JP2007288577A - Television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique which identifies a user without the need for registration of user profile information in advance so as to make use of the identification information of the user for improving the convenience of television viewing function. <P>SOLUTION: A television receiver disclosed herein includes a user identification section, a storage, and a channel switch. The television receiver acquires channel information corresponding to the identification information of the user identified by the user identifier from the storage, and displays a channel provided by the acquired channel information. Thus, the television receiver can switch a channel of television broadcasting corresponding to the user, wherein the user needs not make channel switching operations. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a television receiver that switches channels of television broadcasting according to the user without the user performing a channel switching operation.

  Information home appliances tend to be complicated to operate with higher functionality. In particular, in a digital television receiver, a user can search for a target channel because the number of channels is increased compared to a conventional analog broadcast and a channel number different from the channel number of the analog broadcast is used. Expected to be difficult. In addition, mobile phones and personal digital assistants equipped with TV functions that have been put into practical use in recent years are expected to be used on the go. For this reason, there are many opportunities to show or lend to others. Therefore, when a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant equipped with a digital television function is shared by a plurality of users, it is easy for each user to easily find a target channel from many channels, which improves usability.

  For the purpose of improving usability when a single television receiver is shared by a plurality of users, a television receiver that identifies a viewing user and automatically sets an operation environment for each user is known.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a method of switching user settings without requiring complicated operations by registering user profile information in a television receiver in advance. FIG. 2 is an external view of the television receiver.

  Reference numeral 200 shown in FIG. 2 is a television receiver main body, and reference numerals 201 to 204 are remote controllers used by respective users. The television receiver 200 identifies the user by each using a dedicated remote controller.

  In addition, the identification of the user does not necessarily depend on a dedicated remote controller. The user's face is imaged using camera means prepared for a videophone function or the like, and the user is identified by means of recognizing the face image. Although the specific configuration of the method is not disclosed, it is described in Patent Document 1.

JP 2005-117185 A

  However, in the television receiver disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to register user profile information in the television receiver 200 in advance. If it is a stationary television receiver, it is effective to limit the viewing users to family members, etc., but in portable terminals that can be taken outside, they may be shown to an unspecified partner or lent. Therefore, it is impossible to register in advance.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver that switches a television broadcast channel according to the user without the user performing a channel switching operation even if the user identification information is not registered in advance.

  The present invention relates to a television receiver that receives a television video signal, a user identification unit that identifies a user who operates the television receiver, a display that displays a television image, and a television broadcast channel that is displayed on the display. A channel switching unit that switches between, a storage unit that stores identification information of a plurality of users and channel information of television broadcasting in association with each user, and channel information corresponding to the identification information of the user identified by the user identification unit Is provided from the storage unit, and a channel switching control unit that controls the channel switching unit so as to display the television image of the channel indicated by the acquired channel information on the display is provided. For this reason, even if the user identification information is not registered in the storage unit in advance, the channel of the television broadcast can be switched according to the user without the user performing a channel switching operation.

  In the television receiver, when the user identification unit determines that the user does not match the information stored in the storage unit, the identification information of the new user may be registered in the storage unit.

  In the television receiver, the user identification unit includes a camera and an image processing unit that identifies a user based on an image captured by the camera, and the identification information of the plurality of users includes each user's identification information. It may be face information.

  In the television receiver, the channel information stored in the storage unit is information indicating the channel of the television broadcast being viewed by the user or the channel of the television broadcast being viewed by the user associated with the channel information. There may be.

  According to the television receiver of the present invention, even if the user identification information is not registered in advance, the channel of the television broadcast can be switched according to the user without the user performing a channel switching operation.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a television receiver according to the present invention. A television receiver 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes an antenna 101, a receiving unit 102, a display 103, a camera 104, an image processing unit 105, a storage unit 106, a channel switching control unit 107, and a channel switching unit 108. Is provided.

  The antenna 101 receives a television video signal. The receiving unit 102 processes the TV video signal received by the antenna 101. The display 103 displays the video processed by the receiving unit 102. The channel switching unit 108 switches the television broadcast channel displayed on the display 103.

  The camera 104 images the face of the user who operates the television receiver 100. The image processing unit 105 obtains face information of a user who operates the television receiver 100 from an image captured by the camera 104. The face information is a facial image or feature points such as eyes and nose necessary for determining a face. The image processing unit 105 searches the storage unit 106 to obtain user identification information corresponding to the user's face information.

