KR100742344B1 - Modular TV which can control module collectively through OSD method - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a modular television capable of controlling and adjusting the functions of each module collectively and efficiently under an operating environment in which the number of modules installed and their functions are variable. The modular television has a plurality of keys each having a different color and a certain form of arrangement, and the common control unit controls the corresponding module according to the signal selected for the operation of the module, and when the module is selected by the common control unit, the detailed function of the module An OSD menu processing unit provides a corresponding detailed function selection menu in an OSD manner. Here, the color or arrangement of the plurality of keys corresponds to the color or arrangement of the detailed function selection menu provided by the OSD method. Whenever a new module is installed in a modular television, no separate input device is required, and one module can control multiple modules.

Modular TV, on-screen display

Description

Modular television capable of controlling modules collectively by using OSD technique}

1 shows a modular television with the door open;

2 is a block diagram showing a modular rack connection structure of FIG.

3 is a view showing the structure of a module mounted on the module rack of FIG.

4 is a block diagram showing a modular television for collectively controlling the module through the OSD method according to the present invention;

5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a module mounted on the module rack of FIG. 4;

6 is a view showing a remote controller as an example of the common control means of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating that a detailed function selection menu is displayed on a screen by the OSD menu processing unit of FIG. 4; FIG.

8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the OSD menu processing unit of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting a common function key of FIG. 6 and a detailed function selection menu for the module of FIG. 4.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: pedestal 12: speaker                 

14 door 18, 58 screen

20, 100: modular rack 30, 300: main board

40: Module mounting slot 42, 44: IEEE1394 slot

46, 46a: power connector 48: mounting detection unit

42a, 44a: IEEE1394 port 60: speaker

70: display unit 200: common control means

200a: remote controller 220: control signal output unit

240: power button 260: common control key

310: control unit 330: selection signal input unit

350: audio processor 370: video processor

400: OSD menu processing unit 420: Signal processing unit

440: control menu providing unit 460: control information storage unit

The present invention relates to a modular television that can control and adjust the functions of each installed module, and more particularly, to control and adjust the functions of each module collectively and efficiently under an operating environment in which the number of installed modules and their functions are variable. It is about modular TV.

In general, the life of a TV is about a decade, but the life of multimedia devices with various multimedia functions is much shorter. Accordingly, digital television capable of performing multimedia functions needs to be upgraded whenever new types of multimedia devices appear. However, the general television has a disadvantage that such an upgrade is not free, and in order to overcome this disadvantage, recently, a television that implements a digital image has been developed.

Due to the rapid development of digital imaging technology, home appliances in the home are commercialized and released as digital products. In other words, as digital terrestrial broadcasting following the ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) standard was launched in the United States in November 1998, consumer electronics companies could use D-VHS, DVD, digital camcorders, etc. to record and play digital TV receivers and digital broadcasts. This product is commercialized and provided.

The emergence of digital home appliances has suggested the possibility of forming a home network by combining various devices in a home, and IEEE 1394, a high-speed digital transmission method, has been spotlighted as a connection technology between devices.

A new concept of digital television released using an interfacing method such as IEEE1394 is called modular television (please explain the validity and detail as a definition for modular television), and such modular television can connect modules that perform various functions. It has a main board. Modules connected to the motherboard can perform newly developed multimedia functions, and the motherboard provides mutual data transmission and reception between these modules and digital television. Therefore, even if a multimedia function that does not exist previously is developed, by making a module capable of performing such a new multimedia function and mounting it on the motherboard, digital television can easily perform a new multimedia function.

1 is a view showing a state in which the door of such a modular television is open. The modular television is comprised of the modular rack 20 provided on the base 10, and the screen 18 provided in the upper part of the modular rack 20. As shown in FIG. The front of the module rack 20 is provided with a door 14 for opening and closing the module rack 20, the speaker 12 is provided on both sides of the module rack (20).

1 shows a state in which a plurality of modules are mounted in the module rack 20. Modules having various functions may be selected and mounted in the module rack 20 as desired by the user. The module rack 20 to which these modules are mounted is connected to interface with the main board.

2 is a view showing the connection structure of the module rack 20 of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a view showing the structure of the module mounted to the module rack 20 of FIG. The module rack 20 includes a module connection slot 40 for mounting a module, and each module connection slot 40 has two IEEE1394 slots 42 and 44, such as an interface port, and one power connector. 46 and a mounting detection unit 48 are provided. The module rack 20 and the modules are daisy chained using two IEEE 1394 slots 42 and 44.

The module has two IEEE1394 ports 42a and 44a and one power connector 46a. The two IEEE1394 ports 42a and 44a and one power connector 46a are module connection slots 40. In the two IEEE1394 slots 42, 44 and one power connector 46 are electrically connected to each other. When the module is mounted, the mounting detection unit 48 may generate a mounting detection signal informing the main board 30 so that the mounting of the module may be confirmed. According to the modular television having such a configuration, when a module having a new function is developed, it is mounted on the module rack 20 so that the digital television can perform the function of the new module without additional upgrade.

