Method and apparatus for assisting a user to make a connection
Contents
1. 4 26 m 32 C G Move Back US 7 043 691 B1 Sheet 1 of 7 May 9 2006 U S Patent Iepooap DWdW 49 U S Patent May 9 2006 Sheet 2 of 7 US 7 043 691 B1 FIG 2 Screen source 22 7 US 7 043 691 B1 Sheet 3 of 7 May 9 2006 U S Patent ww 23 NOVA he 100 4 09 85 100 NI 605 Jake q CAd Xog AL 192 100 VDA Sau IH sad GH NOLLVYaITV9 in00 FAA NI 402 2 SAN OGIA O3CIA YOLINON AGON pued IL AI 6 Olu US 7 043 691 B1 Sheet 4 of 7 May 9 2006 U S Patent xorg ANTK aon AN e E VOA T 82 LNo d NI 00 ooQ0o000 0999 O le e q TAG Xog AL 91989 LNO VDA SAA he Ue NOLLVNSTIVO AgTOG NI dW02 Sau IH GAG 40 ado nn NI orany 49 ACON RING 9 LNO YNNALNY d00T VNN amp SINV MOVE TIVA oueg 1eay AL VNNUINV dla US 7 043 691 B1 Sheet 5 of 7 May 9 2006 U S Patent 2 og 100 VDA 110 0 Jake q dad VOA SAY IH 010 saa aH dad a ii INY rey AgTOG da NI Sq IH GAG orany 19 SION 1 0 oued AI G DIA US 7 043 691 B1 Sheet 6 of 72. May 9 2006 U S Patent 100 89 94 sada COW SIND ANN 2 eG 5 ino Ni ino O Oo xog AL 9198 LAdNI LNY 2 LNO OWGIA OTIA HOLINOR o LAO 1 9 AL US 7 043 691 B1 Sheet 7 of 7 May 9 2006 U S Patent xovg ONIN 33 wl4 L 100 Sau IH q 3 1 saa i000 111317 Ag TOG EA NOLLVHSTIVO NI dW02 ANIT INO exa TH ge AGON LINGO 1 2 110 ojlo o WAV 100 191 VNNGLNV 4007 VNNWINV XOVE TIVM joueg IL AI AL TIHVO YNNILLNY US 7 043 691 Bl 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSISTING A USER TO MAKE A CONNECTION BETWEEN MAIN DEVICE AND A PERIPHERAL DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for guiding connections between a main device and external peripheral devices 2 Background of the Related Art Connections between a display device and peripheral devices in the related art have mostly been between a TV receiver and a Video Cassette Recorder VCR In such cases the connection between the TV receiver and the VCR is through a RF output terminal on the VCR and a RF input terminal on the TV receiver or through a composite video and audio L R using an external input termi
3. may be an array of icons arranged in the left portion of the screen where each icon represents one or a combination of peripheral devices The icon representations shown in FIG 3 are one example and may differ in both position and appearance depending upon the needs of the main device and preference of the designer The combination of peripheral devices represented by the menu items may also change as the peripheral devices that can be connected to main device e g the TV receiver increases or decreases Also icons other than shown in the EZ hook up menu screen of FIG 3 may be displayed depending upon the needs of the main device and the preference of the designer For example an icon which allows movement between the current and previous screen and or an icon which will display the main menu can be displayed as shown at the bottom of FIG 3 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 Referring back to FIG 3 antennas wall jacks the TV rear jack panel 22 of an actual TV receiver and jack panels 24 26 28 30 and 32 of peripheral device are arranged in a right portion of the screen Namely the entire or a portion of the input terminal plate on the rear of the TV receiver may be displayed by the OSD process The input terminal plate would include different input jacks that can be used to connect to the TV receiver However for TV receivers the input jacks may be located on the side and or front surface other than
4. with another embodiment of the present inven tion US 7 043 691 Bl 3 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings FIG 1 is a block diagram of a TV receiver in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention Referring to FIG 1 a microcomputer 103 receives a signal from a selection device on a TV receiver through a key receiver 101 or receives signals from an external selec tion device through an IR receiver 102 Here the selection device on a TV receiver may be a keypad and the external selection device may be a remote control An IR key decoder in the microcomputer 103 interprets codes of the received signals and outputs the interpreted signal to a digital pro cessor 109 through a protocol line The digital processor 109 includes a CPU 112 which controls the entire system and executes the built in pro grams according to the signal codes received through the protocol line As the TV receiver may be connected to a variety of devices such as a National Television Standards Committee NTSC antenna an Advanced Television Sys tems Committee STSC antenna a first VCR input terminal J1 a second VCR input terminal J2 a third VCR input terminal J3 a High Definition Distribute Sample Scrambler HD DSS input terminal J4 a DVD input terminal J5 a Video G
