JP2003023577A - Television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a TV receiver capable of realizing various kinds of additional functions in automatic tuning, in the TV receiver performing automatic tuning setting, when it moves across a plurality of broadcast areas. SOLUTION: The TV receiver 10 is provided with a TV tuner for selectively receiving broadcast signals, a position-detecting means 12 for detecting a present position of the TV receiver, a network-connecting means for connecting to a computer network information about each television broadcast transmitted from respective broadcast stations in a plurality of broadcast areas is distributed, and a control means for updating the setting of the TV tuner, on the basis of a result of detection by the means 12 and the broadcast information received via the means 14, when the TV receiver moves across the plurality of broadcast areas.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable television receiver such as an in-vehicle television or a portable television.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In terrestrial broadcasting, for example, different broadcasting stations are installed in respective areas such as Tokyo area, Shizuoka area, and Nagoya area, and broadcasting is performed by using signals of different frequencies in respective areas. There is. Therefore, when moving between these areas, it is necessary to readjust the tuner setting of the television receiver.

Conventionally, a portable television receiving device such as a vehicle-mounted television has a function of automatically updating tuner settings according to a destination broadcast station when moving across a plurality of broadcasting areas. There is something.

In addition, GPS (Global Positioning System)
Some proposals have been made to improve the automatic tuning function by using the position detection by m).

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-292097 discloses, as a first conventional example, tuner information of a corresponding area is read from a ROM by position detection by GPS.
A television receiver that automatically updates tuner settings based on that is disclosed.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-331266, as a second conventional example, in addition to a position detection function by GPS, detailed information such as tuning frequency, channel number and broadcast content information in each region is stored. With the storage medium, it is said that when the area is moved and automatic tuning is performed, the program of the same genre as the program received immediately before is automatically selected and broadcast. A broadcast receiving device having a function is disclosed.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-331717, as a third conventional example, a position detection function by GPS and a database storing broadcasting station information such as broadcasting station name, channel number and tuning frequency in each region are stored. With the provision of the above, there is disclosed a television receiving device having a function of assigning the same series of broadcast stations to the same channel number when the area is moved and automatic tuning is performed.

Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-53635, as a fourth conventional example, a function of receiving a data broadcast in digital terrestrial broadcasting and a position detecting function of GPS are combined, and an automatic tuning is performed by moving the area. When the program is performed, the program broadcast at each destination broadcast station is detected from the data broadcast, and the channel selection is transferred to the broadcast station that is broadcasting the same program as the program viewed immediately before. As a result, a receiving device capable of continuously watching the same program even if automatic tuning is performed is disclosed.

[0009]

However, in the above-mentioned first to third conventional examples, the information necessary for improving the function of automatic tuning is stored in the storage device such as the ROM, so that each region is stored. It is good for information that does not change much, such as tuning frequency and channel number, but it is not possible to handle information that changes frequently such as information about broadcast programs, or complicated processing on the user side when transferring data. There is a drawback that is required.

In the fourth conventional example, the data broadcasting included in the terrestrial broadcasting is used to realize various additional functions for automatic tuning. Such a function is used for analog terrestrial broadcasting. However, there is a drawback that you cannot enjoy it. Although data broadcasting such as program information and character data is also carried out in analog terrestrial broadcasting, analog terrestrial data broadcasting has a significantly slower data transfer rate than digital ones, and moreover, when moving like an automobile. Since it is difficult for the body to receive, it is not possible to obtain the same function using this.

Further, in the fourth conventional example, since the data broadcasting included in the terrestrial broadcasting is used, the contents of the additional function performed at the time of the automatic tuning are the contents of the data broadcasting determined by the broadcasting station side. There is a drawback in that the content is restricted and the degree of freedom in designing additional functions is reduced. Also,
Since data broadcasting is not due to the additional function of automatic tuning, it cannot be said that the content and method of data broadcasting (broadcast time, broadcast interval, etc.) are optimized according to the unique additional function.

