Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING MULTIPLE SCREENS AND METHOD
FOR DYNAMIC CONFIGURATION OF THE SAME
Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for providing multiple screens
and a
method of dynamically configuring the multiple screens, and more particularly,
to an
apparatus for providing multiple screens that uses flags included transferred
packets in
order to dynamically configure multiple screens that provide a plurality of
contents on a
physical display device and a method of dynamically configuring multiple
screens.
Background Art
Conventional broadcast receivers such as digital TVs or digital set-top boxes
provide only one content element on a single physical display device or
simultaneously
display a main screen and a sub-screen on a single physical display device.
Even though conventional broadcast receivers can simultaneously display both
the
main screen and the sub-screen on the same display screen, they can only
arrange the
main screen and the sub-screen in a limited number of manners. In the case of
a content
displayed within the main screen, all elements of the content, i.e., video
data, audio data,
and other data, are displayed. On the other hand, in the case of a content
displayed
within the sub-screen, only some of the elements of the content are displayed.
Content sources include a broadcast service such as a satellite broadcaster, a
terrestrial broadcaster, or a cable broadcaster, a storage medium such as
DVDs, or an
external device connected to an input terminal. However, it is quite difficult
to display
contents provided by such various content sources on a display screen using
the existing
broadcast receivers.
In an interactive TV application program environment such as Multimedia Home
Platform (MHP), Advanced Common Application (ACAP), Open Cable Application
Platform (OCAP), it is assumed that only one screen is output on a physical
display
device.
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In the interactive TV application program environment, for example, a Home
Audio/Video Interoperability (HAVi)-based user interface (UI) is adopted.
According to
the HAVi UI standard, even though no restriction is imposed on the number of
screens
displayed on a physical display device, only one screen is generally displayed
on a
physical display device.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Technical Problem
In such an environment, it is difficult to perform operations, such as
decoding,
digital signal processing, user interaction processing, etc. with respect to
one among
multimedia contents displayed on a screen while displaying the multimedia
contents on
independent screens. In addition, it is also difficult to dynamically control
the life cycles
of application programs and the use of resources in the units of the screens.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method of displaying a variety of
contents
on a dynamically configured screen.
Technical Solution
The present invention provides packets including information for dynamically
configuring multiple screens which provide a plurality of contents on a
physical display
device.
The above and other objects of the present invention will be described in or
be
apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an
apparatus for
providing multiple screens, the apparatus including a digital signal
processing module
confirming whether a focus request regarding a first region on a screen that
has been
issued; and an operational module operating the application on the screen on
the basis of
the confirmed result, where the first region displays an application included
in received
data information.
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According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
method
of providing multiple screens, the method including confirming whether a focus
request
regarding a first region on a screen has been issued; and operating the
application on the
screen on the basis of the confirmed result, where the first region displays
an application
included in received data information.
Description of Drawings
The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will
become
more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with
reference to the
attached drawings in which:
FIGS. I to 8 are diagrams illustrating configurations of PiP screens according
to
an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a logical screen and
a
display screen according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 illustrates a source that provides services, according to an exemplary
embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. I I to 12 are diagrams illustrating a non-abstract service and an
abstract
service according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 13 illustrates how to map two services on a display screen and how to
output
the two services, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 14 illustrates application regions according to an exemplary embodiment
of
the present invention;
FIG. 15 illustrates a configuration of system providing multiple screens
according
to an exemplary embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an apparatus for providing multiple screens
according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamically configuring
multiple
screens according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the focus of an application region
according to
an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
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<Reference Names of Major Components Shown in the Drawings>
710 : Broadcast Signal Reception Module
720 : Storage Medium
730 : External Input Module
740 : User/Application Interface Module
750 : Digital Signal Processing Module
760 : Operation Module
770 : Display Device
780: Storage Medium
790 : External Output Module
Mode for Invention
Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of accomplishing
the same may be understood more readily by reference to the following detailed
description of preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. The
present
invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be
construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these
embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete
and will
fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the
present
invention will only be defined by the appended claims. Like reference numerals
refer to
like elements throughout the specification.
