 |
Description  |
|
|
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is one of a series of related applications filed on a
common day and assigned to a common ownership. The other applications
include:
an application entitled "Diversions for Television Viewers" with named
inventor R. L. Bertram, filed on 31 May 1995 under Ser. No. 08/454,803.
an application entitled "Video Receiver Display and Three Axis Remote
Control" with named inventors R. L. Bertram et al. filed on 31 May 1995
under Ser. No. 08/454,763.
an application entitled "Video Receiver Display of Cursor Overlaying Video"
with named inventor R. L. Bertram filed on 31 May 1995 under Ser. No.
08/454,799.
an application entitled "Video Receiver Display of Cursor and Menu
Overlaying Video" with named inventor R. L. Bertram filed on 31 May 1995
under Ser. No. 08/454,806.
an application entitled "Video Receiver Display of Video Overlaying Menu"
with named inventor R. L. Bertram filed on 31 May 1995 under Ser. No.
08/454,780; and
an application entitled "Video Receiver Display, Three Axis Remote Control,
and Microcontroller for Executing Programs" with named inventors R. L.
Bertram et al. filed on 31 May 1995 under Ser. No. 08/454,801.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to consumer use of what is here called the
"television space". That is, the use of video/audio signal streams such as
in the past have been distributed by broadcast over radio frequency bands
or by cable distribution, or made available from video recorder/player
devices such as cassette recorders or video disc player, or made available
from direct, live sources such as cameras, game systems or computers. Such
video/audio signal streams, whether carrying analog or digitally encoded
information, have come to represent a significant resource to most
consumers for information and entertainment.
Access to the television space has, in the past, been achieved by use of a
television receiver. Then came changes in the methods of distribution,
leading to the use of various set top devices such as cable boxes for
analog signal streams, recorder/players, game machines, home cameras, etc.
As such devices using the television space have proliferated, so also have
the associated control devices. As television space technology has
approached what is presently known as the "home theater", systems having
as many as seven or more constituent components which are connected one to
another have become possible. In such a systems of systems, several or
even all of the constituent systems may have its own remote control
device, intended to enable a human observer to control the functionality
of the respective constituent system while avoiding the necessity of
directly manipulating control available at the face of the system. With
the proliferation of systems, a user is frequently faced with a
proliferation of remote control devices.
At the same time as remote controls have been proliferating, attempt to
provide a "universal" remote have been made. Such attempts have resulted
in remote controls having a manual interface, usually in the form of
buttons, which approaches or exceeds the limits of human usefulness. By
way of example, there are remote control devices offered with certain of
the component systems for home theater use which may have fifty or so
separate (and separately or jointly operable) buttons.
Such a proliferation of controls and proliferation of control functions
results in an unmanageable situation for a consumer. Coordinating control
among a plurality of remote control devices and system elements becomes
quickly difficult to the point of impossibility. Further, the user
interfaces easily become confused. It becomes difficult for a human
observer to be certain of the response which may be achieved by selecting
and actuating a particular button on a particular remote control.
The present invention proposes that these difficulties be resolved by
providing, for the television space and for other environments presenting
similar problems of resource allocation and navigation, a single remote
control device which cooperates with a display controller and with control
programs executed by the display controller and an associated central
processing unit (CPU). The remote control device, in accordance with this
invention, has access to the resources of the entire system with which it
is related. Further, the navigation among-functions available and resource
allocation is accomplished by display of on-screen images which overlay or
modify the images derived from the video/audio streams entering the
television space. This is accomplished with minimal buttons to be actuated
by the human observer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the above discussion in mind, it is one purpose of this invention to
assist a human observer of programming made available in the television
space, or similar displays found elsewhere, in making selections of
services or functions to be accessed through the system displaying the
visual images so derived. In accomplishing this purpose, the present
invention overlays onto a video display a menu of operations and services
selectable by a cursor which is controlled by a remote control device made
available to the user. The menu displays enable a user to position the
cursor to access control features of the system displaying the images, and
to select certain control features for utilization.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Some of the purposes of the invention having been stated, others will
appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the
accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention
which includes a television receiver, a set top device, and a remote
control;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the remote control of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram view of certain elements of the set top
device of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram view of certain elements of the set top
device of FIGS. 1 and 3;
FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram view of certain elements of the set top
device of FIGS. 1, 3 and 4;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention
which includes a television receiver and a remote control;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention
which includes a personal computer system and accessory input/output
devices;
FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of certain elements of the personal
computer system of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram view of certain elements of the
personal computer system of FIG. 8;
FIG. 10 is an illustration of the structure of a control program
functioning with the systems of FIGS. 1 through 9 in accordance with this
invention;
FIG. 11 is an illustration of the coding of a control program constructed
using the structure shown in FIG. 10; and
Each of FIG. 12 through FIG. 18 is a view of the display screen of a
television receiver of FIGS. 1 or 6 or personal computer system of FIG. 7
operating in accordance with this invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)
While the present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of
the present invention are shown, it is to be understood at the outset of
the description which follows that persons of skill in the appropriate
arts may modify the inventions here described while still achieving the
favorable results of these inventions. Accordingly, the description which
follows is to be understood as being a broad, teaching disclosure directed
to persons of skill in the appropriate arts, and not as limiting upon the
present inventions.
