Image output system, image signal generation apparatus and
Contents
1. Pup TEC E E ba E E Da US 2014 0118619 A1 May 1 2014 Sheet 3 of 9 Patent Application Publication een NOT 132094 9 L L E Old E 4 H owe 193f 03d 3118 d H H H H H H H H i i 3 OS AAN A it ye TE KOLDER JHE ELLS H i H H H H H H H H H H i L Debt acen Ge D REEL ES Aen j O 190439 d an NO 493 Kieg GN x Ze ta us i ne ONoviwwanga gange In i eis E E ig re 4 0414810 HINSSIR BOIS L iQ 190499 GELVALLOV OBNIHOLIMS TVNDIS Ana i ue i is O 180438 JONIIS UNO WNOIS LANI De u ale als 0 180438 ZONGISIXS TIVNOIS LANI T EO LS LIND a HN E T p SES ES anno y EIN E dp mes RHONE crier Or qmod ge NN UU NA AU REENEN 604 BES 98 PEZ E US 2014 0118619 A1 May 1 2014 Sheet 4 of 9 Patent Application Publication S O 10438 0378YS10 a E at vols ND LOON 9123 PA eb a GONI NOI I03POld 0188 O ON THOL LAS Wen W er Ce L 0190439 9101 120 WNDIS INT ELS PT TEGE GIVA LOVAG TVNDIS INANI ELES T NOI 193608 jdi T ZS nes G aa NOP LOSP OU LLZS O AVIASIG ON NIJYIS AVIISI eeng 6028 H H d X O NO 11 Vu3d0 INGAGOGT IMONNOV 8028 Q NOE LOAP OME ge d Q NO1103P Old 2083 NOT 102094 nar 3 zen i ONDIIVHINIO NJJUSS AN VEI0 30VSS3N vO iv eeen i MEA cs ANNO OE ees E TONNEN 30383 DNI ACHT2. responding to an operational event such as a screen acknowl edgement operation by a user switched to the display OFF state In order to make sure that a message is known to the user it is preferable to wait for an explicit acknowledgement operation by the user However in other embodiments by assuming a sufficient time of the message display as an implicit acknowledgement by the user responding to an inter nal event such as a timer event the state may be switched to the display OFF state 0047 The signal state determination unit 230 regarding the corresponding storage input channel determines whether there is an image signal input or not based on the connection state reported by the storage connection state management unit 244 and the display state of the message display screen information display image that is retained by the display state retaining unit 234 Note that here the screen for which the display state for determining whether there is an image signal input is managed can be a screen that includes infor mation needed to be known to the user 0048 Regarding such information information that should be reported to the user in accordance with the ending ofa function can be listed such as information indicating that a function has ended or information prompting a user to remove a device Screens which include information not necessarily needed to be known to the user such as a mere background screen a mer
3. a technology whose object is to perform an auto search and a video input terminal selection in a projection apparatus that has multiple video input terminals is disclosed In the projection appara tus according to Patent Document 1 an input key is included in a remote controller When the input key is pressed by short pressing an auto search is triggered and an input is automatically switched to the video input terminal that has an input signal On the other hand when the input key is pressed by long pressing signal names of the video input terminals are displayed one by one in sequence in a predefined period of time and the video input is switched to the video input ter minal whose signal name is displayed when the input key is released 0007 Inthe meantime in the above projection apparatus there may be a case where an alarm display screen related to the current projection is to be reported to a user Such a case includes for example a case where during a projection of a file in the USB storage an error occurs in the USB storage or the USB storage is removed At this time ifan auto detection function such as the auto search of Patent Document 1 is activated then there is a possibility of a problem in which the above alarm display screen cannot be displayed appropri ately 0008 For example if an error occurs in the USB storage or the USB storage is removed then as a response the USB storage is un mounted Even
4. at the beginning of the function And by making these operations switchable by the user setting the flexibility and the usability improve US 2014 0118619 Al 0089 Note that in the above description the storage input channel is mainly described but the same description can be applied to the network input channel Also in the above embodiments the existence and non existence of the image signal input is determined based on the connection state reported by the storage connection state management unit 244 and the display state of the message display screen retained by the display state retaining unit 234 However regarding a channel in which a function activated period from the beginning to the end of the function does not depend on the device connection state different determina tion criteria can be set 0090 For example regarding the network channel for which a file is obtained from the content management server 130 and projected the network connection state can be assumed as the device connection state and the network connection state is unstable in many cases Regarding this kind of channel by assuming that the device connection channel is always connected the determination ofthe exist ence and non existence of the signal can be configured to be performed solely based on the display state of the message display screen In this case even in the case where the mes sage display screen is closed and the state becomes
5. information terminal 120 and an image based on an obtained file Regarding the connection configuration between the projector 110 and the information terminal 120 a connection via a video interface 102 and connections via networks 104 106 and 108 such as a LAN can be listed 0027 The network connection can be further imple mented by a wired connection via a wired LAN 106 an infrastructure mode wireless connection via the wired LAN 106 and an access point 108 or a direct wireless connection via an ad hoc mode wireless LAN 104 Here the infrastruc ture mode or the ad hoc mode is one of the operation modes of IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 802 11 wireless LAN 0028 The information terminal 120 is an image providing unit for outputting an image to be projected to the projector 110 and for transmitting a file to be projected to the projector 110 The information terminal 120 can be configured to be a general purpose computer such as a personal computer a May 1 2014 workstation etc or a portable information terminal such as a tablet terminal a smart phone terminal a PDA Personal Digital Assistance etc The information terminal 120 oper ates under the control of an appropriate operating system such as Windows registered trademark UNIX registered trade mark LINUX registered trademark iOS registered trade mark Android registered trademark etc The information terminal 120 also includes
6. message display screen inthe case ofa normal device removing opera tion by the user the end of the function screen which reports that the function has ended is generated On the other hand in the case of the abnormal device removing operation or in the case of an occurrence of an error in the device an alarm screen which reports the alarm in addition to the end of the function is generated In step S205 through S207 the storage file projection unit 226 via the storage input signal detection unit 216 and the channel switching unit 204 causes the image projection unit 202 to project the generated message display screen 0061 In the present embodiment even in the case where the storage device is un mounted the signal input is not inactive right after the message display screen is projected In step S208 the storage file projection unit 226 is notified of an acknowledgement operation performed by the user for the message display screen regarding the end of the function or the alarm and in step S209 changes the display state of the message display screen to the display OFF In step S210 through S212 the storage file projection unit 226 via the storage input signal detection unit 216 and the channel switching unit 204 causes the image projection unit 202 to end the projection of the message display screen 0062 Inthe present embodiment after the storage device is un mounted further after the acknowledgement operation M