The present invention is described hereinafter with reference to flowchart
illustrations of user interfaces, methods, and computer program products
according to
embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the
flowchart
illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations, can
be
implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program
instructions
can be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose
computer,
or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such
that the
instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other
programmable data
processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in
the
flowchart block or blocks.
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These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or
computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data
processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the
instructions stored
in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of
manufacture
5 including instruction means that implement the function specified in the
flowchart block
or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other
programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps
to be
performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a
computer
implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or
other
programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified
in the
flowchart block or blocks.
And each block of the flowchart illustrations may represent a module, segment,
or
portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for
implementing
the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some
alternative
implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order.
For
example, two blocks illustrated in succession may in fact be executed
substantially
concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order,
depending
upon the functionality involved.
For a better understanding of the present invention, the terms used in this
disclosure will now be defined.
The term `service' indicates a group of multimedia contents displayed
together,
i.e., a group of service components.
Service components are elements of a service and include a video component, an
audio component, and a data component. A data component is an application
program
in a service.
The term `service context' indicates an object which can control the executing
of a
service and includes various resources information, device information, and
execution
state information needed for providing a service.
The term `physical display device' indicates a physical space which actually
displays the content of a service.
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The term `display screen' indicates a screen actually displayed on a physical
display device. An arbitrary service may be directly set in the display
screen, and the
display screen may be displayed on a physical display device. Alternatively,
at least one
logical screen which is mapped to a certain area of the display screen may be
displayed on
the physical display device.
The term `logical screen' indicates a space in which an arbitrary service is
displayed. A logical screen is a virtual screen before being mapped to a
display screen
and thus is not displayed on a physical display device.
The logical screen and the display screen may be a combination of a background
still image, a video raster, and a graphic raster. The graphic raster may be a
combination
of text, lines, colors, and images or a mixture of video frames.
The term `main service' indicates a service that is selected as a main service
through a menu displayed on the physical display device or a remote controller
by a user
or through an API by an application, and the screen on which the main service
is
displayed is referred to as a`main screen'.
The term `Picture-in-Picture service (PiP service)' indicates a service that
is
selected as a sub-service in the main service through a menu displayed on a
physical
display device or a remote controller by a user or via an API by an
application, and the
PiP service may be displayed on a picture-in-picture screen (PiP screen) or a
main screen.
It can be understood that the PiP screen includes: a screen that occupies a
portion
of another screen, as illustrated in FIGS. 1-4; two screens that are displayed
in an area,
and do not overlap each other, as illustrated in FIGS. 5-6; and a screen that
overlaps
another screen, as illustrated in FIGS. 7-8.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a logical screen and
a
display screen according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 9, a service may be displayed using logical screens 210,
212,
and 214. The logical screens 210, 212, and 214 are mapped to display screens
220, 222,
and 224 through a mapping block 230.
In detail, the logical screens 210 and 212 are mapped to the display screen
220, the
logical screens 212 and 214 are mapped to the display screen 222, and the
logical screens
210, 212, and 214 are mapped to the display screen 224.
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In short, at least one logical screen which displays a service is mapped to an
arbitrary area of a display screen by the mapping block 230.
The mapping block 230 is a group of various pieces of information needed for
mapping a logical screen to a display screen. Examples of the various pieces
of
information include coordinate information of a predetermined area on a
display screen to
which each of a plurality of logical screens is mapped, identification
information of the
logical screens and the display screen, and information specifying in what
order the
logical screens are displayed on the display screen. The mapping block 230 may
be
realized by interfaces or functions prepared by various computer program
languages to be
executed and create or change the relationship between the logical screen and
the display
screen by using the above information as parameters.