An object of the present invention is to provide a TV receiver capable of automatically setting a tuner when moving across a plurality of broadcasting areas, and a TV capable of realizing various additional functions at the time of automatic tuning. To provide a receiving device.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a TV (television) tuner for selectively receiving a broadcast signal and a position detecting means (for example, GPS or PHS: Personal) for detecting the present location. (Handy Phone location detection service, etc.), network connection means for connecting to a computer network (for example, the Internet) to which broadcast station information regarding television broadcasts performed by each broadcast station in a plurality of broadcast areas is distributed, and the position detection described above. Based on the detection result of the means and the broadcast station information received via the network connection means, a control means for updating the setting of the TV tuner when moving across a plurality of broadcast areas is provided.

According to such a means, the setting update process of the TV tuner is performed based on the broadcasting station information acquired from the computer network. Therefore, as the broadcasting station information, the tuning frequency and the channel number of the broadcasting station in each broadcasting area are used. In addition to fixed information such as allocation information, non-fixed information such as broadcast programs and program contents, and various types of information that can be distributed from computer networks such as broadcast time information and commercial time information can be used for automatic tuning processing. By doing so, it is possible to realize various additional functions related to automatic tuning.

Specifically, a portable telephone can be used as the network connecting means.

Further, the broadcasting station information includes information on tuning frequency of each broadcasting station and allocation of each broadcasting station to a channel number, and the control means controls the TV.
The TV tuner settings are updated so that the tuner tuning frequency and channel number allocation settings match the broadcasting station that can be received at the current location. As a result, it is possible to automatically perform tuning setting and channel allocation according to each area without bothering the user.

Preferably, the broadcast station information includes commercial broadcast information (for example, commercial time information indicating the time when the commercial broadcast is performed) capable of identifying whether the broadcast currently being received is a program or a commercial. The control means may be configured to update the setting of the TV tuner when the currently received broadcast is in commercial. As a result, it is possible to avoid the inconvenience that the setting of the tuner is updated while the program is being viewed and the program broadcast being viewed is interrupted.

Further, preferably, the broadcasting station information includes program information of a broadcasting area of a moving source and program information of a broadcasting area of a moving destination, and the control means, when updating the setting of the TV tuner, When the broadcast currently being received is also broadcast by the broadcast station in the destination broadcast area, the reception setting of the TV tuner may be updated so that the same program is continuously received. As a result, even when moving across a plurality of broadcasting areas, the same program can be continuously viewed.

Further, preferably, the broadcasting station information includes at least information on a broadcasting time of a program currently being received, and the control means is within a predetermined time (for example, within 5 minutes) until the program currently being received is broadcast. If it is within a predetermined minute time such as within 3 minutes or within 1 minute), at least the setting update of the TV tuner regarding the currently receiving broadcasting station is postponed until the end of broadcasting of the program currently being received. Good to do.

Generally, even when the broadcasting area is moved, the broadcasting signal of the movement source can be received for a while. Therefore, it is more user-friendly to update the tuner setting after the program being watched is finished, but the program is not watched because the tuner setting is updated just before the program is finished. . And according to the said structure, that is implement | achieved.

Further, preferably, the broadcasting station information includes program information of a broadcasting area of a moving source and program information of a broadcasting area of a moving destination, and the control means duplicates broadcasting signals of a plurality of broadcasting areas. If there are a plurality of broadcasting stations broadcasting the same program in the receivable overlapping area, it is preferable that the channel number is not assigned to any of these stations.

Generally, when confirming a broadcast program, the confirmation is performed by operating the channel up key or the channel down key to switch the channel. However, depending on the region, for example, it may be possible to receive broadcasting from a plurality of broadcasting stations of the same series, or the same program may be broadcasted by a plurality of broadcasting stations of different series, and thus reception is possible. If all broadcast stations are assigned to channel numbers, the user may be confused in recognizing the channel when checking the broadcast program, or the same program may appear twice in selecting the viewing program. Sometimes it's hard to understand. Therefore, with the above configuration, double registration of the same program can be avoided, so that the above inconvenience can be avoided.

[0023]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a television receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the television receiving apparatus.

The television receiver of this embodiment is a vehicle-mounted television receiver having an automatic tuning function. As shown in FIG. 1, the television receiver 10, a GPS receiver 12 as a position detecting means, In addition, it is composed of a mobile phone 14 as a network connecting means. The TV receiver 10 is provided with a serial port to which a GPS receiver and a mobile phone can be connected, respectively, and a general G
A system can be built by connecting a PS receiver and a general mobile phone.

