JP2003110876A - Digital-broadcasting program relay transmission system, its broadcasting station and digital-broadcasting signal synchronous processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively cope with the occurrence of a frame skip occurred on the remote station side. SOLUTION: In a remote station, a video signal from a master station is written to a frame memory 204 on the basis of a write address synchronizing with the clock of the video signal, the video signal written to the frame memory 204 is read on the basis of a read address synchronizing with the clock of its own station while the write address and the read address are compared by a skip decision section 208, and the presence of the frame skip is decided. When a skip is generated, an ANC data before two fields during the video signal is reproduced by a reproduction processing section 209.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital broadcast program relay / transmission system used as, for example, a net reception broadcast, its broadcasting station, and a digital broadcast signal synchronization processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the establishment of digital broadcasting technology in recent years,
Digital broadcasting has started in satellite broadcasting systems that use communication satellites and broadcasting satellites, and there is a plan to shift to digital broadcasting in terrestrial broadcasting systems.

Various developments have been made in such digital broadcasting, and in particular, the construction of a net reception broadcasting system for connecting, for example, a master station and a remote station by a relay line, which is carried out in the conventional analog broadcasting, has been constructed. It is one issue.

On the other hand, in digital broadcasting, in addition to video / audio, various data services associated with screen captions and programs, various program material information for system control of remote stations, and other broadcast control information are used as bases. There is also a demand for multiplexing and transmitting as a data packet in a vertical blanking period of a band video signal.

By the way, since the video synchronization of the master station and the video synchronization of the remote station are different in the remote station, a method of adjusting the video frame cycle of the master station to the video frame cycle of the remote station using a frame synchronizer is used. There is.

This is to generate a write address by a clock reproduced from a synchronizing signal of an image sent from a master station to a frame memory built in a frame synchronizer installed in a remote station, and the frame is used by this address. The video signal is written in the memory, while the read address is generated by the clock reproduced from the system synchronization signal of the remote station, and the video signal written in the frame memory is read by this address.

In this case, since there is a slight difference between the write clock frequency and the read clock frequency, the write phase and the read phase with respect to the frame memory gradually change, and the write phase and the read phase are once every several hours. The phenomenon of overtaking or passing of the phase occurs.

At this time, in the output image, a frame freeze in which the same frame is output twice or a frame skip in which one frame is skipped occurs.

[0009]

In the above remote station,
When a frame skip occurs, a television image has a phenomenon of 1 frame = 1/30 second for a moment, so that there is no discomfort. However, regarding data superimposed in the vertical blanking period, Unlike the skip of No. 2, for example, a part of the subtitle data is missing, and some subtitles are not displayed on the reception screen, resulting in a screen abnormality that can be visually recognized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast program relay / transmission system and its broadcasting station which can effectively cope with the occurrence of a frame skip occurring on the remote station side when carrying out a net reception broadcasting. And to provide a digital broadcast signal synchronization processing device.

[0011]

A digital broadcast program relay / transmission system according to the present invention is based on a program organization time.
A first broadcasting station for transmitting a digital broadcasting signal obtained by compressing and coding a program information signal having a predetermined transmission block structure into a first broadcasting service area, and connected to the first broadcasting station via a relay line; After receiving the program information signal transmitted from the first broadcasting station via the relay line and performing signal processing,
A digital broadcast program relay transmission system comprising a second broadcast station for transmitting as a digital broadcast signal in a second broadcast service area different from the first broadcast service area, wherein the first broadcast station is a program In a predetermined blanking period in a transmission block of an information signal, first incidental information corresponding to the transmission block including information about a program and second incidental information corresponding to a transmission block before the transmission block are inserted. The second broadcasting station stores the program information signal arriving from the first broadcasting station via the relay circuit in one transmission block, and the first broadcasting station. A first clock reproducing means for reproducing a clock signal synchronized with the program information signal, the program information signal arriving via the relay line from the input terminal, and a storage area in the memory. For writing a program address signal from the first broadcasting station via the relay line to the memory at a writing speed synchronized with the clock signal reproduced by the first clock reproducing means, Writing means for generating a writing address,
Second clock reproducing means for reproducing the clock signal of its own station, and the program information signal written in the memory by the writing means is read at a reading speed synchronized with the clock signal reproduced by the second clock reproducing means, and the reading is performed. A read means for generating an address, a write address generated by the write means, and a read address generated by the read means to determine whether the write speed is equal to or higher than the read speed. Reproduction processing means for selecting and reproducing one of the first accompanying information and the second accompanying information in the program information signal read from the memory based on the result of the determination by the determining means. It was prepared.

According to the present invention, the first broadcasting station and the second broadcasting station
The first accompanying information corresponding to the transmission block is inserted in the retrace line period of the transmission block of the program information signal to be transmitted to the broadcasting station of 1 And the second accompanying information corresponding to is inserted and transmitted to the second broadcasting station. And the second
, The program information signal from the first broadcasting station is written in the memory at a writing speed synchronized with the signal,
The program information signal written in the memory is read at a read speed synchronized with the clock signal of the second broadcasting station, and the presence or absence of the skip of the transmission block is determined by comparing the write address and the read address.
Then, when the skip occurs, the second accompanying information in the program information signal is reproduced.

Therefore, even if a skip of a transmission block occurs in the second broadcasting station, the second accompanying information inserted in the blanking period of the next transmission block is reproduced, so that the attendant before the skip is skipped. The information and the incidental information after the skip are connected neatly, and the information can be reproduced without causing the missing of the incidental information. Further, the processing load of the second broadcasting station can be suppressed to a low level because the second broadcasting station does not need to perform the control for the skip.

Further, in the above invention, the reproduction processing means manages the accompanying information storing means for storing the first and second accompanying information and the address of the accompanying information storing means to manage the first and the second from the input program information signal. Based on the input control means for extracting the second incidental information and writing it at a predetermined address of the incidental information storage means, and generating the address information, and the address information from this input control means and the judgment result by the judging means, the incidental information. It is characterized by further comprising: accompanying information reproduction control means for reading out and outputting one of the first and second accompanying information from the storage means.

By doing so, the first and second accompanying information are sequentially written from the input program information signal to a predetermined address of the accompanying information memory, and it is notified that a frame skip has occurred. At this time, the second incidental information is read out and output from the second incidental information existing area in the incidental information memory.
Since it is only necessary to read and output the first accompanying information from the accompanying information existing area of, the first and second accompanying information can be output by a simple memory process. Further, since the first and second accompanying information in the program information signal after the frame skip is also continuously stored in the accompanying information memory, the second and the second accompanying information in the accompanying information memory are generated even after the second and subsequent frame skips. This can be easily dealt with by simply reading the second associated information from the associated information area.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a digital broadcast program relay / transmission system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 indicates a master station as a first broadcasting station, and reference numeral 20 indicates a remote station as a second broadcasting station. The master station 10 receives the digital broadcast signal, that is, T
S is sent from the antenna 11 to the broadcasting service area to which the own station belongs. Further, the remote station 20 is connected to the master station 10 via the broadcast relay network NW. The remote station 20 converts the relay program information transmitted from the master station 10 via the broadcast relay network NW and the program information of the own station into a TS, and directs the TS from the antenna 21 to the broadcast service area to which the own station belongs. To send.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the master station 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, the master station 10 is roughly divided into a switcher (SW) 101 which selectively outputs a program information signal having a frame structure, and the switcher 1
The video signal as the program information signal output from 01 is M
Variable length compression encoding based on the PEG2 encoding method is performed,
An encoder (ENC) 102 for converting into an MPEG2 transport stream (TS) packet and a multiplexer (MUX) 103 for packet-multiplexing various control data into an output TS packet of the encoder 102 are provided.

By the way, in this embodiment, the data insertion unit 10 is provided between the switcher 101 and the encoder 102.
4 is interposed.

Further, as a control system, a data server (DS) 106 for accumulating program organization data, and as ancillary data such as caption information and broadcast control information related to the program based on the program organization data accumulated in the data server 106. An automatic program transmission control device (APC) 107 for giving ANC data to the data insertion unit 104 is provided.

