JP5092297B2 - Image display device, host device, image display system, control method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display system including an image display device that displays an image and a host device that communicates with the device.

  As a portable image display device, for example, a tablet-type computer such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) is well known, but recently, a so-called specialized image display function using a cholesteric liquid crystal or the like is used. What is called electronic paper is also newly developed (see Patent Document 1). These image display devices are often used in pairs with a host device such as a personal computer. For example, when displaying an image on this type of image display device, the user first connects the host device and the image display device with a communication line such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable, and the image data in the host device is transferred to the USB device. Transfer to image display device via cable. Next, the user removes the USB cable from the image display device, designates any of a plurality of image data stored in the image display device, and causes the image display device to display an image based on the image data.

Generally, when a host device and an image display device are connected by a USB cable, all operations of the image display device are controlled by the host device, and operations on the image display device are completely prohibited. The reason for this is that if the user's free operation is permitted on both the host device and the image display device while being connected by the USB cable, the content of the image data will not match between the two devices. This is because problems are likely to occur. Therefore, as described above, when the user wants to display an image desired by the user, the connection between the host device and the image display device is released by once disconnecting the USB cable from the image display device, and then the image display device is operated. You must follow the procedure. It is known that the problem that the operation is complicated as described above also occurs, for example, when a digital camera and a printer are connected by a USB cable. In view of this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-228867 proposes a mechanism for freely operating the digital camera side after confirming that image data has been transferred from the digital camera to the printer.
JP 2005-208343 A JP 2006-94376 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and even when the image display apparatus and the host apparatus are communicably connected, the user can instruct processing on image data in the image display apparatus. The aim is to provide a possible environment.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image display device that communicates with a host device via a communication path connected to the host device, and is assigned to the image data and the image data. In response to a request from the host device via the communication path, a storage unit that stores the image identification information in association with each other, a display unit that displays an image based on the image data stored in the storage unit The image identification information assigned to the image data of the image displayed by the display means is read from the storage means and notified to the host device via the communication path, and to the image display device The operation means for accepting the operation for designating the process and the operation prohibition period notified from the host device are designated by the operation accepted by the operation means. A process of executing the process instructed from the host device via the communication path without executing the process, and notifying the host apparatus of the completion of the process via the communication path when the process is completed. And an image display device.
According to the present invention, even when the image display device and the host device are communicably connected, the user can instruct the image display device to process the image data during a period other than the operation prohibition period. It becomes. The communication path is a communication path for performing communication according to the USB standard, for example.

The processing means is notified of the start of an operation prohibition period for prohibiting processing designated by a user operation from the host device, and deletes or updates image data of an image displayed on the display means, and When it is instructed to display a menu image for guiding the user to designate the image data to be displayed on the display means, the instructed image data is deleted or updated during the operation prohibition period. It is desirable to display the menu image reflecting the state after the deletion or update .

The present invention also relates to a communication path connected between an image display device that stores image data and image identification information assigned to the image data in association with each other and displays an image based on the image data. A host device that communicates with the image display device via an operation unit that accepts an operation for designating processing for the host device, and any one of image data stored in the image display device When an operation for instructing deletion or update is accepted by the operation means, request means for requesting image identification information assigned to image data of an image displayed on the image display device, and the image in response to the request Determining means for determining whether the image identification information notified from the display device is the image identification information of the image data to be deleted or updated; The image display device is notified of the start of the operation prohibition period for prohibiting the process specified by the operation, and the image display device is instructed to delete or update the image data, and is displayed on the image display device. When the determination unit determines that the image being deleted is an image to be deleted or updated, the image display means that a predetermined image different from the image displayed on the image display device is displayed. A host comprising: instruction means for instructing the apparatus; and notification means for notifying the image display apparatus of the end of the operation prohibition period when processing completion is notified from the image display apparatus Providing equipment.
According to the present invention, even when the image display device and the host device are communicably connected, the user can instruct the image display device to process the image data during a period other than the operation prohibition period. It becomes. The communication path is a communication path for performing communication according to the USB standard, for example.