7. 24 The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments Note that in the following embodiments as an example of an image output system a projector 110 is used in the description 0025 FIG 1 is a drawing illustrating a connection con figuration 100 of the projector 110 of the present embodi ment The projector 110 shown in FIG 1 is an image output apparatus which projects an inputted image or an image gen erated from an obtained file onto a screen etc Regarding an image projection method it is not limited to a specific method and various appropriate methods can be used such as a liquid crystal method a CRT Cathode Ray Tube method a DLP Digital Light Processing method an LCOS Liquid Crystal On Silicon method etc The projector 110 also includes a network interface such as a NIC Network Inter face Card a wireless LAN Local Area Network adaptor etc and is configured to be capable of being connected to external apparatuses via a network The projector 110 further includes a video interface such as a HDMI a DVI a Display Port registered trademark a VGA terminal an RGB com posite a D terminal an S terminal etc and is configured to be capable of being connected to external apparatuses via the video interface 0026 The projector 110 shown in FIG 1 is connected to an external information terminal 120 via the interfaces described above and includes a function to project an image inputted from the
8. 242 monitors a network connection state for communicating with the content management server 130 as the image providing unit and reports the connection state to the server file projec tion unit 224 Regarding the network connection state to be managed it may be a connection state in the connection layer or a connection state in the IP layer The server connection state management unit 242 also performs a network connec tion establishing process and a disconnecting process 0043 The storage connection state management unit 244 monitors an interface connection state for communicating with the storage device as the image providing unit and reports the connection state to the storage file projection unit 226 The storage connection state management unit 244 also performs a storage device mounting process connection establishing process and an un mount process connection releasing process 0044 In the following the projection signal generation unit 220 will be further described in detail In the present embodiment each of the projection units 222 224 and 226 determines based on the state of the corresponding channel whether the image signal to be inputted to the following stage of the channel exists or not In FIG 2 regarding the detailed configuration of each of the projection units 222 224 and 226 the storage file projection unit 226 is described as a represen tative The storage file projection unit 226 includes more specifical
9. FROM THE INITIAL SCREEN IS REQUIRED for step S402 the process moves to step S403 In step S403 the storage file projection unit 226 causes all of the displayed message display screens to be display OFF and the process moves to step S404 0085 In step S404 the process of the storage file projec tion unit 226 moves to a step depending on the setting The setting is for determining when the channel is switched to the original channel whether to cause the device re connection operation to be required or not required The above determi nation can be made according to the type ofthe projection unit or it can be set in advance by the user 0086 In step S404 in the case where the device re con nection operation is required THE FOLLOWING RE CON NECTION OPERATION IS REQUIRED for step S404 the process moves to step S405 In step S405 the storage file projection unit 226 requests the storage connection state man agement unit 244 for an un mount of the storage device and the process ends in step S406 Here the input signal is caused to be inactive because the connection state is connection OFF due to the un mount and the states of all message display screens are display OFF On the other hand in step S404 in the case where the device re connection operation is not required THE FOLLOWING RE CONNECTION OPERATION IS NOT REQUIRED for step S404 the pro cess moves to step S406 and the process ends in step S406 0087 After al
10. TIVE regardless of the display state of the message display screen In step S303 the storage file projection unit 226 performs different processes depending on the connec tion state 0068 In step S303 in the case where the device is deter mined to be not connected NO for S303 the process moves US 2014 0118619 Al to step S316 In step S316 the storage file projection unit 226 generates a screen for reporting to a user that the storage device is not connected and projects the screen on the image projection unit 202 In step S317 the storage file projection unit 226 waits for a message acknowledgement operation or a device connection operation by the user 0069 FIG 7A is an example of a device not connected screen which should be projected in step S316 The device not connected screen shown in FIG 7A includes a message display image 302 and an acknowledgement button 304 which receives an explicit acknowledgement operation ofthe user In step S317 in the case where it is determined that there is a user operation in accordance with the user s operation of the acknowledgement button 304 or with the user s inserting of the storage device YES for step S317 the process moves back to S301 and the signal state is determined again 0070 On the other hand in step S303 in the case where it is determined that the device is connected YES for step S303 the process moves to step S304 In step S304 the storage file projecti
11. US 20140118619A1 a2 Patent Application Publication o Pub No US 2014 0118619 A1 as United States HAGIWARA et al 43 Pub Date May 1 2014 54 IMAGE OUTPUT SYSTEM IMAGE SIGNAL GENERATION APPARATUS AND RECORDING MEDIUM 71 Applicants Aritaka HAGIWARA Kanagawa JP Reiji Yukumoto Kanagawa JP Hidekuni Annaka Saitama JP Yoko Sugiura Kanagawa JP 72 Inventors Aritaka HAGIWARA Kanagawa JP Reiji Yukumoto Kanagawa JP Hidekuni Annaka Saitama JP Yoko Sugiura Kanagawa JP 21 Appl No 14 031 442 22 Filed Sep 19 2013 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Nov 1 2013 JB eme 2012 241821 DA i MM HEY b V iesip gr FUNCTION OPERATION nn Publication Classification 51 Int Cl HOAN 5 44 2006 01 52 U S Cl GDE HOAN 5 44 2013 01 USPC nnen 348 554 57 ABSTRACT An image output system includes plural channels from each of which an image signal is output a switching unit for switching the channel that outputs the image signal to an image output unit based on connection states of the plural channels an information display generation unit for generat ing the image signal of an information display screen related to the currently outputting channel and a display state storing unit for storing a display state related to the information display screen the display state including a display ON state and a display OFF state In a case where there is
12. a change in the connection state of the currently outputting channel when there is the information display screen whose display state is the display ON state the switching unit switches the channel after waiting for a predefined change in the display state related to the information display screen US 2014 0118619 A1 May 1 2014 Sheet 1 of 9 Patent Application Publication HUOML A ne T 3N Teer A b i e NI LO NOTIVIdO Z Mm T E ici Hasni rere iiNn 4 ONINIVI3H ALVIS AWS 1G US 2014 0118619 A1 no 3N35 N33498 Ifl ABYONNOE ee EL d bn Oe edn len i t i 3 i i 3 1 1 f i 1 t i i i i H i i 1 i t i i i e GT E TIA e DEESIE NOLLYN RELH j divis EIER E lime 5 mmm ii Inn seen NO ion LONI a Aus NDL BREE MOT AVIS NDIIOINNOD 3 LINT NOT Tanga OIS Mie E ADVYOLS NOL 3113 39vHOIS ERC gt T T vum ANNO GER E 3 i TIER TINA NOTISS 13d EEN ype erlag c WNOIS INANI ONIHOL INS N ae TG AS TE dck s Dee A j Ww G AUYONNOS TINA 1 P TINA GEEN i b NMOllodPONd he NDS IMANI L i 2 i EYRE gy se EE i i amp LINN p E SEI Gebo INSWABANWN EEN LINN NOLIVHSN3O LINO Wi 1722130 fid NOTIOJNNOO 191A30 L WNoS Nollo3PONd VNDIS INANI bo S ore Er
