Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a technical field of an information setting system and others, more particularly, an information setting system for setting information necessary for an electronic apparatus including television sets, for example, which are sold in the market and installed in the location of users.  
         [0003]     2. Related Art  
         [0004]     When users purchases a television set and starts to use it, a manual operation is required to assign broadcasting frequency of a region of user&#39;s residence to each channel of thus purchased television set one by one.  
         [0005]     However, with recent development of aging society and increase of sophisticated function of the television set itself, it has become practically difficult for the user to use all of the information to be set in operating the television set.  
         [0006]     In order to deal with this circumference, Patent Reference 1 mentioned below is typically developed as one type of a television set to facilitate simplification of initial setting to deal with this problem.  
         [0007]     In this patent Reference 1, more particularly, when an input operation to input position information of a purchaser is performed, this position information is registered with so-called a home server. When the television set is connected to the home server, specific region channel information addressed to specific region corresponding to the registered position information is acquired from outside, and the acquired channel information is output to the above-mentioned television set. Thereby, the television set performs necessary channel setting based on the output channel information.  
         [0008]     Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-346633.  
         [0009]     However, in the above-mentioned Patent Reference 1, the purchaser oneself has to carry out the operation to register the position information with the home server after all. In view of the recent social trend mentioned above, the problems have not been solved at all.  
         [0010]     Therefore, the present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned problem. An object of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention is to provide an information setting system capable of executing information setting necessary for the electronic apparatus without troubling purchasers of electronic apparatus such as a television set.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     According to a first aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information setting system for setting regional information corresponding to a region including an operation position of an electronic apparatus with respect to the electronic apparatus in operating the electronic apparatus including: the electronic apparatus; a server apparatus; and a terminal apparatus installed in a store selling the electronic apparatus, these apparatus being connected through a network, wherein the terminal apparatus includes: an input device which inputs for identifying electronic apparatus identification information for the electronic apparatus and position identification information for identifying the operation position; and a terminal output device which generates apparatus/position specification information corresponding respectively to the input position identification information and the input electronic apparatus identification information and outputs to the server apparatus through the network, the server apparatus includes a specifying device such as processing section which specifies the regional information to be set in the electronic apparatus corresponding to the apparatus/position specification information based on the apparatus/position information sent from the terminal apparatus; and a server sending device which sends the specified regional information to the electronic apparatus in the operation position through the network, and the electronic apparatus comprises a setting device such as an image processing device which sets the regional information sent from the server apparatus in the electronic apparatus itself.  
         [0012]     According to a second aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information setting system for setting regional information corresponding to a region including an operation position of an electronic apparatus in the electronic apparatus in operating the electronic apparatus including: the electronic apparatus; a server apparatus; and a terminal apparatus installed in a store selling the electronic apparatus; these apparatus connected through a network, wherein  
         [0013]     the terminal apparatus includes:  
         [0014]     an input device which inputs for identifying electronic apparatus identification information for the electronic apparatus and position identification information for identifying the operation position; and a terminal output device such as an interface which generates apparatus/position specification information corresponding respectively to the input position identification information and the input electronic apparatus identification information and outputs to the server apparatus through the network,  
         [0015]     the server apparatus includes a storing device which temporarily stores apparatus/position specification information sent from the terminal apparatus; and a server sending device such as an interface which sends the specified regional information to the electronic apparatus in the operation position through the network, and  
         [0016]     the electronic apparatus comprises a specifying device which specifies the regional information to be set in the electronic apparatus corresponding to the apparatus/position specification information based on the apparatus/position information sent from the terminal apparatus; and a setting device which sets the regional information sent from the server apparatus in the electronic apparatus itself.  
         [0017]     According to a sixth aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the precedent aspects, wherein the terminal apparatus includes the input device and the terminal sending device.  
         [0018]     According to a seventh aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the first aspect, wherein the server apparatus includes the specifying device and the server sending device.  
         [0019]     According to an eighth aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the second aspect, wherein the server apparatus includes the storing device and the server sending device.  
         [0020]     According to a ninth aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the first aspect, wherein the electronic apparatus includes the setting device.  