Further, services provided by various service sources may be displayed on a
display screen, and the display screen may be displayed on a physical display
device, as
illustrated in FIG. 10.
There are service sources which provide broadcast services such as a
terrestrial
broadcaster 320 and a cable broadcaster 330, service sources which provide
services
stored in a storage medium such as a personal video recorder (PVR) 340, and
service
sources (not illustrated in FIG. 10) which provide services via a wired
network or a
wireless network.
A broadcast receiver 310 receives services from the service sources and
produces
logical screens displaying each of the received services.
Then, an arbitrary service is directly set on the display screen to be
displayed on a
physical display device using a predefined method or a method set by a user or
an
application. Otherwise, at least one logical screen that is mapped to an
arbitrary area on
the display screen is displayed on a physical display device 350. In short,
services
provided by the terrestrial broadcaster 320, the cable broadcaster 330, and
the PVR are
displayed on the physical display device 350.
The terrestrial broadcaster 320, the cable broadcaster 330, and the PVR 340
are
illustrated in FIG. 10 as being service sources, but the present invention is
not limited to it.
Any type of multimedia content source which provides multimedia contents that
can be
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displayed together can be a service source according to an exemplary
embodiment of the
present invention.
Services according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention can be
classified into abstract services and non-abstract services, as illustrated in
FIGS. 11 and
12.
The abstract services are not services provided by broadcast signals
transmitted in
real time but services independent of broadcast channels. The abstract
services include
only data components, i.e., application programs, without video components and
audio
components. Examples of the abstract services include services having unbound
applications based on the open cable application platform (OCAP) standard.
The non-abstract services are understood as services other than abstract
services.
According to the current embodiment of the present invention, both abstract
services and non-abstract services have independency. For example, abstract
services
may be directly set on the physical display device not through logical screens
and
non-abstract services may be displayed on the logical screens. Then, the
logical screens
may be mapped to the display screen in which the abstract services are set.
Thereafter,
the display screen may be output through the physical display device. By doing
so, the
abstract services can be displayed on the display screen independently of the
non-abstract
services. In addition, the abstract services and non-abstract services may be
mapped to
different logical screens. Thereafter, the logical screens may be mapped to a
single
display screen. In other words, the abstract services can be displayed on the
display
screen independently of non-abstract services.
According to the current embodiment of the present invention, the logical
screen
and the display screen may be categorized as being different objects.
Alternatively, a
screen may serve as a logic screen or a display screen according to attribute
information
of one screen object.
In detail, if screen object attributes corresponding to the characteristics of
a logical
screen has a predefined value and other screen object attributes have fixed
values, a
screen object may serve as a logical screen. On the other hand, if screen
object attributes
corresponding to the characteristics of a display screen have predefined
values and other
screen object attributes have fixed values, a screen object may serve as a
display screen.
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Further, the applications include an unbound application and a service bound
application. Since the unbound application has a high priority, the resource
therefor is
smoothly allocated. A monitor application corresponds to a specific unbound
application that has the highest priority.
The service bound application is associated to a transport stream, and allows
a
lower priority than that of the unbound application. The service bound
application does
not function as a critical system. When a competition for resources is
occurred, the
service bound application has a larger possibility of abandoning the resource
allocation
than the unbound application.
Application that is driven in an OCAP based terminal or a set-top box includes
an
electronic program guide (EPG), a video on demand (VOD), an application XYZ or
a
native application, etc.
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a process that two services are set on a
display
screen to be mapped to a single display screen.
Referring to FIG. 13, a first service includes all the three service
components, i.e.,
video, audio, and data components, and a second service includes only video
and audio
components. However, the present invention does not impose any restrictions on
service
components, and the first and second services illustrated in FIG. 13 are
exemplary.
As illustrated in FIG. 13, the first and second services are displayed on a
physical
display device in almost the same manner as in the related art. According to
the current
embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to display a plurality of
services on a
physical display device independently of one another without imposing any
restrictions on
the number of services that can be displayed on a single display screen.