13. a network interface and a video interface corresponding to the configuration of the projector 110 0029 The projector 110 further include a function to obtain a file stored in an external content management server 130 and to project the file image The content management server 130 is an image providing unit for distributing a file to be projected to the projector 110 The content management server 130 is configured to be a general purpose computer apparatus such as a personal computer a workstation a blade server etc an information apparatus such as a multifunction apparatus and to include an FTP File Transfer Protocol function or a CMS Content Management System function The connection between the projector 110 and the content management server 130 can be implemented by the above wired or wireless network connection 0030 The projector 110 further includes an interface for connecting to an external storage such as a USB Universal Serial Bus storage an SD Secure Digital card a Compact Flash registered trademark etc The projector 110 includes a function for projecting an image ofa file stored in a storage 110a that is connected to the projector 110 0031 As described above the projector 110 which is in general capable of projecting images from various input sources selects a channel from the various input source chan nels and outputs an image based on the image signal from the channel In a projector of the prior
14. aimed in claim 4 wherein the switching unit determines the connection state of the channel again when the information display screen is changed to the display OFF state in response to the user s operational event or the internal event and stops switching the channel in a case where the connection state of the channel is a connection ON state 6 The image output system as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a connection management unit configured to manage the connection states of the channels and in a case where a predefined error occurs in the currently connected chan nel performs a process of releasing the connection with the image providing unit corresponding to the channel 7 The image output system as claimed in claim 2 wherein in response to a user s instruction to switch from the currently outputting channel to another channel all of the currently displaying information display screens are closed and the connection state with the image providing unit is either main tained or released 8 The image output system as claimed in claim 2 wherein regarding a channel of the plurality of the channels in which activation of a function does not depend on the connection state with the image providing unit the signal state of the image signal of the channel is kept active even in a case where there is a change in the display state related to the information display screen 9 An image signal generation appara
15. an explicit acknowledgement of the user 0077 In step S312 the process of the storage file projec tion unit 226 in the case where an error occurs moves to a corresponding step in accordance with the type ofthe error In step S312 in the case where it is determined that the error is predefined to require an un mount UN MOUNT RE QUIRED ERROR for step S312 the process moves to step 313 In step S313 the storage file projection unit 226 requests an un mount to the storage connection state manage ment unit 244 and the process moves to step S314 The storage connection state management unit 244 in response to a request made in accordance with a predefined error that occurs during the device connection performs the un mount ofthe device ofthe corresponding channel On the other hand in step S312 in the case where it is determined that an error does not occur that is predefined to require an un mount END OR UN MOUNT NOT REQUIRED ERROR the process moves to step S314 Regarding the error whether it requires an un mount or not can be determined by the pre defined table shown in the table 2 below TABLE 2 UN MOUNT NUMBER ERROR TYPE REQUIREMENT 1 PROJECTION NOT REQUIRED ERROR 2 INVALID DEVICE REQUIRED 0078 Inthe above table 2 a minor error such as a projec tion error can be set to be un mount not required In this way by determining whether an un mount is required or not when an error occurs in the case where the error allow
16. an image providing unit for providing an image that is output to an image output unit and generating the image signal of the image a switching step of switching the channel that outputs the image signal to the image output unit based on connec tion states of a plurality of channels from each of which the image signal is output an information display generation step of generating an information display screen related to the currently out putting channel and a display state storing step of storing a display state related to the information display screen the display state including a display ON state and a display OFF state wherein in a case where there is a change in the connection state of the currently outputting channel when there is the information display screen whose dis play state is the display ON state the switching step includes a step of switching the channel after waiting for a predefined change in the display state related to the information display screen
17. art an input coordinated channel switching function is included in which signal con ditions of the channels are always monitored and by detect ing a signal condition change the input channel is switched to a channel on which a signal is detected 0032 According to the above input coordinated channel switching function for example in a function for projecting a file stored in a USB storage the input channel can be switched in accordance with an inserting operation or a removing operation of the USB storage As a result of an inserting operation the signal state is determined to be active and the channel is selected and as a result of a removing operation the signal state is determined to be non active and the input channel is switched to another channel 0033 However in a system where an information display screen such as an alarm display screen etc is displayed for each channel if the above input coordinated channel switch ing function is activated there is a possibility that a following problem could occur For example when an error occurs in the USB storage during the projection there may be a case where the USB storage is un mounted in accordance with the occurrence of the error In this case the input channel may be switched from the channel corresponding to the USB storage to another channel on which a signal is detected and the alarm display screen that is related to the error of the USB storage and should
18. ay 1 2014 for the message display screen is detected the signal input is caused to be inactive In step S213 and step S214 the storage file projection unit 226 via the storage input signal detection unit 216 reports to the channel switching unit 204 that the signal input ofthe present storage input channel is inactive In step S215 the channel switching unit 204 recognizes that the signal of the storage input channel is inactive and switches the input signal channel in accordance with the states of the multiple channels Here the description will be continued assuming that the signal input channel is switched to another channel in which an input signal is detected 0063 In step S216 the channel switching unit 204 reports to the storage input signal detection unit 216 that the present channel is disabled for projection In step S217 the storage input signal detection unit 216 reports to the storage file projection unit 226 that the present channel is inactive 0064 In the above referring to FIG 3 and FIG 4 func tions of the function units of the projector 110 have been described in the flow from a step of installing the storage device to steps of selecting a file from a file list performing a file projection and ending the function In the following referring to FIG 5 through FIG 8 functions and operations ofthe storage file projection unit 226 will be further described in detail 0065 FIG 5 is a flowchart illustrating a