The data insertion unit 104 inserts the ANC data supplied from the automatic program switching control device 107 into the vertical blanking period in the field of the video signal output from the switcher 101. Furthermore, the data insertion unit 1
Reference numeral 04 inserts ANC data two fields before in the vertical blanking period in the field of the video signal.

The master station also includes a multiplexer 13
An output terminal 108 for transmitting the TS signal output from the remote station 20 via the broadcast relay network NW,
An output terminal 109 for transmitting the baseband format video signal output from the data insertion unit 104 to the remote station 20 via the analog relay line is provided.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the remote station 20.

As shown in the figure, the remote station 20 has an input video synchronous reproducing section 201, a writing section 202, a write address generating section 203, and a frame memory 204.
A system synchronization generation unit 205, a read address generation unit 206, a read unit 207, and a skip determination unit 2
08 and a reproduction processing unit 209.

First, a video signal arriving from the master station 10 via the broadcast relay network NW is input to the input video synchronization reproducing unit 201 and the writing unit 202.

The input video synchronizing reproducing section 201 reproduces a clock signal synchronized with the inputted video signal and outputs it to the write address generating section 203. The write address generator 203 generates a write address in synchronization with the input clock signal.

The writing unit 202 sequentially writes the video signal in the frame memory 204 based on the write address generated by the write address generating unit 203.

The system synchronization generator 205 outputs the clock signal of its own station to the read address generator 206.

The read address generator 206 generates a read address in synchronization with the input clock signal.

The reading section 207 sequentially reads the video signals written in the frame memory 204 based on the read address generated by the read address generating section 206.

The skip determination unit 208 compares the write address generated by the write address generation unit 203 with the read address generated by the read address generation unit 206 to determine whether the write address exceeds the read address. judge.

The reproduction processing unit 209 determines the frame memory 20 based on the determination result of the skip determination unit 208.
One of the ANC data of the current field and the ANC data of two fields before is reproduced and output from the vertical blanking period in the video signal read from No. 4.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a concrete configuration of the reproduction processing section 209.

In FIG. 4, an input control unit 2092, a shared memory 2093, a CPU are provided on the data bus 2091.
2094 and the output control unit 2095 are connected.

The input control unit 2092 is the frame memory 20.
ANC of the current field from the video signal read from No. 4
The data and the ANC data two fields before are extracted and transferred to an appropriate area of the shared memory 2093, and after the transfer is completed, the CPU 2094 is notified of the existing area of the ANC data on the shared memory 2093. Also, the video portion is transferred to the output control unit 2095.

The shared memory 2093 stores A for several frames.
It has a capacity to store NC data.

The CPU 2094 fetches ANC data from the shared memory 2093 based on the notification from the input control unit 2092 and the determination result from the skip determination unit 208, and transfers it to the output control unit 2095.

The output control unit 2095 is the input control unit 209.
2 video signal and AN transferred from CPU 2094
C data is multiplexed and output as an output video signal.

Next, the processing operation of the above configuration will be described below. First, the video signal includes an interlace scanning system and a progressive scanning system depending on the screen scanning system. In the interlace scanning system, one frame of a video frame is displayed by two scans of the first field and the second field as shown in FIG. Is completed. In this case, the ANC data includes the vertical blanking area immediately before the first field and the second blanking area.
It can be overlaid on any of the vertical blanking areas just before the field.

On the other hand, in the progressive scanning method, a video frame is completed by one scanning. The phenomenon of frame skipping occurs in units of one frame as in the interlaced scanning method. Therefore, in the following description, the case of the signal of the interlaced scanning system is described, but by handling it on a scale of frame unit, the case of the progressive scanning system can be applied at all.