5. D that shows the TV jack panel 22 the jack panels 24 26 28 30 and 32 of the peripheral devices and the wiring between the selected peripheral device or devices and the TV receiver US 7 043 691 Bl 7 The wiring diagram of FIG 3 shows how to connect lines or cables for receiving air signals and cable signals coming through an antenna and the wall jack Particularly an input terminal of a 2 way signal splitter is connected to the antenna one output terminal of the 2 way signal splitter is connected to an ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack and the other output terminal of the 2 way signal splitter is connected with a DTV RF ANT INPUT jack Also a second input terminal of a 2 way signal splitter is connected to the wall jack and one output terminal of the 2 way signal splitter is connected to an ANTENNA CABLE 1 jack Although there can be a variety of ways to connect an antenna and cable TV to a TV receiver the present invention shows the most recommendable connection of the ANT Cable connections in the EZ hook up OSD of FIG 3 Accordingly an air RF TV signal received through the antenna is input to the ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack and the DTV ANT INPUT jack simultaneously through the 2 way single splitter Likewise the cable signal received through the wall jack is provided to the ANTENNA CABLE 1 jack through the 2 way single splitter FIG 4 is a wiring diagram between the TV receiver and the peripheral devices displayed when the cursor is posi t
6. US007043691B1 United States Patent 12 10 Patent No US 7 043 691 B1 Kwon et al 45 Date of Patent May 9 2006 54 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSISTING 5 995 933 A 11 1999 Fado et al 704 270 A USER TO MAKE A CONNECTION 6 131 111 A 10 2000 Yoshino et al 709 204 BETWEEN A MAIN DEVICE AND A 6 263 499 7 2001 Nakamura et al 717 171 PERIPHERAL DEVICE 6 417 869 B1 7 2002 Do 345 718 6 459 961 10 2002 Obradovich et al 701 1 75 Inventors Il Gun E Seoul KR Ji Yeon FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS H S KR vane 5 195 24919 1 1 1997 73 Assignee LG Electronics Inc Seoul KR e 2 di ie Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this cited by examiner patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 353 days Primary Examiner Kristine Kincaid Assistant Examiner Peng Ke 21 Appl No 09 608 434 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Birch Stewart Kolasch amp Birch LLP 22 Filed Jun 30 2000 57 ABSTRACT 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Dec 7 1999 KR 1999 55490 A method and apparatus are provided for assisting a user to 51 Int CI make a connection between a main device and peripheral 06 3 00 2006 01 device An illustration ap UNDE m to con nect one or more peripheral devices to the main device is 52 ies 715 705 poo que displayed on a displ
7. ay screen In one embodiment the D illustration shows at least one connecting portion of the main 58 Field of Classification Search 345 705 device the connecting portion of at least one peripheral 345 706 708 709 714 715 717 718 731 device and the connection between the connecting portion gp See application file for complete search history of the main device and the connecting portion of the 56 References Cited peripheral device In another embodiment more than one or U S PATENT DOCUMENTS all of the connecting portions of the main device are shown Alternatively the connecting portions of a plurality of a peripheral devices are shown 5 680 323 10 1997 Barnard 345 720 5 828 834 A 10 1998 Choi 713 202 5 903 266 A 5 1999 Berstis et al 345 708 28 Claims 7 Drawing Sheets ANTENNA CABLE TV TV Rear Panel WALL JACK ANTENNA LOOP ANTENNA CABLE OUT CABLEI 2way signal CENTER MODE splitter 6 76 9eY y AUDIO S VIDEO S VIDEO Q O OL N N OPB OL o 0 0 9n OPR OR MONITOR VIDEO VIDEO DVD HI RES HD DBS AUDIOWAR A 0UT 1 COMP IN IN VG IN OUT LINK DTV RF DOLBY Digital ANT INPUT CALIBRATION ON OOUT DVD HD DBS Dig AUDIO HIRES VGA OUT Cable TV Box YCR DVD Player HD DBS O O O O eco 000 IN OUT IN OUT S VIDEO D OUT D OUT
8. cted the controller also displaying a graphical illustration on the same screen page in response to a user s selection of one of the menu items the graphical illustration depicting con nection terminals of the main device and connection 12 terminals of each of the at least two peripheral devices the graphical illustration further depicting connections between the connection terminals of the main device and the peripheral devices indicated by the user se lected menu item such that the user can make the same connections by viewing the graphical illustration wherein the main device is a digital TV 27 The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the at least two peripheral devices include at least two of the following a 10 broadcast antenna a cable box a disk drive speakers a mouse a printer a DVD player and a satellite receiver 28 The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the connections of the connection terminals are wire connections between the connection terminals
