JP2001333343A - Television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a television receiver with which a user can easily recognize the program rating information. SOLUTION: This television receiver receives and reproduces the TV broadcast signals including program rating information and is also provided with means 11, 13 and 16 which change the channel display colors according to the program rating levels set in response to the program rating information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiver, and more particularly to a television receiver utilizing program rating information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a television receiver has a VBI.
(Vertical blanking period) A VBI decoder for decoding a signal is provided so that program contents can be concealed (program blocking) according to a rating level set by a user (parent) based on program rating information obtained from the VBI decoder. Various proposals have been made.

[0003] Such a television receiver has a character generator, and outputs a channel display signal from the character generator in accordance with a user's channel selection operation to perform channel display on a screen.

[0004] In addition, according to the key operation of the user, the program rating information of the program being viewed by the user is displayed. A display signal of the rating information was output, and the program rating information was displayed on the screen.

[0005]

However, in the conventional television receiver, as described above, the program rating information is only used as a means for concealing the program, which is the original purpose.

Further, in the conventional television receiver, in order for the user to identify the program rating information, the user performs some operation and displays the program rating information on a screen. Was troublesome.

Further, in the conventional television receiver, when a user sequentially selects a channel, a channel on which a program is blocked is also selected, and a channel selection operation that is meaningless to a target user (child) is performed. there were.

An object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver that allows a user to easily recognize program rating information.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver having a function of sequentially selecting only channels that can be viewed by a user to be blocked by a program.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver having a function of utilizing program rating information in addition to the intended purpose by using program rating information.

[0011]

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.

The first means is a television receiver which receives and reproduces a television broadcast signal including program rating information, and comprises means for changing a channel display color according to a program rating level obtained from the program rating information. It is characterized by the following.

A second means for receiving and reproducing a television broadcast signal containing program rating information; a channel selecting means for sequentially selecting a channel for each channel by one action from a user interface; Channel determination means for determining a channel of a program to be concealed based on the program concealment level set by the channel selection means, wherein the channel selected by the channel selection means is determined by the channel determination means. When a channel of a program to be concealed is provided, means for skipping the channel is provided.

The third means is a television receiver having means for receiving and reproducing a television broadcast signal including program rating information having content information indicating the content of a program, and instruction means for instructing content information from a user interface. And a means for comparing the content information of the program rating information with the specified content information and searching for a channel corresponding to the specified content information.

[0015] A fourth means is that in any one of the first means to the third means, the program rating information is obtained by decoding a VBI signal transmitted using a line 21 of an NTSC signal. It is characterized by being able to be.

A fifth means is that in any one of the first to third means, the program rating information is obtained by decoding a content advisory descriptor of a TS signal MPEG-PSI. There is a feature.

The sixth means is adopted in the US terrestrial digital television broadcasting, and is ATSCA / 65-DocT3.
Means for receiving and playing back a television broadcast signal including program rating information obtained from DTV-PSIP EIT information defined in / S8, and displaying program information on a screen.
A television receiver having program information display means having a PG function, wherein the television receiver has means for displaying a list of programs having the same rating level for each program rating level in a table format based on the obtained program rating information and the EPG function. It is characterized by the following.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a television receiver according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 1, an intermediate frequency signal received by an antenna 1 and output from a tuner 2 is amplified by an intermediate frequency amplifier 3 and supplied to a video detector 4 to be detected. The video signal output from the video detector 4 is supplied to a matrix circuit 6 via a video amplification circuit 5. Also,
The carrier chrominance signal C output from the video amplification circuit 5 is supplied to a color reproduction circuit 7 to generate red and blue color difference signals.
The generated color difference signal is supplied to the matrix circuit 6.
From the matrix circuit 6, red, green, and blue color signals R, G, B
And the respective color signals R, G, B are supplied to one fixed terminal of each of the electronic switches 8R, 8G, 8B. The color signals R, G, and B output from the electronic switches 8R, 8G, and 8B are output from CRT drivers 9R and 9R, respectively.
G and 9B are supplied to CRT10.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a microcontroller for a television system having a microcomputer. The microcontroller 11 receives an infrared remote control signal of a remote commander 17 which is a user interface of the television receiver. The light receiving unit 12 is connected. Microcontroller 11
Performs decoding of a remote control signal, controls the tuner 2 and the entire television system, and responds to a user operation such as a channel selection operation.