The image processing apparatus further includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a list of image data stored in the image display device from the image display device, and the request unit specifies any image data in the list acquired by the acquisition unit. When an operation for deleting or updating the image data is accepted by the operation means, the image identification information assigned to the image data of the image displayed on the image display device may be requested.
As a result, the host device is provided with a list of image data stored in the storage unit of the image display device, and the user can instruct deletion or update with reference to this list. .

  The present invention further includes an image display device and a host device that performs communication via a communication path connected between the image display device, the image display device including image data and the image data. In response to a request from the host device via the communication path, a storage unit that stores the associated image identification information in association with each other, a display unit that displays an image based on the image data stored in the storage unit In response, the image identification information assigned to the image data of the image displayed by the display means is read from the storage means and notified to the host device via the communication path, and the image display apparatus First operation means for accepting an operation for designating a process, and an operation accepted by the first operation means for an operation prohibition period notified from the host device. Therefore, without executing the process specified by the host device, the host device executes the process instructed via the communication path, and when the process is finished, the completion of the process is confirmed via the communication path. Processing means for notifying to the host device, wherein the host device is one of second operation means for accepting an operation for designating processing to the host device, and any one of the image data stored in the image display device When an operation for instructing deletion or update is accepted by the second operation means, request means for requesting image identification information assigned to image data of an image displayed on the image display device, and responding to the request Determining means for determining whether the image identification information notified from the image display device is the image identification information of the image data to be deleted or updated; The start of the operation prohibition period is notified to the image display device, the image display device is instructed to be deleted or updated, and the image displayed on the image display device is to be deleted or updated. An instruction unit for instructing the image display device to display a predetermined image different from the image displayed on the image display device when the image is determined to be an image to be displayed by the determination unit; Provided is an image display system comprising notification means for notifying the end of the operation prohibition period to the image display device when the display device notifies the completion of processing.

  The present invention also includes an image display device that stores image data and displays an image represented by the image data, and a host device that performs communication via a communication path connected to the image display device. A control method in the image display system, the step of receiving an operation of deleting or updating any of the image data stored in the image display device, and an image displayed on the image display device Determining whether the image is an image to be deleted or updated, and an operation prohibition period for prohibiting processing specified by a user operation from the host device to the image display device. The start is notified, the image display device is instructed to delete or update the image data, and the image displayed on the image display device is deleted or updated. Instructing the image display device from the host device to display a predetermined image different from the image displayed on the image display device, In the image display device, the processing of deleting or updating the image data and displaying the predetermined image is executed without executing the processing specified by the user operation over the operation prohibition period specified by the host device. When the processing is completed, the host device is notified of the completion of the processing. When the host device is notified of the completion of the processing, the image display device is notified of the completion of the processing. And a step of notifying the end of the operation prohibition period.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described.
(1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of an image display device 1 according to the present embodiment.
As shown in the figure, the image display device 1 has a housing plate-like rectangular parallelepiped shape. A memory liquid crystal display 15 and a key 22 are provided on the top surface of the housing, and a USB connector 19 is provided on the side surface. The storage liquid crystal display 15 is a display unit using, for example, cholesteric liquid crystal, and has a storage property that the same image can be continuously displayed even when power supply is stopped. The key 22 is an operation means operated by the user, and may include an operation device such as a pen device or a joystick in addition to the press-type key as illustrated. A host device such as a personal computer is connected to the USB connector 19 via a USB cable. The user may operate the key 22 to display a predetermined menu screen on the memory liquid crystal display 15 or display a desired image on the memory liquid crystal display 15 according to the guidance of the menu screen. it can.

Next, FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image display device 1 and the host device 2.
As shown in the figure, the image display device 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) 14, and a storage property. A liquid crystal display 15, a display control device 16, a power supply 17, a power supply control device 18, a USB connector 19, a USB controller 20, an I / O 21, a key 22, and a nonvolatile memory 23 are provided. . The CPU 11 reads out a control program stored in the ROM 12, develops it in the RAM 13, and executes a process shown in FIG. 5 to be described later according to a procedure described in the control program. The USB cable 24 has two signal lines, a power supply line, and a ground line covered with resin. When the USB cable 24 is attached to the USB connector 19, the image display apparatus 1 and the host apparatus 2 are connected to be communicable. The host device 2 stores a plurality of content data for displaying various contents as images. In the present embodiment, “content” composed of a plurality of pages is assumed as these contents.

