Operation sound guide apparatus and operation sound guide method

• US 9,154,839 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2010
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Koganei, Tomohiro, Kotani, Jun'ichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Buttram, Todd
• Application Number:
  US13/518,384
• Publication Number:
  US 20120256952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,790 Days
• Field of Search: 345/157, 345/619, 345/902, 725/39, 725 44- 47, 725/56
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/006 using audible presentation of the information
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/008 using visual presentation of the information for the partially sighted
• 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 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72

Abstract

Information about a base position at which a cursor operation has been started is stored in a storage section (212). When an operation of moving the cursor is accepted from a remote controller (217), the information about the base position of the cursor is acquired from the storage section (212), and is compared with information about the position to which the cursor has been moved, whereby it is determined that the cursor has returned to the base position. In this case, an operation sound generation section (216) acquires an operation sound different from the normal one from an operation sound ROM (215), and a sound signal superimposing section (207) superimposes the different operation sound onto a sound signal which is to be outputted from a speaker (211). Thus, a user can easily recognize that the cursor has returned to the base position.

Claims

1. For a digital television, a sound-guided operation device for sound-guided cursor navigation through onscreen electronic program guides, the sound-guided operation device comprising:

a television-signal separating section for separating channel-tuned, broadcast-station-specific demodulated television-signal data, output from a tuner in the digital television, into video and sound signals, and attachment data including an electronic program guide for displaying a menu of channel-specific program and broadcast time information;

a control section;

a storage section storing base information and for storing current information, the base information and current information being broadcast-station information or broadcast-time information contained in the attachment data separated out by the television-signal separating section, loaded into the storage section by the control section, wherein the base information indicates cursor initial position, and the current information indicates cursor current position, on the electronic program-guide menu as displayed on the digital television;

a cursor-operation information receiving section, operatively connected with the control section, for receiving cursor-operation information signals;

an operation sound generation section for generating, under control by the control section, operation-indicating sound when the cursor is operated;

a screen-rendering processing section, operatively connected with the control section, for rendering the electronic program-guide data and the cursor-operation information signals as video output signals superimposed onto the video signals separated by the television-signal separating section, for onscreen display by the digital television of the electronic program-guide menu and cursor movement relative to the menu;

wherein

the control section is configured to

store into the storage section the cursor initial position indicated by the base information,

based on cursor-operation information signals from the cursor-operation information receiving section, cause the screen-rendering processing section to indicate cursor movement in the superimposed video signals output for onscreen display by the digital television,

write as current information into the storage section the broadcast-station information or broadcast-time information corresponding to any cursor new position on the electronic program-guide menu,

compare the current information, written into the storage section and indicating any cursor new position, with the base information, stored in the storage section and indicating cursor initial position, and

conditional on the current information coinciding with the base information, cause the operation sound generation section to generate a first operation sound, and conditional on the current information not coinciding with the base information, cause the operation sound generation section to generate a second operation sound, different from the first operation sound; and

a sound-signal superimposing section for superimposing the operation-indicating sound generated by the operation sound generation section onto sound signals output to a speaker in the digital television.

2. The sound-guided operation device according to claim 1, wherein the first operation sound differs from the second operation sound in at least one selected from volume, tone, length, and number of emission times.

3. The sound-guided operation device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an operation sound storage section configured to store the first operation sound and the second operation sound, wherein the operation sound generation section acquires the first operation sound or

the second operation sound from the operation sound storage section, and generates the operation sound.

4. The sound-guided operation device according to claim 1, further comprising

an alarm control section configured to cause, when the cursor is operated to be moved in a direction that is not allowed, the operation sound generation section to generate a third operation sound which is different from the first operation sound and is different from the second operation sound, based on operation information about the cursor that is received by the cursor-operation information receiving section.

5. For a digital television, a sound-guided operation device for sound-guided cursor navigation through onscreen menu items, the sound-guided operation device comprising:

a television-signal separating section for separating channel-tuned, broadcast-station-specific demodulated television-signal data, output from a tuner in the digital television, into video and sound signals;

a control section;

a storage section storing, as base information, broadcast-station-specific channel preset information, and for storing current information, the base information indicating cursor initial position, and the current information indicating cursor current position, in the menu items as displayed on the digital television;

a cursor-operation information receiving section, operatively connected with the control section, for receiving cursor-operation information signals;

an operation sound generation section for generating, under control by the control section, operation-indicating sound when the cursor is operated;

a screen-rendering processing section, operatively connected with the control section, for rendering the menu items and the cursor-operation information signals as video output signals superimposed onto the video signals separated by the television-signal separating section, for onscreen display by the digital television of the menu items and cursor movement relative to the menu items;

wherein

the control section is configured to

store into the storage section the cursor initial position indicated by the base information,

based on cursor-operation information signals from the cursor-operation information receiving section, cause the screen-rendering processing section to indicate cursor movement in the superimposed video signals output for onscreen display by the digital television,

write as current information into the storage section menu-item information corresponding to any cursor new position in the menu items,

compare the current information, written into the storage section and indicating any cursor new position, with the base information, stored in the storage section and indicating cursor initial position, and

conditional on the current information coinciding with the base information, cause the operation sound generation section to generate a first operation sound, and conditional on the current information not coinciding with the base information, cause the operation sound generation section to generate a second operation sound, different from the first operation sound; and

a sound-signal superimposing section for superimposing the operation-indicating sound generated by the operation sound generation section onto sound signals output to a speaker in the digital television.

6. For a digital television including a storage section, a cursor-operation information receiving section, an operation sound generation section, and a screen-rendering processing section, a sound-guided cursor navigation method for navigating the cursor through onscreen menu items, the method comprising:

storing as base information into the storage section one selected from broadcast-station information, broadcast-time information, or broadcast-station-specific channel preset information, the base information indicating cursor initial position in the menu items as displayed on the digital television;

receiving cursor-operation information signals through the cursor-operation information receiving section;

storing into the storage section the cursor initial position indicated by the base information;

writing as current information into the storage section menu-item information corresponding to any cursor new position in the menu items as current information;

causing the screen-rendering processing section to render the menu items for onscreen display by the digital television, and based on the cursor-operation information signals from the cursor-operation information receiving section, causing the screen-rendering processing section to indicate cursor movement relative to the menu items;

comparing the current information, written into the storage section and indicating any cursor new position, with the base information, stored in the storage section and indicating cursor initial position;

conditional on the current information coinciding with the base information, causing the operation sound generation section to generate a first operation sound, and conditional on the current information not coinciding with the base information, causing the operation sound generation section to generate a second operation sound, different from the first operation sound; and

superimposing the operation-indicating sound onto sound signals output to a speaker in the digital television.