9. detail with reference to the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like elements wherein FIG 1 is a block diagram of a TV receiver in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a process for selecting an EZ hook up menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention FIG 3 is a wiring diagram showing connections between a TV receiver and peripheral devices when a cursor is positioned at Ant Cable item in an EZ hook up menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention FIG 4 is a wiring diagram showing connections between a TV receiver and peripheral devices when a cursor is positioned at an Ant Cable and VCR item in an EZ hook up items in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention FIG 5 is a wiring diagram showing connections between a TV receiver and peripheral devices when a cursor is positioned at a Cable Box and VCR item in an EZ hook up menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention FIG 6 is a wiring diagram showing connections between a TV receiver and peripheral devices when a cursor is positioned at a DVD Hi Res item in an EZ hook up menu in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention and FIG 7 is a wiring diagram showing connections between a TV receiver and peripheral devices when a cursor is positioned at a DVD Hi Res item in an EZ hook up menu in accordance
10. e 2 way signal splitter is connected to the ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack A LOOP OUT jack is connected to an IN jack of the Cable TV Box an OUT jack ofthe Cable TV Box is connected to an IN jack of the VCR and an OUT jack on the VCR is connected to the ANTENNA CABLE 1 jack on the TV receiver Also the VIDEO 1 L R jacks are respectively connected to the V L R jacks on the VCR and an IN jack on an S VIDEO is connected to a S VIDEO jack on the VCR Accordingly a cable signal received through the wall jack is input to the ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack through the 2 way single splitter and the signal provided to the ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack is provided to an IN jack of the Cable TV Box through the LOOP OUT jack The signal input to the IN jack of the Cable TV Box is provided to the IN jack on the VCR and provided to the ANTENNA CABLE 1 jack through the OUT jack on the VCR The base band composite 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 of the VCR are also provided to the VIDEO 1 V L and R jacks the same as shown in FIG 4 FIG 6 is a wiring diagram showing connections between a TV receiver and peripheral devices when a cursor is positioned at or selects the DVD Hi Res icon from EZ hook up menu 20 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention The wiring diagram illustrated by FIGS 3 6 are examples and the present invention is not limited to FIGS 3 6 Instead the wiring diagrams will differ with the TV rec
11. e jack panel may be displayed through a sequential selection process on the OSD menu screen US 7 043 691 Bl 5 Alternatively the EZ hook up menu screen may be displayed directly without an intermediary process by assigning a key on a selection device with at least one key as a display of the EZ hook up menu if selected In the present invention the selection device may be a remote control or a panel selection device attached to a display device Alternatively the selection device may be a keyboard or a mouse connected to a display device by cable or radio In the preferred embodiment a remote control which controls a cursor on the screen is used as the selection device and the cursor may be moved between displayed menus on the screen to selects a desired menu FIG 2 shows an example process for selecting an EZ hook up menu through a selection process on an OSD menu screen in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention Namely when a user selects to display a menu through a remote control a main menu 10 is dis played If the user uses a directional key or a jog shuttle key on the remote control to select an item by moving a cursor up and down the main menu a submenu 12 of a selected item is displayed FIG 2 shows one example of a submenu 12 displayed when a set up item is selected from the main menu 10 A submenu 12 may be displayed by pressing a selection key when the cursor is positioned at a desired men
12. ed with reference to FIGS 3 6 For purposes of explanation the illustrated embodiment of the TV receiver displays the EZ hook up menu 20 in a left portion of the TV screen where the menu items are com binations of names of peripheral devices that can be con nected to the TV receiver Also all TV receiver terminal plates and terminal plates of the peripheral devices that can be connected to the TV receiver are displayed in the right portion of the TV screen Furthermore a user may move the cursor up and down the EZ hook up menu 20 using a direction key on a remote control to display on the right portion of the screen a wiring diagram connection between the jack panel 22 of the TV receiver and the jack panel s 24 26 28 30 and 32 of peripheral device s corresponding to an icon designated by the cursor FIG 3 is a wiring diagram between the TV receiver and the peripheral devices displayed when the cursor is posi tioned at an Ant Cable icon or the Ant Cable item is selected from the EZ hook up menu 20 Namely when a menu item of the menu 20 is selected another OSD showing the wiring between the selected peripheral device or devices and the TV receiver is displayed overlaying or superimposed on the OSD of the TV jack panel 22 and the jack panels 24 26 28 30 and 32 of the peripheral devices Alternately the OSD of the TV jack panel 22 and the jack panels 24 26 28 30 and 32 of the peripheral devices could be replaced with a new OS