19. be reported to the user is not displayed 0034 In the present embodiment a configuration is included in which in the case where there is a change of a channel state which triggers the channel switching in the above input coordinated channel switching function when a predefined message display screen is to be outputted the US 2014 0118619 Al switching is performed after waiting for a message display acknowledgement operation etc by the user 0035 In the following referring to FIG 2 through FIG 8 the input coordinated channel switching function of the pro jector 110 according to the present embodiment is described FIG 2 shows a functional block diagram 200 related to an input coordinated channel switching function in the projector 110 of the present embodiment In the functional block dia gram 200 functional units and processes to be described later are implemented by hardware such as a processor a circuit block etc included in the projector 110 0036 The functional block diagram 200 shown in FIG 2 includes an image projection unit 202 a channel switching unit 204 an input signal detection unit 210 a projection signal generation unit 220 and a device connection state man agement unit 240 The image projection unit 202 is an image output unit for projecting an image based on an image signal of a channel which is determined by the channel switching unit 204 The channel switching unit 204 is a unit configured to dete
20. dgement operation is performed Also the pro cess is configured to move to step S301 after waiting for the acknowledgement operation in step S314 Therefore it is preferably avoided that the signal is caused to be non active during the projection of the message display screen and that the channel is switched to a different channel due to the above input coordinated channel switching function After the un mount when the user s acknowledgement operation is per formed and the state of the message display screen is caused to be display OFF in the following step S301 the signal is determined to be non active based on table 1 0081 Also in the above input coordinated channel switching function even in the case where the device is un mounted by mounting the device again before the acknowledgement operation the input signal is not caused to be inactive and the projection function can be used continu ously The reason is that in response to the user operation event the channel state is determined again at a timing when the displayed information display screen is caused to be dis play OFF and in the case where the channel is in the con nected state at the timing the channel switching is not per formed This kind of feature is useful in the case where it is required to change the storage device during the projection 0082 In the following referring to FIG 6 a process in a case where a user s manual channel switching is perform
21. display OFF the state of the image signal of the channel is kept active By this an unintentional channel switching probabil ity due to the input coordinated channel switching function can be reduced 0091 As described above according to the present embodiments an image output system an image signal gen eration apparatus and a recording medium that stores a pro gram for switching an image outputting channel based on the state of the multiple channels can be provided In the image output system the channel switching can be performed after appropriately displaying information related to the currently displaying channel 0092 Preferably the channel switching can be performed after waiting for a user s acknowledgement operation for a display message Furthermore while an input coordinated channel switching function is activated in the case where a message display screen in accordance with an end of a func tion is to be projected the channel can be switched after sufficiently showing the message display screen to the user Therefore such a situation can be avoided in which the image outputting channel is switched to another channel before the message display screen that should be seen by the user is projected 0093 Note that in the above description as examples of the image output system a projector 110 a system in which a projector 110 and an information terminal 120 are com bined and a system in which a projector 110 an
22. e screen decoration element a mere list of choices screen etc can be excluded from the screens for which the determination should be made Regarding which screen should be included for determining whether there is an image signal input 1t may be set by a manufacturer as a part of product specifications or may be set by an admin istrator of the user side Note that in the following description an alarm screen responding to an error event of the storage is described as an example 0049 As is shown in a dotted line rectangle 250 in FIG 2 a switching unit according to the present embodiment which switches a channel based on states of the multiple channels is configured to include the channel switching unit 204 the input signal detection units 212 through 216 and projection units 222 through 226 0050 In an embodiment shown in FIG 2 the storage file projection unit 226 determines whether there is an image signal input based on the connection state from the storage connection state management unit 244 and the display state of the alarm display screen Then the channel switching unit 204 switches the channel in accordance with whether there is an image signal input or not in each of the channels By this kind of operation channel switching in accordance with the May 1 2014 connection state and the display state of the alarm screen can be implemented Note that in the following description as an example a storage input channel s
23. ec pner n SETTING Be M Uy esp ING THE FUNCTION FROM THE INITIAL SCREEN IS REQUIRED ct OSE ALL SCREENS AGS i i THE FOLLOWING i RE CONNECTION m c SADA OPERATION 1S Qe 5 NOT REQUIRED 7 z EE i SETTING UM 1 ie Ga i sees THE FOLLOWING RE CONNECTION OPERATION iS REQUIRED 405 UN MOUNT Patent Application Publication May 1 2014 Sheet 7 of 9 FIG 7A 300 REPORT USB MEMORY IS NOT INSERTED OR CANNOT BE RECOGNIZED FIG 7B REPORT USB MEMORY IS REMOVED al US 2014 0118619 A1 US 2014 0118619 A1 May 1 2014 Sheet 8 of 9 Patent Application Publication E 3 idd NOLLVLNSSSad SAOWSY idd 1NOILVINSSqHd E DIA ZO3QIA E DIANA LO3SOIA S Dd LaoviWi d Dd BAAN O BdP G rt Ok L 5 ood iiNaWnoodc B 3DIAJO i Dar yaayn a 96 f Dd LIDIA O MERRIE Year IONAL O calgon age adios c2 NT M A Z adioa va Ude OL CA E e egene vet gt Apodo kk HSA PRY GOjdok BEE AAN EES SS3ud NY d3lodPoHd 38 OL 314 V 103738 _NOUOAPOHd VIGAN A a Oct ve Old Patent Application Publication May 1 2014 Sheet 9 of 9 US 2014 0118619 Al FIG 8B 340 iy i US 2014 0118619 Al IMAGE OUTPUT SYSTEM IMAGE SIGNAL GENERATION APPARATUS AND RECORDING MEDIUM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0001 1 Field of the Invention 0002 The disclosures herein generally relate to an image output system an image signal gen
24. ed is described The process shown in FIG 6 starts from step S400 in response to the activation of the storage file projection unit 226 In step S401 the storage file projection unit 226 deter mines whether the user s explicit switching operation is detected In the case where the user s explicit channel switch ing operation is not detected NO for step S401 the process continuously loops at step S401 On the other hand in the case where the user s explicit channel switching operation is detected YES for step S401 the process moves to step S402 0083 In step S402 the process of the storage file projec tion unit 226 moves to a step in accordance with a setting The setting is for determining when the channel is re switched to the original channel after it is switched to a different channel by the user s explicit instruction whether to maintain the state before the re switching or to re start the function from May 1 2014 the initial screen The above determination can be made according to the type of the projection unit or it can be set in advance by the user 0084 Tn step S402 in the case where the maintaining the state before the re switching is selected MAINTAIN THE STATE BEFORE THE RE SWITCHING for step S402 the process moves to step S406 and the process ends On the other hand in step S402 in the case where it is selected that the re starting the function from the initial screen is required RE STARTING THE FUNCTION