As shown in FIG. 2, the television receiver 10 in this embodiment has an antenna 4 for receiving a broadcast signal.
0, and a tuner unit (T that selects a signal of a predetermined frequency from the broadcast signal received from the antenna 40 and converts it to an intermediate frequency
V tuner) 41, an intermediate frequency amplification unit 42 that amplifies the intermediate frequency signal obtained by conversion, an audio signal processing unit 43 that separates and outputs an audio signal from the amplified intermediate frequency signal, Similarly, a video signal processing unit 44 that separates and outputs a video signal from the intermediate frequency signal, a speaker 45 that outputs audio, and a display 46 that outputs video.
Communication control between the operation unit 47 such as a remote controller and operation buttons provided on the outer surface of the television receiver 10 and the overall control of the television receiver 10 and the GPS receiver 12 connected externally, and data communication via the mobile phone 14. A control unit 48 including a microcomputer that controls processing and the mobile phone 1
4, the communication processing unit 49 that performs transmission / disconnection processing and communication data buffer processing, the tuning frequency of each broadcasting station selected by the tuner unit 41, and the channel number assigned to each broadcasting station and the 10 key of the remote controller. It is composed of a channel setting memory 50 and the like in which information indicating the correspondence is stored.

The control unit 48 receives the channel setting memory 5 when an input signal of the 10 key is input from the operation unit 47.
The tuning frequency of the broadcasting station corresponding to the operated 10 key is read from 0, and the tuner unit 41 is controlled so that the broadcasting signal of the tuning frequency is selected. As a result, the television broadcast of the channel selected by the operation of the operation unit 47 is received. In addition, the control unit 48 rewrites the channel number allocation information and the tuning frequency information of the channel setting memory 50 when moving between broadcasting areas according to the control program stored in the internal ROM, and sets the tuner. It also functions as a control means for performing an automatic tuning process for updating.

The communication processing section 49 sends a predetermined command code to the mobile phone 14 to make a call to and connect to a service provider connected to the Internet for data communication, or to disconnect from the service provider. .

The GPS receiver 12 determines the latitude and longitude of the present location from the signals of the orbit satellites received from the GPS antenna 12A according to the command signal of the control unit 48, and obtains these position data from the control unit 48 of the television receiver 1. Is output to.

The television receiver of this embodiment is configured as described above, and under the control of the controller 48, when the television receiver moves across a plurality of broadcasting areas, it performs the following automatic tuning processing. It has become.

FIG. 3 is a data table showing an example of broadcasting station information distributed via the Internet, and FIG.
3 is a flowchart showing a flow of automatic tuning processing executed by a control unit of the television receiving device.

The flowchart of FIG. 4 is repeatedly started, for example, when the power of the television receiver 1 is turned on or at predetermined intervals (for example, several seconds to several minutes). When this automatic tuning process is started, first, position information is acquired from the GPS receiver 12 in step S1, and it is determined in step S2 whether or not the broadcast area has been changed.

As a result of the judgment, if the area change is confirmed or predicted by approaching the adjacent broadcast area, step S
Although the process shifts to the automatic tuning process from 3 onward, if there is no confirmation or prediction of the area change, the automatic tuning process is ended as it is and waits until the next start.

When there is a change in the broadcast area and the process moves to step S3, in the step, first, the portable telephone 1
4 makes a call to a service provider to connect to the Internet, and in the next step S4, broadcasting station information of each broadcasting area of the movement source and the movement destination is downloaded from a predetermined site on the Internet.

Here, the above broadcasting station information distributed on the Internet will be described. As shown in FIG. 3A, the broadcasting station information is a collection of information about each broadcasting station that is opened in each broadcasting area. It should be noted that, for example, in areas such as the Shizuoka area where signals from broadcasting stations in other prefectures also arrive, information on broadcasting stations in other prefectures may be included in the broadcasting station information in the Shizuoka area.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the information of each broadcasting station indicates the tuning frequency, the channel number assigned in the broadcasting area, the program name and the broadcasting time of at least several hours before and after the present. Program guide data, CM
Program timetable data indicating the start time and end time of a pure program broadcast excluding broadcasting, CM timetable data indicating detailed start time and time of CM broadcast, and the like are included as CM broadcast information.

