Patent Publication Number: US-2007113200-A1

Title: On-screen control of a video playback device

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The subject invention relates to controlling a video playback device, and more particularly, to controlling the video playback device via on-screen icons.  
     DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART  
      Typically, a video playback device is controlled through the use of a wireless remote control unit. Dedicated keys are present on the remote control unit to control the playback control modes, e.g., PLAY, STOP, PAUSE, SLOW FORWARD PLAY, FAST FORWARD PLAY, SLOW REVERSE PLAY, FAST REVERSE PLAY, FAST WIND, REWIND, etc. Examples of such a video playback device is a VCR or a DVD-RW recorder. However, in order to reduce the number of keys on the remote control unit, various function are often combined in a single key. For example, slow forward, fast forward and fast wind may be combined in a single key in which, when in the PLAY mode, if the single key is pressed instantaneously, the device goes into the FAST FORWARD PLAY mode, while if the single key is pressed and held down, the device goes into the SLOW FORWARD PLAY mode. Further, if the STOP mode is in effect, by pressing the same single key, the device goes into the FAST WIND mode. Furthermore, the combinations of these functions are not the same between different video playback devices from different manufacturers, and even among different models from the same manufacturer.  
      As such, the use of the remote control for video playback devices is not always intuitive to the user and often the user needs to repeatedly look at the remote control unit to figure out which key needs to be pressed, and, in many instances, the user even needs to refer to the Owner&#39;s Manual to be able to fully utilize all of the playback control options available in controlling the video playback device.  
      In an attempt to alleviate this condition, some video playback devices offer limited on-screen icons for controlling the video playback device. However, various menus need to be “called up” to display the various control options. Further, there is often no provisions for controlling an auxiliary video playback device connected to the video playback device, for example, a camcorder connected to a DVD+RW recorder.  
      It is an object of the invention to provide a video playback device in which all of the playback control functions thereof are displayed as icons on a display screen, and a desired playback control function is effected by selecting the appropriate screen icon.  
      The above object is achieved in a video playback device including means for on-screen control of playback control functions of said video playback device, said means for on-screen control comprising means for generating, for display, a plurality of icons representing all of the playback control functions of said video playback device; means for moving a cursor among said plurality of icons in order to indicate a desired one of said plurality of icons; means for selecting said desired one of said plurality of icons; and means for enabling the playback control function represented by the selected one of said plurality of icons.  
      With the subject invention, a user is able to control all of the playback control functions of a video playback device merely by viewing the playback control function options on the display screen and by operating cursor control keys on a remote control unit for selecting a desired playback control function. 
    
    
      With the above and additional objects and advantages in mind as will hereinafter appear, the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  shows a block schematic diagram of a video playback device incorporating the subject invention;  
       FIG. 2  shows a portion of a remote control device for use with the video playback device of  FIG. 1 ; and  
       FIGS. 3A-3D  show various embodiments of arrangement of icons as displayed by the video playback device of  FIG. 1 . 
    