  The USB controller 20 transmits and receives data to and from the USB controller 207 provided in the host device 2 while complying with the USB standard under the control of the CPU 11. When the USB controller 20 receives the content data transmitted from the host device 2 via the USB cable 24, the CPU 11 converts this into image data and stores it in the nonvolatile memory 23. At this time, the CPU 11 assigns an image ID (Identification: identification information) to each image data, and stores the image data and the image ID in association with each other. The non-volatile memory 23 is non-volatile storage means such as SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) or flash memory in which backup power is secured. The image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 23 is read by the CPU 11, converted into a bitmap format, written in the VRAM 14, and then supplied to the display control device 16. The display control device 16 controls the memory liquid crystal display 15 to display an image represented by the image data. The I / O 21 monitors the operation state of the key 22 and supplies a signal corresponding to the operation to the CPU 11 when the key 22 is operated by the user. The CPU 11 executes a process specified by the operation. The power source 17 is a rechargeable battery, for example. The power supply control device 18 performs various types of power management such as on / off control of the power supply 17 and monitoring of the remaining amount of power.

  On the other hand, the host device 2 includes a CPU 201, a ROM 202, a RAM 203, a storage device 204, a display device 205, a USB connector 206, a USB controller 207, and an operation device 208. The CPU 201 reads out various computer programs stored in the ROM 202 and the storage device 204, expands them in the RAM 203, and executes processing shown in FIG. 4 described later according to the procedure described in the programs. The USB controller 207 transmits and receives data to and from the USB controller 20 of the image display device 1 while following the USB standard under the control of the CPU 201. The storage device 204 is, for example, a hard disk, and stores a management application program for managing content data and a driver application program for controlling the image display device 1 in addition to content data provided to the image display device 1. The display device 205 is a display unit such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT display, and displays an image under an instruction from the CPU 201. The operation device 208 is an operation means such as a keyboard or a mouse. When the operation device 208 is operated by the user, a signal corresponding to the operation is supplied from the operation device 208 to the CPU 201. The CPU 201 executes processing designated by the operation.

Here, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of display contents by the image display device 1.
The operation modes of the image display device 1 include “content display mode” and “menu display mode”. The content display mode is an operation mode for displaying what is designated by the user from among the image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 23. The menu display mode is an operation mode for displaying a menu screen for guiding the user to specify an image to be displayed. Screens 31 and 32 shown in FIG. 3 are examples of display screens in the content display mode, and screens 30 and 33 are examples of display screens in the menu display mode. For example, when the user selects a menu item (file name) of “minutes” on the screen 30 in the menu display mode, the CPU 11 switches from the menu display mode to the content display mode and is selected as shown on the screen 31. The first page of the content with the file name “minutes” is displayed on the memory liquid crystal display 15.
The above is the configuration of the present embodiment.

(2) Operation of Embodiment FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by the CPU 201 of the host device 2. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process performed by the CPU 11 of the image display apparatus 1. FIG. 6 is a sequence chart showing an example of the operation of the entire system including the image display device 1 and the host device 2. The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to these drawings. When the image display device 1 and the host device 2 are physically connected by the USB cable 24, a predetermined signal such as “V-bus” is exchanged between these devices in accordance with the USB standard, and the two devices communicate with each other. Connected as possible. Then, the host device 2 starts the process shown in FIG.

  First, the CPU 201 of the host device 2 requests the image display device 1 for a list of image data stored in the image display device 1 (step S1). This request may be made when the image display device 1 and the host device 2 are connected to be communicable, or may be made in response to a predetermined operation by the user. The image list may be a list in which attribute information such as the file name, data size, and data generation date and time of image data is collected in a list format, or thumbnails obtained by reducing the images represented by the respective image data. It may be a plurality of thumbnail image data groups for displaying images. In any case, the image ID of each image is included in this list. When the host device 2 designates an image ID and a certain process is instructed, the host device 2 displays the image ID as an image display device. 1 is instructed to perform the specified processing. In the present embodiment, an example in which a plurality of thumbnail image data is used as a list of images will be described.

