JP2001024962A - Digital broadcasting receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily recognize the start of a program to be broadcasted on any channel except for a channel under viewing. SOLUTION: A program information processing part 5 processes a program information stream and outputs program information. A microcomputer part 8 judges the start of a prescribed program on any channel except for the channel received by a tuner part 2. When the start of the prescribed program is judged, a program update information generating part 7 generates an on-screen signal expressing program update information showing the start of the prescribed program. An on-screen synthesizing part 6 synthesizes a video signal outputted from a signal processing part 4 and the on-screen signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver for receiving a digital broadcast, and more particularly to a digital broadcast receiver capable of easily recognizing the start of a program other than the program being viewed (switching of a program in another channel). A digital broadcast receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In digital broadcasting, in addition to video information and audio information, additional information on channels and programs is also multiplexed and transmitted. The digital broadcast receiver has a function of displaying a list of channels and programs using the additional information and performing on-screen display generally called an electronic program guide. The user can make a selection of a program or a reservation for viewing by using information of the electronic program guide.

[0003]

In a conventional digital broadcast receiver, switching of a program broadcast on a channel other than the channel being viewed (start of a predetermined program).
Had to be confirmed by the information in the electronic program guide. Of course, if a program to be viewed on another channel is reserved, the program can be viewed without missing the program, but in that case, the program being viewed is switched to the reserved program. Become.

[0004] Some users may select whether to switch to a program on another channel or not depending on the content and development of the program currently being viewed. Therefore, there is a case where a user wants to know the start of a predetermined program in another channel while watching a certain program. The conventional digital broadcast receiver cannot satisfy such a demand.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiver capable of easily recognizing the start of a program broadcast on a channel other than the channel being viewed. Aim.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a tuner (2) for receiving a digital broadcast in which program information is multiplexed as additional information.
A demultiplexing unit (3) for separating a video information stream and a program information stream from a bit stream signal output from the tuner unit, and a video signal processing unit for processing the video information stream and outputting a video signal (4)
A digital broadcast receiver comprising: a program information processing unit (5) for processing the program information stream to output program information; and a control unit (8) for controlling a channel received by the tuner unit. A judging section (8) for judging the start of a predetermined program on a channel other than the channel being received by the tuner section; and when the judging section judges that the predetermined program starts, the predetermined program starts. A program update information generating unit (7) for generating an on-screen signal representing program update information to the effect of the effect, and an on-screen synthesizing unit (6) for synthesizing the video signal output from the video signal processing unit and the on-screen signal. And a digital broadcast receiver characterized by having the configuration described above.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of program update information displayed by the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of program update information presentation condition setting by the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a signal wave of digital broadcast coming from an antenna 1 is input to a tuner 2 and received. The tuner unit 2 demodulates a signal that has been modulated in a transmission process to generate a baseband bit stream signal. The bit stream signal output from the tuner 2 is input to the demultiplexer 3. Demultiplexing unit 3
Separates a specific video information stream or a specific program information stream from a plurality of programs (video information) or a bit stream signal in which the program information is multiplexed. In the case of a pay program, since the program is generally scrambled, the demultiplexing unit 3 also performs a descrambling process.

[0009] The video information stream output from the demultiplexing unit 3 is input to a video signal processing unit 4, and the program information stream output from the demultiplexing unit 3 is input to a program information processing unit 5. The video signal processing unit 4 processes the input video information stream to generate a video signal according to a display format. The program information processing section 5 processes the input program information stream. That is, program name, start time, end time and other additional information are extracted from the program information stream.

The video signal output from the video signal processing section 4 is input to an on-screen synthesis section 6. Various types of program information output from the program information processing unit 5 are input to the program update information generation unit 7. The program update information generation unit 7 further includes a microcomputer unit 8 based on various types of input program information.
, An on-screen signal representing predetermined program update information is generated and input to the on-screen synthesizing unit 6. The program update information will be described later in detail, but is information for notifying the user of a program change (start of a program) on a channel other than the channel being viewed.

The on-screen synthesizing unit 6 includes a video signal input from the video signal processing unit 4 and a program update information generating unit 7.
The program update information is combined with the input on-screen signal of the program update information and supplied to the display unit 11 as a combined video signal to be displayed on the display unit 11 such as a cathode ray tube.

Further, the microcomputer section 8 includes a ROM and an R
A memory unit 9 made of AM is connected. This ROM
Stores characters such as various characters, numerals, marks, and icons to be displayed in the program update information generated by the program update information generation unit 7. The RAM stores program information. The microcomputer unit 8 reads out the program information and characters stored in the memory unit 9 and supplies them to the program update information generation unit 7. The microcomputer unit 8 controls the tuner unit 2, the demultiplexing unit 3, and the program information processing unit 5.

An instruction signal from a user from an input unit 10 provided on a front panel of a remote control transmitter or a receiver body is input to a microcomputer unit 8. Under the control of the microcomputer section 8, the tuner section 2 generates a specific bit stream signal. Further, under the control of the microcomputer unit 8, the demultiplexing unit 3 separates a specific video information stream or a specific program information stream from the input bit stream signal. Thus, the microcomputer unit 8
It operates as a control section that controls each section of the circuit. The input unit 10 is also used when selecting a program, a channel, a genre, or the like for which program update information is to be displayed, as described later.