Before undertaking a detailed description of specific embodiments of the
present inventions, it is believed useful to set forth some description of
the environments in which the inventions find utility.
In more expansive forms, the inventions are practiced using systems which
have a video display device, circuitry for driving a display of visual
images by the video display device, a display controller, and a remote
control. In simplest form, the present inventions may be practiced through
the use of a remote control device and a display controller.
Video display devices useful in the practice of the inventions here
described are contemplated as including glass envelope cathode ray tubes
(CRTs) such as are conventionally used in consumer electronics systems
such as television receivers and in personal computer systems, television
projectors such as are used in large audience displays, liquid crystal
displays (LCDs) similarly used, gas plasma displays, and other flat panel
displays. The listed types of devices are given as examples only, as it is
contemplated that the types of displays with which these inventions are
useful will extend to include still other types of display devices either
not in common use or unknown at the time of writing this description, yet
capable of displaying visual images to a human observer in a manner
similar to the displays presented by the listed devices.
In any instance, the display will be coupled to circuitry capable of
delivering to the video display device video signals which drive the video
display device to display such visual images. Such circuitry may include
analog or digital tuners for receiving video signal streams transmitted or
distributed at frequencies which are outside direct sensing by the human
observer and which carry data which is to generate, after appropriate
processing, the visual displays. Specific examples of such circuitry will
be given hereinafter. However, it is contemplated that the circuitry may
include that typically found in a set top device used as an accessory to a
television receiver, in a television receiver, in a personal computer
system, or in other types of consumer electronic systems.
Video signal streams delivered to and through such circuitry may have a
variety of characteristics. The streams may be of compressed signals, in
which some information has been condensed or compressed by processing to
facilitate transmission or storage. One set of such compression
technologies are those specified by the Motion Picture Engineering Group
(MPEG). In such event, the circuitry may include provision for
decompression of the video signal stream. The streams may be of
uncompressed signals. The streams may be of analog information, such as
conventional NTSC or PAL broadcast television quality, or of digital
information derived from digitizing analog information or by direct
authorship. The streams may be "live" in the sense of being transmitted
and received and displayed concurrently with the occurrence of the events
depicted, or recorded. Distribution of the signals may be by broadcast or
by some broadband distribution method such as cable, optical fiber or the
like.
In all embodiments of these inventions to be here described, the video
signal streams are delivered to the video display device under the control
of a display controller. The display controller, as described more fully
hereinafter, may be found in a number of different environments, now to be
described.
One such environment is provided by set top devices which, as contemplated
by this invention, may be in the form of cable tuner systems, such as are
used in many homes to which video streams are delivered by cable
distribution networks. Set top devices may have the capability of decoding
satellite transmissions, or video signal streams distributed in digital
form, with or without encryption. They may also be in the form of devices
which include record/playback capability, such as VHS tape or videodisc.
They may also be in the form known as game machines, of which the systems
offered by Nintendo and Sega are perhaps the best known. They may include
back channel capability, so as to return a signal to a distribution
system, either directly over a distribution link or through an alternate
channel such as a conventional telephone line. A set top device may
include some of all of the capabilities of the systems briefly mentioned
above, as well as others perhaps not here set out in such detail.
