Abstract:
A TV has a TV processor and a display presenting a map showing the topology of the home network of which the TV is a part. A user can manipulate the user input device to navigate around the map and cause content to be transmitted from a source component shown in the map to a sink component shown on the map. The map can change the appearance of component icons and/or paths between icons to provide visible indication of advantageous component and/or path selection for executing a user-desired task. Also, map information can be uploaded to an Internet server that can respond by sending back information pertaining to components represented on the map.

Description:
I. FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to TV-centric home entertainments systems. 
       II. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    As home networks proliferate and improve, they grow more complex with the addition of new devices. For example, a home network may be centered on a TV that can receive information not only from a cable modem and satellite dish but also from digital video recorders (DVRs), digital video disk (DVD) players, and even an in-home computer and the Internet. As understood herein, even technical users can be daunted by visualizing and understanding network participation and connectivity, let alone undertake initial connections of new devices to the networks typically accompanied by authentication and handshaking protocols, updating devices with new software, etc. With these recognitions in mind, the invention herein is provided. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    A TV with a TV processor and a display can communicate with a user input device. The processor causes a map to be presented in the display showing a network including the TV and at least one other network component. The map also shows communication paths between components. A user can manipulate the user input device to navigate around the map and cause content to be transmitted from a source component shown in the map to a sink component shown on the map. 
         [0004]    In some embodiments the map changes the appearance of a component icon and/or path between icons to provide visible indication of advantageous component and/or path selection for executing a user-desired task. In some embodiments a modem may be connected to the TV processor and to the Internet, with the TV processor uploading map information to a server on the Internet and receiving back information pertaining to components represented on the map. The TV processor, upon initial energization by a user, can, if desired, automatically search for network connections and execute follow-on action accordingly. 
         [0005]    In non-limiting implementations the network can include audio-video components and non-audio-video components such as printers and scanners, and the map displays icons indicating audio-video components and icons indicating non-audio-video components, potentially in different colors. Or, the non-audio-video components can be omitted from the map. The map can change the appearance of at least one component icon and/or path between icons to provide visible indication of whether a component is energized. 
         [0006]    In another aspect, a TV-centric system includes a TV with a TV processor and a display, and a user input device communicates with the processor. The processor causes a map to be presented in the display showing a network including the TV and at least one other network component, as well as a communication path therebetween. The map changes the appearance of a component icon and/or path between icons to provide visible indication of advantageous component and/or path selection for executing a user-desired task. 
         [0007]    In yet another aspect, a TV-centric system includes a TV with a TV processor and a display, and a user input device communicates with the processor. A modem is connected to the TV processor and to the Internet, so that the TV processor can upload network map information to a server on the Internet and receive back information pertaining to components represented on the map. 
         [0008]    The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which: 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a non-limiting TV-centric system in accordance with the invention; 
           [0010]      FIGS. 2-4  are screen shots showing non-limiting network maps that can be displayed on the TV; and 
           [0011]      FIGS. 5-8  are flow charts of non-limiting logic that can be undertaken by the TV processor. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0012]    Referring initially to  FIG. 1 , a system is shown, generally designated  10 , which includes a TV housing  12  holding TV components including a TV display  14 , a TV tuner  16 , and a TV processor  18 . The TV tuner  16  may receive input from a set-top box (STB)  20  that, as indicated in  FIG. 1 , can be part of the housing  12  or alternatively can be in a housing separate from the housing  12 . In any case, the STB  20  receives TV signals from one or more sources  22  such as but not limited to satellite receivers, cable system head ends, broadcast receiver antennae, etc. Depending on the nature of the signal, it may be sent directly to the display  14  from the tuner  16  or sent first through the processor  18  for subsequent display. It is to be understood that the STB  20  can communicate with the TV not only through the tuner  16  but also via i-link, HDMI, RF including WiFi, WiMedia, and 60 GHz, Ethernet connection, and other communication forms. 
         [0013]    The non-limiting embodiment shown in  FIG. 1  illustrates that the present TV can be connected to a plurality of external systems and networks, it being understood that in some implementations not all the components shown in  FIG. 1  need be used. In essence  FIG. 1  shows a comprehensive TV-centric system for completeness. 
         [0014]    In one embodiment, the TV processor  18  may communicate with a digital living network association (DLNA) system  24 . Also connected to the DLNA system  24  can be various components including but not limited to a disk player such as a DVD player  26  or Blu-Ray disk player and a personal video recorder (PVR)  28 . Information including multimedia streams such as TV programs and movies can be exchanged between the TV processor  18  and the DVD player  26  and PVR  28  in accordance with DLNA principles known in the art. 
