JP2003274214A - Broadcast audience system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a broadcast audience system enabling a portable audience unit to receive programs for audience even in a hardly receiving area. <P>SOLUTION: The broadcast audience system is composed of an image distribution server 11 located in receivable area of TV broadcast waves, a radio LAN access point 12 placed in an underground shopping center of a hardly receiving area, and the portable audience unit 2 capable of mounting a radio LAN card 4. The server 11 converts image data received by a TV tuner to MPEG 4 image data and sends the data to the access point 12. The access point 12 executes a specified protocol for the portable audience unit 2 as a client, and gives MPEG 4 data of a requested channel (program) to the audience unit 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a broadcast viewing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a portable television receiving device has been provided, and such a device receives a terrestrial analog broadcast by a built-in small tuner and projects a received image on a liquid crystal display panel. . In recent years, MPEG4 (Moving Picture)
By recording coded video data based on Experts Group 4) in a memory card and loading the memory card in a slot of a portable viewing device, the recorded video can be enjoyed even when out of the office. Encoded video data based on MPEG4 can be obtained by passing a received video by ordinary television broadcasting or a video captured by a handy camera through an MPEG4 encoder. In addition, MP in terrestrial digital broadcasting
When the program is broadcast in EG format, the tuner and M
A terrestrial digital broadcast can be viewed on a portable viewing device equipped with a PEG decoder.

[0003]

However, in both the analog broadcasting and the terrestrial digital broadcasting, in the difficult reception area where the broadcast wave is hard to reach, the reception of the electric wave by the portable viewing device is disturbed and the viewing of the program becomes difficult. There is.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a broadcast viewing system that allows a portable viewing device to view a program even in a difficult reception area.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a broadcast viewing system of the present invention has a wireless LAN access point arranged in a difficult area for receiving a television broadcast wave and an image obtained by receiving the television broadcast wave. And a television reception data output means for converting the voice into a digital signal and supplying the digital signal to the wireless LAN access point. The wireless LAN access point is provided in the mobile unit, and a television reception data output unit is provided in the mobile unit, which receives television broadcast waves, converts video and audio into digital signals, and supplies the digital signals to the wireless LAN access point. It is characterized by consisting of.

[0006] Then, the portable viewing device having the wireless LAN function communicates with the wireless LAN access point, receives digital information of video and audio from the wireless LAN access point, and generates video and audio. And

[0007] Here, in an area where television radio waves can be received, the user can watch television using the tuner installed in the portable viewing device, and Since the portable viewing device has the wireless LAN function, the wireless LAN function enables the wireless LAN to function even when the user enters a difficult-to-receive area for TV broadcast waves (for example, an underground mall) or gets on a train or an airplane. By accessing the LAN access point, the program supplied from the television reception data output means can be viewed.

The television reception data output means is provided with a plurality of tuners, and video and audio of a plurality of programs can be converted into digital signals and supplied to a wireless LAN access point. A user operates the portable viewing device. Input the desired channel, the portable viewing device transmits the desired channel to the wireless LAN access point, and the wireless LAN access point receives the digital signals of the video and audio of the program corresponding to the desired channel from the television reception data output means and carries them. It may be configured to be provided to the type viewing device. According to this, the user can select a channel as if he / she normally watches TV, and can watch a desired program even in an underground shopping mall.

The television reception data output means is provided with a storage section for storing digital data of video and audio, and the portable viewing device accesses the storage section via the wireless LAN access point to obtain video and audio data. May be taken out.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
It will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the broadcast viewing system of this embodiment has a video distribution server 11 arranged so as to be able to receive TV broadcast waves, and a radio arranged in an underground mall, which is a difficult reception area. It comprises a LAN access point 12 and a portable viewing device 2 which can be equipped with a wireless LAN card (for example, an IEEE 802.11b-compliant one, of course, a device capable of data transfer at a higher speed may be used) 4.
Although there are analog broadcast waves and terrestrial digital broadcast waves as TV broadcast waves, this embodiment exemplifies a case where the video distribution server 11 receives analog broadcast waves.