One such set top device is illustrated more specifically in FIG. 1, where
are shown a television receiver 10, a remote control 20, and a set top
device 30.
The television receiver 10 is preferably a device of the type available to
any consumer from any supplier of television receivers, and will have a
housing or cabinet 11 within which is arranged a video display device 12.
As described hereinabove, the display device 12 may take any one of a
number of forms. Also housed within the housing or cabinet 11 is video
reception circuitry (not shown in FIG. 1) which is coupled to the video
display device for receiving signals transmitted at frequencies which are
outside direct sensing by a human observer and for delivering to the video
display device video signals which drive the video display device to
display visual images perceivable by the human observer. The television
receiver may be one configured to receive broadcast signals of NTSC or PAL
standards or a "cable ready" receiver which implements a design capable of
directly receiving a larger number of channels of analog signals such as
may be distributed by a cable service provider. The television receiver
may be one configured to receive a digital data stream, although at the
time of writing of this disclosure such sets are not readily available
commercially as a consumer product. Details of circuitry for such
receivers may be found in any of a number of industry reference texts.
The video reception circuitry is contemplated as being capable of receiving
signals which carry analog information defining visual images to be
displayed; digitally coded information defining such visual images; or
compressed digitally coded information defining such visual images. Such
signals as contemplated as being transmitted by broadcast transmission or
by cable transmission or by satellite transmission or by transmission
through a telecommunications network.
One form of remote control is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 at 20. Preferably, the
control 20 is a three axis remote control device usable at some distance
of separation from the television receiver 10. The meaning of the phrase
"three axis" will become more clear from discussion which follows later in
this description. The control 20 has a housing 21 sized to be held in the
hand of a human observer of the images displayed on the display device.
The housing, while shown to be of a configuration particularly intended to
lie comfortably in the hand of a user, may taken any configuration which
is reasonably held. The control 20 also has a manually engageable input
device 22 mounted in the housing 21 for manipulation by the human observer
and control transmitter circuitry (not visible in FIG. 2) mounted in the
housing and coupled to the input device 22 for transmitting at a frequency
which is outside direct sensing by the human observer command signals
coordinated in a predetermined manner to manipulation of the input device
22 by the human observer. Such circuitry, while not shown, may be as used
in other more conventional hand held remote control devices such as are
widely used by consumer electronic systems such as television receivers
and audio systems. As such, the circuitry may follow the teachings of
manufacturers of such devices.
The "three axis" characteristic of the input device can also be known as a
"press to select" characteristic. Stated differently (and as will become
more clear as this description proceeds), the input device may be
manipulated from side to side, toward and away from the user'as hand, and
toward any point around a circle centered on the device 22. If such
actions were considered as if oriented to a compass rose, side to side
motion might be toward and away from East and West, while motion toward
and away from the user's hand might be toward and away from North and
South. In this analysis, the device 22 is capable of indicating movement
toward any point of the three hundred sixty degrees of the compass.
When so manipulated, the input device 22 will generate signals which, in
the contemplation of this invention, will ultimately give effect to
movement of a cursor or pointer display element (illustrated at 135 in
FIGS. 13 through 18) across the field of view provided by the display
device 12. Once such manipulation has positioned the pointer over an
appropriate portion of the visual images displayed (as will become more
clear from discussion which follows), then an action indicated by such an
element may be selected by pressing on the input device 22. Thus movement
to points of the compass rose (as discussed above) is movement on two
axes, while pressing on the input device 22 is movement along a third
axis. It is the two axis movement for pointer positioning and third axis
movement for action selection which gives rise to the terminology "three
axis" remote control device.
The input device 22, while shown in one form, may take a variety of forms.
In particular, the device 22 is shown as what is here called a "wiggle
stick". A wiggle stick, in the contemplation of this invention, is an
elongate member pivoted within the housing 21 of the remote control 20 and
protruding therefrom. By suitable sensors, which may be strain gauge type
devices or other electromechanical sensors, pressure exerted on the wiggle
stick or physical movement thereof are transduced into electrical signals
indicating manipulation by the human observer. Alternate forms of the
input device 22 may be a wobble plate (similar to the device found on
commercially available game controllers used with game machines
accessories for television receivers), a trackball, a mouse, or an
inertial mouse. The latter two forms of devices differ in that a mouse, as
conventionally used with personal computer systems, rests upon a surface
over which it is moved by a user to generate signals effecting movement of
a cursor or pointer display element across the field of view provided by a
display device while an inertial mouse references to a self contained
inertial platform and may be manipulated free of a surface, as in the air.