  The storage unit 106 stores face information, user identification information, and television broadcast channel information of a plurality of users in association with each user. The storage unit 106 is a magnetic recording device such as a volatile memory such as a DRAM, a nonvolatile memory such as a Flash ROM, or a hard disk.

  The channel switching control unit 107 acquires channel information corresponding to the user identification information obtained by the image processing unit 105 from the storage unit 106, and causes the display 103 to display the TV video of the channel indicated by the acquired channel information. The channel switching unit 108 is controlled.

  In this embodiment, when viewing a television broadcast, the user is identified from the face information, and the channel is switched. This is useful for improving the convenience of the TV viewing service when the number of channels is increased by the digitalization of TV broadcasting.

  Hereinafter, channel switching when the user A and the user B use the television receiver 100 of the present embodiment alternately will be described.

  A case will be described in which the user A who is viewing the TV image of the channel 1 passes the television receiver 100 to the user B and returns to the user A again after the user B performs the switching operation to the channel 2. When the television receiver 100 is returned to the user A, the television receiver 100 displays the television image of the channel 2 selected by the user B, but the user A may desire to switch to the channel 1. .

  In the present embodiment, while the user A is viewing the TV image of channel 1, the face information of the user A, the identification information of the user A, and the channel information indicating the channel 1 are associated and registered in the storage unit 106. Thereafter, when the user A hands over the television receiver 100 to the user B, the camera 104 images the user B instead of the user A.

  When the user B performs image processing on the captured image, the image processing unit 105 obtains user B's face information. For this reason, the image processing unit 105 can determine that the user who can view the television image is not the user A. At this time, face information of user B and identification information of user B are newly registered in the storage unit 106. User B who has received the television receiver 100 switches to the desired channel 2. At this time, channel information indicating the channel 2 is registered in the storage unit 106 in association with the face information and identification information of the user B.

  After that, even when the television receiver 100 is returned to the user A again, the television image of the channel 2 that the user B was viewing is displayed on the display 103, but the camera 104 captures the user A instead of the user B. . When the image processing unit 105 performs image processing on an image including the user A, the user A's face information is obtained. Therefore, the storage unit 106 can be searched to obtain the user A identification information. Since the storage unit 106 stores user A's identification information and channel 1 in association with each other, the channel switching control unit 107 controls the channel switching unit 108 to switch to channel 1.

  Note that the channel switching may be automatic or may be performed on condition that an operation by the user has been performed. The operation by the user is, for example, a specific key press. Which method is adopted depends on the setting of the user.

  As described above, according to the television receiver 100 of the present embodiment, for example, even when the channel is changed because the television receiver 100 is passed to the user B while the user A is watching the news program, The user A returning the television receiver 100 from the user B can view the news program without performing the channel switching operation. In this case, the user A does not need to remember which channel the news program was broadcast on.

  Also, even if user A changes channels in order to search for a news program, the target channel may not be known during commercial broadcasting. However, according to the television receiver 100 according to the present embodiment, the user A can view a news program immediately.

  The television receiver 100 of the embodiment described above acquires the user identification information from the user face information using the camera, but is not limited thereto. For example, retina information or fingerprint information may be used instead of face information.

The block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of the television receiver which concerns on this invention. External view of a television receiver disclosed in JP-A-2005-117185

Explanation of symbols

100 TV receiver 101 Antenna 102 Receiving unit 103 Display 104 Camera 105 Image processing unit 106 Storage unit 107 Channel switching control unit 108 Channel switching unit

Claims (4)

A television receiver for receiving a television image signal,
A user identification unit for identifying a user who operates the television receiver;
A display that displays TV images;
A channel switching unit for switching a television broadcast channel to be displayed on the display;
A storage unit that stores identification information of a plurality of users and channel information of television broadcasting in association with each user;
Channel information corresponding to the identification information of the user identified by the user identification unit is acquired from the storage unit, and the channel switching unit is controlled so that the display displays a television image of a channel indicated by the acquired channel information. A channel switching control unit,
A television receiver comprising: The television receiver according to claim 1,
When the user identification unit determines that the user does not match the information stored in the storage unit, the identification information of the new user is registered in the storage unit. The television receiver according to claim 1 or 2,
The user identification unit includes a camera and an image processing unit that identifies a user based on an image captured by the camera,
The television receiver, wherein the identification information of the plurality of users is face information of each user. A television receiver according to claim 1, 2 or 3,
The channel information stored in the storage unit is information indicating a television broadcast channel currently being viewed by a user associated with the channel information or a television broadcast channel being viewed by the user. TV receiver.

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