As shown in FIG. 5, the video distribution server 11 has a TV tuner module 11a and a LAN module 11b as a hardware configuration. The TV tuner module 11a includes a plurality of tuners and can acquire programs on a plurality of channels. OS
The TV tuner driver 11b, which is an (operation system), gives a channel selection command to the TV tuner module 11a, converts the video signal and the audio signal output from each tuner into digital data, and outputs M data.
It is given to the PEG4 encoding application 11c.
The MPEG4 encoding application 11c converts the video data and the audio data into MPEG4 data and gives it to the video data distribution server application 11d. The video data distribution server application 11d is an OS
LAN driver 11 (operating system)
LAN module 11f for transmitting MPEG4 data via e
Give to. The LAN module 11f executes a predetermined protocol with the wireless LAN access point 12, and M
The PEG4 data is sent to the wireless LAN access point 12.

The wireless LAN access point 12 establishes a communication state by executing a predetermined protocol with the portable viewing device 2 serving as a client. When receiving the channel number information from the portable viewing device 2, the program of the channel is given to the video distribution server 11, or the MPEG4 data of the program of the channel supplied from the video distribution server 11 is transferred to the portable viewing device 2. 2 (to which the address of the portable viewing device 2 is added).

2 and 3 show the stationary peripheral device 1 and the portable viewing device 2. Although the portable viewing device 2 is used outdoors as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, it can be used at home in a form mounted on the stationary peripheral device 1 as shown in FIG. There is. In this embodiment, the stationary peripheral device 1 receives an analog broadcast and encodes encoded video / audio data obtained by encoding the received broadcast into a memory card 3 (for example, a compact flash card (trademark) )
Or multimedia card (trademark)). A housing recess 1c is formed on the front side of the main body 1a of the stationary peripheral device 1, and the portable viewing device 2 can be inserted and mounted in the housing recess 1c. In this mounted state, the portable viewing device 2 is adapted to be charged by the stationary peripheral device 1.

The portable viewing device 2 has a substantially rectangular shape and a flat shape and is driven by a battery. Then, the portable viewing device 2 receives the broadcast by the tuner (in this embodiment, it receives the digital broadcast wave). In addition, the encoded video / audio data is read from the memory card 3 inserted in the slot 201, the video is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 202, and the audio is output from the earphone 203. A touch panel 211 is attached on the liquid crystal display panel 202, and a desired instruction can be given by operating the panel with a touch pen or the like. Regarding the operation buttons (play / pause, stop, feed, volume, etc.) related to viewing,
It is provided on the housing.

The circuit configurations of the stationary peripheral device 1 and the portable viewing device 2 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the stationary peripheral device 1 will be described. The tuner 102 receives an analog broadcast and outputs this broadcast reception signal. The I / O (input / output) circuit 10 receives the tuning instruction (channel information) for receiving the activation instruction of the tuner 102 and arbitrary broadcasting.
3 and the system bus 104 from the CPU 110. The CPU 110 receives the tuning instruction information (specified channel information, specified time information, etc.) from the user, the system bus 104, the PCMCIA interface 105,
And from the memory card 3 via the slot 101. The switch 106 has an input unit for inputting the broadcast reception signal and an input unit for inputting an external signal, and selects one of the signals and supplies it to the A / D conversion circuit 107.

The A / D conversion circuit 107 converts an analog signal into a digital signal to convert it into MPEG4 (Moving).
The Picture Experts Group 4) encoder 108 is supplied. MPEG4 encoder 108
In accordance with MPEG4, for example, a background in a video or a person in the background is individually described as an object, shape information is added to handle each object of this arbitrary shape, and DCT processing and a motion vector similar to MPEG2 are added. A video packet is generated by performing processing and the like, and a bit stream in which this is continued is output. The voice is also subjected to predetermined encoding, and this voice encoded data is incorporated into the bit stream. SDRAM109 is MPE
It is used in the above processing of the G4 encoder 108.

The bit stream (encoded video / audio data) output from the MPEG4 encoder 108 is a system bus 104, a PCMCIA interface 105,
And stored in the memory card 3 via the slot 101.

Two sets of the slot 101 and the PCMCIA interface 105 are provided. In addition to the memory card 3 described above, a PHS data card or the like can be mounted in the slot 101.

The charging circuit 113 has a circuit for converting an alternating current from a commercial power source into a direct current, and when the portable viewing device 2 is mounted on the stationary peripheral device 1 as shown in FIG. Charging power is supplied to the portable viewing device 2 via the terminal portion.