On the other hand, data component includes application information regarding
the
application for the service, and the application information includes signal
information
indicating whether the application can be executed on the PiP screen. Examples
of the
application information include application information table (AIT) based on
MHP
standard and eXtended application information table (XAIT) based on OCAP
standard.
The signal information may be added to the application information.
According to the DVD-MHP standard, an application is subordinated to a
service,
and the lifecycle of the application is determined on the basis of a currently
selected
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service. On the contrary, an application according to the OCAP standard is not
subordinated to a service, and the lifecycle is further independent of the
signal
information.
Examples of the application include an application by host device
manufacturer,
5 an application that is signaled through an XAIT, and an application
registered through a
monitor application.
The OCAP terminal can manage the lifecycle of the bound or unbound application
by receiving the signal. Various types of signaling for executing the service
bound and
unbound applications are supported on the basis of the OCAP standard. Contents
of an
10 application database are created or renewed as a result of the signaling.
The application
database is a collective name of data that is managed by an application
manager, and the
application manager manages the lifecycle of the application using an
application
lifecycle API.
There are three types of application signaling, one is for service bound
application
and the others are for unbound application.
As described above, the signaling can be used to notify to the OCAP terminal
whether the multi-screens are supported. In detail, a broadcaster 600 provides
an
application to the OCAP terminal and notifies whether the currently provided
application
supports the multi-screens, by means of a signal. Therefore, the OCAP terminal
can
determine whether the currently provided application can be utilized, using
the received
signal. For example, it is possible to provide functions such as a screen
size, screen
position, pause, etc. to a user while providing the application on the logical
screen.
FIG. 14 illustrates application regions according to an embodiment of the
present
invention. Referring to FIG. 14, two application regions 910 and 920 are
arranged on a
screen 900.
More specifically, referring to FIG. 14, one or more application regions,
i.e., the
first and second application regions, may exist on the screen 900. Each of the
first and
second application regions 910 and 920 displays an application.
An application may be connected to only one application region. For example,
an application may be connected to only one of the first and second
application regions
910 and 920. An application region may display one or more application.
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In a personal computer (PC) or workstation environment where a window
manager exists, a frame consisting of a title and boundaries is managed by the
window
manager. However, it is difficult to manage such a frame in a system where no
window
manager exists.
An application region serves as a frame and can display an application without
a
requirement of a window manager. That is, an application can secure a certain
region on
a screen due to an application region.
An application region may be focused upon the request of a user or an
application.
An application region may be set in advance to be able to be focused upon the
request of a
user or an application. For example, an application region set to be able to
be focused
can be focused in response to a focus request command, whereas an application
region set
not to be able to be focused cannot be focused regardless of the focus request
command.
Even if an application region is set to be able to be focused, the application
region
may not be able to be focused if a monitor application does not allow the
focus of the
application region.
An application region may be interpreted as an instance `HScene' in a Java
environment. Information regarding the instance `HScene' may be managed by
various
methods included in a class object `HSceneManager'.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system providing
multiple
screens according to an exemplary embodiment of this invention. Referring to
FIG. 15,
the broadcaster 600 sends a signal to an OCAP terminal 700 (hereinafter,
referred to as a
multi-screen providing device).
In here, the broadcaster 600 sends a signal 650 including a flag indicating
whether
the multiple screens are supported while sending an application to the multi-
screen
providing device 700. Therefore, the multi-screen providing device 700
allocates an
additional logical screen for the supplied application and provides the
functions such as a
size, a position of the logical screen, or pause, etc.
The application can be signaled through an XAIT transferred through an MPEG
stream. In this case, the XAIT includes necessary information for creating
contents of
application data for the respective applications. For example, when receiving
a new
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XAIT, the multi-screen providing device 700 can renew the application database
using
information signaled for the application associated to a service selected by a
user.