         [0021]     According to a tenth aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the second aspect, wherein the information setting system according to claim  2 , wherein the electronic apparatus includes the specifying device and the setting device.  
         [0022]     According to an eleventh aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information setting method executed by an information setting system for setting regional information corresponding to a region including an operation position of an electronic apparatus with respect to the electronic apparatus in operating the electronic apparatus, including: the electronic apparatus; a server apparatus; and a terminal apparatus installed in a store selling the electronic apparatus, these apparatus being connected through a network, wherein  
         [0023]     the information setting method includes steps of:  
         [0024]     inputting respectively electronic apparatus identification information for identifying the electronic device and position identification information for identifying the operation position in the terminal device;  
         [0025]     generating apparatus/position specification information respectively corresponding to the input position identification information and the input electronic apparatus information;  
         [0026]     specifying the regional information to be set to the electronic apparatus corresponding to the apparatus/position specification information based on the generated apparatus/position specification information;  
         [0027]     setting the specified regional information to the electronic apparatus in the operation position.  
         [0028]     According to a twelfth aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the precedent aspects, wherein a computer functions as the terminal device included in the information setting system.  
         [0029]     According to a thirteenth aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the precedent aspects, wherein a computer functions as the server apparatus included in the information setting system.  
         [0030]     According to a fourteenth aspect of an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention, there is provided the information setting system according to the precedent aspects, a computer functions as the electronic apparatus included in the information setting system. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0031]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing a general configuration of information setting system related to embodiments.  
         [0032]      FIG. 2A and 2B  are flowcharts showing action of the information setting system related to the embodiments. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0033]     Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in conjunction with  FIGS. 1 and 2 . In the embodiments described hereinafter, the present invention is applied to an information setting system for setting channels required for starting watching with the television which is delivered to the purchaser home.  
         [0034]     Hereinafter, each designation of numerical references in the drawings typically is as follows:  1 :Database;  2 ,  11 :Processing Section;  3 ,  10 ,  20 :Interface;  21 :Image Processing Section; S:Information Setting System; SV:Server Apparatus; POS:Terminal Apparatus; TV:Television Set; and NT:Network.  
         [0035]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing general configuration of the above-mentioned information setting system related to the embodiment.  FIG. 2  is a flow chart showing process executed in the above-mentioned information setting system.  
         [0036]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the information setting system related to the embodiment includes a television set TV, a server apparatus SV, a terminal apparatus POS installed in a store selling the above-mentioned television set TV.  
         [0037]     And the server apparatus SV includes a database  1  as a storing device, processing section  2  as a specifying device and connection information sending device, and an interface  3  as a server sending device.  
         [0038]     Further, the terminal apparatus POS includes an interface  10  as a terminal sending device, a processing section  11 , an input section  13  as an input device and a displaying section  13 .  
         [0039]     Furthermore, the television set TV includes an interface  20 , an image processing section  21  as a setting device, an operating section  22 , and a display section  23 .  
         [0040]     In the above configuration, the interfaces  3 ,  10  and  20  are capable of interactively sending and receiving data through a network NT such as internet.  
         [0041]     Next, an operation of the information setting system S related to the embodiment will be described.  
         [0042]     First, a purchaser purchasing the television set TV related to the embodiment visits a store installing a terminal apparatus POS inputs with the input section  12  a purchaser name, a postal code and address (including names of prefecture and city/town expressing a position of television installation (generally, a house or office of the purchaser), together with a procedure of purchasing the television set TV while confirming displays on the displaying section  13 .  
         [0043]     Thus the processing section  11  of the terminal apparatus POS associates the input postal code and others with model name and production number specifying the purchased television set TV itself, and generates specification information in the sate of order number put (Step S 1 ). This generated specification information Spos is sent to the server apparatus SV through the interface  10  and the network NT (Step S 2 ).  
         [0044]     And the processing section  2  in the server apparatus SV associates the order number with the region name (e.g. for the analog broadcasting) or the postal code and prefecture name (e.g. for the terrestrial digital broadcasting) which are required for initiation of the television set TV based on the received specification information Spos, confirms, stores in the database  1  as specification information, and waits (Step S 3 ).  