  When a plurality of thumbnail image data is transmitted from the image display device 1 via the USB cable 24 in response to the request (step S2; Yes), the CPU 201 executes a plurality of thumbnail image data based on the thumbnail image data. A thumbnail image is displayed on the display device 205 (step S3). When the CPU 201 accepts an operation by the user in a state where the thumbnail image is displayed (step S4; Yes), whether the operation is an instruction to designate one of the thumbnail images and delete the image. Alternatively, it is determined whether it is an instruction (step S5). Here, the operation not instructing to delete the image data is, for example, an operation of transferring new image data from the host apparatus 2 to the image display apparatus 1, or the host apparatus 2 itself or the image display apparatus 1. It is an operation for adjusting various operating conditions, or an operation for ending all processes. When such an operation is performed (step S5; No), the CPU 201 executes the process instructed by the operation, or performs the process instructed to the image display device 1. Notification may be made (step S6).

  On the other hand, when the operation accepted in step S4 is an instruction to delete the image data (step S5; Yes), the CPU 201 specifies the image ID of the image data to be deleted, and then displays the image. The device 1 is requested for the image ID of the image displayed by the device (step S7). Upon receiving the image ID transmitted from the image display device 1 in response to this request (step S8; Yes), the CPU 201 receives the image ID of the image instructed to be deleted in step S4. Whether or not (step S9). As a result of this determination, when the received image ID is the image ID of the image to be deleted (step S9; Yes), the CPU 201 notifies the image display device 1 of the start of the operation prohibition period. And instructing to delete the image data of the image ID by notifying the image ID of the image to be deleted (step S10).

  That is, the CPU 201 performs processing such as (a) notifying the start of the operation prohibition period, (b) instructing display of the menu screen, and (c) notifying the image ID of the image to be deleted and instructing deletion thereof. It is. Here, the “operation prohibition period” is a period during which processing corresponding to an operation accepted by the image display device 1 is prohibited, and is designated to the image display device 1 by the host device 2. When the CPU 11 of the image display apparatus 1 is notified of the start of the operation prohibition period, processing thereafter is instructed by the operation using the key 22 until the host apparatus 2 notifies the end of the operation prohibition period. Do not execute.

Here, the reason why the CPU 201 performs the notification or instruction as described above in (a), (b), and (c) will be described.
Consider the case where the screen 31 of FIG. 3 described above, that is, the first page of the content with the file name “minutes” in the content display mode is displayed. At this time, assuming that the image to be deleted is the content of the file name “minutes”, the image display device 1 deletes the image data displayed on the storage liquid crystal display 15 from the nonvolatile memory 23. Will do. However, since the storable liquid crystal display 15 has the storability as described above, the content can be continuously displayed as it is even after the image data is deleted. However, when the image displayed in this way is an image to be deleted, it is necessary to switch the display image to another image. This is because if the image that should have been deleted is displayed even though the image data has been deleted, the user may be misunderstood. For example, since the first page of the minutes is displayed on the screen 31, there may be a case where the user misunderstands that all image data of the minutes is stored in the image display device 1. It is done. Furthermore, even if the user attends the meeting with the image display device 1 with such a misunderstanding and tries to view the past minutes in the meeting, the second and subsequent pages cannot be viewed. Things are also expected. Such a situation is very inconvenient for the user.

  For the reasons described above, the host device 2 instructs the image display device 1 to display a menu screen. Furthermore, when deleting the image data stored in the image display device 1, if the user is allowed to perform a free operation during the deletion process, the deletion process in the image display device 1 is interrupted. There is a possibility that inconveniences such as image data mismatch between the two devices may occur. For this reason, the host apparatus 2 notifies the image display apparatus 1 of the start of the operation prohibition period.

Returning to the description of the operation in FIG.
When the CPU 201 receives a process end notification indicating that the process has ended from the image display device 1 (step S11 in FIG. 4; Yes), the CPU 201 notifies the image display device 1 of the end of the operation prohibition period ( Step S12). Then, the process of the CPU 201 returns to step S4 again.