The video signal output from the video detector 4 is passed through an LPF (low-pass filter) 15 to the VBI.
The data is supplied to the data slicer 16. The VBI data output from the VBI data slicer 16 is supplied to the microcontroller 11, which decodes the input VBI data and acquires program rating information. Since the decoding of the VBI data is a known technique, a detailed description is omitted.

The video signal output from the video detector 4 is supplied to a sync separation circuit 14, and the horizontal and vertical sync signals HD and VD output from the sync separation circuit 14 are
It is supplied to the character generator 13 as a reference synchronization signal. On the other hand, the microcontroller 11 determines the rating level of the currently broadcast and viewed program from the acquired program rating information, determines the color of the channel display corresponding to the rating level, controls the operation of the character generator 13, From the character generator 13, the color signals Rc, Gc, and B are used to perform channel display at the time of power-on, channel selection by a user operation, and switching of program rating information on the broadcast side.
c is inserted, and channel display is performed on the CRT 10 in a color indicating the program rating level for a specified time.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the appearance of the remote commander 17 shown in FIG.

The remote commander 17 has channel selection buttons 191, 192 and five content buttons 17FV, 17V, 17S, 17L, 17D indicating the contents of the program.
Buttons are provided.

Next, the processing in the microcontroller 11 to determine the channel display color from the rating level of the program rating information will be described.

Here, the MPAA Rating System, which is specified by the FCC in the United States and widely spread in the United States as a movie program rating system, is used.
(Hereinafter referred to as NPAA) as an example. MPA
In A, G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17, X,
Seven rating levels are defined in the order of Not Rated. In the invention of this embodiment, the channel display colors are assigned to the respective rating levels. For example, G is red, PG is magenta, PG
-13 is yellow, R is green, NC-17 is cyan, X is blue, N
“ot Rated” is white. Thus, for example, VBI
As a result of decoding the VBI data supplied via the data slicer 16 by the microcontroller 11, the rating level of the program currently broadcast and viewed is set to NC.
If it is determined to be −17, the microcontroller 11
Performs cyan channel display on the CRT 10 via the character generator 13. When the rating level is determined to be G, a red channel is displayed.

In the above description, the channel display color is changed according to the rating level. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other means may be used.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the channel display color is automatically changed according to the program rating level. Can be easily recognized. Therefore,
The user does not need to operate the remote commander in order to know the rating level of the program, and the program rating level can be easily confirmed.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The television receiver according to the present embodiment has a function (sequential channel selection) of sequentially selecting channels (one by one in reverse order) for each channel by one action of the user. VBI decoder that obtains program rating information by decoding a VBI signal transmitted by using V.21, and based on the program rating information obtained from the VBI decoder and the program concealment level set by the user, program concealment (program blocking). ). As described above, the program rating system uses the MPAA
Will be described as an example.

The receivable channels of this television receiver are ch1, ch2, ch3, ch4, ch5, c
h6 and ch7, and the rating level of the program on each channel is N /
A, ch2 is PG-13, ch3 is X, ch4 is N /
A and ch5 are R, ch6 is NC-17, and ch7 is G. The program blocking set by the user (parent) is at a level of R or more (three levels of R, NC-17, and X).
, The blocking is enabled (viewing disabled), and at other levels, the blocking is disabled (viewable).

In this television receiver, a user (child) operates a remote station 17 by sequentially selecting a channel.
When (192) is pressed once, the infrared remote control signal is received by the remote control light receiving unit 12, decoded by the microcontroller 11, and the microcontroller 11 controls the entire system from the coded remote control signal, and sequentially selects a station. Perform processing.