In the modular television, while the module is selected and operated, the user controls the function of the module in order through the input means with reference to the provided manual in order to control the detailed function of the module. By the way, in the modular television having a variable operating environment and the number of modules mounted on the modular rack 20, the user feels inconvenient to control by referring to the manual for the detailed function corresponding to each module. In addition, since different control manuals are provided for each module, a user may have to learn each manual through learning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the modular TV which enables the control and adjustment of the operation of each module collectively and efficiently under the operating environment in which the number of modules installed in the modular TV and its functions are variable. The purpose is to provide.

Modular TV according to the present invention for achieving the above object is provided with a plurality of keys each having a different color and a predetermined shape arrangement common control means for controlling the module in accordance with the signal selected for the operation of the module, And an OSD menu processing unit for providing a detailed function selection menu corresponding to the detailed functions of the module by the OSD method when the module is selected by the common control means. Here, the color or arrangement of the plurality of keys corresponds to the color or arrangement of the detailed function selection menu provided by the OSD method.

The OSD menu processing unit is a signal processing unit for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the OSD menu processing unit. If a module is selected according to a signal input to the common control means, the detailed function corresponding to the detailed function of the selected module is selected through the signal processing unit. A control menu providing unit for outputting a menu to the display unit, and a control information storage unit for storing the color and arrangement of the detailed function selection menu to correspond to the color and arrangement of the common control means.

According to the present invention, each time a new module is installed in a modular television, no separate input device is required, and one module can control a plurality of modules.

Hereinafter, a modular television according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

4 is a block diagram of a modular television for collectively controlling the module through the OSD method according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, a modular television according to the present invention includes a common control means such as a remote controller having a plurality of keys each having a different color and a predetermined form of arrangement to control the module according to a signal selected for operation of the module ( 200, when the module is selected by the common control means 200, the OSD menu processing unit 400 provides a detailed function selection menu corresponding to the detailed functions of the selected module by the OSD method. Here, it is preferable to set the color or arrangement of the plurality of keys attached to the common control means 200 to correspond to the color or arrangement of the detailed function selection menu provided by the OSD menu processing unit 400 in the OSD method.

On Screen Display (OSD) refers to displaying information that a user needs or needs to know directly on the screen. It is a part of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which includes both graphical and textual elements, and shows the output of the user's product control on the screen. ) Smoothly. The present invention provides an icon for selecting an operation state of a module and a detailed function of an active module through an OSD to be displayed on a screen.

In addition, the use of the remote controller as an example of the common control means 200 is because the detailed function selection menu displayed on the screen can be freely selected at a predetermined distance or less, thereby facilitating control by the user.

In the figure, the module rack 100 has a plurality of module connection slots, and each module connection slot is equipped with modules 120, 140, and 160.

The main board 300 that controls the operations of the modules 120, 140, and 160 and performs the follow-up processing on the data output from the modules 120, 140, 160 includes a control unit 310, a selection signal input unit 330, An audio processor 350 and a video processor 370 are included. Preferably, the OSD menu processing unit 400 is attached to the main board 300 to output a signal to the video processing unit 370 so as to correspond to a signal input through the control unit 310 to perform image processing.

The controller 310 outputs a control signal for the module input from the selection signal input unit 330 to the corresponding module among the modules 120, 140, and 160. In addition, the controller 310 separates the operation signal of the module output from the module (120, 140, 160) and the video component signal and the audio component signal and outputs the video component signal to the video processor 370 and the audio component signal audio processor Output to 350.

The selection signal input unit 330 provides a selection signal output from the common control means 200 such as a remote controller to the main board 300 and is processed between the main board 300 and the corresponding module according to the input selection signal. To work.

The video processor 370 converts the video component signal input from the controller 310 into an image signal and outputs the image signal to the display unit 70. The audio processor 350 converts the audio component signal input from the controller 310 into a low frequency signal through low frequency amplification and outputs the low frequency signal to the speaker 60 that performs sound output.

5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a module that can be mounted in a modular rack. In the drawing, the uppermost module is a cable broadcasting module 110 capable of watching television broadcasts including public broadcasting received through a wire. The module at the bottom of the cable broadcasting module 110 is a multimedia communication or e-mail ( Internet module 120 that can perform e-mail) services and the like. The module at the bottom of the Internet module 120 has the function of uploading or downloading (up-loading) or downloading (down-loading) high quality audio compressed files off-line or on-line. MP3 module 130 that can perform, the module at the bottom of the MP3 module 130, such as a hard disk drive (hard disk drive) that can store data operated through the module, including the received multimedia data Media module 140. The module at the bottom of the storage medium module 140 is a game module 150 that provides a function of playing a game offline or online. The module at the bottom of the game module 150 is broadcasted through a satellite. The satellite broadcasting module 160 that can receive.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a remote control 200a as an example of the common control means 200 of FIG. 4. In the drawing, the remote controller 200a includes a power button 240 required for turning on / off a modular television, a control signal output unit 220 for outputting a control signal corresponding to a selection key input by a user, and a module rack 100. It includes a common control key 260 to provide a selection key corresponding to the detailed function according to the operation of the module (120, 140, 160) mounted on the). The common control key 260 is provided with a selection key having a predetermined shape and different colors. In addition, each selection key corresponds to a detailed function of the module and provides different functions. For example, the red, orange, yellow, and green colors are provided from the upper left side to the right side, and the selection keys have blue, indigo blue, purple, and white colors from the lower left side to the right side.

