Information processing apparatus, control method of information processing apparatus, computer program and storage medium

• US 8,191,006 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2008
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ohmori, Seiji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuyetlien
• Assistant Examiner(s): BHARGAVA, ANIL K
• Application Number:
  US12/212,266
• Publication Number:
  US 20090077484A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 715/717, 715/736, 715/737, 715/738, 715/771, 715/781
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19693 using multiple video sources viewed on a single or compound screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

An information processing apparatus that receives data from a plurality of external devices connected via a network and displays an operation window based on a content of the data includes a reception unit that receives a plurality of pieces of data transmitted from the plurality of external devices, an analysis unit that analyzes the received data and identifies a first constituent portion common to the respective data and a second constituent portion not included in the first constituent portion, and a display unit that displays information included in the first constituent portion in a common display area of an operation window, and displays information included in the second constituent portion in an individual display area of the operation window.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus that is configured to receive data from a plurality of external devices connected via a network, and to display an operation window based on a content of the data, said information processing apparatus comprising:

a reception unit configured to receive a plurality of pieces of operation information transmitted from the plurality of external devices, wherein each of the plurality of pieces of operation information includes information related to an operation button for remotely operating a transmission source external device using the operation window;

a distinction unit configured to distinguish whether a type of information included in the plurality of pieces of operation information received by said reception unit is common operation information or non-common operation information; and

a display unit configured to (i) display, at a common display area of the operation window, one rendered image corresponding to the common operation information, and to (ii) display, at an individual display area of the operation window, a rendered image corresponding to the non-common operation information,

wherein if information rendering a first operation button is received from respective ones of the plurality of external devices, but information rendering a second operation button is not received from at least one of the plurality of external devices, then the distinction unit distinguishes the information rendering the first operation button as being common operation information, and distinguishes the information rendering the second operation button as being non-common operation information.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is XML data, and the data contains predetermined identification information describing an attribute of the XML data.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission unit configured to transmit, to at least one of the plurality of external devices, information input via the operation button of the operation window.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the individual display area of the operation window has a display area for displaying an image transmitted from each of the plurality of external devices.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a display area selection unit configured to select any one of a plurality of display areas displayed in the individual display area.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said transmission unit is configured to transmit information input via the operation button to the external device corresponding to the display area selected by said display area selection unit.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the type of information being distinguished by the distinction unit is rendering information for rendering an operation button for remotely operating a transmission source external device, and

wherein the rendering information is distinguished as common operation information in response to the distinction unit distinguishing identical rendering information to be present in a plurality of the pieces of operation information.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the rendering information comprises Scalable Vector Graphics rendering information for rendering the operation button.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the reception unit receives, from a first external device of the plurality of external devices, first information rendering an operation button, and receives, from a second external device of the plurality of external devices, second information rendering an operation button, then the distinction unit distinguishes the first information and second information to be common operation information if they are the same and to be non-common operation information if they are not the same.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if identical information rendering up, down, left, and right buttons is received from two of the plurality of external devices, then the distinction unit distinguishes the information as being common operation information.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if identical information rendering up, down, left, and right buttons is received from two of the plurality of external devices, but information rendering a zooming button is received from only one of the two external devices, then the distinction unit distinguishes the information rendering up, down, left, and right buttons as being common operation information, and distinguishes the information rendering a zooming button as being non-common operation information.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of external devices are cameras.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the plurality of external devices are video cameras.

14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the type of information being distinguished by the distinction unit is graphical rendering information for graphically rendering an operation button for remotely operating a transmission source external device.

15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the type of information being distinguished by the distinction unit is XML information.

16. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of external devices are cameras, and

wherein the type of information being distinguished by the distinction unit is graphical rendering information for graphically rendering an operation button for remotely operating a transmission source external device.

17. The information processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the graphical rendering information comprises XML information.

18. The information processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the cameras are video cameras.

19. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of pieces of operation information are XML data or graphical rendering information.

20. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of external devices is an apparatus having an image capturing unit.

21. A control method of an information processing apparatus that is configured to receive data from a plurality of external devices connected via a network, and to display an operation window based on a content of the data, said method comprising:

a reception step of receiving a plurality of pieces of operation information transmitted from the plurality of external devices, wherein each of the plurality of pieces of operation information includes information related to an operation button for remotely operating a transmission source external device using the operation window;

a distinction step of distinguishing whether a type of information included in the plurality of pieces of operation information received in the reception step is common operation information or non-common operation information; and

a display step of (i) displaying, at a common display area of the operation window, one rendered image corresponding to the common operation information, and (ii) displaying, at an individual display area of the operation window, a rendered image corresponding to the non-common operation information,

wherein if information rendering a first operation button is received from respective ones of the plurality of external devices, but information rendering a second operation button is not received from at least one of the plurality of external devices, then the distinction step distinguishes the information rendering the first operation button as being common operation information, and distinguishes the information rendering the second operation button as being non-common operation information.

22. The control method according to claim 21, wherein the data is XML data, and the data contains predetermined identification information describing an attribute of the XML data.

23. The control method according to claim 21, further comprising a transmission step of transmitting, to at least one of the plurality of external devices, information input via the operation button of the operation window.

24. The control method according to claim 23, wherein the individual display area of the operation window has a display area for displaying an image transmitted from each of the plurality of external devices.

25. The control method according to claim 24, further comprising a display area selection step of selecting any one of a plurality of display areas displayed in the individual display area.

26. The control method according to claim 25, wherein in said transmission step, information input via the operation button is transmitted to the external device corresponding to the display area selected in said display area selection step.

27. A computer program, stored in a computer-readable storage medium, for causing a computer to execute a control method of an information processing apparatus defined in claim 21.

28. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program defined in claim 27.

29. The control method according to claim 21, wherein the plurality of pieces of operation information are XML data or graphical rendering information.

30. The control method according to claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of external devices is an apparatus having an image capturing unit.