Electronic device and control method therein

A control method in an electronic device having a signal transmission section for transmitting a video signal to an external device in a differential signal via a transmission path over a plurality of channels, the method comprising:

• arranging a communication section for executing bidirectional communication using a predetermined line constituting said transmission path;
• receiving stream data received from said external device through said communication section, said stream data having been obtained by said broadcast reception section of said external device;
• executing image analysis on said received stream data;
• and
• controlling an operation of at least one of an operation of own electronic device and an operation of said external device on the basis of a result of analysis obtained by said image analysis section,
• wherein while a first channel is a reception channel of said broadcast reception section of said external device, said image analysis detects a start and an end of a commercial carried on the first channel based on said image analysis for the first channel, and said controlling step includes executing control such that a channel index screen is displayed on said external device during a duration of time between the start and the end of the commercial on the first channel to suppress display of commercials on the reception channel of said broadcast reception section of said external device, the index being a list or an index of channel images, and
• recording the received stream data to a predetermined recording media,
• wherein the image analysis includes executing one of ticker recognition and face recognition based on the image analysis, and the controlling step includes adding a result of one of the ticker recognition and the face recognition to the received stream data when the stream data is recorded.

An electronic device, comprising:

• signal transmission means for transmitting a video signal to an external device in a differential signal via a transmission path over a plurality of channels;
• communication means for executing bidirectional communication using a predetermined line constituting said transmission path;
• signal reception means for receiving stream data received from said external device through said communication means, said stream data having been obtained by a broadcast reception means of said external device;
• image analysis means for executing image analysis on said stream data received by said signal reception means;
• and
• control means for controlling an operation of at least one of own electronic device and said external device on the basis of a result of analysis obtained by said image analysis means,
• wherein while a first channel is a reception channel of said broadcast reception section of said external device, said image analysis means detects a start and an end of a commercial carried on the first channel based on said image analysis of the first channel, and said control means executes control such that a channel index screen is displayed on said external device during a duration of time between the start and the end of the commercial on the first channel to suppress display of commercials on the reception channel of said broadcast reception section of said external device, the index being a list or an index of channel images, and
• recording means for recording said stream data received by the signal reception means to a predetermined recording media,
• wherein the image analysis means executes one of ticker recognition and face recognition based on the image analysis, and the control means adds a result of one of the ticker recognition and the face recognition to the stream data received by said signal reception means when the stream data is recorded by the recording means.