In the data insertion unit 104 of the master station 10, the AN of the current field is placed in the vertical blanking area of the video signal.
Superimpose C data and ANC two fields before
Superimpose data. As shown in FIG. 6, the frame at a certain time is temporarily defined as the Mth frame, and the number of the ANC data packet to be superimposed on the vertical blanking area immediately before the first field is (ANC # n), the second field. (ANC # n + 1) is the number of the ANC data packet to be superimposed on the vertical blanking area immediately before, and the number (ANC # n + 1) is the number of the ANC data packet to be superimposed on the vertical blanking area immediately before the first field of the next M + 1th frame. n
+2), the number of the ANC data packet to be superimposed on the vertical blanking area immediately before the second field is (ANC # n
+3), and the same numbers will be given below.

In the present embodiment, the data insertion unit 104 causes the ANC data packet (ANC #) to be superimposed on the vertical blanking area immediately before the first field of the Mth frame.
n) is the first of the (M + 1) th frame, which is one frame later.
The vertical blanking area just before the field is also overlapped.

Next, the ANC data packet (ANC) to be superimposed on the vertical blanking area immediately before the second field.
# N + 1) to the second of the M + 1th frame after the 1st frame
The vertical blanking area just before the field is also overlapped.

As described above, the data insertion unit 104 sets 1
By re-multiplexing the same ANC data after the frame, both the original ANC data and the ANC data one frame before are arranged and superimposed for each frame. By such a multiplex operation, even if a frame skip occurs once every several hours in the synchronizer on the remote station 20 side, the ANC that corresponds to the lost frame is generated.
The data packet is also present in the next frame that was skipped, so A corresponding to the frame lost using it is
NC data packets can be output, and data continuity is ensured by simple memory processing.

On the other hand, in the remote station 20, the video signal arriving from the master station 10 via the broadcast relay network NW is written in the writing section 202 in synchronization with the clock of the video signal generated by the write address generating section 203. One frame is written in the frame memory 204 based on the address. Then, in the reading unit 207, based on the read address synchronized with the clock of the own station generated by the read address generating unit 207, the frame memory 20
The video signal written in 4 is read out.

Write address and read address generator 20 generated by write address generator 203
The read addresses generated by 6 are compared by the skip determination unit 208, and it is determined from the comparison result whether or not a skip has occurred. The determination result is notified to the reproduction processing unit 209.

In the reproduction processing unit 209, the frame memory 2
ANC data packet of the current field and A two fields before in the video signal for one frame read from
The NC data packet and the input control unit 2092 are sequentially transferred to an appropriate area of the shared memory 2093. When the transfer of the ANC data ends, the input control unit 2092 notifies the CPU 2094 of the area where the ANC data exists.

The CPU 2094 uses the skip determination unit 208.
If there is no skip after receiving the judgment result of
ANC corresponding to the current field from shared memory 2093
The data packet is read and transferred to the output control unit 2095. On the other hand, when the skip occurs as shown in FIG. 6, first, the ANC data packet ANC # n of the first field of the (M + 1) th frame is read from the shared memory 2095, and then A of the second field of the (M + 1) th frame is read.
The NC data packet ANC # n + 1 is read. Then, the ANC data packet ANC # n + 2 of the first field of the (M + 1) th frame is read from the shared memory 2095, and then the ANC of the second field of the (M + 1) th frame.
The data packet ANC # n + 3 is read.

After that, the CPU 2094 executes the normal read transfer process.

As described above, in the above-described embodiment, the data insertion unit 104 of the master station 10 presents the data to the remote station 20 during the vertical blanking period in the field of the video signal to be transmitted via the broadcast relay network NW. The ANC data of the field is inserted and the ANC data of two fields before is inserted and transmitted to the remote station 20. Then, in the remote station 20, the video signal from the master station 10 is written in the frame memory 204 based on the write address synchronized with the video signal, and in the frame memory 204 based on the read address synchronized with the clock signal of the remote station 20. In addition to reading the written video signal, the skip determination unit 208 compares the write address and the read address to determine the presence or absence of frame skip. Then, when the skip occurs, the reproduction processing unit 209 reproduces the ANC data two fields before in the video signal.