Such a device is also known as an air mouse.
The remote control device 20 is coupled to the display controller
(discussed in greater detail later in this description) in one of a
variety of manners. In the form illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 6, the
input device 20 is coupled by command transmitter circuitry mounted in the
housing 21 and coupled to the input device 22 for transmitting at a
frequency which is outside direct sensing by the human observer command
signals coordinated in a predetermined manner to manipulation of the input
device by the human observer. Such command signals, as is known to persons
of skill in the arts related to other pointer control devices, may be
emitted by an infrared radiation emitter, a radio frequency emitter, or an
ultrasonic emitter. In other forms, described hereinafter in connection
with the personal computer system of FIGS. 7 through 9, command signals
may be transferred through an elongate flexible conductor.
One form of set top device 30 is more particularly shown in FIGS. 3 through
5 and will be described in some detail with reference to those Figures.
However, it is to be recognized that the particular device here described
is only one of a number of varieties of such devices as alluded to
hereinabove. The illustrated embodiment preferably has an analog
multiplexer 31 through which many of the signals flow among elements of
the device 30 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Signals reaching the analog
multiplexer 31 can arrive from an antenna or cable connection 32 through
first or second tuners 34, 35 or a cable interface 36. The cable interface
may allow for decryption of securely encoded signal streams, either on a
single use ("Pay per view") or timed interval (subscription) basis. The
analog multiplexer 31 also serves as a conduit for signal streams from the
output of an MPEG processor 38, the video processor 39, a video
recording/playback device 40 such as a VHS video cassette recorder/player
or a videodisc player, and auxiliary devices such as a camera (not shown)
through a camera auxiliary port 42 or a game machine (not shown) through a
game auxiliary port 44.
The video processor 39 is a central element of the set top device. In
addition to the elements recited above, the processor 39 is operatively
connected with system memory 45, an analog audio control 46, a
microprocessor 48 functioning as a central processing unit or CPU, flash
memory 49, an I/O processor 50 including an infrared receiver/blaster, an
expansion bus 51, a cable or telephone modem 52, and a Compact Disk (or
CD) drive 54. Each of these elements serves functions to be described more
fully hereinafter.
The video processor 39 will be discussed in detail in the text addressing
FIG. 5. Suffice it to say for now that the video processor 39 comprises
the following functional blocks: a memory refresher, a video controller, a
blitter graphical coprocessor, a CD drive controller, a digital signal
processor (DSP) sound coprocessor, and an arbitrator to arbitrate the
access to the system memory between the six possible bus masters (the CPU,
the blitter, the DSP, the memory refresher, the video controller, and the
CD drive controller). The arbitrator controls the changing priorities of
the devices, as described herein, and is in electrical circuit
communication with all the devices within the video processor 39. For
example, the CPU 48 has the lowest priority of all bus masters until an
interrupt occurs. Thus, the arbitrator is in circuit communication with
both an interface to the CPU and an interrupt controller.
The CPU 48 has a SYSTEM bus associated with it. The SYSTEM bus includes a
DATA bus, ADDRESS bus, and CONTROL bus. The video processor 39 is the
arbitrator for the system memory 45; therefore, the SYSTEM bus is modified
to a SYSTEM' bus (comprising a DATA' bus, ADDRESS' bus, and CONTROL' bus)
by the video processor 39.
The system memory 45 comprises screen RAM, system RAM, and bootstrap ROM.
The system memory 45 will be discussed in more detail in the text
accompanying FIG. 5.
The I/O processor 50 interfaces the CPU 48 to numerous I/O devices, such as
the remote control 20, a keyboard, a digitizer, a printer, or a touchpad.
