast by a broadcasting apparatus and received by said television signal receiving apparatus, said television signal receiving apparatus comprising:

extracting means for extracting document data which is described in a markup language and included in the contents data, the document data including (a) a script for acquiring status information of the printer and (b) a plurality of status display information;

generating means for generating display image data which can be displayed on a display unit, using the document data extracted by said extracting means; and

executing means for executing a process for acquiring the status information of the printer as well as a process for, in accordance with the acquired status information, identifying status display information indicating a status of the printer from the plurality of status display information included in the document data, said executing means comprising means for executing the script,

wherein said generating means reflects, in the display image data, the status display information identified by said executing means,

wherein said executing means has a timer for executing the script at a predetermined period.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said executing means acquires status information of the printer at a predetermined period by starting an operation of the timer after the content data for printing is sent to the printer.

3. A television signal receiving apparatus (a) connected to a printer in a manner to allow the apparatus to communicate with the printer and (b) capable of sending to the printer data obtained from contents data, the contents data having been sent multiplexed in broadcast by a broadcasting apparatus and received by said television signal receiving apparatus, said television signal receiving apparatus comprising:

extracting means for extracting document data which is described in a markup language and included in the contents data, the document data including (a) a script for acquiring status information of the printer and (b) a plurality of status display information;

generating means for generating display image data which can be displayed on a display unit, using the document data extracted by said extracting means; and

executing means for executing a process for acquiring the status information of the printer as well as a process for, in accordance with the acquired status information, identifying status display information indicating a status of the printer from the plurality of status display information included in the document data, said executing means comprising means for executing the script,

wherein said generating means reflects, in the display image data, the status display information identified by said executing means,

wherein said executing means includes a command to switch the power of the printer on after the status information of the printer is acquired.

4. A television signal receiving method for use with a printer, said method comprising the steps of:

extracting document data which is described in a markup language and included in contents data, the contents data having been sent multiplexed in broadcast by a broadcasting apparatus, the document data including (a) a script for acquiring status information of the printer and (b) a plurality of status display information;

generating display image data which can be displayed on a display unit, using the document data extracted by said extracting step; and

executing a process for acquiring the status information of the printer as well as a process for, in accordance with the acquired status information, identifying status display information indicating a status of the printer from the plurality of status display information included in the document data, said executing step comprising a step of executing the script,

wherein said generating step reflects, in the display image data, the status display information identified by said executing step,

wherein said executing step uses a timer for executing the script at a predetermined period.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said executing step acquires status information of the printer at a predetermined period by starting an operation of the timer after the content data for printing is sent to the printer.

6. A television signal receiving method for use with a printer, said method comprising the steps of:

extracting document data which is described in a markup language and included in contents data, the contents data having been sent multiplexed in broadcast by a broadcasting apparatus, the document data including (a) a script for acquiring status information of the printer and (b) a plurality of status display information;

generating display image data which can be displayed on a display unit, using the document data extracted by said extracting step; and

executing a process for acquiring the status information of the printer as well as a process for, in accordance with the acquired status information, identifying status display information indicating a status of the printer from the plurality of status display information included in the document data, said executing step comprising a step of executing the script,

wherein said generating step reflects, in the display image data, the status display information identified by said executing step,

wherein said executing step includes a command to switch the power of the printer on after the status information of the printer is acquired.

7. A television signal receiving apparatus (a) connected to a printer in a manner to allow the apparatus to communicate with the printer and (b) capable of sending to the printer data obtained from contents data, the contents data having been sent multiplexed in broadcast by a broadcasting apparatus and received by said television signal receiving apparatus, said television signal receiving apparatus comprising:

extracting means for extracting document data which is described in a markup language and included in the contents data, the document data including (a) a script for acquiring status information of the printer and (b) a plurality of status display information;

generating means for generating display image data which can be displayed on a display unit, using the document data extracted by said extracting means; and

executing means for executing a process for acquiring the status information of the printer as well as a process for, in accordance with the acquired status information, identifying status display information indicating a status of the printer from the plurality of status display information included in the document data, said executing means comprising means for executing the script,

wherein said generating means reflects, in the display image data, the status display information identified by said executing means,

wherein the document data further comprises print button text, and

wherein said generating means further reflects in the display image data a print button image in accordance with the print button text.