The CPU 110 is the tuner 102 described above.
And the processing of storing the output of the MPEG4 encoder 108 in the memory card 3 (recording processing), data transmission / reception when a PHS data card is attached to the slot 101, control of each functional unit based on this data, Fl
The read / write control of the ashROM 111 and the DRAM 112 is also performed.

Next, the portable viewing device 2 will be described.
The MPEG4 data stored in the memory card 3 is
It is supplied to the MPEG4 decoder 204 via the PCMCIA interface 220 and the system bus 213. Also, the terrestrial digital tuner 230 takes out MPEG4 stream data broadcast by terrestrial digital broadcasting, supplies it to the MPEG4 decoder 204, and supplies it to the system bus 213 for recording in the memory card 3. The MPEG4 decoder 204 supplies the video data obtained by decoding the stream data to obtain a quantized coefficient and a motion vector and performing inverse DCT conversion and motion compensation control based on the motion vector to the graphics controller 205. The graphics controller 205 performs processing such as color adjustment on the video data. Also, the graphics controller 205
The liquid crystal display panel 202 displays characters and the like (operation buttons, menu screen, EPG screen based on program information acquired from terrestrial digital broadcasting, etc.) output from the CPU 209.
The process of displaying is also performed. The audio decoder 206 is
The voice code data in the stream is MPEG4 decoder 2
04, and decodes to generate audio data. S
The DRAM 210 is used in the above processing of the MPEG4 decoder 204.

The LCD controller 207 drives the liquid crystal display panel 202 based on the video data supplied from the graphics controller 205. Also, D / A
The converter 208 receives the audio data output from the audio decoder 206, performs D / A conversion, generates an analog signal of a right (R) sound and an analog signal of a left (L) sound, and gives them to the earphone 203.

The operation information on the touch panel 211 is
Dedicated interface 212 and system bus 213
Is given to the CPU 209 via. The CPU 209 grasps the instruction content by the correspondence between the operation information and the display of the operation buttons and the like on the liquid crystal display panel 202, and executes necessary processing.

The main body key 214 corresponds to the above-mentioned operation buttons (play / pause, stop, feed) for viewing. Operation information for the main body key 214 is sent to the CP via the interface 215 and the system bus 213.
Given to U209. The CPU 209 executes necessary processing based on the operation information.

A communication block 216 and an interface (for example, Bluetooth) 217 are provided to enable a wireless network. Furthermore,
The flash ROM 218 and the SDRAM 219 are also provided.
The battery 221 is a secondary battery and is adapted to receive power from the stationary peripheral device 1 and store the power. The mobile phone unit 231 is supposed to be used for a normal phone call.

The CPU 209 inserts a wireless L into the slot 201.
Data transmission / reception when the AN card 4 is installed, control of each functional unit based on received data, FlashROM 218
Also, read / write control of the SDRAM 219 and the like are performed. Further, when the user designates a received program (channel and time designation) using the touch panel 211 or the like, a process of storing the information in the memory card 3 is performed.

On the liquid crystal display panel 202, items such as "Watch TV", "Watch TV on wireless LAN", "Schedule recording", "Play", etc. can be displayed as a menu screen.

When "Watch TV" is selected by the user, an image showing, for example, a remote controller is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 202 for channel selection, and the program of the channel designated by the user's pen input is displayed. The tuner 230 is controlled to receive the program, and the program is displayed based on the acquired stream data of the program. Of course, the program can be selected by displaying the EPG screen.

Although the TV can be viewed by the tuner 230 of its own in the area where the broadcast wave can be received, as described above, in the area where the broadcast wave is difficult to receive, the tuner 2 of its own can be used.
It becomes difficult to watch TV on 30. If the broadcast viewing system shown in FIG. 1 is built in the difficult reception area,
The user can select "Wireless L" on the menu screen of the portable viewing device 2.
If you select "Watch TV on AN", you can watch TV. That is, the wireless L loaded in the slot 201
Accessing the wireless LAN access point 12 with the AN card 4, receiving the MPEG4 data of the TV video received by the video distribution server 11, and viewing the TV video on the liquid crystal display panel 202 of the portable viewing device 2. You can

FIG. 6 shows a wireless LA in the portable viewing device 2.
It is the block diagram which extracted and showed the N television viewing-and-listening structure.
The wireless LAN driver and the MPEG driver are the CPU 20
9 and driver software. The wireless LAN television viewing application is activated when "Watch TV on wireless LAN" is selected. Then, this wireless LAN television viewing application is related to the operation of the wireless LAN driver and the MPEG driver described above, and is a process for generating an image representing a remote controller for channel selection as in the case of a normal television viewing screen. To execute. Note that when “Watch TV on wireless LAN” is selected, the operation of the tuner 230 is stopped, and the information of the channel selected by the user with the touch pen or the like is not given to the tuner 230. , To the wireless LAN access point 12 via the wireless LAN card 4.