When the broadcasting station information as described above is downloaded, a disconnection command is transmitted to the mobile phone in step S5 to release the network connection, and the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, the downloaded program timetable data of the broadcast area of the movement source is compared with the current time to determine whether the remaining time of the program currently being viewed is within 3 minutes. If it is within 3 minutes, the process proceeds to step S7 and waits until the program ends and then proceeds to step S8. If it is not within 3 minutes, the process proceeds to step S8. Note that this time can be changed as appropriate.

In step S8, the downloaded CM is downloaded.
Comparing the timetable data with the current time, CM within 3 minutes
Or not. Then, if the CM is generated within 3 minutes, the process proceeds to step S9 to wait until the CM and then proceeds to step S10. However, if the CM is not present within 3 minutes, the process directly proceeds to step S10.

In other words, by the processing of the above steps S6 to S9, when the program is finished within 3 minutes, the program is waited for, and when the CM is within 3 minutes, it is waited until the CM is broadcast and then the tuner setting is performed. Updates are being made.

After that, when the process proceeds to step S10, the tuning frequency of the moving destination and the allocation information of the channel number of the 10 key are overwritten in a predetermined area of the channel setting memory 50 based on the downloaded broadcasting station data of the moving destination. By this overwriting process, the tuner setting is updated.

Next, at step S11, the downloaded program guide data of the moving destination and the program guide data of the moving source are compared, and the same program as the program received immediately before is also transmitted in the broadcasting area of the moving destination. Determine if it is not
If there is, the channel is selected so that the same program is received in step S12, and then the process proceeds to step S13, but if not, the process proceeds directly to step S13.

In other words, by the processing of steps S11 and S12, when the user moves across a plurality of broadcast areas and the same program is being broadcast in both areas, the user does not perform any operation to perform the same program. Can be continuously viewed.

In step S13, it is determined whether or not the same program is being broadcast by a plurality of broadcast stations in the destination broadcast area based on the downloaded destination program list data. Any one of the plurality of broadcasting stations broadcasting the program is left, and the other channels are de-assigned. That is, the allocation information of the broadcasting station is deleted from the channel allocation information stored in the channel setting memory 50.

By the processes of steps S13 and S14, the channel assignment of the broadcasting station broadcasting the same program is released, so that the same program is selected when the viewing program is selected while switching the images of a plurality of broadcasting stations. It is possible to avoid the inconvenience of appearing repeatedly and making the operation of channel selection difficult to understand.

When the channel assignment is released, another routine process executed by the control unit 48
After that, when a program different from other stations is broadcast at the broadcasting station whose channel allocation has been canceled, it is preferable to reconfigure the channel allocation.

Then, the above step S13 or S14
After this process, the automatic tuning process is terminated and the process waits until the next start.

As described above, according to the television receiving apparatus of this embodiment, the automatic tuning process is performed based on the broadcasting station information acquired from the Internet. In addition to fixed information such as tuning frequency and channel number allocation information, various non-fixed information such as program table data, program time table data and CM time table data can be used. As a result, when the timing of updating the tuning settings is shifted to the end of the program, to the CM broadcast, the same program can be continuously viewed, or the same program is being performed by multiple broadcasting stations. It is possible to realize various additional functions, such as canceling the program allocation of these broadcasting stations with one left.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, although the GPS is mentioned as the position detecting means, other than this, a position search service of PHS or various similar means may be used. Although the Internet has been described as a computer network for acquiring broadcast station information, a dedicated computer network may be used instead.

