In recent years, household electrical appliances (described as “controlled device” hereinafter) controlled through a network have been available. Accordingly, a display device has been devised for controlling plural controlled devices connected to a network.
The display device includes a communication unit sending and receiving data, connected to a network; an information acquiring unit; a display unit displaying an operation screen; and an operation unit operating the operation screen displayed on the display unit. The information acquiring unit detects a controlled device connected to the network and acquires the device ID information, product category information, and URL (uniform resource locator) information of the controlled device detected. The information acquiring unit acquires an operation screen for operating the controlled device from the URL destination specified by the URL information.
With such configuration, the display device displays a controlled device list for each product category on its display unit, and further acquires from the URL destination an operation screen for operating a controlled device selected by the user from the list, to display the operation screen on its display unit. Then, the user operates the controlled device by using the operation screen. Such a display device is disclosed in patent literature 1, for example.
When the user operates a controlled device by using such a conventional display device, the user first selects a target controlled device from the controlled device list for each product category displayed on the display device. Next, the display device displays the URL information on the controlled device selected by the user. Then, the display device acquires an operation screen provided at the URL destination specified by the user and displays the operation screen. In other words, the user can learn function details (settings for viewing and operation) only after viewing the operation screen acquired from the URL destination. Accordingly, the user searches for a target controlled device from the product category list, for example, even if he or she simply desires to view a camera image. Then, the user needs to download an operation screen from the URL destination of the controlled device to check if an image is viewable, in each case. Consequently, a conventional display device places a heavy burden in operation on the user, requires long operation time, and makes it difficult to operate a controlled device.    [Patent literature 1] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2003-309884
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds