Display apparatus, display system, and display method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9609261-B2
Application number	US-201213572943-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2012
Priority date	Aug 24, 2011
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

There is provided a control apparatus including a command acquiring unit that acquires selection commands of pieces of content transmitted from a plurality of controllers, and a display processing unit that, when at least a part of users who use the plurality of controllers view same content, enlarges a display area of the content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control apparatus comprising:
a command acquiring unit configured to acquire selection commands of pieces of content transmitted from a plurality of controllers or users, in which each controller or user has a respective controller authority value associated therewith;
a display processing unit to control a size of each of a plurality of display areas on a display device each having different content simultaneously displayed thereon based on overall authority values; and
an authority calculating unit to calculate an overall authority value for each display area having respective content displayed thereon based on a number of controllers or users which selected the respective content and the respective controller authority value or values associated therewith, for use by the display processing unit,
in which when multiple controllers or users select a same content and at least two of the multiple controllers or users each have a different controller authority value, the authority calculating unit is configured to calculate a respective overall authority value for the respective display area by adding together the respective controller authority value for each controller or user which selected the same content, such that when both a first controller having a controller authority value of 2 and a second controller having a controller authority value of 1 select the same content the calculated overall authority value for the respective display area would be 3, and
in which the display processing unit is configured to control the size of each of the plurality of display areas based on the overall authority values so that respective display areas having the same overall authority values have same size display areas regardless of whether a number of controllers or users of each of the respective display areas is the same, such that a first display area obtained when 3 controllers or users select a same first content each having a respective controller authority value of 1 for a respective overall authority value of 3 is the same size as a second display area obtained when 1 controller or user selects a second content which has a respective controller authority value of 3 for a respective overall authority value of 3.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the display processing unit enlarges the display areas of the pieces of content with increase in values of calculated overall authority values.

3. A display system comprising:
a plurality of controllers; and
a control apparatus operable remotely by the controllers or users, in which each controller or user has a respective controller authority value associated therewith,
the control apparatus including a command acquiring unit configured to acquire selection commands of pieces of content transmitted from the plurality of controllers, a display processing unit to control a size of each of a plurality of display areas on a display device each having different content simultaneously displayed thereon based on overall authority values, and an authority calculating unit to calculate an overall authority value for each display area having respective content displayed thereon based on a number of controllers or users which selected the respective content and the respective controller authority value or values associated therewith for use by the display processing unit,
in which when multiple controllers or users select a same content and at least two of the multiple controllers or users each have a different controller authority value, the authority calculating unit is configured to calculate a respective overall authority value for the respective display area by adding together the respective controller authority value for each controller or user which selected the same content, such that when both a first controller having a controller authority value of 2 and a second controller having a controller authority value of 1 select the same content the calculated overall authority value for the respective display area would be 3, and
in which the display processing unit is configured to control the size of each of the plurality of display areas based on the overall authority values so that respective display areas having the same overall authority values have same size display areas regardless of whether a number of controllers or users of each of the respective display areas is the same, such that a first display area obtained when 3 controllers or users select a same first content each having a respective controller authority value of 1 for a respective overall authority value of 3 is the same size as a second display area obtained when 1 controller or user selects a second content which has a respective controller authority value of 3 for a respective overall authority value of 3.

4. A display method comprising:
transmitting, by a plurality of controllers, selection commands of pieces of content;
acquiring selection commands of pieces of content transmitted from the plurality of controllers;
controlling a size of each of a plurality of display areas on a display device each having different content simultaneously displayed thereon based on overall authority values; and
calculating an overall authority value for each display area having respective content displayed thereon based on a number of controllers or users which selected the respective content and respective controller authority value or values associated therewith for use in the size controlling,
in which when multiple controllers or users select a same content and at least two of the multiple controllers or users each have a different controller authority value, a respective overall authority value for the respective display area is calculated by adding together the respective controller authority value for each controller or user which selected the same content, such that when both a first controller having a controller authority value of 2 and a second controller having a controller authority value of 1 select the same content the calculated overall authority value for the respective display area would be 3, and
in which the controlling includes controlling the size of each of the plurality of display areas based on the overall authority values so that respective display areas having the same overall authority values have same size display areas regardless of whether a number of controllers or users of each of the respective display areas is the same, such that a first display area obtained when 3 controllers or users select a same first content each having a respective controller authority value of 1 for a respective overall authority value of 3 is the same size as a second display area obtained when 1 controller or user selects a second content which has a respective controller authority value of 3 for a respective overall authority value of 3.

5. A control apparatus for use in a system having a display device and a plurality of control devices for use by a number of users, said apparatus comprising:
a memory configured to have a predetermined program stored therein; and
a central processing unit (CPU) configured to execute the predetermined program stored in the memory,
during operation, when executing the predetermined program the CPU is configured to (i) acquire a number of selection commands of pieces of content transmitted from more than one of the plurality of control devices, each control device or user having a respective controller authority value associated therewith, (ii) control a size of more than one display area on the display device based on overall authority values, each said display area configured to have content different from each other displayed simultaneously thereon, and (iii) calculate an overall authority value for each said display area having r

Assignees

• Yamada Eiju
• Ohashi Yoshinori
• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Yamada Eiju
• Ohashi Yoshinori

Classifications

• H04N21/42204

  User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor (constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205) · CPC title

• H04N21/440263

  by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA · CPC title

• H04N21/42208

  Display device provided on the remote control · CPC title

• G06F3/1454

  involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay · CPC title

• H04N21/4751

  for defining user accounts, e.g. accounts for children · CPC title