13. eiver and the best wiring configuration subjectively con sidered by the designer For example the illustrations on the display screen do not need to show the terminal plates of the peripheral devices FIG 7 illustrates a wiring diagram showing how to connect a DVD Hi Res item to the TV receiver without illustrating the terminal plates of peripheral devices particularly the DVD Hi Res item Also the present invention may implement an animation effect in which the lines connecting the main device and peripheral device s may move or flash or the lines or plugs at the ends of lines may be colored for enhanced visual effect Also although the display device in the examples was a TV receiver the main device may be any device that connects with external peripheral devices For example the main device may be an analog TV receiver a digital TV receiver a set top box a PC etc For a main device such as a PC the peripheral devices could include a TV receiver a disk drive a mouse speakers a printer and with selection devices such as a mouse the terminal plates of peripheral devices displayed on the PC screen may each act as an icon such that a wire diagram may be displayed by selecting one or more of the terminal plate icons using the input device Finally the present invention can represent in the EZ hook up OSD or graphic a G link output from the analog program guide gemstar board and the remote control sensor fitting method f
14. er completing the questionnaire for the selected peripheral device Thus a user cannot see the overall connection or wiring at a glance Particularly when a user merely wishes to understand how a TV receiver and peripheral devices are connected the method in the related art is complicated and inconvenient to the user SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the method and apparatus for assisting a user to make a connection between a main device and peripheral device an illustration visually demonstrating how to connect a peripheral device or combination of peripheral devices to the main device is displayed on the display screen More spe cifically in one embodiment the illustration shows at least one connecting portion of the main device the connecting portion of at least one peripheral device and the connection between the connecting portion of the main device and the connecting portion of the peripheral device or devices In an alternative embodiment more than one or all of the con necting portions of the main device are shown in the illustration In addition to or instead of the alternative 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 embodiment the connecting portion of a plurality of a peripheral devices are shown in the illustration In another embodiment of the present invention the illustration shows at least one connecting portion of the main device and the connections to make to the connecting portion of the mai
15. he user can make the same connections by viewing the graphical illustration wherein the main device is a digital TV 11 The method of claim 10 wherein the at least two peripheral devices include at least two of the following a broadcast antenna a cable box a disk drive speakers a mouse a printer a DVD player and a satellite receiver 12 The method of claim 10 wherein in the step of displaying the graphical illustration the connections of the connection terminals are wire connections between the connection terminals 0 an 5 35 45 50 55 60 65 10 13 The method of claim 1 wherein in the step of displaying the guide illustration depicts wire connections between terminals of the digital TV and the at least one of the at least two peripheral devices 14 The method of claim 2 wherein in the step of displaying the electrical connections are wire connections between terminals of the at least two devices among the digital TV and the at least two peripheral devices 15 An apparatus for assisting a user to make a connection between a digital TV and at least two peripheral devices each peripheral device providing an audio signal and a video signal the apparatus comprising a screen display and a controller for displaying a menu on a screen page ofthe screen display the menu including a plurality of menu items each menu item identifying a different combi nation of devices to be connected the c