In step S9, when the received image ID is not the image ID of the image to be deleted (step S9; No), the CPU 201 notifies the image display device 1 of the start of the operation prohibition period. At the same time, the image ID of the image data to be deleted is notified and the image data is instructed to be deleted (step S13). However, here, the CPU 201 does not instruct to display the menu screen. This is because the inconvenience as described above does not occur when the image to be deleted is different from the displayed image. When the CPU 201 receives a process end notification indicating that the process has ended from the image display device 1 (step S11; Yes), the CPU 201 notifies the image display device 1 of the end of the operation prohibition period (step S11). S12). Then, the process of the CPU 201 returns to step S4 again.
The operation of the host device 2 has been described above.

Next, the operation of the image display apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
As described above, when the image display apparatus 1 and the host apparatus 2 are communicably connected via the USB cable 24, the image display apparatus 1 starts the process shown in FIG. First, the CPU 11 of the image display device 1 determines whether data is received from the host device 2 via the USB cable 24 (step S21). If it is determined that data has been received (step S21; Yes), the CPU 11 determines the contents of the data (step S22). As a result of this determination, if the received data is a request for an image list (step S22; list request), the CPU 11 transmits thumbnail image data generated from the image data stored in the nonvolatile memory 23 to the host device 2. (Step S23). If it is a request for the image ID of the image displayed on the image display device 1 (step S22; request for image ID), the CPU 11 stores the image ID of the image displayed on the storage liquid crystal display 15 in a nonvolatile manner. The data is read from the memory 23 and transmitted to the host device 2 (step S24).

  If the received data includes an instruction to delete the image and a notification of the start of the operation prohibition period (step S22; image deletion), the CPU 11 further includes an instruction to display the menu screen in this data. It is determined whether or not it is (step S25). If an instruction to display the menu screen is included (step S25; Yes), the CPU 11 first prohibits the operation of the key 22 (step S26). That is, the CPU 11 does not execute the process instructed by the operation accepted by the key 22. Next, the CPU 11 deletes the image data to which the image ID notified from the host device 2 is assigned from the nonvolatile memory 23 (step S27). Further, the CPU 11 generates data for displaying the menu screen based on the file name of the image data stored in the non-volatile memory 23 after deletion, and displays the menu screen on the storage liquid crystal display 15. (Step S28). When the CPU 11 performs such processing, the image displayed on the memory-type liquid crystal display 15 changes from a content image such as the screen 31 in FIG. 3 to a menu screen such as the screen 33 in FIG. . The menu screen displayed at this time does not include the file name of the deleted image data (herein referred to as “minutes”). That is, this menu screen reflects the state after the image data is deleted.

  On the other hand, if the received data does not include an instruction to display the menu screen (step S25; No), the CPU 11 prohibits the operation of the key 22 (step S29), and the image ID notified from the host device 2 is displayed. Is deleted from the nonvolatile memory 23 (step S30). In this case, since the CPU 11 does not need to display the menu screen, the image displayed at that time is continuously displayed. That is, the screen 31 of FIG. 3 maintains the state as it is. That is, the same screen 32 as the screen 31 is displayed.

When the CPU 11 finishes executing the above-described processing, the CPU 11 transmits a processing end notification indicating that the processing has ended to the host device 2 (step S31). Then, the process of the CPU 11 returns to step S21. When it is determined in the next step S22 that the received data is the end of the operation prohibition period (step S22; period end notification), the CPU 11 releases the operation prohibition (step S32). That is, the state transits to a state where the process instructed by the operation accepted by the key 22 can be executed. When the received data is other than the above request or notification, the CPU 11 executes a process corresponding to the received data (step S33).
The above is the operation of the image display apparatus 1.