25. eration apparatus and a recording medium To be more in detail the disclosures herein relate to an image output system an image signal generation apparatus and a recording medium that stores a program for outputting images by switching inputs of mul tiple channels 0003 2 Description of the Related Art 0004 In recent years projectors have made progress in terms of variety of available input sources For example some projectors are compatible with various video interfaces such as VGA Video Graphics Array HDMI High Definition Multimedia Interface DVI Digital Visual Interface and DisplayPort registered trademark Also some projectors are capable of projecting an image via a network using a network connection by a wired line or a wireless LAN or are capable of projecting an image from a file stored in a USB Universal Serial Bus storage 0005 As the above progress is made in terms of the variety of available input sources it has become difficult for a user to keep track of which input source is currently being used and it has become cumbersome for a user to change channels In order to save this kind of effort some related art projectors are provided with the function to search for a channel that has an input signal and to switch the input source to the channel that has the input signal By this it becomes easy to select a source that is outputting signals and to project images 0006 For example in Patent Document 1
26. ge Verilog HDL etc for generating the circuit con figuration data 0095 Further the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and various variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention 0096 The present application is based on and claims the benefit of priority of Japanese Priority Application No 2012 241821 filed on Nov 1 2012 with the Japanese Patent Office the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by ref erence What is claimed is 1 An image output system comprising a plurality of channels from each of which an image signal is output a switching unit configured to switch the channel that out puts the image signal to an image output unit based on connection states of the plurality of the channels an information display generation unit configured to gen erate an information display screen related to a currently outputting channel and a display state storing unit configured to store a display state related to the information display screen the dis play state including a display ON state and a display OFF state wherein in a case where there is a change in the connection state of the currently outputting channel when there is the information display screen whose dis play state is the display ON state the switching unit switches the channel after waiting for a predefined change in the display state related to the infor
27. he channel switching unit 204 reports to the storage input signal detection unit 216 that this channel is enabled for projection In step S107 the storage input signal detection unit 216 reports to the storage file projection unit 226 that this channel is active Here a projection unit that can request the image projection unit 202 for the image pro jection is limited to such a projection unit that corresponds to an active channel Also the channel switching unit 204 after switching the input signal channel in step 108 causes the image projection unit 202 to project a message for notifying a user that the input signal channel is switched US 2014 0118619 Al 0057 In step S109 the storage file projection unit 226 upon receiving an activation report generates a list display screen that shows a list of files in the storage In step S110 through step S112 the storage file projection unit 226 causes the image projection unit 202 to project the generated list display screen via the storage input signal detection unit 216 and the channel switching unit 204 0058 In step S113 the storage file projection unit 226 receives notification of a certain file selection operation per formed by the user and in step S114 reads the data of the selected file from the storage device via the storage connec tion management unit 244 In step S115 the storage file projection unit 226 decodes the read file and generates an image In step S116 through
28. if there is an error display screen regarding an input signal that should be reported to the user the input signal is determined to exist by the auto search only when there really exists the input signal Therefore as the USB storage is un mounted it is determined that the input May 1 2014 signal does not exist in the channel for which the error display screen should be displayed and the input channel is switched to another channel in which the input signal is determined to exist As a result the alarm display screen related to an error in the USB storage or to the removing of the USB storage is not reported to the user and there is a possibility that the error is not noticed by the user and left unresolved 0009 Patent Document 1 Japanese Patent Application Publication No 2007 327987 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0010 It is a general object of at least one embodiment of the present invention to provide an image output system an image signal generation apparatus and a recording medium that stores a program that substantially obviate one or more problems caused by the limitations and disadvantages of the related art 0011 In one embodiment in an image output system in which an input channel is switched according to states of multiple channels the channel switching is performed after information related to the currently outputting channel is displayed appropriately 0012 An image output system according to the present emb
29. l display screens are caused to be display OFF in step S403 in the case where the process moves to step S406 from step S404 the display states of the message display screens are display OFF the device connection state remains connection ON state and the signal remains active Therefore after the input channel is switched to another channel in the case where the input channel is switched back to the storage input channel the function can be used from the initial screen Note that the reason why all of the message display screens are caused to be display OFF is as follows if some display screens remain in display ON state then when the input channel is switched back to the storage input channel in the case where the display acknowl edgement operation is performed the input channel is switched again to another channel The above reason is for avoiding this situation 0088 Also after all display screens are caused to be dis play OFF in step S403 in the case where the process moves to step S405 from step S404 the display states ofthe message display screens are caused to be display OFF the device connection state becomes connection OFF state and the signal is caused to be inactive By this in response to the user s explicit switching instruction the storage file projec tion function can be ended unfailingly This configuration is especially useful in the case where an authentication is required
30. len Ze EE DEE A iiem En O annon An du eme A warten Nn NOLLOSCONG INANSBWANA 31015 SSC TSNNVHO ina sas did ns Mules E SE RE EE EE EE Ze pp 208 402 SIE 7868 Lyng d LIND NOULOSC Oud SNIHOLIMS t H H H LNA NO 103130 1VNDISI EH US 2014 0118619 A1 May 1 2014 Sheet 5 of 9 Patent Application Publication EEE A NED a NEE N SIEH 04035 YH3 SI BEER EEES 10 SOVSSUN GO 3808 RO O nn CIL MIOS MONIY a Figs re Gg i i 7 gt s Gg aan j Sen LoN INnOn Nn 1 O L A ee MN a a HOUNS CU NORTON UE ee e aen RR D EE NUN AAA ts 1 i i NOUO Oud NIGEL rte LNOLOSF Odd Nou ae tte AVIHSIQSDYSSSL ES pri ME cene EE SE da Aa uo N gg Beer EECH S NOUDaP Hd o Logs gt AE MOLLT ouad NOLLVHSdO HOLD OUT REN 2808S j SJA eme qo ey Wane BELL veneni x marre Zen Br Ae BEE ae nono Wages MI on nes 1 Sn isti En GER VOR MS Aen i iiie le ee SS wet 7 538 01 Tu 3804 LIT enge VRO Dd NIE SIA TTS OLI INNOO LN 1301490 SHE E ges en rn IDO MIT e MT emer DN LOES e 3ivis JyNOI S ENDE CNN Ce dU Er Bn AA gene iedeen Patent Application Publication May 1 2014 Sheet 6 of 9 US 2014 0118619 Al FIG 6 ACTIVATION REPORT Y39400 p ad NS MAL we p Ss 4 D i D NO RERS SWITCHING CU OPERATION _ ge e ad Pr eana an Ives MAINTA P E ius qe