16. ioned at or selects Ant Cable VCR icon from the EZ hook up menu items In such case an input terminal of a 2 way signal splitter is connected to the antenna one output terminal of the 2 way signal splitter is connected to the ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack and the other output terminal of the 2 way signal splitter is connected to the DTV RF ANT INPUT jack A LOOP OUT jack is connected to an IN jack ofthe VCR and the ANTENNA CABLE 1 jack is connected to an OUT jack of the VCR Also VIDEO 1 V L R jacks are respectively connected to V L R jacks of the VCR Accordingly an air RF TV signal through the antenna is input to the ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack and to the DTV RF ANT INPUT jack through the 2 way single splitter The RF signal through the ANTENNA CABLE 2 jack is input to the IN jack of the VCR directly through the LOOP OUT jack the signal from the OUT jack of the VCR is input to the ANTENNA CABLE 1 jack and a base band composite of the VCR are provided to the VIDEO 1 V L R jacks FIG 5 is a wiring diagram between the TV receiver and the peripheral devices displayed when the cursor is posi tioned at or selects Cable Box VCR icon from the EZ hook up menu 20 In such a case an input terminal of a 2 way signal splitter is connected to the antenna and one output terminal of the 2 way signal splitter is connected to the DTV RF ANT INPUT jack An input terminal of a second 2 way signal splitter is connected to the wall jack and one output terminal of th
17. ls of each of the digital TV and the at least two peripheral devices and depicts the electrical connections between the connec tion terminals of the at least two devices depending on the user 6 The method of claim 2 wherein the displaying step displays the graphical illustration on a display screen of the digital TV 7 The method of claim 2 wherein each menu item is displayed as an icon 8 The method of claim 2 further comprising receiving signals from an input device providing instructions on moving a cursor displayed on a display screen onto one of the menu items 9 The method of claim 2 wherein each of the at least two peripheral devices generates a video signal and an audio signal 10 A method of assisting a user to make a connection between a main electronic device and at least two peripheral devices comprising displaying a menu on a screen page the menu including a plurality of menu items each menu item identifying a different combination of devices to be connected and displaying a graphical illustration on the same screen page in response to a user s selection of one of the menu items the graphical illustration depicting connection terminals of the main device and connection terminals of each of the at least two peripheral devices the graphical illustration further depicting connections between the connection terminals of the main device and the peripheral devices indicated by the user se lected menu item such that t
18. modulator 111 demodulates the digital video signal and the CPU 112 demultiplexes the digital video signal to separate out a video bit stream decodes the separated video bit stream and outputs the decoded video bit stream to the VDP 115 Here a DRAM 113 is used during the video decoding generally for writing and reading a bitstream reading data required for motion compensation writing decoded data and reading data to be displayed Also a flash ROM 114 stores a program to be executed by the CPU 112 characters for OSD and graphic fonts Based on user input the VDP 115 combines a video signal from the A D converting unit 110 or from the ATSC antenna with an OSD menu generated by a bit map stored in the flash ROM 114 converts the combined signal into a YUV signal and sends the YUV signal to the VCP 108 The VCP 108 converts the YUV signal into a RGB signal and displays the RGB signal on a display 116 such as the TV receiver screen Here the OSD processed image may be displayed in the form of characters or graphics may be displayed over the video signal used as a background image or may be displayed alone The Easy EZ hook up menu screen according to the present invention for showing how to connect a TV receiver to external peripheral devices is displayed on the TV receiver screen as an OSD processed image Particularly the EZ hook up menu screen showing con nections between a TV receiver jack panel and an external peripheral devic
19. n device when connecting a particular peripheral device Again more than one or all of the connecting portions of the main device may be illustrated With respect to both the first and second embodiments and the alternatives thereof a menu screen is preferably displayed The menu screen provides as menu items the peripheral devices or combinations of peripheral devices which can be connected to the main device A user through an input device selects one of the menu items and based on the menu item selected the illustration is changed to show the connections between the main device and selected peripheral device or devices The main device may be any device to which a plurality of peripheral devices can be connected such as a TV receiver and a personal computer The peripheral devices are the peripheral devices associated with the main device In the case of a TV receiver the peripheral devices include a VCR a DVD player an antenna a cable box a digital television receiver etc The method and apparatus for assisting the user to make a connection between the main device and a peripheral device according to the present invention provide the advan tages of a user friendly guide for making such connections without having to resort to a user s manual Thus the present invention solves the problems and disadvantages discussed above with respect to the related art BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described in