Meanwhile, when a module mounted in the module rack 100 is selected and operated as shown in FIG. 7, the detailed menu selection menu having the same arrangement and color as the common control key 260 of the remote controller 200a is performed by the OSD menu processing unit 400. 400a is displayed on the screen 58 through the display unit 70. Here, the detailed function selection menu 400a has a selection icon having an arrangement and color corresponding to the selection key of the common control key 260 in the remote controller 200a.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the OSD menu processing unit 400 of FIG. 4. The OSD menu processing unit 400 includes a signal processing unit 420, a control menu providing unit 440, and a control information storage unit 460.

The signal processor 420 transmits and outputs a signal input and output to the OSD menu processor 400. The control menu providing unit 440 of the module selected through the signal processing unit 420 when the corresponding module is selected from the modules 120 and 140 160 mounted on the module rack 100 according to the signal through the common control means 400. The detailed function selection menu 400a corresponding to the detailed function is output to the display unit 70. The control information storage unit 460 stores the color and arrangement of the detailed function selection menu 400a so as to correspond to the color and arrangement of the common control means 200 such as the remote controller 200a. In addition, detailed functions can be controlled for the module by the stored data.

FIG. 9 shows selection icons of the detailed function selection menus 120a, 140a, and 160a for each module 120, 140, and 160 mounted on the remote controller 200a of FIG. 6 and the module rack 100 of FIG. The figure which shows the example about setting.

In the figure, the first module 120 is a VTR (Video Tape Recorder) module, the second module 140 is an MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer-3) module, and the third module 160 is a cable broadcasting module. Therefore, in the VTR module which is the first module, the selection icon of the detailed function selection menu 120a is rewind 122a, playback 122b, pause 122c, fast forward 122d, stop 122e, recording from the upper left. Icons corresponding to the functions of 122f, reserved recording 122g, and cancellation 122h. Also, in the MP3 module, which is the second module, the selection icon of the detailed function selection menu 140a shows the list of songs from the upper left (144a), the download of the songs (144b), the selection song deletion (144c), the stop (144d), and playback. 144e, next song playback 144f, previous song playback 144g, and recording 144h. On the other hand, the selection icon of the cable broadcasting module detailed function selection menu (160a) of the third module is a function of channel fixing (166a), next channel (166b), previous channel (122c), watching channel storage (166d) from the upper left The icon corresponding to.

In the drawing, selection keys 260a, 260b, 260c, 260d, 260e, 260f, 260g, and 260h of the common control key 260 and the selection icons of the detailed function selection menu for each module are configured in the same arrangement and color. In addition, the selection icon of each module positioned on the same color and arrangement as the common control key 260 is set to correspond to a function specified in the lower portion of the selection icon.

Accordingly, the red selection key 260a of the common control key 260 performs a rewind function corresponding to the red selection icon 120a in the detailed function selection menu when the VTR module corresponding to the first module 120 is in operation. When the MP3 module corresponding to the second module 140 is in operation, the selection icon 140a performs a function of displaying a list of songs, and when the cable broadcasting module corresponding to the third module 160 is in operation. Fix a channel for the broadcast being watched.

According to the present invention, each time a new module is installed in a modular television, no separate input device is required, and one module can control a plurality of modules. In addition, by displaying a detailed function selection menu corresponding to the operation state of the module and the detailed function of the module in operation, it is easier for a user to recognize the operation state of the module and to select the detailed function of the module in operation.

In the above, specific preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention as claimed in the claims. will be.

Claims (5)

Common control means having a plurality of keys each having a different color and a predetermined shape arrangement to control the corresponding module according to a signal selected for operation of the module; And And an OSD menu processor for providing a detailed function selection menu corresponding to the detailed functions of the selected module by the OSD method when the module is selected by the common control means.  Wherein at least one of the color and the arrangement of the plurality of keys corresponds to at least one of the color and the arrangement of the sub-function selection menu. The method of claim 1, And said common control means is a remote control for wirelessly inputting a selection key corresponding to a corresponding function through said detailed function selection menu. The method of claim 1, And the detailed function selection menu is displayed on the screen by an OSD method through a display unit which processes a video signal. The method of claim 3, wherein The OSD menu processing unit, A signal processor for transmitting and receiving a signal input and output to the OSD menu processor; A control menu providing unit outputting the detailed function selection menu corresponding to the detailed function of the module selected through the signal processing unit to the display unit when the module is selected according to the signal input to the common control unit; And And a control information storage unit for storing the color and arrangement of the sub-function selection menu corresponding to the color and arrangement of the common control means. The method of claim 4, wherein And said selection icon and said selection key performing the same function among the selection icon of said sub-function selection menu and said selection key of said common control means are at least one of the same arrangement and color.

Images