         [0015]    A local area network (LAN) interface  30  may be provided in the TV housing  12  and connected to the TV processor  18 , so that the TV processor  18  can communicate with components on a LAN, implemented in some embodiments as an Ethernet. These components may include a personal computer  32  or other computer, and the computer  32  can communicate with computer network peripheral equipment such as but not limited to a printer  34 , a scanner  36 , and a security camera  38 . All or parts of the computer network may overlap with the various networks with which the TV processor  18  communicates as discussed more fully below. 
         [0016]    In addition to Ethernet links, the LAN may include one or more wireless links  40 , so that the PC  32  (and, hence, the TV processor  18 ) may communicate with wireless components such as a vehicle-mounted global position satellite (GPS) receiver  42 . Without limitation, the wireless link  40 , like other wireless links herein, may be, e.g., an 802.11 link, a Wi-Fi link, a Bluetooth link, an IR link, an ultrasonic link, etc. 
         [0017]    In some implementations, a pre-existing computer LAN might exist in the form of twisted pair wiring, coaxial wiring, etc. in a house, and it might be desired to use the pre-existing LAN for the TV components to establish a shared network. In such a case, the physical media is shared between the PC  32  and TV processor  18  with associated components. In one embodiment, the TV components can use a first protocol such as a proprietary protocol while the PC  32  and associated peripherals can use a different, second protocol, so that communication interference is avoided. Alternatively, if a common protocol is used, undesirable devices from the TV standpoint (such as, e.g., the printer  34  and scanner  36 ) can be removed from the TV network so that, for example, they do not appear on the below-described TV network maps. 
         [0018]    When the same protocol is used between the TV processor  18  and the PC  32 , the TV processor  18  can be given arbiter rights to manage bandwidth for audio/video data transmissions in the network, and the PC  32  can be given arbiter rights to manage bandwidth for non-audio/video data transmissions. Also, the TV processor  18  may “see” the PC  32  in the TV network but this does not mean that the PC  32  necessarily recognizes the TV components to be part of its network. 
         [0019]    Apart from the wireless link  40  of the LAN with which the TV processor  18  may communicate, a wireless communication interface  44  may be in the TV housing  12  and may communicate with the TV processor  18  as shown. The wireless communication interface may wirelessly communicate with various components such as but not limited to a video game console  46 , such as a Sony Playstation®, and another TV  48  that might be located in, e.g., another room of the same dwelling. Also, portable devices may connect to the system via wired or wireless paths. These portable devices can include digital still cameras, digital video cameras, audio players, video players, and wireless telephones which may be sources of still pictures, music, vide, and the like. 
         [0020]    The processor  18  may also communicate with a computer modem  50  in the TV housing  12  as shown. The modem  50  may be connected to the Internet  52 , so that the TV processor  18  can communicate with a web-based system server  54  and a web-based data vault  56 . The server  54  may be an IPTV server in which the TV tuner is essentially located in the head end (server  54 ) or it may be another type of server. 
         [0021]    In addition to the wireless communication interface  44  and the modem  50 , the TV processor  18  may communicate with a radiofrequency identifier (RFID) interface  60  in the housing  12  or attached thereto using, e.g., a uniform serial bus (USB) cable, to facilitate communication in accordance with RFID principles known in the art between the TV processor  18  and an RFID-enabled network appliance  62  having an RFID device  63  mounted on it or connected to it. Furthermore, the TV processor  18  can, through an infrared interface  64 , receive user commands from a remote control device  66  that transmits IR signals, it being understood that the remote control device  66  may alternately use RF, in which case the interface  64  would be an RF interface. 
         [0022]      FIG. 1  also shows that the TV can have a data storage  69 . The storage  69  may be flash or ROM or RAM in the TV and/or it may be a removable memory device such as a Sony Memory Stick®. 
         [0023]    Among the recognitions made herein, it may happen that in some implementations, the TV shown above may not have a hard disk drive (HDD) and/or the PVR  28  may not be available or the correct digital rights management information may be unavailable for recording a program to disk. Accordingly, as shown in  FIG. 2  the TV processor  18  may cause to be presented on the TV display  14  a topography map, generally designated  68 , that is essentially a user interface that a user can operate on by means of the remote control device  66  to map a HDD in the PC  32  to the TV to thereby allow the user to load content received by the TV onto the PC HDD for later reliable streaming. The PC  32  may also transcode multimedia streams from a codec that might be incompatible with the TV to another, compatible codec. Note that the map  68  shown in  FIG. 2  need not show all of the components illustrated in  FIG. 1 , but can illustrate some or all of the components in the system as desired for simplification. Content stored on the HDD of the PC  32  may later be played back on the TV display  14 . Also, content from non-TV sources, e.g., from the DVD player  26 , may be sent to the PC  32  HDD for storage. 