When the current channel is ch1, the microcontroller 11 sequentially selects ch2 as a channel. When ch2 is used, program blocking is disabled (rating level is PG-13). (Pressing of the channel selection button 191 of the remote commander sequentially) is completed. That is, ch2 is the viewing channel. Next, when the user (child) presses the sequential music selection button 191 of the remote commander 17 once, the current channel to be viewed is ch2, and thus the microcontroller 11 sequentially selects ch3 as a channel, but ch3 is a program. Since blocking is effective (the rating level is X), the microcontroller 11 automatically selects the next channel, that is, ch4. Since the program blocking is invalid for ch4 (the rating level is N / A), one user operation is completed on this channel. That is, ch3 is skipped and ch4 is selected as the viewing channel. Next, when the user (child) presses the sequential song selection button 191 of the remote commander once, the current viewing channel is ch4, so that the microcontroller 11 sequentially selects channel ch5, but ch5 is program blocking. Is valid (the rating level is R), the microcontroller 11 automatically selects the next channel, that is, ch6. Since the program blocking is effective for ch6 (the rating level is NC-17), the microcontroller 11 automatically sets the next channel, that is, c.
h7 is selected. In ch7, since the program blocking is invalid (the rating level is G), one user operation is completed in this channel. That is, ch5 and ch6 are skipped, and ch7 is selected as a viewing channel. Although the above-described sequential channel selection has been described with reference to the forward channel selection button 191 in the forward direction, the reverse channel selection is similarly processed by the sequential channel selection button 192. As described above, in the conventional television receiver, the user selects the sequential tuning button 191 or 192 of the remote commander 17.
When channels are sequentially selected by pressing, channels for program blocking (the above-described three channels, ch3, ch5, and ch6) are also selected. However, according to the present embodiment, program blocking is effective. Since the microcontroller 11 realizes a process of skipping a suitable channel, it is possible to sequentially select only channels meaningful to the user (child) who is a target of program blocking.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The television receiver according to the present embodiment has NT
It has a VBI decoder that obtains program rating information by decoding a VBI signal transmitted using the line 21 of the SC signal.
As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of content buttons 17FV, 17
V, 17S, 17L, and 17D, where the content button 17FV is a fantasy Vi.
olence, content button 17V is Violen
ce, content button 17S is Sexual Sit
uations, content button 17L is Adult
Language, Content Button 17D is Sex
7 shows a fully Suggestive Dialog.

As the program rating information system of the present embodiment, the program rating information includes content information indicating the content of the program. S. TV Parental Guide
Assume a rating system such as a line rating system.

Here, for example, the receivable channels are ch1, ch2, ch3, ch4, ch5, ch6, c
h7 are 7 channels, and the rating level (including the content flag) of the program in each channel is Not Rated for ch1 and TV-level for ch2.
14-VS, ch3 is TV-Y7-FV, ch4 is No
t Rated, ch5 is TV-MA-SLD, ch6
Is TV-PG-VD, and ch7 is TV-14-L.

In this television receiver, when the user presses one of the content buttons 17 of the remote commander 17 once, the infrared remote control signal is received by the remote control light receiving section 12 and decoded by the microcontroller 11. The microcontroller 11 controls the entire system from the decoded remote control signal, and performs a search channel selection for content search. In the search channel selection processing, channel selection is sequentially started from the current channel, and it is determined whether or not a flag corresponding to the content button 17 is included in the rating information of the program for each channel. If the content rating corresponding to the pressed content button 17 is included in the program rating information of the target channel, the search channel is completed in that channel. If the content rating corresponding to the pressed content button 17 is not included in the program rating information of the channel, the next channel is selected.
Continue search selection.