Next, an operation example of the entire system will be described with reference to FIG.
In the image display device 1, it is assumed that the “minutes” image like the screen 31 in FIG. 3 is displayed in the content display mode. At this time, the user can freely give an instruction to the image display device 1 by operating the key 22 of the image display device 1. In this state, when the image display apparatus 1 and the host apparatus 2 are connected (physically connected) by the USB cable 24 (step S101), V-bus signals and the like are exchanged between these apparatuses in accordance with the USB standard, and both apparatuses Are communicably connected to each other (step S102). First, the host device 2 requests thumbnail image data from the image display device 1 (step S103). In response to this request, the image display device 1 transmits a plurality of thumbnail image data together with the image ID of each image to the host device 2 (step S104). The host device 2 displays a list of thumbnail images on the display device 205 based on these thumbnail image data. Here, it is assumed that the user designates a thumbnail image with the file name “minutes” using the operation device 208 and instructs to delete the image data. In response to this operation, the host device 2 requests the image display device 1 for the image ID of the displayed image (step S105). In response to this request, the image display device 1 transmits the image ID of the image displayed on the memory liquid crystal display 15 to the host device 2 (step S106). Here, it is the image ID of the image data of the file name “minutes”.

  When receiving the image ID, the host device 2 determines whether it is the image ID of the image to be deleted. In this operation example, the two match, so the host device 2 notifies the image display device 1 of the start of the operation prohibition period, instructs display of the menu screen, and notifies the image ID of the image to be deleted. The deletion is instructed (step S107). The image display device 1 prohibits the operation of the key 22 and deletes the image data to which the image ID notified from the host device 2 is assigned from the nonvolatile memory 23. Furthermore, the image display device 1 displays a menu screen based on the file name of the image data stored in the non-volatile memory 23 after the deletion on the memory liquid crystal display 15. As a result, the image displayed on the storage liquid crystal display 15 changes from a content image such as the screen 31 in FIG. 3 to a menu screen such as the screen 33 in FIG.

  When the image display apparatus 1 finishes executing the above-described process, the image display apparatus 1 transmits a process end notification indicating that the process has ended to the host apparatus 2 (step S108). Upon receiving this processing end notification, the host device 2 notifies the image display device 1 of the end of the operation prohibition period (step S109). When the end of the operation prohibition period is notified, the image display device 1 cancels the operation prohibition and transitions to a state in which the operation is accepted. Thereafter, the user can freely give an instruction to the image display device 1 using the key 22 of the image display device 1.

According to the embodiment described above, even when the image display device 1 and the host device 2 are connected so as to be communicable, the user in the image display device during a period other than the operation prohibition period specified by the host device. Can instruct processing on image data.
Further, the host device 2 specifies an image displayed by the image display device 1 and determines whether or not the image matches the image to be deleted. If the result of this determination is that they match, a menu screen is displayed on the image display device 1. As a result, inconveniences such as image data mismatch between the image display device 1 and the host device 2 are eliminated. Furthermore, in this case, since the menu screen is displayed after deleting the image data, the user can also specify the image data to be displayed from the menu image immediately after the image data is deleted.

(3) Modifications The embodiment described above may be modified as follows.
In the above embodiment, when the image displayed by the image display device 1 matches the image to be deleted, the image displayed on the image display device 1 is the menu screen. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In short, a predetermined image different from the image displayed by the image display device 1 may be displayed. For example, a specific image determined in advance may be displayed, or an image having an image ID different from the image ID of the image to be deleted may be displayed.

  In the embodiment, the operation prohibition period is provided only when the image displayed on the image display device 1 is deleted, but may be applied when the content of the image data is updated. This is because even when the image data is updated, the displayed image and the image after the update are different in content, which causes a problem of misunderstanding by the user. That is, the present invention can be applied when image data is deleted or updated.

In the above embodiment, the image display apparatus 1 and the host apparatus 2 are connected by a communication path (USB cable) for performing communication according to the USB standard, but the communication path method is not limited to this. In short, as long as the communication path is used in such a form that one device and the other device are connected and the operation of the one device is controlled by the other device and the operation in the one device is prohibited, the present invention. Is applicable.
However, the use of USB has the following advantages.
Since the USB cable has a power supply line, power is supplied from the host apparatus 2 to the image display apparatus 1 via the USB cable. Therefore, as long as the host device 2 and the image display device 1 are connected by USB, the user can use the image display device 1 without worrying about running out of the battery. However, conventionally, when the host device 2 and the image display device 1 are connected with a USB cable, the operation of the image display device 1 is completely prohibited. Therefore, the image display device can be used without worrying about running out of the battery as described above. I could not enjoy the merit that I can use 1. On the other hand, according to the embodiment using the USB cable, it is possible to enjoy this merit.