20. nal i e RCA type jack Although the connection seems simple to actually connect or reconnect a TV receiver and a VCR users frequently refer to a manual Thus if the manual is lost a user may experience difficulty in making even a simple connection Also connections to a TV receiver may become more complicated as there are other peripheral devices for con necting to the TV receiver such as a cable box a Digital Versatile Disk DVD a digital terrestrial broadcast receiver a satellite set top box and PC Moreover due to a recent increase in the functions of a TV even more peripheral devices may need to be connected Thus if the number of peripheral devices keeps increasing users will experience more difficulty in connecting a TV receiver to peripheral devices and in order to explain such connections a user s manual will also become more complicated As an alternative to making connections by referring to a user s manual an initial setup menu in the related art ofa TV provides a questionnaire regarding what type of peripheral device needs to be connected and displays the necessary circuit to a user based upon the answers to the questionnaire Thus a user can connect a peripheral device to the TV receiver according to the circuit shown on the TV screen However the questionnaires are often complicated and if a user wishes to see a connection to a peripheral device other than the one selected the user can only see the circuit aft
21. ng displaying a menu on a screen page the menu including a plurality of menu items each menu item identifying a different combination of devices to be connected and US 7 043 691 Bl 9 displaying on the same screen page a guide illustration in response to a user s selection of one of the menu items the illustration showing how to connect the digital TV to at least one of the at least two peripheral devices indicated by the user selected menu item 2 A method of assisting a user to make a connection between a digital TV and at least two peripheral devices comprising displaying on a screen page a menu having a plurality of menu items each menu item identifying a different combination of devices to be connected and displaying a graphical illustration the same screen page in response to a user input selecting on of the menu items the graphical illustration demonstrating electrical con nections between at least two devices among the digital TV and the at least two peripheral devices whereby the user can make the same electrical connections by viewing the graphical illustration 3 The method of claim 2 wherein the graphical illustra tion shows the electrical connections in a highlighted form 4 The method of claim 3 wherein the highlighted form is a color which differs from a remainder of the graphical illustration 5 The method of claim 2 wherein in the displaying step the graphical illustration depicts connection termina
22. ontroller also displaying on the same screen page a guide illustration in response to a user s selection of one of the menu items the illustration showing how to connect the digital TV to at least one of the at least two peripheral devices indicated by the user selected menu item 16 The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the guide illus tration depicts wire connections between terminals of the digital TV and the at least one of the at least two peripheral devices 17 An apparatus for assisting a user to make a connection between a digital TV and at least two peripheral devices the apparatus comprising a display screen and a controller for displaying a menu on a screen page of the display screen the menu including a plurality of menu items each identifying a different combination of devices to be connected the controller displaying a graphical illustration on the same screen page in response to a user input selecting one of the menu items the graphical illustration demonstrating electri cal connections between at least two devices among the digital TV and the at least two peripheral devices whereby the user can make the same electrical connec tions by viewing the graphical illustration 18 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the graphical illustration shows the electrical connections in a highlighted form 19 The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the highlighted form is a color which differs from a remainder of the graphical illu