The format and contents of the broadcasting station information shown in FIG. 3 are merely examples, and various modifications are possible.
In the above embodiment, the channel setting memory 50
Although the tuner setting is performed by writing the setting data to the tuner, the present invention can be similarly applied to a type in which the tuner setting is performed by switching the switch provided in the tuner section.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the setting update process of the TV tuner is performed based on the broadcasting station information acquired from the computer network, various kinds of information that can be distributed from the computer network can be used as the broadcasting station information.
If the timing of updating the tuning settings is shifted to the end of the program, to the CM broadcast, the same program can be viewed continuously, or when the same program is being performed by multiple broadcasting stations, these broadcasting stations 1 program allocation
There is an effect that a wide variety of additional functions related to automatic tuning can be realized, such as releasing the other one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a television receiving device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the television receiving device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a data table showing data contents of broadcasting station information distributed from a computer network.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of automatic tuning processing executed by a control unit of the television receiving device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 TV receiver 12 GPS receiver 14 mobile phones 40 antenna 41 Tuner section 47 Operation part 48 control unit 49 Communication processing unit 50 channel setting memory

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04H 1/00 H04H 1/00 G

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A TV tuner for selectively receiving a broadcast signal, a position detecting means for detecting a current location, and a computer to which broadcast station information regarding a television broadcast performed by each broadcast station in a plurality of broadcast areas is distributed. Based on the network connection means for connecting to the network by data communication via the portable telephone, and the detection result of the position detection means and the broadcasting station information received via the network connection means, the mobile terminal moves across a plurality of broadcasting areas. The broadcasting station information includes information about tuning frequencies of the broadcasting stations and allocation of the broadcasting stations to channel numbers, and broadcasting currently being received. Commercial broadcast information that can identify whether it is a program or a commercial, and at least the broadcast time of the program currently being received Related information, program information of the broadcasting area of the moving source and program information of the broadcasting area of the moving destination are included, and the control means can receive the tuning frequency of the TV tuner and the allocation setting of the channel number at the current location. The setting of the TV tuner is updated to match the broadcasting station, and the setting of the TV tuner is updated during the commercial broadcasting, or at least when the program currently being received is within a predetermined time until the end of broadcasting. The setting update of the TV tuner regarding the receiving station is controlled so as to be postponed until the end of the broadcasting of the program currently being received, and the broadcasting currently being received is also broadcast at the broadcasting station in the destination broadcasting area. If the same program is continuously received, the reception settings of the TV tuner are updated, and the broadcast signals of multiple broadcast areas are duplicated. When there are a plurality of broadcasting stations broadcasting the same program in a receivable overlapping area, the television receiver is configured not to assign a channel number to any of these stations. . 2. A TV tuner for selectively receiving a broadcast signal, a position detecting means for detecting a current location, and a computer to which broadcast station information regarding a television broadcast performed by each broadcast station in a plurality of broadcast areas is distributed. Based on the network connection means connected to the network, the detection result of the position detection means, and the broadcast station information received via the network connection means, the setting update of the TV tuner when moving across a plurality of broadcast areas And a control means for performing the above. 3. The television receiver according to claim 2, wherein the network connection means is a mobile phone. 4. The broadcasting station information includes tuning frequency of each broadcasting station and information about allocation of each broadcasting station and channel number, and the control means controls tuning frequency of the TV tuner and allocation of channel number. The television receiver according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the setting of the TV tuner is updated so that the setting matches a broadcasting station that can receive the current location. 5. The broadcast station information includes commercial broadcast information capable of identifying whether a broadcast currently being received is a program or a commercial, and the control means controls the broadcast when the broadcast currently being received is a commercial. The television receiving apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the television receiving apparatus is configured to update the setting of the TV tuner. 6. The broadcasting station information includes program information of a broadcasting area of a moving source and program information of a broadcasting area of a moving destination, and the control means, when updating the setting of the TV tuner,
When the broadcast currently being received is also broadcast by a broadcast station in the destination broadcast area, the reception setting of the TV tuner is updated so that the same program is continuously received. The television receiver according to any one of claims 2 to 5. 7. The broadcasting station information includes at least information about a broadcast time of a program currently being received, and the control means is at least the current time when the program currently being received is within a predetermined time until the end of broadcasting. 7. The television receiving apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the setting update of the TV tuner relating to the receiving broadcasting station is postponed until the end of broadcasting of the program currently being received. . 8. The broadcasting station information includes program information of a broadcasting area of a moving source and program information of a broadcasting area of a moving destination, and the control means receives broadcast signals of a plurality of broadcasting areas in duplicate. In a possible overlapping area, when there are a plurality of broadcasting stations broadcasting the same program, the channel number is not assigned to any of these stations. The television receiver according to any one of 1.