In this case, the multi-screen providing device 700 varies the operations
depending
on the types of service, as follows:
a) when the application database does not have corresponding application in
the
application database, the multi-screen providing device 700 creates
application
information including information signaled by the XAIT;
b) even when the application data base has the corresponding application by
the
previous signaling, the signaling is no longer performed, the multi-screen
providing
device deletes the application from the application database;
c) when an application having the same version as in the application database
is
signaled, the multi-screen providing device 700 renew the application database
on the
basis of signaled application information;
d) when the application database includes an application, and a new
application
that is not related to active application instance is signaled, the multi-
screen providing
device 700 renews the application database on the basis of currently signaled
application
information; and
e) when the application database includes an application, and a new
application
that is related to active application instance is signaled, the multi-screen
providing device
700 completes a signaling process for the previous application or creates
application
instance that permits only an application that is being executed.
FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an apparatus for providing multiple screens
according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 16, an apparatus 700 for providing multiple screens includes
a
digital signal processing module 750, a service processing module 762, an
output module
764, and a user/application interface module 740.
Also, the apparatus 700 includes a broadcast signal reception module 710, a
storage medium 720, and an external input module 730 as service sources, and
includes a
physical display device 770, a storage medium 780, and an external output
module 790 as
service output media.
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The term 'module', as used herein, means, but is not limited to, a software or
hardware component, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or
Application
Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which performs certain tasks. A module may
advantageously be configured to reside on the addressable storage medium and
configured to execute on one or more processors. Thus, a module may include,
by way of
example, components, such as software components, object-oriented software
components, class components and task components, processes, functions,
attributes,
procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware,
microcode,
circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables.
The functionality
provided for in the components and modules may be combined into fewer
components
and modules or further separated into additional components and modules.
The digital signal processing module 750 receives various information of a
service
such as a multimedia content, e.g., video information, audio information, or
data
information, from the broadcast signal reception module 710, the storage
medium 720, or
the external input module 730.
The broadcast signal reception module 710 receives a satellite, terrestrial,
or cable
broadcast signal and transmits the received broadcast signal, the storage
medium 720
stores video information, audio information, or data information of a service,
and the
external input module 730 receives video information, audio information, or
data
information of a service from an external device such as a network interface
module
connected to a network.
The digital signal processing module 750 restores a plurality of services
using
received service components. The restored services include abstract or non-
abstract
services.
Here, the 'a plurality of services' refers to two or more services transmitted
by the
broadcast signal reception module 710 or two or more services respectively
transmitted
by the broadcast signal reception module 710 and the storage medium 720.
The digital signal processing module 750 may restore services according to
selection by a user or an application with the aid of the user/application
interface module
740. In this case, the user or the application may select the connection
between an
arbitrary service and a screen.
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Further, the digital signal processing module 750 confirms whether the
application
included in data information is executed on a screen in respect to the
received data
information. In this case, the digital signal processing module 750 confirms a
predetermined flag of the signal included in the data information and then
confirm
whether the execution is supported. The result is transmitted to an operation
module 760
and the user/application interface module 740.
For example, when the flag is 1, a control signal (first control signal)
indicating
that the execution on the screen is supported is transmitted. Otherwise, when
the flag is
0, a control signal (second control signal) indicating that the execution of
the screen is not
supported is transmitted.
The operation module 760 to which control signals have been transmitted varies
the operations on the basis of the type of the control signal. When the first
control signal
is transmitted thereto, the operation module 760 operates the application on
the screen.
When the second control signal is transmitted thereto, the operation module
760 does not
operate the application on the screen. In this case, the screen includes a PiP
screen and a
PoP screen.
The operation module 760 may map the logical screen to the display screen
after
operating the application on the logical screen, or directly operate the
application on the
display screen. For this purpose, the operation module 760 may include a
service
processing module 762 and an output module 764.