In a preferred embodiment, the I/O processor is a preprogrammed
MC608HC705C8 (hereinafter "68HC705"), manufactured by Motorola Corp,
running at 2 MHz. The 68HC705 I/O processor is interfaced to the CPU 48 by
configuring the 68HC705 as a peripheral device: (1) PA0-PA7 are connected
to D0-D7 of the DATA bus; (2) PB7, PB1, and PB2 are connected GPIO1 (a
32-byte address range decoded by the video processor 39), A1, and A2,
respectively, of the ADDRESS bus and CONTROL bus; and (3) PB3, PB4, and
PB5 are connected to ADS, READY, and W/R, respectively, of the CONTROL
bus. Thus, the I/O processor is decoded to have four 16-bit addresses in
I/O space (referred to herein as AS0, AS2, AS4, and AS6). The I/O
processor also interfaces with appropriate receiver circuitry which is
able to detect and receive the signal packets emitted from the remote
control 20.
The program inside the 68HC705 interfaces to the CPU 48 as follows. The
68HC705 is designed to attach directly to the processor bus and act as an
I/O port to the CPU 48. A pair of internal latches hold data passing
between each of the processors until the other is ready to receive it.
Status bits to each processor indicate the condition of the data latches.
Each can tell if the previous data has been read and if any new data is
waiting to be read by checking the status bits.
The I/O processor 50 implements the following functions: (1) a 50 ms timer,
(2) a serial controller link for input devices, (3) a system reset, and
(4) a data/strobe/acknowledge (DSA) CD control communications link for the
CD drive 54.
The 50 ms timer is implemented using the watchdog timer of the 68HG705 I/O
processor. When the watchdog timer expires, the I/O processor interrupts
the GPU 48 using analog interrupt 1 (Al1) of the video processor 39. The
GPU 48 responds to this by reading the 16-bit I/O port AS0, described
above, which causes the video processor 48 to activate the I/O processor,
thereby causing a data transfer between the CPU 48 and the I/O processor.
Input devices are connected to the I/O processor 50 via a serial controller
link and controllers. The controllers transform the signalled movements of
control devices into a format suitable for transmission along the serial
link. The controllers send data packets via the controller serial data
link to the system unit. The data packets differ depending on the type of
IO device. Go-ordinate type devices (such as those with which the present
invention is particularly concerned including a wiggle stick, wobble
plate, mouse, joystick, etc.) have a different data packet then a switch
closure type of device (keyboard, digital joystick, switch pad, etc). The
controllers will include receivers appropriate to any signals emitted by a
remote control device 20, such as infrared receivers, radio receivers,
etc.
The serial controller link consists of three (3) lines: a data receive
line, a VCC (+5 VDC) line, and a ground line. The 68HC705 implements the
data receive line of the controller serial link using the PD0/RDI pin.
This pin is designed to be used as an interface to serial devices using
the well known asynchronous format. A clocked synchronous format could be
used in the alternative.
As alluded to hereinabove, the CPU 48 generates multiple buses: a DATA bus,
ADDRESS bus, and CONTROL bus, as are well known in the art. These three
buses are collectively referred to as the SYSTEM bus. In the preferred
embodiment, the CPU 48 is an 80376, manufactured by Intel Corp., 3065
Bowers Ave., Santa Clara, Calif., 95051. The 80376 is a variation of the
well known 80386SX, which is well known in the art and also available from
Intel Corp. The 80376 differs from the 80386SX in that the 80376 starts up
in 32-bit mode, rather than 16-bit mode. Specifically, the CR0 register is
forced to a 0011H (0011 in hexadecimal notation) state with bit 0 forced
to a logical ONE, effectively making the 376 operate in a 32-bit memory
mode. Paging is enabled to allow virtual 386 operation.
The present inventions contemplate that the CPU may access control programs
stored, for example, in the set top device system memory 45 so as to be
accessible to the processor, for controlling the display of visual images
by said video display device. As will be understood by persons of skill in
the design of program controlled digital devices, the processor accessing
such a control program will be capable of loading the control program and
operating under the control of the control program so as to accomplish the
functions established by the author of the program. Such a control program
may, for example in this disclosure, cause the command receiver circuitry
associated with or embedded in the I/O processor 50 which receives command
signals from the command transmitter circuitry of the remote control 20 to
derive from the received command signals image directing signals directing
modification of visual images displayed on the display device. Further,
the control program will cause command processor circuitry in the video
processor 39 which is coupled to the command receiver circuitry and to the
video reception circuitry in the television receiver 10 to receive the
image directing signals and modify the visual images displayed on the
device 12 as directed by manipulation of the remote control by a human
observer.
In executing control programs, the syst | | |
