Device and method to restrict operations from a television receiver or external terminal

• US 8,904,467 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2009
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Konishi, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): HOSSAIN, FARZANA E
• Application Number:
  US12/864,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20100299696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,143 Days
• Field of Search: 725/25, 725/37, 725/38, 725/105, 725 27- 29, 725/114, 725/131, 725/132, 725/138, 725/139, 725/140, 725/148, 725/151, 725/152
• US Class Current: 725/131
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• 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 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/63 Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing real-time session protocols H04L65/1101; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

To provide a television receiver, server, operation system for the television receiver, and operation program of the television receiver for enabling an operator to control the television receiver as intended without causing a conflict between user operation and operator operation without using a gateway, a television receiver 110 capable of being operated via a network has an operation instruction receiving section 112 that receives an operation instruction given via the network, an operation accepting section 111 that accepts operation that is directly given without via the network, a restriction determining section 113 that distinguishes between the operation based on the operation instruction received in the operation instruction receiving section 112 and the operation accepted in the operation accepting section 111 and that determines whether or not to restrict each operation, and a receiver-side control section 115 that executes control associated with the operation when the restriction determining section 113 determines not to restrict the operation.

Claims

1. A television receiver capable of being operated via a network, comprising:

an operation receiver that receives an operation given via the network;

an operation acceptor that accepts an operation that is directly given without using the network;

a restriction determiner that determines restrictions for the operation given via a network and the operation directly given without using the network, each operation restriction being determined based on the substance of the operation and the origin of the operation so as to avoid conflict between the operation given via the network and the operation directly given without using the network, wherein there is no simultaneous restriction of operations with different origins; and

a receiver-side controller that executes control associated with the operation when the restriction determining section determines not to restrict the operation.

2. The television receiver according to claim 1, further comprising:

an entrustment state manager that manages whether or not the operation is entrusted to an external terminal connected to the network,

wherein the entrustment state manager causes the restriction determiner to determine whether or not to restrict the operation accepted in the operation acceptor when the operation is entrusted to the external terminal, while causing the restriction determiner not to restrict the operation accepted in the operation acceptor when the operation is not entrusted to the external terminal.

3. The television receiver according to claim 1, further comprising:

a restriction control instruction receiver that receives a restriction control instruction for providing instructions for control on whether or not to restrict each operation,

wherein according to the received restriction control instruction, the restriction control instruction receiver determines a criterion by which the restriction determiner determines whether or not to restrict each operation.

4. The television receiver according to claim 1, further comprising:

a restriction storage that stores a restriction determination table for associating the operation based on the received operation instruction or the accepted operation with a restriction on the operation,

wherein the restriction determiner determines whether or not to restrict each operation based on the stored restriction determination table.

5. The television receiver according to claim 1, further comprising:

a receiver-side display section that displays the substance of operation restriction based on the criterion by which the restriction determiner determines whether or not to restrict each operation.

6. A server for enabling operation of a television receiver from an external terminal via a network, comprising:

a connection establisher that establishes a connection between the external terminal and the television receiver by transmitting connection establishment information to the television receiver responsive to receiving entrustment information for entrusting operation to the external terminal transmitted from the television receiver; and

an instruction processor that receives an operation transmitted from the external terminal to operate the television receiver, and transmit the operation to the television receiver having the connection established to the external terminal, wherein

responsive to receiving the connection establishment information, the television receiver determines restrictions for the operation given via a network and the operation directly given without using the network each operation restriction being determined based on the substance of the operation and the origin of the operation so as to avoid conflict between the operation given via the network and the operation directly given without using the network, wherein there is no simultaneous restriction of operations with different origins.

7. An operation system for a television receiver comprised of an apparatus group of a television receiver, a server, and an external terminal connected via a network, wherein the server has an instruction processor which receives an operation transmitted from the external terminal to operate the television receiver, and transmits the operation instruction to the television receiver having a connection established to the external terminal, and

the television receiver comprises:

an operation instruction receiver that receives an operation given via the network,

an operation acceptor that accepts an operation that is directly given without utilizing the network,

a restriction determiner that determines restrictions for the operation given via a network and the operation directly given without using the network, each operation restriction being determined based on the substance of the operation and the origin of the operation so as to avoid conflict between the operation given via the network and the operation directly given without using the network, wherein there is no simultaneous restriction of operations with different origins, and

a receiver-side controller that executes control associated with the operation when the restriction determiner determines not to restrict the operation.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an operation program of a television receiver capable of being operated via a network which when executed by a processor causes the television receiver to perform a method comprising:

receiving an operation given via the network;

accepting an operation that is directly given without using the network;

determining restrictions for the operation given via a network and the operation directly given without using the network, each operation restriction being determined based on the substance of the operation and the origin of the operation so as to avoid conflict between the operation given via the network and the operation directly given without using the network, wherein there is no simultaneous restriction of operations with different origins; and

executing control associated with the operation when it is determined not to restrict the operation.