31. ly a decode process unit 228 a signal state determi nation unit 230 a UI User Interface screen generation unit 232 and a display state retaining unit 234 0045 The decode process unit 228 performs a file decod ing process based on the format of the obtained file and generates an image signal of a projection image Files to be handled in terms of file formats can include but are not limited to image files of JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group or GIF video files of MPEG Moving Picture Experts US 2014 0118619 Al Group or AVI Audio Video Interleave and document files ofpresentation or word processor Forexample ifitisa JPEG file it is decoded into an RGB image The Ul screen genera tion unit 232 generates regarding the corresponding storage input channel image signals for menu screens such as a file list display screen etc and for various kinds of internally generated information display screens such as an alarm screen a setting screen etc 0046 The display state retaining unit 234 is a unit that retains a display state value of the above various kinds of information display screens As the display states display ON and display OFF can be listed and in general the display state value is retained for each of the screens For example the display state of a screen is responding to an occurrence of an event that requires a screen display such as an error event switched to the display ON state and
32. mation display screen 2 The image output system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an image generation unit configured to communicate with an image providing unit for providing an image that is outputto the image output unit and to generate the image signal ofthe image wherein the switching unit includes asignal state determination unit for determining a signal state of whether the image signal of the channel is active or inactive based on the connection state with the image providing unit corresponding to the channel and the display state related to the information display screen and a channel switching unit for switching the channel from which the image signal is output to the image output unit based on the signal states ofthe image signals of the plurality of the channels 3 The image output system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the information display screen is displayed independently for each of the plurality of the channels and the switching unit keeps monitoring the connection states ofthe plurality ofthe channels while an input coordinated switching function is activated US 2014 0118619 Al 4 The image output system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the predefined change in the display state related to the infor mation display screen is a change from the display ON state to the display OFF state in response to a user s opera tional event or an internal event 5 The image output system as cl
33. odiment includes a plurality of channels from each of which an image signal is output and a switching unit config ured to switch the channel that outputs the image signal to an image output unit based on the states of the plurality of the channels The image output system further includes an infor mation display generation unit configured to generate the image signal of an information display screen related to the currently outputting channel and a display state retaining unit configured to retain a state related to the information display screen In the image output system the switching unit in the case where there is a change of a channel state which triggers the switching when there is an output of the information display screen the channel is switched after waiting for a predefined change of the state related to the information dis play screen 0013 According to the above configuration in the image output system in which the image outputting channel is switched based on states of the plurality of the channels the channel changing is performed after the information related to the currently outputting channel is appropriately displayed BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0014 Other objects and further features of embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings 0015 FIG 1 is a drawing illustrating a connection con figuration of a projector of a pre
34. on operation is performed then in step S307 the storage file projection unit 226 reads the selected file gener ates a projection image by a decoding process and starts the projection onto the image projection unit 202 FIG 8B is an example of a file projection screen 340 generated by the storage file projection unit 226 0073 In step S308 the process moves to a corresponding step in accordance with whether after the start of the file projection the file projection is ended normally by receiving an ending instruction or by reaching the last picture of a slide show or the last frame of a moving picture or the file projec tion is aborted by an error during the projection In the case where the file projection is ended by for example an opera tionon a menu 342 ofthe projection screen 340 END for step 308 the process moves to step S309 In step S309 the storage file projection unit 226 displays a screen reporting the end of the projection of the selected file Then the process returns to step S305 and the storage file projection unit 226 displays the file list display screen again May 1 2014 0074 Returning to step S306 in step S306 in the case where an error occurs during the projection operation ER ROR IN OPERATION for step S306 the process moves to step S310 In step S310 the storage file projection unit 226 displays a screen reporting an error ofthe file projection Then the process returns to step S305 and the sto
35. on unit 226 determines whether it is pos sible to read data In the case where it is determined that it is possible to read data YES for step S304 the process moves to step S305 In step S305 the storage file projection unit 226 obtains a list of files from the storage device generates a file list display screen and projects it on the image projection unit 202 0071 FIG 8A is an example of the file list display screen 320 that the storage file projection unit 226 generates The file list display screen 320 includes a message display 322 that prompts a file selection operation a text box 324 that displays the current path and a layer display area 326 where folders and files in the current layer are listed The file list display screen 320 further includes a layer moving button 328 for moving to an upper layer and an end of function button 330 for instructing to remove the device In an example shown in FIG 8A a FOLDER 1 is selected by a cursor 0072 In step S306 the process moves to a corresponding step in accordance with the type of operation in the file list display screen In the case where an operation of projection instruction of a selected file PROJECTION OPERATION for step S306 is performed the process moves to step S307 This operation of the projection instruction may include for example an operation of pressing an OK key included in the projector 110 while a certain file is selected by the cursor If the projecti
36. option and an information terminal 120 are combined have been described However the image output system is not limited to a system in which an image is projected on a screen It can be any apparatus or system that includes an image output func tion such as a display a television set a digital photo frame a digital camera a video camera etc 0094 Note that the functional units described above can beimplemented by computer executable programs written in legacy programming languages such as assembly language C C C Java registered trade mark etc or other object oriented programming languages These programs can be stored in a machine readable recording medium such as a ROM an EEPROM an EPROM a flash memory a flexible disk a CD ROM a CD RW a DVD ROM a DVD RAM a May 1 2014 DVD RW a blue ray disk an SD card an MO etc or can be distributed through telecommunication lines Also a part of or all of the above functional units can be implemented on a programmable device PD such as a Field Programmable Gate Array FPGA etc oronan ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit And in the case where the above func tional units are implemented on the PD a circuit configura tion data bit stream data to be downloaded onto the PD can be distributed by a recording medium in which data is written in HDL Hardware Description Language VHDL VHSIC Very High Speed Integrated Circuits Hardware Description langua