23. or a VCR and Cable Box By displaying an EZ hook up menu having names of the peripheral devices that can be connected to a display device and by displaying a wiring diagram connecting the display device and designated peripheral device s in an OSD when a user selects peripheral device s through the EZ hook up menu the present device and method for displaying a connection guide between two devices allows a user to easily understand how to connect between the display device and the peripheral devices Thus a connection method between a display device and other peripheral device s can quickly be shown when a user selects a peripheral device through the EZ hook up menu Accordingly the present invention is a more effective instructional tool for display devices such as a digital TV receiver which can be con nected to numerous peripheral devices The foregoing embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention The present teachings can be readily applied to other types of appara tuses The description of the present invention is intended to be illustrative and not to limit the scope of the claims Many alternatives modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art What is claimed is 1 A method of assisting a user to make a connection between a digital TV and at least two peripheral devices each peripheral device providing an audio signal and a video signal comprisi
24. put received from e g source selection key input devices 101 and 102 and processed by the microcomputer 103 The composite video signal selected by the A V switch 105 is sent to a Digital Comb Filter DCF 106 and undergoes a luminance color Y C separation Thereafter the separated Y C signals are again separated into luminance information and color information U V through a NTSC decoder 107 and sent to a Video Chroma Processor 108 VCP A video signal received by a tuner 104 through the NTSC antenna would also be sent to the VCP 108 in a same process i e through the A V switch 105 the DCF 106 and the NTSC decoder 107 The VCP 108 receives the NTSC HD DSS VGA and DVD signals selects one of the received signals according to selection by a user and sends an analog YUV signal to an A D converting unit 110 in the digital processor 109 through an SEL out terminal If there are more peripheral devices that can be connected to the TV receiver the signals that can be received by the VCP 108 would increase The A D converting unit 110 converts the analog YUV signal into a digital YUV signal and sends the digital YUV signal to a Video Decoding Processor VDP 115 In contrast to the video signals received through the NTSC antenna or input terminals 71 75 a digital video signal received through the ATSC antenna is sent to a transport demultiplexing and decoding unit in the CPU 112 via a Versatile Sideband VSB demodulator 111 The VSB de
25. raphics Array VGA input terminal different selec tion and operation of peripheral devices is possible if connected Thus keys for selecting the peripheral devices are assigned to a selection device such as the remote control The assignment may be one key for one peripheral device or one key for a plurality of peripheral devices If one key is assigned to a plurality of peripheral devices a peripheral device can be selected by repeatedly pressing a key Accord ingly if a user presses a key a corresponding key code value would be sent to the microcomputer 103 through the key receiver 101 or the IR receiver 102 At this time if a selected peripheral device is connected to the TV receiver through a connection line such as a cable a signal from the selected peripheral device is sent to the TV receiver through the connection line for processing and display For example if a user selects an antenna by pressing a key either a signal from the NTSC antenna or the ATSC antenna would be selected If the user selects an antenna while an analog video signal received through the NTSC antenna is being displayed a digital video signal received through the ATSC antenna would begin to be displayed on the TV screen Likewise if the user selects an antenna while a digital video signal received through the ATSC antenna is being displayed an analog video signal received through the NTSC antenna would begin to be displayed Also when the user selects a
26. stration 20 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the graphical illustration depicts connection terminals of each of the digital TV and the at least two peripheral devices and depicts the electrical connections between the connection terminals of the at least two devices depending on the user input 21 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the display screen is part of the digital TV such that the graphical illustration is displayed on the display screen of the digital TV 22 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein each menu item is displayed as an icon 23 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the controller receives signal from an input device providing instructions on moving a cursor displayed on the display screen onto one of the menu items 24 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein each of the at least two peripheral devices generates a video signal and an audio signal US 7 043 691 Bl 11 25 The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the electrical connections are wire connections between terminals of the at least two devices among the digital TV and the at least two peripheral devices 26 An apparatus for assisting a user to make a connection between a main electronic device and at least two peripheral devices the apparatus comprising a display unit a controller to display a menu on a screen page of the display unit the menu including a plurality of menu items each menu item identifying a different combi nation of devices to be conne