More specifically, if the user presses the content button 17S once while the current channel is ch1, the microcontroller 11 selects ch2 as a search channel. Since the content flag S includes the content flag S, the channel is completed by one user operation (only pressing the content button 17S of the remote commander 11). That is, ch2 is the viewing channel. Next, when the user presses the content button 17V once, since the current channel is ch2, the microcontroller 11 selects ch3 as a search channel. The content rating V is included in the program rating information of ch3. Since it is not set, the microcontroller 11 automatically selects the next channel, that is, ch4. Since the content flag V is not included in the program rating information of ch4, the microcontroller 11 automatically selects the next channel, that is, ch5. Since the content flag V is not included in the program rating information of ch5,
The microcontroller 11 automatically switches to the next channel,
That is, ch6 is selected. Since the content rating V is included in the program rating information of ch6, one user operation of this channel (only pressing the content button 17V of the remote commander 11) is completed. That is, c
h3, ch4, and ch5 are skipped, and ch6 is selected as a viewing channel.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the search channel selection is performed while determining that the content flag corresponding to the content button 17 pressed by the user is included in the program rating information of the selected channel. Is performed by the microcontroller 11, so that the channel of the content designated by the user can be easily searched.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the television receiver according to this embodiment.

The television receiver of the present embodiment has a first
The difference is that the television receivers of the third to third embodiments are analog television receivers of the NTSC system, but are digital television receivers of the TS system. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. 1 correspond to substantially the same configuration.

In the figure, reference numeral 24 denotes a microcontroller for a television system having a microcomputer. The microcontroller 24 decodes a remote control signal, and controls the tuner 2 and the other entire television system. Control and respond to user operations such as channel selection.

In this television receiver, according to the channel selected by the user, the microcontroller 2
4 controls the tuner 2 to select a station. The MPEG transport stream output from tuner 2 is an MPE
The data of the selected program input to the G demultiplexer 20 is supplied to the A / V decoder 21. The digital video signal decoded by the A / V decoder 21 is input to the digital-analog converter 22, and the digital video signal is converted into an analog video signal via the digital-analog converter 22, and the analog video signal is converted. CR
It is supplied to T10. Reference numeral 23 denotes a character generator for generating a character when a channel is displayed on the CRT 10. The operation of the character generator 23 is controlled by a microcontroller 24. When the program rating information on the side is switched, character data for displaying a channel is sent to the A / V decoder 21, mixed with the video data by the A / V decoder 21, and the mixed digital video signal is subjected to digital-analog conversion. Is converted to an analog video signal via the device 22, and the analog video signal is
T10 is supplied.

The TS signal MPEG-PS is sent from the MPEG demultiplexer 20 to the microcontroller 24.
An I content advisory descriptor is sent. The microcontroller 24 can obtain the program rating information included in the content advisory descriptor.

In the television receiver of the present embodiment, the processing in the microcontroller 24 to determine the channel display color from the rating level of the program rating information is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment. Is omitted.

Also, in the television receiver of the present embodiment, the process of skipping channels for which program blocking is effective is substantially the same as in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the television receiver of this embodiment, the content button 17 is depressed by the user.
The process of performing search selection while determining that the content flag corresponding to the selected channel is included in the program rating information of the selected channel is substantially the same as in the third embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The television receiver of the present embodiment is adopted in the US terrestrial digital television broadcasting,
DTV defined in A / 65-DocT3 / S8
-PSIP (Digital Television-
Program and System Inform
EIT (Event)
DTV-PSI for obtaining future program rating information included in Information Table) information
EPG that has a P decoder and displays program information on the screen
(Event Program Guide). The television receiver has a function substantially corresponding to the television receiver shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, DTV-PSIP information decoded by the MPEG demultiplexer 20 is sent to the microcontroller 24. The microcontroller 24 has a DTV-PSIP decoder for obtaining future program rating information included in the EIT information, and displays a program of the same rating level in a table format for each program rating level based on this information. Has a function of creating list data for use. The created list data is converted into OSD data to be displayed on the screen, supplied to the A / V decoder 21 via the character generator 23, and displayed on the CRT 10 as a program table for each rating level.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a program table for each program rating level displayed on the CRT 10.