37. process related to the input coordinated channel switching function performed by the storage file projection unit 226 in the projector 110 of the present embodiment FIG 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process related to a user s manual channel switching per formed by the storage file projection unit 226 in the projector 110 of the present embodiment FIGS 7A 7B 8A and 8B are drawings illustrating examples of various screens generated by the storage file projection unit 226 0066 A process shown in FIG 5 starts from step 300 in response to for example the start up of the projector 110 In step S301 the storage file projection unit 226 obtains its state of connection with the storage device and the display state of the determination target message display screen In step 301 the storage file projection unit 226 determines the state of a signal of the storage input channel based on the connec tion state and the display state The relationships among the connection state the display state and the corresponding sig nal state are shown in the following table 1 TABLE 1 INPUT DISPLAY STATE CONNECTION OF MESSAGE STATE WITH OUTPUT NUMBER SCREEN DEVICE SIGNAL STATE 1 OFF OFF NO INACTIVE 2 ON YES ACTIVE 3 ON OFF YES ACTIVE 4 ON YES ACTIVE 0067 Accordingly in the sequence chart shown in FIG 3 in step S102 in the case where the mounting of the storage device is reported the signal state is determined to be YES AC
38. put coordinated channel switching function will be described in detail Note that in FIG 3 and FIG 4 the flow is described from a step of installing the storage device to steps of selecting a file to be projected from a file list performing a file projection and ending the function 0054 FIG 3 is a sequence chart illustrating an input coordinated channel switching process from storage instal lation to file projection performed by the projector 110 of the present embodiment The process shown in FIG 3 starts from step S101 and the storage connection state management unit 244 detects the device connection in response to the physical installation of the storage device In step 102 the storage connection state management unit 244 reports to the storage file projection unit 226 that the storage device is mounted that is that the state has become connection ON 0055 In step S103 and step S104 the storage file projec tion unit 226 reports to the channel switching unit 204 via the storage input signal detection unit 216 that there is a signal input in the storage input channel In step S105 the channel switching unit 204 recognizes that a signal is detected in the storage input channel and switches an input signal channel in accordance with the states of the multiple channels Here the flow will be described assuming that the input signal channel is switched to the newly detected storage input channel 0056 Instep S106 t
39. rage file projection unit 226 displays the file list display screen again 0075 On the other hand in step S306 in the case where an end of function operation is performed by an operation on an end of function button 330 in the file list display screen 320 shown in FIG SA END OF FUNCTION OPERATION for step S306 the process moves to step S311 The process also moves to step S311 in the case where an error in reading the device occurs during the projection in step S308 ERROR for step S308 Furthermore the process also moves to step S311 in the case where it is determined that there is an error in reading the device in step S304 NO for step S304 0076 In step S311 the storage file projection unit 226 projects a message display screen in accordance with the step route before reaching step S311 In the case where the end of function operation is performed in step S306 the storage file projection unit 226 displays an end of function screen In the case where it is determined that there is an error in reading the device and in the case where it is determined that an error occurs in step S308 the storage file projection unit 226 dis plays an alarm screen reporting an alarm together with the end of function FIG 7B is an example of the alarm screen 310 projected in step S311 The alarm screen 310 shown in FIG 7B includes a message display 312 that reports that the storage device is removed and an acknowledge button 314 that receives
40. rities are dynamically set in the order of signal detection timing in such a way that the highest priority is set for the channel on which a signal is detected most recently 0038 The input signal detection unit 210 is a unit for detecting existence or non existence of an input signal ofeach of the channels and includes a configuration in accordance with the channels included in the projector 110 Regarding the channels in an embodiment shown in FIG 2 though embodiments are not limited to this there exist an RGB input channel corresponding to a video interface a network input channel corresponding to a network connection and a storage input channel corresponding to an external storage The input signal detection 210 is configured to include in accordance with the above channel configuration an RGB input signal detection unit 212 a network input signal detection unit 214 and a storage input signal detection unit 216 0039 The projection signal generation unit 220 is an image signal generation unit which generates an image signal of an image generated from a file read from the outside or of an internally created image including a menu screen and an May 1 2014 alarm screen and outputs the image signal to the input signal detection unit 210 The projection signal generation unit 220 is configured to include corresponding to the above channel configuration the same as the input signal detection unit 210 an RGB image projection uni
41. rmine a channel from multiple channels included in the projector 110 for outputting an image signal to the image projection unit 202 based on a state of the image signal of each of the channels and to output the image signal to the image projection unit 202 Note that in the present embodi ment itis assumed that the image projection unit 202 projects an image of a single channel but in other embodiments it may be assumed that a screen is divided and images oftwo or more channels are projected on the screen 0037 Regarding the channel selection method in the embodiments there are a method in which an explicit switched to channel instruction is received from a user and a method in which the channel that has a signal is determined by the above input coordinated channel switching function based on states of input signals of the channels The channel switching unit 204 while the input coordinated channel switching function is activated always monitors the states of the multiple channels and detects changes of the channel states Note that regarding the channel selection method in the case of detecting multiple channels that have a signal there is a method in which priorities are set for the channels and a channel that has a signal and has the highest priority is selected Regarding a priority setting method in this case there may be a method in which priorities are statically set in advance for the multiple channels or a method in which prio