The service processing module 762 produces a logical screen and a display
screen
to display a service restored by the digital signal processing module 750. In
this case,
the logical screen may be a screen that is allocated for an application
performed on a
screen by being supported by signaling.
The output module 764 maps a plurality of logical screens produced by the
service
processing module 762 to the display screen. The mapping of the logical
screens to the
display screen may be conducted using a predefined method or a method set by
the user
with the aid of the user/application interface module 762. In detail, the user
can perform
of mapping for an application that supports multiscreens, in addition to video
or audio
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A service restored by the digital signal processing module 750 may not be
connected to a logical screen produced by the service processing module 762,
but directly
connected to a display screen to be output by the output module 764.
A display screen provided by the output module 764 may be displayed on the
5 physical display device 970 or may be stored in the storage medium 780.
Examples of
the storage medium 780 include computer readable floppy discs, hard discs, CD-
ROM.
DVD, DVD-ROM, BD(Blu-ray Disc), and semiconductor memories.
Also, a display screen provided by the output module 764 may be transmitted to
an external device connected to a network via the external output module 790.
10 For this, the output module 764 may include a plurality of output ports via
which a
display screen can be provided. In this case, a display screen can be provided
via an
output port set in advance as a default or an output port chosen by the user
with the aid of
the user/application interface module 740.
The user or the application can choose one of a plurality of services or
restore
15 desired services using the user/application interface module 740. Also, the
user can
choose one of a plurality of display screens using the user/application
interface module
740.
As described above, each application region may be set to be able to be
focused by
a user or an application. The digital signal processing module 750 may
determine
whether an application region on a screen where an application is displayd can
be focused
by referencing predetermined information regarding the application region, for
example, a
flag.
Then, the digital signal processing module 750 transmits a control signal
indicating whether the application region can be focused to the operational
module 760.
The operational module 760 operates an application in the application region
in response
to the control signal transmitted by the digital signal processing module 750.
The
operational module 760 may decide whether to focus the application region
according to
whether a focus allow command has been received and according to whether the
application region can be focused.
That is, the user/application interface module 740 receives a focus request
command regarding the application region from a user or an application. Then,
the
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digital signal processing module 750 issues a focus request regarding the
application
region to a monitor application in response to the focus request command
received by the
user/application interface module 740.
In order to issue the focus request, the digital signal processing module 750
may
call a method `requestHSceneFocus'. The method `requestHSceneFocus' is used to
issue a request for the focus of a certain application region (e.g.,
`HScene'). The method
`requestHSceneFocus' has an instance `HSceneBinding' as a parameter. A monitor
application can identify an application region to be focused by referencing
the instance.
`HSCeneBinding' of the method `requestHSceneFocus'.
A monitor application may decide whether to focus an application region by
referencing graphic resources and memory resources currently being used by the
multi-screen providing device 700. If the monitor application allows the focus
of an
application region, the monitor application transmits a focus allow command to
the
operational module 760. Then, the operational module 760 focuses the
application
region, i.e., disposes the application region on an uppermost layer on a
screen, in response
to the focus allow command. Once the focus of the application region is
allowed by the
monitor application, a focus allow event occurs. The focus allow event is
transmitted to
one or more applications currently being executed in the multi-screen
providing device
700.
The operational module 760 may determine whether an application region is set
to
be able to be focused before the focus of the application region. More
specifically, if an
application region is set to be able to be focused, the operational module 760
may dispose
the application region on an uppermost layer on a screen. On the other hand,
if the
application region is set not to be able to be focused, the operation module
760 may not
focus the application region.
In order to focus an application region, the operational module 760 may call a
method `focusChanged'. The method `focusChanged' has, as parameters, an
instance
`HSceneBinding' which is connected to an application region currently being
focused and
an instance `HSCeneBinding' which is connected to an application region to be
focused.
That is, when the method `focusChanged' is called, the focus of the
application region
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currently being focused is terminated, and then, the application region to be
focused
begins to be focused.