    
       FIG. 1  shows a block schematic diagram of a video playback device. The video playback devices receives television signals via an input shown as antenna  10 . While an antenna is shown, it should be understood that the input may be a self-contained video signal source, e.g., a video tape or a DVD, or some other external source, e.g., cable, satellite, etc. A tuner  12  is shown connected to the antenna  10  for selecting one of the television signals. A digital decoder  14  receives a digital television signal from the tuner  12 , decodes this digital television signal, and applies corresponding video signals to video signal processor  16 . In the event that the tuner  12  selects an analog television signal, the tuner  12  directly provides the corresponding video signals to the video signal processor  16 .  
      The video signal processor  16  applies various processing to the video signals, including contrast, brightness and color adjustments. An output from the video signal processor  16  is applied through a video switch  18  to a display screen  20 .  
      A controller  22  is included for controlling the tuner  12 , the digital decoder  14  and the video signal processor  16 . In order to provide on-screen messages to a user of the video playback device, the controller  22  applies message signals to an on-screen display processor  24  which, in turn, applies appropriate message video signals to the video switch  18 . The controller  22  then controls the video switch  18  to place the message video signals from the on-screen display processor  24  into the video signal stream from the video switch  18  applied to the display screen  20 .  
      The controller  22  receives user control signals from an infrared receiver  26  which, in turn, receives infrared control signals from a remote control unit  28  operable by the user. In addition, the controller  22  is connected to an input/output (I/O) interface  30  for receiving digital video signals from, for example, a digital camcorder  32 . To that end, the controller further provides these digital video signals to the digital decoder  14 . The I/O interface  30  may be in the form of an i.link™ which provides a high-speed, bi-directional digital link to/from the controller  22 . As such, the controller  22  is able to send playback control signals to the camcorder  32 .  
      The remote control unit  28  includes a keypad having various numeric keys (not shown) for directly inputting television channels, as well as keys (not shown) for scanning the television channels. Further, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the remote control unit  28  includes cursor control keys  40 ,  42 ,  44  and  46  for moving a cursor up, down, left and right on the display screen  20 , as well as a SELECT key  48  for selecting a function indicated by the position of the cursor.  
       FIG. 3A  shows the icons of the playback control functions for the video playback device as displayed on the display screen  20  under control of the controller  22 . These playback control functions include FAST REVERSE PLAY  60 , REVERSE PLAY  62 , SLOW REVERSE PLAY  64 , PAUSE  66 , SLOW FORWARD PLAY  68 , FORWARD PLAY  70  FAST FORWARD PLAY  72 , REWIND  74 , STOP  76  and FAST WIND  78 . A highlight  80  is shown around the currently active playback control mode, in this case FORWARD PLAY  70 . A desired playback control mode is selected by a user by merely using his/her thumb to operate the cursor control keys  40 - 46  and the SELECT key  48  on the remote control unit  28 . The movement of the cursor is indicated by a box  82  surrounding the desired playback control mode (in this case REVERSE PLAY  62 ). As such, the user need not look at the remote control unit  28 , but rather at the display screen  20  which displays the relevant video program overlaid by the icons of the playback control functions for the video playback device.  
      It should be noted that due to external events, the highlight  80  indicating the current playback control mode may not instantaneously switch to the desired playback control mode (indicated by the box  82 ). For example, if the current playback control mode is FORWARD PLAY  70  (as shown by highlight  80 ) while the desired playback control mode is REVERSE PLAY (as shown by box  82 ), there will be a slight delay for the video playback device to stop PLAY in the forward direction and to initiate PLAY in the reverse direction.  
      As an alternative to pressing the SELECT key  48 , the desired playback control mode may be selected by the user merely moving the cursor to the desired playback control mode. In this case, for the arrangement shown in  FIG. 3A , from the FORWARD PLAY control mode, the user merely presses the left cursor key 4 times, thereby moving the box  82  to the icon  62 .  
      The playback control icon layout shown in  FIG. 3A  does not support frame stepping, i.e., moving from one frame to a following or preceding frame while in the PAUSE playback control mode.  FIG. 3B  shows an alternate playback control icon layout in which the frame stepping function is supported and shown in a separate row. In particular, PAUSE is shown repeated at  84 , along with REVERSE STEP  86  and FORWARD STEP  88 . When the current playback control mode is PAUSE  84  (to be indicated by the highlight  80 ), and the user presses the right cursor key  46 , the highlight  80  temporarily moves to the FORWARD STEP icon  88  and then shifts back to the PAUSE icon  84 . This operation similarly occurs with respect to REVERSE STEP  86 . When the video playback device is in any of the playback control modes indicated by the icons in the middle row, by the user pressing the UP cursor control key  40 , the video playback device goes into the PAUSE  84  mode. Conversely, by the user pressing the DOWN cursor control key  42 , the video playback device goes into the STOP  76  mode.  
       FIG. 3C  shows an alternate playback control icon layout to that shown in  FIG. 3B  in which the frame stepping functions are integrated into the top row as shown in  FIG. 3A .  
      In a further alternate playback control icon layout,  FIG. 3D  shows the icon layout in four rows, in which the FORWARD/REVERSE PLAY icons (70/62) are directly adjacent to the PAUSE icon  66 , enabling a fast change from PLAY to PAUSE.  
      Numerous alterations and modifications of the structure herein disclosed will present themselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understood that the above described embodiment is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.