  The image data is not limited to that stored in the nonvolatile memory 23 but may be stored in a portable storage medium that is detachable from the image display device 1. The image display apparatus of the present invention may be an apparatus that displays an image, and may be applied to a portable computer such as a PDA, in addition to a portable display such as an electronic paper. it can. The host device of the present invention may be a device that performs communication via a communication path connected to the image display device, and may be a desktop computer, a mobile computer, or the like. The control program executed by the CPU 11 and the application program executed by the CPU 201 are a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, an optical recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, a CD (Compact Disk), a DVD ( Digital Versatile Disk) and a recording medium such as a RAM can be provided.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a system from an image display apparatus and a host apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the image displayed on an image display apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which a host apparatus performs. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which an image display apparatus performs. It is a sequence chart which shows the operation example in the said system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image display apparatus, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... ROM, 13 ... RAM, 14 ... VRAM, 15 ... Memory | storage liquid crystal display body, 16 ... Display control apparatus, 17 ... Power supply, 18 ... Power supply control apparatus, 19 ... USB connector 20 ... USB controller, 21 ... I / O, 22 ... key, 23 ... nonvolatile memory, 24 ... USB cable, 2 ... host device, 201 ... CPU, 202 ... ROM, 203 ... RAM, 204 ... storage device, 205 ... display device, 206 ... USB connector, 207 ... USB controller, 208 ... operating device.

Claims (10)