In the wireless LAN, an address for specifying a data transmission partner is given, but in the broadcast viewing system of this embodiment, a registration ID is given to a user who desires the service in advance. The user stores this registration ID in the portable viewing device. For this storage operation, for example, an item such as “ID registration for viewing wireless LAN television” is prepared on the menu screen,
When the item is selected, a frame for entering the ID, a registration button, a cancel button, and a numeric keypad are displayed,
It is only necessary that the numbers entered by the ten-key pad are put in the frame, and the storage process is executed by pressing the registration button. In this broadcast viewing system, the registration ID is LA
Data is transmitted and received as the N address. The registration ID may be the access permission ID or the decryption key.

Further, the video distribution server 11 has a storage unit for accumulating files of digital data of video and audio (not limited to data obtained by reception of television broadcasting), and an application for file sharing (for example, N.
An FS (network file system) may be provided. According to this, the portable viewing device 2 can access the storage unit of the video distribution server 11 in a format as if it accesses its own storage unit, and retrieve and view the video and audio files. Become.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the wireless LAN of the portable viewing device can be used even when the user enters the area where the television broadcast wave is difficult to receive or gets on a train or an airplane.
With the function, the wireless LAN access point can be accessed, and the program supplied from the television reception data output means can be viewed by the portable viewing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a broadcast viewing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing appearances of a portable viewing device and its peripheral devices.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a portable viewing device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a portable viewing device and its peripheral devices.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a video distribution server.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a wireless LAN function in the portable viewing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Stationary peripheral devices 102 tuner 108 MPEG4 encoder 113 charging circuit 2 Portable viewing device 202 liquid crystal display panel 204 MPEG4 decoder 3 memory card 4 wireless LAN card 11 Video distribution server 12 Wireless LAN access point

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 5/44 H04B 7/26 AF term (reference) 5C025 AA25 AA29 BA25 BA27 BA28 DA01 DA10 5C056 FA03 FA05 HA01 HA04 5K033 BA13 DA17 DB18 5K067 AA22 BB41 DD52 DD54 JJ11 5K072 AA02 AA29 BB03 BB04 BB14 BB25 DD11 DD15 GG13 GG34

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A wireless LAN access point arranged in a difficult area for receiving television broadcast waves, and the wireless LAN by receiving television broadcast waves and converting video and audio into digital signals.
A broadcast viewing system, comprising: television reception data output means for supplying to an access point. 2. A wireless LAN access point arranged in a mobile unit, and a television reception data output unit arranged in the mobile unit, which receives a television broadcast wave, converts video and audio into digital signals, and supplies the digital signals to the wireless LAN access point. ,
A broadcast viewing system comprising: 3. The broadcast viewing system according to claim 1, wherein a portable viewing device having a wireless LAN function communicates with a wireless LAN access point, and the video and audio are transmitted from the wireless LAN access point. A broadcast viewing system characterized by receiving the digital information of the above and generating video and audio. 4. The broadcast viewing system according to claim 3, wherein the television reception data output means includes a plurality of tuners, and can convert the video and audio of a plurality of programs into digital signals and supply them to a wireless LAN access point. ,
The user operates the portable viewing device to input a desired channel, and the portable viewing device transmits the desired channel to the wireless LA.
A broadcasting viewing system, wherein the wireless LAN access point receives the digital signals of the video and audio of the program corresponding to the desired channel from the television reception data output means and gives them to the portable viewing device. 5. The broadcast viewing system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the television reception data output means includes a storage unit that stores digital data of video and audio, and the portable viewing device is the wireless LAN. A broadcast viewing system, characterized in that the storage unit can be accessed via an access point to extract video and audio data.