Therefore, even if a frame skip occurs in the remote station 20, since the ANC data two fields before inserted in the vertical blanking period of the next frame is reproduced, the ANC data before the skip and the skip. The subsequent ANC data is connected to each other neatly, and the ANC data can be reproduced without being lost. Furthermore, since the remote station 20 performs the processing for the frame skip in the master station 10, the processing load on the remote station 20 can be reduced.

Further, in the reproduction processing unit 209, the ANC data of the current field and the ANC data of two fields before in the video signal read from the frame memory 204 are stored in the shared memory 2093, and a frame skip occurs. When notified, the CPU 2094 only needs to read the ANC data of two fields before in the shared memory 2093 and transfer it to the output control unit 2095, and thereafter, it is only necessary to read the ANC data of the current field as usual. , ANC data can be made continuous by a simple process. Further, even when the second frame skip occurs, it is only necessary to perform the same processing, and therefore it is possible to always take countermeasures against the occurrence of the frame skip.

(Other Embodiments) The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In each of the above-described embodiments, a case has been described in which the ANC data is delayed by exactly one frame and superimposed on the video signal, but the same effect can be obtained if it is at least one frame.

ANC data may be inserted in the horizontal blanking period in the frame of the video signal.

In the above embodiment, an example in which a video signal having a frame structure is handled has been described, but it is possible to flexibly cope with other than video as long as it has a frame structure.

In the above embodiment, an example in which ANC data is superimposed on a field basis has been described, but ANC data may be superimposed on a frame basis.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, an example of using the frame memory has been described, but a field memory or the like may be used.

In addition, the system configuration, the configurations in the master and remote stations, the type of accompanying data, the type of broadcast relay network, etc. can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0061]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
To provide a digital broadcast program relay / transmission system and its broadcasting station and a digital broadcast signal synchronization processing device capable of effectively coping with the occurrence of a frame skip occurring at a remote station when carrying out net reception broadcasting. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a digital broadcast program relay / transmission system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a master station shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a remote station shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a specific configuration of a reproduction processing unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of a video signal on which ANC data is superimposed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a processing operation in the system configuration of the above embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Master station, 20 ... remote station, 104 ... a data insertion part, 201 ... Synchronous playback section of input video 202 ... Writing unit, 203 ... Write address generation unit, 204 ... Frame memory, 205 ... System synchronization generation unit, 206 ... Read address generation unit, 207 ... a reading unit, 208 ... Skip determination unit, 209 ... Reproduction processing unit, NW: Broadcast relay network.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 7/081 (72) Inventor Shin Yamaguchi 1-3-3 Shinmachi, Ome-shi, Tokyo Toshiba Digital Media Engineering Co., Ltd. In-house F-term (reference) 5C053 FA20 FA27 FA30 GA18 JA21 KA03 KA08 KA24 LA15 5C056 FA05 GA20 HA01 HA04 5C063 AB03 AB05 CA05 CA23 DA07 DB01

