Other

Sony Corporation

Sony Electronics Inc

Atsushi Suzuki

Hisato Shima

Takuya Nishimura

Joseph I Saib

Methods for realizing advanced graphical user interface (GUI) in panel subunit. The present invention provides, in one embodiment, a button GUI element descriptor that defines a bitmap to be displayed when a button is out of focus and another bitmap to be displayed when the button is in focus. In another embodiment, the present invention provides a table GUI element descriptor that defines a table-like on screen display to be displayed on the contoller device. Another embodiment of the present invention provides a panel GUI element descriptor that includes a focused identifier attribute indicating a pre-determined element of the on-screen display as default focus. In this way, the target device would be able to control the default focus of the controller device when displaying an on-screen display. In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a text GUI element descriptor that includes a font style attribute that dictates whether the text GUI element should be displayed as bold, underlined and/or reversed. By using these extended elements in panel subunit, more complicated and advanced GUI, such as an electronic programming guide (EPG) can be achieved.

Extended elements and mechanisms for displaying a rich graphical user interface in panel subunit

A method and system for providing an exact image transfer and root panel list within the panel subunit graphical user interface mechanism of networked electronic devices. The exact image transfer mechanism allows a target device to send a networked controller device a bitmap image of the exact display required of the target device. By transferring an exact bitmap of what is to be displayed, the target device can guarantee that the display rendered by the controller will not be modified or altered. This is useful in cases where the display represents an electronic program guide (EPG) or other suitable display that should be displayed with a predetermined arrangement and should not be altered by the controller. This is also useful in cases where the controller does not have a robust processing capability and therefore merely displays the exact bitmap sent by the target. Focus navigation is communicated from the controller to the target which then can alter the bitmap to illustrate an updated focus. Command pass-through can be used to communicate the focus navigation commands to the target. A root panel list maintained by the target can also be used to inform the controller of the capabilities of the target. The entries of the root panel list can be bitmap type, element type or analog video type. A controller can more readily generate the root panel without requiring more information from the target device and without having to render the entire panel subunit descriptor information for instances when a controller having a reduced processing set is used.

Method and system for providing an exact image transfer and a root panel list within the panel subunit graphical user interface mechanism

A technique for converting displayable objects of a graphics user interface (GUI) display into a code representation with minimal user intervention. The technique includes creation of the GUI display and analysis of each displayable object when prompted by the user to convert to a code representation. The analysis features accessing parameters of each displayable object to produce an object data file, a color data file storing colors used by the displayable objects of the GUI display and a bitmap data file to contain bitmaps of logos or images featured in the GUI display. These data files are complied with an implementation file featuring a software library to generate an executable program having the code representation of the GUI display.

GUI resource editor for an embedded system

A command pass-through mechanism for allowing a set of pre-defined user command codes to be passed directly to the target device. By using the command pass-through mechanisms of the present invention, cumbersome control and manipulation of the user interface of the panel subunit can be avoided. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, commands that are not represented as control objects on the user interface can be easily communicated to the target device. Furthermore, Command pass-through can be used to communicate the focus navigation commands to the target. In this way, additional control flexibility is provided to the panel subunit. Further, command pass-through is also useful for communicating commands from specialized keys associated with the controller, such as dedicated remote control buttons (e.g., guide key, selection up, selection down, selection right, selection left, etc.). The command pass-through mechanism of the present invention may also be used in conjunction with an exact bitmap image transfer mechanism to create a more advanced graphical user interface for the panel subunit.

Command pass-through functionality in panel subunit

Methods for realizing advanced graphical user interface (GUI) in panel subunit. The present invention defines, in one embodiment, a focus in user action and a focus out user action for panel subunit. The focus in/out user actions, when received by a controller device, are then passed to the target device. When the target device receives the focus in/out user actions, the target device will be able to update the GUI appropriately. The present invention also provides a user action pass-through element for conditionally passing through user actions to the target device. In one embodiment, when a scroll button that is implemented with the user action pass-through element is in focus, focus navigation commands received by the controller are passed through to the target device. By using the focus in/out user actions and by using the conditional user action pass-through mechanisms of the present invention, more complicated and advanced GUI, such as an electronic programming guide (EPG) can be achieved.

Focus in/out actions and user action pass-through mechanism for panel subunit

The present invention relates to a home entertainment system and method for selectively recording or purchasing a show broadcast for receipt by the home entertainment system to perform selective recording or purchasing an electronic guide screen is initially produced. Upon viewing the electronic guide screen, a viewer may select a show to be entered into timer memory. This selection prompts the viewer to select whether or not to record the show. Thereafter, the programming data associated with the show is loaded into timer memory along with information indicating whether the show is scheduled to be recorded.

System and method for selection/deselection of timer recording

A system and methods that provide a simple, but effective, technique for generating aliased and anti-aliased fonts while minimizing both processor and memory requirements are described. For each character of a font, a source pixel representation of the character is generated and stored in memory. Preferrably, the pixels of each anti-aliased character are divided among at least three non-overlapping regions which provide a color/intensity transition between the character and the background to produce an anti-aliased effect. Three of the regions are identified as the foreground region, middle region and background region. To generate a character of the font on a display the source pixel representation of the character described by the three regions is referenced from memory. If the character is to be aliased the middle and background regions are coded to the background color and the foreground region is coded to the foreground color of the character. If the character is to be anti-aliased, the foreground, middle and background regions are coded, respectively, to the color of the character, a value to provide an anti-aliased effect, and the background color. Thus, memory requirements are minimal since only one version of a font is stored. In addition, processor overhead is minimized as the time consuming calculations to generate anti-aliased characters are avoided.

Displaying aliased and anti-aliased characters from a source font

A system and method for testing a system and method for testing a remote transmitter that controls a peripheral device and for updating control codes utilized by the remote transmitter. One embodiment of the system includes a peripheral device, a broadcast receiver such as an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) and a remote transmitter that receives signals from the IRD and generates control codes to the peripheral device to service a program event. The system supports automatic loading and updating of control codes used by the remote transmitter to control present and perhaps future peripheral devices. Likewise, the IRD supports testing of the remote transmitter through a testing screen.

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Atsushi Suzuki