         [0024]    To operate the UI that is represented by the map  68 , a user can manipulate buttons on the remote control device  66  to navigate around the map, clicking on a component with a button designating the component as a “source” and then moving the cursor over the desired “sink” component (in the case shown, the PC) and clicking on a “sink” button to indicate that recording from the source to the sink is to be undertaken. This is but one non-limiting example of how the map  68  can be used to send content from the TV and/or DVD player  26  to the home PC  32 . 
         [0025]    The map  68  can be created by the TV processor  18  automatically, upon initial connection and perhaps also on every subsequent energization, “discovering” networked devices in accordance with network discovery principles known in the art. Or, a user may be permitted to manually input data to construct the map  68  using the remote control device  66 . To this end, near field communications (RFID) can be used, or a keyboard, or a menu selection process, etc. 
         [0026]      FIG. 2  also shows that in some implementations the map  68  may show that a networked PC communicates wirelessly with the vehicle-mounted GPS receiver mentioned above. In such an implementation, a user can download a map from the Internet using either the TV processor  18  and modem  50  or using the PC  32 , and then manipulate the map  68  in accordance with above principles to cause the map to be transferred wirelessly over the link  40  shown in  FIG. 1  to the GPS receiver  42 . In this way, a user who has obtained a map from the Internet need not carry the map out to the car and try to read it while driving, but need only load it into the GPS receiver  42 , so that the map can be presented by the GPS receiver  42 . Upgrades to the software in the GPS receiver  42  may be similarly downloaded from the Internet and wirelessly transferred to the receiver  42 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 3  shows a screen shot that can be presented on the display  14  to provide a network map  70  that can be used as a user interface for determining an optimum path for a desired function. With more specificity, using the map  70 , a user can select a source and sink device for, e.g., playing a multimedia stream and then be presented with information pertaining to a “best” arrangement that can depend on bandwidth considerations and device capabilities. 
         [0028]    To illustrate, if a DVD player supports HDMI, S-video, and CVBS and the TV also supports these formats, then the best way to connect the device is using HDMI, with S-video connectivity perhaps being indicated as second best and CVBS indicated as third best. This is true even for “virtual” connections such as Ethernet and RF. This can be indicated by, e.g., displaying a back panel of each device and highlighting the connection terminals corresponding to the “best” communication method, in this case, the HDMI connection terminals. 
         [0029]    To further illustrate, assume another hypothetical. A user can move the cursor over each icon shown in  FIG. 3  to cause a drop-down menu to appear, showing the capabilities of that device. Assume that it is the user&#39;s intentions to find and play “movie A”, and that when the cursor is over the DVD icon, the PVR icon, and the TV internet server icon, a menu appears indicating that “movie A” is stored on the associated component. When the cursor is over the display and TV icons, assume that a menu appears indicating the capabilities of the display, e.g., “HD” or “SD”. 
         [0030]    Should the user input “movie A”, the display in  FIG. 4  can appear, in which, depending on determinations made by the TV processor  18 , some icons representing components that are completely unsuitable for sourcing “movie A” given its format (such as the CD icon) or playing “movie A” given its format (such as the “other TV” icon) are removed from the map  70  entirely while other icons representing components that can source or play, albeit suboptimally, “movie A” (such as the “game console” icon and “display 1” icon) are lowlighted. In lieu of or in addition to icon lowlighting or removal, path lines between icons can be lowlighted or removed. 
         [0031]    Thus, only icons (and/or path lines) representing components that can adequately source or play the selection remain on, and a “best” path may be highlighted, e.g., all three source icons (DVD, PVR, and TV server) shown in  FIG. 4  remain on, only a single sink icon (“display 2”) remains on, and if bandwidth considerations or quality of service considerations or storage space considerations or other operational considerations indicate that streaming “movie A” from the DVD to the display  2  is the optimum path, that path can be highlighted. In this way, the user knows what the optimal source/sink arrangement is for the desired stream. 