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A first broadcasting station which sends out a digital broadcasting signal, which is a program information signal having a predetermined transmission block structure compression-coded, to a first broadcasting service area based on a program organization time, and the first broadcasting station. The program information signal is connected to a broadcasting station via a relay line, receives the program information signal transmitted from the first broadcasting station via the relay line, and applies signal processing to the program information signal.
And a second broadcasting station for transmitting as a digital broadcasting signal in a second broadcasting service area different from the broadcasting service area of the digital broadcasting program relay transmission system, wherein the first broadcasting station is the program. In a predetermined blanking period in a transmission block of an information signal, first incidental information corresponding to the transmission block including information about a program and second incidental information corresponding to a transmission block before the transmission block are inserted. And a memory for storing one transmission block of the program information signal arriving from the first broadcasting station via the relay line, the auxiliary information transmitting unit transmitting the information via the relay line. First clock reproducing means for inputting a program information signal arriving from a first broadcasting station via the relay line and reproducing a clock signal synchronized with the program information signal A write address for specifying a storage area in the memory is generated, and the program information signal arriving from the first broadcasting station via the relay line is reproduced by the first clock reproducing means. Writing means for writing to the memory at a writing speed synchronized with the clock signal for generating the write address, a second clock reproducing means for reproducing the clock signal of the own station, and a program written in the memory by the writing means. The information signal is read at a read speed synchronized with the clock signal reproduced by the second clock reproducing means, and the read address is generated by the read means, the write address generated by the write means, and the read address generated by the read means. Whether the write speed is equal to or higher than the read speed by comparing the read address And one of the first and second accompanying information in the program information signal read from the memory, based on the result of the determination by the determining means. A digital broadcast program relay / transmission system, comprising: 2. The reproduction processing means manages the incidental information storage means for storing the first and second incidental information and the address of the incidental information storage means to manage the first and second incident program information signals from the input program information signal. Based on the input control means for extracting the incidental information of No. 2 and writing the incidental information to a predetermined address of the incidental information storage means and generating the address information, and the judgment result by the judging means by the address information from the input controlling means. 2. The digital broadcast program relay transmission system according to claim 1, further comprising: accompanying information reproduction control means for reading out and outputting one of the first and second accompanying information from the accompanying information storage means. 3. A first broadcasting station which sends out a digital broadcasting signal, which is a program information signal having a predetermined transmission block structure and compression-coded, into a first broadcasting service area on the basis of a program organization time, and the first broadcasting station. The program information signal is connected to a broadcasting station via a relay line, receives the program information signal transmitted from the first broadcasting station via the relay line, and applies signal processing to the program information signal.
A broadcast station used as the first broadcast station in a digital broadcast program relay transmission system including a second broadcast station transmitting as a digital broadcast signal in a second broadcast service area different from the broadcast service area of A second incidental information corresponding to a transmission block preceding the transmission block and first accompanying information corresponding to the transmission block including information about a program in a predetermined blanking period in the transmission block of the program information signal. A broadcasting station comprising an incidental information transmitting means for inserting incidental information and transmitting the incident information through the relay line. 4. A first broadcasting station that sends out a digital broadcasting signal, which is a program information signal having a predetermined transmission block structure and compression-coded, to a first broadcasting service area on the basis of a program organization time, and the first broadcasting station. The program information signal is connected to a broadcasting station via a relay line, receives the program information signal transmitted from the first broadcasting station via the relay line, and applies signal processing to the program information signal.
In a second broadcast service area different from the second broadcast service area, and a second broadcast station for transmitting as a digital broadcast signal, the digital broadcast program relay transmission system used in the second broadcast station. A signal synchronization processing device, comprising: a memory for storing one transmission block of a program information signal coming from the first broadcasting station via the relay line; and a memory coming from the first broadcasting station via the relay line. First clock reproducing means for inputting a program information signal and reproducing a clock signal synchronized with the program information signal, and generating a write address for specifying a storage area in the memory. At a writing speed synchronized with the clock signal reproduced by the first clock reproducing means for the program information signal arriving from the broadcasting station via the relay line. Writing means for writing in the memory and generating the write address, second clock reproducing means for reproducing the clock signal of the local station, and program information signal written in the memory by the writing means for the second clock reproduction Reading means for reading at a reading speed synchronized with a clock signal reproduced by the means and generating the read address; a write address generated by the writing means; and a read address generated by the reading means. Determining means for determining whether or not the writing speed is equal to or higher than the reading speed, and the first incidental information in the program information signal read from the memory based on the determination result by the determining means, Reproduction processing means for selecting and reproducing one of the second accompanying information. Digital broadcast signal synchronization processing apparatus according to claim. 5. The reproduction processing means manages the incidental information storage means for storing the first and second incidental information, and the address of the incidental information storage means to manage the first and second incident program information signals from the input program information signal. Based on the input control means for extracting the incidental information of No. 2 and writing the incidental information to a predetermined address of the incidental information storage means and generating the address information, and the judgment result by the judging means by the address information from the input controlling means. 5. The digital broadcast signal synchronization processing device according to claim 4, further comprising: accompanying information reproduction control means for reading out and outputting one of the first and second accompanying information from the accompanying information storage means.