27. the rear surface In such case one or all surfaces of the TV receiver may be displayed For example the surface including input jacks required for a connection may be displayed as necessary Similarly depending upon the designer all or less than all terminal plates of peripheral devices that can be connected to the TV receiver may initially be displayed If less than all terminal plates of peripheral devices are displayed the plate corresponding to a peripheral device icon selected from the EZ hook up menu items would be displayed together with the connection lines to the TV receiver jack panel For example if the cursor is positioned at the VGA icon or the VGA icon is selected from the EZ hook up menu selection items the VGA terminal plate would be displayed simulta neously with a wiring diagram between the TV receiver and the VGA Furthermore although the EZ hook up menu 20 is dis played in the left portion of the screen with the terminal plates the menu 20 may be displayed at a different position such as the right portion of the screen Alternatively the EZ hook up menu 20 may be displayed initially without the terminal plates In such case the terminal plates showing a wiring diagram between the TV receiver and peripheral devices would be displayed on a different OSD screen when an icon or menu item representing one or a combination of peripheral devices is selected The operations of the present invention will next be explain
28. u item Alternatively a submenu 12 may automatically be displayed when a cursor is positioned at a menu item For example a submenu corresponding to a highlighted menu item would be displayed even if a selection key is not pressed More over when a submenu item such as the EZ program is selected in the same manner as a main menu item a lower level submenu 14 is displayed as shown in FIG 2 Here the display position and appearance of the main menu 10 the submenus 12 and 14 and each item may be represented in a different manner according to needs of the display device and preference of the designer For purposes of the preceding and foregoing explanation a TV receiver will be assumed as the main device Accord ingly if the user selects the EZ hook up item from the submenu items shown in FIG 2 an EZ hook up OSD screen stored in the Flash ROM 114 is displayed in this manner discussed above FIG 3 illustrates the this screen display except for the connection between the TV jack panel 22 and the antenna and cable TV wall jack The EZ hook up OSD screen may also be directly displayed by pressing a pre assigned key on a remote control Referring to FIG 3 the names of peripheral devices that can be connected to the TV receiver appear as a menu 20 of items which can be selected by moving the cursor FIG 3 also shows the TV jack panel 22 and jack panels 24 26 28 30 and 32 of the named peripheral devices Particularly the menu items 20
29. video one of the composite video signals from the first VCR input terminal J1 the second VCR input terminal J2 or the third VCR input terminal J3 is selected If video is selected while a video signal received through the first VCR input terminal J1 is being displayed the video signal received through the second VCR input terminal J2 would begin to be displayed on the TV screen If the video is selected again the video signal received through the third VCR input terminal J3 would begin to be displayed on the TV screen If a user continues selecting the video the video signals received through the first VCR input terminal J1 the second VCR input terminal J2 and the third VCR input terminal J3 would begin to be displayed on the TV screen in sequence 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 Similarly if the user selects DVD a DVD YCbCr video signal received through the DVD input terminal J5 would begin to be displayed on the TV screen If a different peripheral device is selected by a user a video signal of the corresponding peripheral device would begin to be dis played on the screen The paths of signals selected by a peripheral device selection will next be discussed One of composite video signals received through the first VCR input terminal J1 the second VCR input terminal J2 or the third VCR input terminal J3 is selected through an A V switch 105 The operation of A V switch 105 is controlled by user in
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