A null value may be input as a parameter of the method `requestHSceneFocus'.
In this case, it appears that there is no application region to be focused.
Therefore, an
application region currently being focused loses its focus, and no other
application region
is focused. That is, when a method `requestHSceneFocus' having a null value as
a
parameter is called, there is no application region currently being focused on
a screen.
Since the modules illustrated in FIG. 16 are divided according to their
functions, it
is possible to be connected to the other modules.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamically configuring
multiple
screens according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
In general, video information, audio information, and data information
constituting a multimedia content are transmitted in a predetermined format,
for example,
an MPEG stream format. In operation S810, an apparatus for providing a service
such
as a multimedia content service receives video information, audio information,
and data
information and restores a service based on the video information, the audio
information,
and the data information. Here, the service restored in operation S810 may be
selected
or previously determined by a user or an application. The user may use a menu
displayed on the display device 770 or a remote controller to select the
connections
between an arbitrary screen and a screen. The application may select the
connections
using an API.
In operation S820, The multi-screen providing device 700 confirms that the
application included in the data information is executed on the screen on the
basis of the
received data information while receiving the multimedia contents.
The confirmed result is output through the user/application interface module
740.
In operation 830, when a signal included in the data information includes a
flag that the
multi-screen is supported, the user/application interface module 740 can
provide a control
function for the application (for example, allocation of the logical screen
and control of
the screen size) to a user.
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Further, the multi-screen providing device 700 manages the lifecycle of the
application using a signa1650 that is continuously received. When the signal
is not
received, the multi-screen providing device 700 completes the application.
In operation S840, the multi-screen providing device 700 sets the restored
service
to be displayed on the logical screen according to the exemplary embodiment
after
confirming the signaling. Further, in operation S850, the logical screen is
mapped to a
display screen according to the exemplary embodiment. In this case, the user
can
allocate the supplied application to a logical screen and input the size and
position of the
screen. Therefore, the multi-screen providing device 700 can map the logical
screen to
the display screen according to the input content by the user.
The restored service is illustrated in FIG. 17 as being displayed on a
physical
display device via a logical screen. However, the restored service may be
directly
displayed on a physical display device without passing through the logical
screen.
When the user selects the PiP service, the PiP service is realized in two
modes.
In the first mode, only video component for PiP service selected on the main
screen is
provided without creating a separate logical screen for PiP service, that is,
PiP screen. In
the second mode, a separate logical screen for PiP service is created to
provide the PiP
service selected on the created PiP screen.
FIG. 17 illustrates a method of mapping only one service to a display screen
for
simplicity. However, a plurality of services may be mapped to a display screen
with or
without passing through a plurality of logical screens.
When a physical display device 770 is provided to the user in this manner, the
user
can perform a plurality of services.
FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the focus of an application region
according to
an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 18, in operation S
1010, the
user/application interface module 740 receives a focus request command
regarding
whether to focus an application region from a user or an application.
The digital signal processing module 750 transmits the focus request command
to
a monitor application.
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In operation S 1020, the monitor application decides whether to focus the
application region by referencing resources currently being used by the multi-
screen
providing device 700.
In operation S 1030, if the monitor application allows the focus of the
application
in operation S 1020, a focus allow command is transmitted to the operational
module 760,
and the operational module 760 focuses the application region.
The operation module 760 may determine whether the application region can be
focused before the focus of the application region.
While the present invention has been particularly illustrated and described
with
reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of
ordinary
skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein
without
departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the
following
claims. Therefore, it is to be understood that the above-described embodiments
have been
provided only in a descriptive sense and will not be construed as placing any
limitation on
the scope of the invention.
Industrial Applicability
According to the apparatus for providing multiple screens and a method of
dynamically configuring the multiple screens of the present invention, a user
or an
application can focus or terminate the focus the application region by
controlling the
focus of a selected region after receiving a focus request regarding a region
displaying the
application on the screen.