In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes a screen of the CRT 10,
31 is a cursor indicating the current program, 32 and 33 are screen 3
This is a GUI of a horizontal scroll bar and a vertical scroll bar in consideration of the fact that the list cannot be accommodated in 0. Each program is assigned to each rating level (for example, Not Data
ted, TV-Y, TV-Y1, TV-G), and 34 rating level titles indicate the rating levels of the programs arranged in that row. The arrangement order of the lines may be the order of the start time of the program, the order of the name of the program, or the like. The user selects a program by moving the cursor 31 on the screen, for example, by operating a cursor button of a remote commander.

As described above, according to the television receiver of the present embodiment, the user can easily recognize the rating level of each program from the program table for each program rating level.

[0057]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the channel display color indicates the program rating level, the user can easily identify the program rating level which is currently being broadcast and viewed by the channel display color. This eliminates the need to display the program rating level by performing operations such as a remote commander.

According to the invention described in claim 2 of the present application, it is possible to skip a channel that cannot be viewed by a user (child) to be subject to program blocking. Selection is not performed, and a comfortable sequential tuning operation can be performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, by using the content information included in the program rating information, the user can select a channel for each content, and can select a program of the content desired by the user. You can tune quickly.

According to the fourth or fifth aspect of the present invention, the effects of the first to third aspects can be obtained irrespective of the television system of the NTSC system or the TS system. Can be.

According to the invention described in claim 6 of the present application, a program table can be created for each program rating level, so that the user can easily recognize the rating level for each program and use this program table. The user can also perform a channel selection operation, a program reservation operation, and the like, and provide a new program selection method to the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a television receiver according to first to third embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an appearance of a remote commander 17 according to the first to fifth embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a television receiver according to fourth and fifth embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a C of the television receiver according to the fifth embodiment.
It is a figure showing an example of a program table for every program rating level displayed on RT10.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 antenna 2 tuner 3 intermediate frequency amplifier 4 video detector 5 video amplifier circuit 6 matrix circuit 7 color reproduction circuit 8R, 8G, 8B electronic switch 9R, 9G, 9B CRT driver 10 CRT 11, 24 microcontroller 12 remote control light receiving unit 13, 23 Character Generator 14 Sync Separation Circuit 15 LPF 16 VBI Data Slicer 17 Remote Commander 18 Content Button 191, 192 Sequential Tuning Button 20 MPEG Demultiplexer 21 A / V Decoder 22 Digital-Analog Converter 30 CRT Screen 31 Cursor 32 Horizontal Scroll Bar 33 Vertical scroll bar 34 Rating level

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 7/035 7/08 7/081

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A television receiver for receiving and reproducing a television broadcast signal including program rating information, comprising: means for changing a channel display color in accordance with a program rating level obtained from the program rating information. Television receiver. 2. A means for receiving and reproducing a television broadcast signal including program rating information, a channel selecting means for sequentially selecting channels for each channel by one action from a user interface, and a program selected by the program rating information and a user. A channel determining means for determining a channel of a program to be concealed based on a program concealing level, wherein the channel selected by the channel selecting means is a program to be concealed by the channel determining means. A television receiver comprising means for skipping a channel when the channel is a channel. 3. A television receiver comprising: means for receiving and reproducing a television broadcast signal including program rating information having content information indicating the content of a program; and instruction means for instructing content information from a user interface. A television receiver comprising: means for comparing content information of rating information with the specified content information and searching for a channel corresponding to the specified content information. 4. The program rating information includes NTSC
2. A VBI signal obtained by decoding a VBI signal transmitted using a signal line 21.
The television receiver according to claim 1. 5. The program rating information according to claim 1, wherein the program rating information is obtained by decoding a content advisory descriptor of a TS signal MPEG-PSI. Television receiver. 6. A means for receiving / reproducing a television broadcast signal which is employed in US terrestrial digital television broadcasting and includes program rating information obtained from DTV-PSIP EIT information defined in ATSCA / 65-DocT3 / S8. And a program information display means having an EPG function for displaying program information on a screen, wherein a program having the same rating level is provided for each program rating level based on the acquired program rating information and the EPG function. A television receiver comprising means for displaying a list in a table format.