         [0045]     Then, when the purchased television set TV is purchased, delivered to the purchaser, and installed (step S 10 ), the installed television set TV is connected to the server apparatus SV through the interface  20  (Step S 11 ), the order number of the purchased television set TV (step S 12 ).  
         [0046]     Next, the order number is received by the server apparatus SV through the interface  3  (Step S 13 ), the processing section  2  of the server apparatus SV retrieves the received order number from a database  1  as a retrieval key, and the above-mentioned stored specification information (ref. to Step  3 ) is taken out from the database  1  (Step  14 ).  
         [0047]     Then receivable television broadcast frequency and corresponding channel number and others are retrieved as well in the database  1  from the address of the purchaser indicated by the specification information based on the taken out specification information, and the retrieval result and the specification information Sset including the order number are generated (Step S 15 ) and sent to the television set TV through the network NT (Step S 16 ).  
         [0048]     Then the image processing section  21  inside the television set TV having received the specification information Sset through the interface  20  executes initial setting (channel setting and others) using the information including frequency and channel number and others of the television broadcast which is included in the specification information Sset, and waits as in the possible state of start (Step S 18 ).  
         [0049]     As described above, according to an operation of the information system S, channel information and others corresponding to television set TV are specified with specification information Spos corresponding to postal codes and others input in the terminal apparatus POS as a clue, and the specified channel information and others are sent to the television set itself from the server apparatus to be set. Therefore the purchaser of the television set can operate the television set TV without any trouble to input the necessary channel information and others to the television set.  
         [0050]     Since the order number and model name, and either one of postal code and address are used as specification information Spos, setting the television set can be automated using the information used in ordinary sales service.  
         [0051]     In the above-mentioned embodiment, specification information is configured to use the model name and others of the purchased television set and the postal code and others indicating the installation position. Besides, for example, if models of recording devices or other tuners connected to the television set or models of antenna and others are previously known, these may be included as supplementary information in the specification information Spos.  
         [0052]     In this case, setting information Sset necessary for connecting the above-mentioned device and others to the television set based on the contents of the supplementary information are included in the above-mentioned setting information and sent from the server apparatus SV to the television set TV having been installed, thereby even setting processes necessary for connection of the recording device and others may be automated when connecting the recording device and others.  
         [0053]     Further, in the configuration of the above-mentioned embodiment, the setting information Spos and others are generated with the order number specified on purchase of the television set TV as a clue. Besides, if the purchased television set TV itself can be associated with the postal code, address and others indicating the preset area of operation, the setting information Spos and others may be generated with invoice number, bill number and others except for the order number as a clue.  
         [0054]     On the other hand, when the purchaser changes address after purchasing the television set TV or an environment of this television set TV changes, the information of new address is associated with the order number and sent to the server apparatus SV, and setting information Spos corresponding to the new address may be newly generated and sent to that television set TV to be subjected to initial setting and others.  
         [0055]     Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the terminal apparatus POS is installed in the store selling the television set TV. The configuration is not limited to this. For example, the present invention is applicable to a mail-order method (including corresponding methods by postal mail, telephone and internet access in which the purchase procedures are carried out through a personal computer installed in an operation site such as residence when purchasing a television set TV, because this personal computer functions as the above-mentioned terminal apparatus POS.  
         [0056]     Further, portions for each apparatus in a program corresponding to the flowchart shown in  FIG. 2  is recorded in information recording means such as a flexible disk or a hard disk, or they are acquired through internet and others and recorded respectively, and these are read with a general computer and executed, and this computer may be utilized as the processing section  2 ,  11  related to each embodiment.  
         [0057]     The present invention is not confined to the configurations listed in the foregoing embodiments, but it is easily understood that the person skilled in the art can modify such configurations into various other modes, within the scope of the present invention described in the claims.  
         [0058]     The entire disclosures of Japanese Patent Applications No. 2006-99360 filed on Mar. 31, 2006 including the specification, claims, drawings and summary are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technology Category: g