42. s a subse US 2014 0118619 Al quent projection the user can continue the file projection after the message acknowledgement operation In the case where a serious error occurs such as in the case where it is detected that the device cannot be read the un mount is performed even if the device is in the connected state Therefore an infinite loop ofa display ON state and a display OFF state of the message can be avoided in which after the message display screen is removed when the device is accessed again the error message is displayed again 0079 Instep S314 the user s acknowledgement operation for the message display screen displayed in step S311 is awaited In step S314 the process is continuously looped while the acknowledgement operation is not received NO for step S314 When the acknowledgement operation is received YES for step S314 the process moves to step S315 In step 315 the storage file projection unit 226 changes the state of the message display screen displayed in step S311 to display OFF the process moves back to step S301 and the state determination is performed again 0080 In step S301 whether a signal exists or not is deter mined based on the relationship shown in table 1 Therefore in the sequence chart of FIG 4 in step S204 even in the case where the un mount of the storage device is reported the state of the message display screen is the display ON state until the acknowle
43. sent embodiment 0016 FIG 2 is a functional block diagram related to an input coordinated channel switching function in the projector of the present embodiment 0017 FIG 3 is a sequence chart illustrating an input coordinated channel switching process from storage instal lation to file projection performed by the projector of the present embodiment 0018 FIG 4 is a sequence chart illustrating an input coordinated channel switching process to the end of the function based on a removing of a storage or a drawing out error of a storage performed by the projector of the present embodiment US 2014 0118619 Al 0019 FIG 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process related to the input coordinated channel switching function performed by a storage file projection unit in the projector of the present embodiment 0020 FIG 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process related to a user s manual channel switching performed by the storage file projection unit in the projector of the present embodi ment 0021 FIGS 7A and 7B are drawings illustrating examples of various screens generated by the storage file projection unit 1 2 0022 FIGS 8A and 8B are drawings illustrating examples of various screens generated by the storage file projection unit 2 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 0023 Inthe following embodiments of the present inven tion will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings 00
44. step S118 the storage file pro jection unit 226 via the storage input signal detection unit 216 and the channel switching unit 204 causes the image projection unit 202 to project the image generated based on the read file 0059 FIG 4 is a sequence chart illustrating the input coordinated channel switching process to the end of the function based on a removing of the storage or a drawing out error of the storage performed by the projector 110 of the present embodiment The process shown in FIG 4 in the case where the removing of the storage device is performed based on the user instruction starts from step S201 In step S201 the storage file projection unit 226 is notified of a user opera tion instructing to remove the device and in step S202 causes the storage connection state management unit 244 to un mount the device and moves to step S203 On the other hand in the case where instead of the normal device removing based on the user instruction the abnormal device removing is performed or in the case where there occurs an error in the device the process starts from step S203 0060 In step S203 the storage connection state manage ment unit 244 reports to the storage file projection unit 226 that the storage device has been un mounted that is the state has become connection OFF In step S204 the storage file projection unit 226 generates a message display screen for reporting the end of the function Regarding the
45. t 222 a server file projection unit 224 and a storage file projection unit 226 0040 The RGB image projection unit 222 outputs an RGB image signal of a personal computer etc The server file projection unit 224 communicates with the content manage ment server 130 on the network 106 reads a file stored in the content management server 130 performs a necessary decod ing process and generates and outputs an image signal The storage file projection unit 226 communicates with the exter nal storage connected to the projector 110 reads a file stored in this storage performs a necessary decoding process and generates and outputs an image signal 0041 The device connection state management unit 240 in accordance with the channel configuration manages the states of connections with image providing units that provide projection images and reports the connection states to the projection signal generation unit 220 In the embodiment shown in FIG 2 a server connection state management unit 242 is included in accordance with the server file projection unit 224 and a storage connection state management unit 244 is included in accordance with the storage file projection unit 226 The server connection state management unit 242 and the storage connection state management unit 244 are included for communicating with devices of external image providing units and generating images to be projected 0042 The server connection state management unit
46. tus for generating an image signal the image signal generation apparatus compris ing an image generation unit configured to communicate with an image providing unit for providing an image that is output to an image output unit and to generate the image signal of the image a switching unit configured to switch the channel that out puts the image signal to the image output unit based on May 1 2014 connection states of a plurality of channels from each of which the image signal is output an information display generation unit configured to gen erate an information display screen related to the cur rently outputting channel and a display state storing unit configured to store a display state related to the information display screen the dis play state including a display ON state anda display OFF state wherein in a case where there is a change in the connection state of the currently outputting channel when there is the information display screen whose dis play state is the display ON state the switching unit switches the channel after waiting for a predefined change in the display state related to the information display screen 10 A non transitory computer readable recording medium in which a program for causing a computer to execute an image signal generation method for generating an image sig nal is stored the image signal generation method comprising an image generation step of communicating with
47. uch as a USB storage is mainly described but the present embodiment can be applied to a network input channel in the same way 0051 Note that in FIG 2 it is described that function units 202 204 210 220 and 240 are included in a single apparatus the projector 110 but an embodiment is not excluded in which function units are distributed and implemented in mul tiple apparatuses In a specific embodiment as indicated by boundary 1 in FIG 2 the RGB image projection unit 222 may be implemented in an information terminal such as a personal computer 0052 Also in other embodiment as indicated by bound ary 2 in FIG 2 the server file projection unit 224 the server connection state management 242 the storage file projection 226 and the storage connection management unit 244 can be implemented in an optional module In this embodiment by additionally installing the option in the projector 110 the channels included in the projector 110 are enhanced Also not shown in the figure the server file projection unit 224 and the server connection state management unit 242 and the storage file projection unit 226 and the storage connection state management unit 244 may be separately implemented in separate option modules Note that the above option modules are configured to be included in the image signal generation apparatus according to the present embodiment 0053 In the following referring to FIG 3 and FIG 4 the in
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search