         [0032]    The TV processor  18 , in conjunction with the above-described network maps, allows users to select optimum sources and sinks in the system  10  to display particular multimedia streams, and to prioritize and schedule more than one event. For instance, a user can undertake the above-described hypothetical selection of “movie A”, store it to memory in the TV for playback at a scheduled future time, and then schedule another event (e.g., record “TV program B”) for an overlapping period. The TV processor  18  in such as case could, in some implementations, recalculate the “movie A” arrangement in light of the desire to record “TV program B” to ensure that bandwidth, QoS, etc. remain optimized. 
         [0033]      FIG. 5  shows additional map features that can be provided if desired. Commencing at block  80 , the TV processor  18  can discover the other components shown in  FIG. 1  to generate one or more of the non-limiting network maps described above. At block  82 , map icons can be established as appropriate for the underlying device capability, e.g., icons representing non-A/V devices such as the printer  34  may be displayed in a different color than icons representing A/V devices such as the DVD player  26 . Icons representing deenergized devices can be grayed out. 
         [0034]    Moving to block  84 , the TV processor  18  may upload map information via the modem  50  to the Internet system server  54 . In response, the server  54  can return updated device information, diagnostic information, etc. to the TV processor  18  at block  86 , so that the map can be updated accordingly. 
         [0035]      FIG. 6  shows set up logic that can be used to aid the user in setting up a home network and executed by the TV processor  18  and/or server  54  and/or in accordance with instructions on a removable memory store  69 . 
         [0036]    At initial TV power-on at block  88 , the process moves to block  90  to discover network devices in accordance with disclosure above. Proceeding to block  92 , the TV processor  18  is automatically configured for the particular system server  54  that is discovered at block  90 . If more than one system server is discovered the user can be prompted to select one. At block  94 , a connections database can be created to serve as a starting point for tracking, diagnosing, and recommending future network enhancements. At block  96  a network map can be displayed in accordance with above principles. 
         [0037]    In essence, when the TV is first taken out of the box by the user and turned on, the TV processor  18  automatically searches for networks and other connections, e.g., Ethernets, DLNA networks, etc., and then informs the user as to what capabilities exist, showing the map on the display  14 . Appropriate configuration of the TV is then automatically executed, relieving the user of the sometimes confusing chore of “setting up” the home network. If no networks are detected the TV processor  18  can prompt the user to “plug in your phone line to the modem  50 ” or other similar message or, failing that, “call the following help line.” 
         [0038]    The TV processor  18  can also ensure component capability maximization by detecting capabilities of components at block  100  in  FIG. 7 . The capabilities of the components may be communicated to the TV processor  18  from the components themselves, or the TV processor  18  may simply ascertain component identifications and then access a local or web-based database of capabilities corresponding to the detected component IDs. 
         [0039]    Moving to decision diamond  102 , it is determined whether appropriate software exists on the component to fully exploit the component&#39;s capability. If so, the logic ends at state  104 , but otherwise necessary software is automatically downloaded from the Internet by the TV processor  18  and transmitted through one or more of the links shown in  FIG. 1  to the relevant component. 
         [0040]    To illustrate, suppose the network appliance  62  shown in  FIG. 1  is a wireless telephone, and the TV processor  18  determines that the phone has caller ID service capability but not the actual software to use the service. In this case, the TV processor  18  can access the Internet to download the necessary utility to the phone to enable the caller ID service. This is but one non-limiting example of the TV processor  18  determining that a capability exists on a TV network component but not the necessary software, and obtaining the necessary software from the Internet on behalf of the component. 
         [0041]    The RFID interface  60  of the TV can be used to not only communicate with RFID-enabled appliances  62 , but also to facilitate easy network set-up. With more specificity and referring now to  FIG. 8 , recognizing that attaching components to a TV network can be trying and time-consuming owing to entering lengthy strings of media access control (MAC) addresses, cryptographic capabilities and keys, etc., any of the components shown in  FIG. 1  may be provided with a RFID device that contains the MAC address of the device, its cryptographic capabilities and keys, etc. At block  110  in  FIG. 8  the component is disposed sufficiently close to the RFID interface  60  of the TV to permit the information in the RFID device of the component to be automatically transferred to the TV processor  18  at block  112 . At block  114 , assuming the information is in order, the component can be entered into the network for, e.g., control, use, and display on one of the network maps discussed above. 
         [0042]    While the particular TV-CENTRIC SYSTEM is herein shown and described in detail, it is to be understood that the subject matter which is encompassed by the present invention is limited only by the claims.