Controlling device and method for controlling an apparatus

1. A controlling device that controls an apparatus, the controlling device comprising:

obtaining means for obtaining, from the apparatus, a content-list including a list of content available from the apparatus;

selecting means for selecting, from the apparatus for playback, a content from the content-list, and for selecting, from the apparatus, a display device, from a plurality of display devices other than a display device of the controlling device, to transmit the selected content to, wherein the obtaining means obtains image data of an image corresponding to the selected content from the apparatus; and

display means for displaying the image from the obtained image data on the controlling device, wherein

the display means simultaneously displays the image from the obtained image data together with a second image from a second obtained image data corresponding to a second content selected to be transmitted to a second selected display device of the plurality of display devices, and

the display means displays the image and the second image together with corresponding information identifying the selected display device and the second selected display device.

2. The controlling device according to claim 1 , wherein the obtained image data contains meta-information of the selected content.

3. The controlling device according to claim 1 , wherein the content-list also includes a status of the content.

4. The controlling device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of display devices is networked to the apparatus and each of the plurality of display devices includes a display screen to playback and display the selected content.

5. The controlling device according to claim 1 , wherein the display means displays the image from the obtained image data on the controlling device while the selected content is displayed on the selected display device.

6. The controlling device according to claim 5 , wherein the image displayed by the display means is a thumbnail image that is periodically updated to correspond to a portion of the selected content currently being displayed on the selected display device.

7. The controlling device according to claim 6 , wherein a period for updating the thumbnail image is set by a user.

8. The controlling device according to claim 6 , wherein a period for updating the thumbnail image is able to be set to a time between 30 seconds to 10 minutes.

9. The controlling device according to claim 5 , wherein the image displayed by the display means is an animation of a plurality of thumbnail images saved in a single file to provide a pseudo moving image corresponding to the selected content being displayed on the selected display device.

10. The controlling device according to claim 1 , wherein the display means displays the image and the second image together with corresponding information identifying a name of the selected content and a name the second selected content.

11. The controlling device according to claim 1 , wherein the controlling device is a hand-held remote controller comprising:

a wireless network controller configured to transmit and receive data across a local area network, the data including the content-list obtained by the obtaining means and instructions corresponding to the selecting of the content and the selecting of the display device by the selecting means,

wherein the apparatus and the plurality of display devices are connected to the local area network.

12. A method of controlling with a controlling device that controls an apparatus, the method comprising:

obtaining, from the apparatus, a content-list including a list of content available from the apparatus;

selecting, from the apparatus for playback, a content from the content-list, and selecting, from the apparatus, a display device, from a plurality of display devices other than a display device of the controlling device, to transmit the selected content to, wherein the obtaining includes obtaining image data of an image corresponding to the selected content from the apparatus; and

displaying the image from the obtained image data on the controlling device including:

simultaneously displaying the image from the obtained image data together with a second image from a second obtained image data corresponding to a second content selected to be transmitted to a second selected display device of the plurality of display devices, and

displaying the image and the second image together with corresponding information identifying the selected display device and the second selected display device.

13. A computer readable medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of controlling with a controlling device that controls an apparatus, the method comprising:

obtaining, from the apparatus, a content-list including a list of content available from the apparatus;

selecting, from the apparatus for playback, a content from the content-list, and selecting, from the apparatus, a display device, from a plurality of display devices other than a display device of the controlling device, to transmit the selected content to, wherein the obtaining includes obtaining image data of an image corresponding to the selected content from the apparatus; and

displaying the image from the obtained image data on the controlling device, including:

simultaneously displaying the image from the obtained image data together with a second image from a second obtained image data corresponding to a second content selected to be transmitted to a second selected display device of the plurality of display devices, and

displaying the image and the second image together with corresponding information identifying the selected display device and the second selected display device.

14. A controlling device that controls an apparatus, the controlling device comprising:

an obtaining device configured to obtain, from the apparatus, a content-list including a list of content available from the apparatus;

a selecting device configured to select, from the apparatus for playback, a content from the content-list, and select, from the apparatus, a display device, from a plurality of display devices other than a display device of the controlling device, to transmit the selected content to, wherein the obtaining device is further configured to obtain image data of an image corresponding to the selected content from the apparatus; and

a display device configured to display the image from the obtained image data on the controlling device, wherein

the display device is configured to simultaneously display the image from the obtained image data together with a second image from a second obtained image data corresponding to a second content selected to be transmitted to a second selected display device of the plurality of display devices, and

the display device is configured to display the image and the second image together with corresponding information identifying the selected display device and the second selected display device.