Here, an example of presentation of program update information and setting of presentation conditions by the digital broadcast receiver of the present invention will be described. The microcomputer unit 8 refers to the current time measured by the built-in clock and the program information stored in the memory unit 9 to switch the program on a channel other than the currently viewed channel (when a new program starts). Do) can be recognized. When recognizing that a new program starts, the microcomputer unit 8 controls the program update information generation unit 7 to generate an on-screen signal representing program update information for causing the user to recognize that a new program starts. Let it.

An on-screen signal representing the program update information generated by the program update information generation section 7 is input to the on-screen synthesis section 6, synthesized with the video signal of the program currently being viewed, and displayed on the display section 11. . FIGS. 2A and 2B show examples of on-screen signals of program update information. FIG.
As shown in (A), channel, program name, genre,
A program update information window 20 including information such as program contents is displayed at the end of the screen of the display unit 11. In this case, the program update information window 20 may be made translucent so that viewing of the currently viewed program is not hindered.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, a program update icon 21 indicating that a new program starts may be displayed. Further, instead of displaying all the information in one window as in the program update information window 20, the information is sequentially displayed in a smaller horizontally long program update information window 22 as shown in FIG. It may be displayed by scrolling. In FIG. 2B, both the program update icon 21 and the program update information window 22 are displayed for explanation, but either one may be used.

The program update information such as the program update information window 20, the program update icon 21, and the program update information window 22 may be displayed every time all programs on channels other than the currently viewed channel are switched. By doing so, the program update information is displayed on-screen even for a program that is not scheduled to be viewed, which is likely to be annoying. Therefore, as a more preferred embodiment, a program, a channel, a genre, or the like for which program update information is to be displayed is specified.

In order to display program update information only for a specific program, a program for which program update information is to be displayed may be specified by using, for example, a program guide by an electronic program guide. The designated program is stored in the memory unit 9. To display the program update information for a specific channel or genre, as shown in FIG.
0 or a selection window 31 for selecting a genre to be presented is displayed, and a channel or a genre is designated using a cursor key or an enter key provided in the input unit 10. In this case, both the channel and the genre may be specified, or only one of them may be specified. In FIG. 3, the hatched portions indicate the channels and genres specified to display the program update information.

The operation of displaying program update information according to the present invention will be further described with reference to FIG. In FIG.
In step S1, program information is acquired, and in step S2,
The current time is compared with the start time of the program whose program update information is to be displayed. In step S3, it is determined whether there is a program switch in another channel, that is, whether a program for which program update information is to be displayed starts. If there is a switch, program update information is displayed in step S4, and if there is no switch, the process returns to step S2.

As can be seen from the above description, in FIG. 1, the microcomputer unit 8 operates as a control unit for controlling the channels received by the tuner unit 2 and also controls the channels other than the channels received by the tuner unit 2. It also operates as a determination unit that determines the start of a predetermined program on a channel. The input unit 10 is a designation unit that designates at least one of a program, a channel, and a genre for displaying an on-screen signal of program update information.

Incidentally, the timing for displaying the program update information may be set appropriately. It may be a few minutes before the start of the program for which the program update information is to be displayed, or it may be immediately before. Alternatively, it may be displayed just at the time when the program starts. The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0022]

As described above in detail, the digital broadcast receiver according to the present invention comprises a judging section for judging the start of a predetermined program on a channel other than the channel being received by the tuner section, and this judging section. When it is determined that the predetermined program starts, a program update information generation unit that generates an on-screen signal indicating program update information indicating that the predetermined program starts, and a video signal output from the video signal processing unit and the on-screen signal. Since an on-screen synthesizing unit for synthesizing a signal is provided, the start of a program broadcast on a channel other than the channel being viewed can be easily recognized. Therefore, the user can prevent a program on another channel from being missed, and can select whether to switch to a program on another channel or not.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of program update information displayed according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of setting of presentation conditions of program update information according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 antenna 2 tuner section 3 demultiplexing section 4 video signal processing section 5 program information processing section 6 on-screen synthesis section 7 program update information generation section 8 microcomputer section (control section, judgment section) 9 memory section 10 input section (designation section) 11 Display

Claims (2)

[Claims] A tuner section for receiving a digital broadcast in which program information is multiplexed as additional information; a demultiplexing section for separating a video information stream and a program information stream from a bit stream signal output from the tuner section. ,
A video signal processing unit that processes the video information stream and outputs a video signal; a program information processing unit that processes the program information stream and outputs program information; and a control unit that controls a channel that is received by the tuner unit. A digital broadcast receiver comprising: a determining unit that determines the start of a predetermined program on a channel other than the channel being received by the tuner unit; and when the determining unit determines that the predetermined program starts. A program update information generation unit that generates an on-screen signal representing program update information indicating that the predetermined program starts, and an on-screen that combines the video signal output from the video signal processing unit with the on-screen signal A digital broadcast receiver comprising a synthesizing unit. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a designation unit for designating at least one of a program, a channel, and a genre for displaying the on-screen signal.
Digital broadcast receiver as described.