An image display device that communicates with a host device via a communication path connected to the host device,
Storage means for storing image data and image identification information assigned to the image data in association with each other;
Display means for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the storage means;
In response to a request from the host device via the communication path, the image identification information assigned to the image data of the image displayed by the display unit is read from the storage unit, and the image is transmitted via the communication path. Notification means for notifying the host device;
An operation means for accepting an operation for designating processing for the image display device;
Over the operation prohibition period notified from the host device, the processing instructed by the host device via the communication path is executed without executing the processing specified by the operation received by the operating means, An image display device comprising: processing means for notifying the host device of completion of the processing via the communication path when the processing is completed. The processing means includes
The host device is notified of the start of an operation prohibition period for prohibiting a process designated by a user operation, and deletes or updates image data of an image displayed on the display unit and displays it on the display unit. When instructed to display a menu image for guiding the user to specify the image data to be
2. The image display according to claim 1 , wherein in the operation prohibited period, the instructed image data is deleted or updated, and the menu image reflecting the state after the deletion or update is displayed. apparatus.   The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication path is a communication path for performing communication according to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard. The image data and the image identification information assigned to the image data are stored in association with each other, and the image is transmitted via a communication path connected to an image display device that displays an image based on the image data. A host device that communicates with a display device,
An operation means for accepting an operation for designating processing to the host device;
When an operation to instruct deletion or update of any of the image data stored in the image display device is accepted by the operation means, the image assigned to the image data of the image displayed on the image display device Request means for requesting identification information;
Determining means for determining whether image identification information notified from the image display device in response to the request is image identification information of the image data to be deleted or updated;
The image display device is notified of the start of an operation prohibition period for prohibiting a process designated by a user operation, and the image display device is instructed to delete or update the image data, and is displayed on the image display device. When the determination unit determines that the image being displayed is an image to be deleted or updated, the image is displayed with a predetermined image different from the image displayed on the image display device. Instruction means for instructing the display device;
A host device comprising: notification means for notifying the end of the operation prohibition period to the image display device when the completion of processing is notified from the image display device. An acquisition means for acquiring a list of image data stored in the image display device from the image display device;
The request unit is displayed on the image display device when an operation for designating any image data in the list acquired by the acquisition unit and deleting or updating the image data is accepted by the operation unit. The host device according to claim 4, wherein the image identification information assigned to the image data of the image being received is requested.   The host device according to claim 4, wherein the communication path is a communication path for performing communication according to a USB standard. An image display device, and a host device that performs communication via a communication path connected between the image display device,
The image display device includes:
Storage means for storing image data and image identification information assigned to the image data in association with each other;
Display means for displaying an image based on the image data stored in the storage means;
In response to a request from the host device via the communication path, the image identification information assigned to the image data of the image displayed by the display unit is read from the storage unit, and the image is transmitted via the communication path. Notification means for notifying the host device;
First operating means for accepting an operation for designating processing for the image display device;
Over the operation prohibition period notified from the host device, the processing designated by the host device via the communication path is executed without executing the processing specified by the operation accepted by the first operation means. And processing means for notifying the host device of the completion of the processing via the communication path when the processing is completed.
The host device is
Second operation means for accepting an operation for designating processing to the host device;
When an operation for instructing deletion or update of any of the image data stored in the image display device is accepted by the second operation means, the image data is assigned to the image data of the image displayed on the image display device. Requesting means for requesting the received image identification information;
Determining means for determining whether image identification information notified from the image display device in response to the request is image identification information of the image data to be deleted or updated;
Notifying the image display device of the start of the operation prohibition period, instructing the image display device to delete or update the image data, and deleting the image displayed on the image display device An instruction means for instructing the image display apparatus to display a predetermined image different from the image displayed on the image display apparatus, when the determination means determines that the image is
An image display system comprising: notification means for notifying the end of the operation prohibition period to the image display device when the completion of processing is notified from the image display device. Control in an image display system that includes an image display device that stores image data and displays an image represented by the image data, and a host device that performs communication via a communication path connected to the image display device A method,
Receiving an operation of deleting or updating any of the image data stored in the image display device;
Identifying an image displayed on the image display device and determining whether the image is an image to be deleted or updated;
The host device notifies the image display device of the start of an operation prohibition period for prohibiting processing specified by a user operation, and instructs the image display device to delete or update the image data. In addition, when it is determined that the image displayed on the image display device is an image to be deleted or updated, a predetermined image different from the image displayed on the image display device is displayed. Instructing the image display device from the host device to:
In the image display device, the processing of deleting or updating the image data and displaying the predetermined image is performed without executing the processing specified by the user operation over the operation prohibition period specified by the host device. And executing the process, notifying the host device of the completion of the process,
And a step of notifying the image display device of the end of the operation prohibition period when the host device is notified of the completion of the processing from the image display device. To a computer that communicates with the host device via a communication path connected to the host device,
A storage function for storing image data and image identification information assigned to the image data in association with each other in a storage unit;
A display function for causing the display means to display an image based on the image data stored in the storage means;
In response to a request from the host device via the communication path, the image identification information assigned to the image data of the image displayed on the display unit is read from the storage unit, and the image identification information is transmitted via the communication path. A notification function for notifying the host device;
Over the operation prohibition period notified from the host device, the processing designated by the host device via the communication path is executed without executing the processing specified by the operation received by the operating means, A program for realizing a processing function of notifying the host device of the completion of the processing via the communication path when the processing is completed. The image data representing the image is stored in association with the image identification information assigned to the image data, and the image is displayed via a communication path connected to the image display device that displays the image represented by the image data. A computer that communicates with a display device,
When an operation for instructing deletion or update of any of the image data stored in the image display device is accepted by the operation means, the image assigned to the image data of the image displayed on the image display device A request function for requesting identification information;
A determination function for determining whether the image identification information notified from the image display device in response to the request is image identification information of the image data to be deleted or updated;
The image display device is notified of the start of an operation prohibition period for prohibiting a process designated by a user operation, and the image display device is instructed to delete or update the image data, and is displayed on the image display device. If the determination function determines that the displayed image is an image to be deleted or updated, the image is displayed with a predetermined image different from the image displayed on the image display device. A program for realizing an instruction function for instructing a display device, and a notification function for notifying the image display device of the end of the operation prohibition period when processing completion is notified from the image display device.

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