JP2972035B2 - Home terminal system for CATV - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a CATV home terminal, and more particularly to a channel selection system using a remote control transmitter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is an external view of a conventional remote control transmitter. The channel (hereinafter C)
As a method of selecting a channel, a method of directly selecting a channel using the ten key group 12 of “0” to “9”, a method of sequentially transmitting a channel by using the CH forward key 13 or the CH reverse key 14,
There is a method of selecting a channel in reverse.

[0005] 15 is turned on and off each time the power key is pressed.
Are operated alternately. Reference numeral 16 denotes a volume key. When the volume up key 16a is pressed, the volume increases, and the volume down key 1
Pressing 6b decreases the sound in order. Reference numeral 17 denotes a mute key, and when this key is pressed, the sound is completely muted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the CATV home terminal 21. The signal a input from the CATV input terminal 22 is split by the distributor 23 into signals 1a and 2a.

[0005] The branch signal 1a is input to a converter 24, converted into a specific frequency signal b corresponding to a vacant channel of the television, output via an output terminal 25, and connected to a television 26 so that the CATV can be viewed.

On the other hand, the branch signal 2a passes through the data receiver 27, is demodulated into a data signal c, and is input to the control circuit unit 28. The control circuit 28 controls the entire home terminal based on the control content of the data signal c, and is mainly constituted by a microcomputer.

[0007] The remote controller transmitter 11 includes a numeric keypad group 12.
Alternatively, when the CH forward key 13 or the CH reverse key 14 is pressed, the data is output as an optical signal d, and the optical signal d is converted into an electric signal e by the light receiving section 29 and input to the control circuit section 28.

The control circuit unit 28 outputs the channel selection data f to the converter 24 based on the data of the electric signal e, and displays the selected channel on the CH display unit 30. 3
Reference numeral 1 denotes an external memory unit. The external memory 31 stores a last CH or the like for channel selection, and is used to select a previously viewed channel when the power is turned on.

[0009]

The following problems have been encountered in the conventional channel selection of a CATV home terminal. That is, at present, the opening of the urban CATV is remarkable, but the urban CATV tends to be multi-channel, and several kinds of specialized channels such as music, news, movies, weather forecasts, and education are mixed.

[0010] The maximum number of channels is generally 60 CH. Therefore, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional channel selection method, for example, when a music CH is desired to be viewed, a large number of music CHs are required.
It is necessary to select the music channel selected from the program table by the numeric keypad 2 directly from the program table and directly select the channel for each CH, or to select the music channel to be viewed by using the CH forward key 3 or the CH reverse key 4 The former requires time and effort to look at the program table each time, and the latter has a problem that it takes time since the program is forwarded and reversed.

It is obvious that the above-mentioned problem of operability becomes more serious as the trend of multi-channel urban CATV increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a CATV home terminal with a remote control transmitter capable of selecting a channel in a short time with a simple operation for a multi-channel CATV.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for transmitting data from a signal transmitted from a center.
Terminal with demodulation means for demodulating
And a home transmitter of the CATV system.
In the CATV home terminal system for remotely controlling Minaru, the home in the terminal demodulates is by the demodulating means from a previously transmitted signal from the center
By comparing the contents of the channel number <br/> and programs based on a plurality of program content by data memory means memory provided, wherein the remote control transmitter, in addition to the numeric keypad to the station channel selection, each depression corresponding to the plurality of program content to
The 該番sets the same number of program selection keys and content for forward only channels provided by pressing one of the channel selection key of the program selection key of the remote control transmitter during viewing, the data
In the program selected by receiving the
Check the contents and check the memory contents of the memory means.
Check that the program content is the same as the program content selected.
Channel number, and each time the same tuning key is pressed,
Check the memory contents of the memory means and select
Select the channel number of the same program
And selects only the channel corresponding to the channel selection key.

[0014]

The home terminal receives the data sent from the center, reads the program contents from the data for each CH, and stores the data in the memory in a one-to-one correspondence with the CH and the program contents.

When the user presses a program selection key desired to be viewed on the remote control transmitter, the home terminal checks the contents of the program from the memory in ascending order of CH, and selects a channel of the program. When the program selection key is pressed again, the same operation is repeated, so that the channel
Only the stations are tuned in order.

[0016]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a remote control transmitter 41 of the present invention.
Movie keys 42, music keys 43, sports keys 44, news keys 45, education keys 46, shopping keys 47 for which the CHup / dwon keys 13 and 14 select program contents.
And the like.

For example, the number of viewable channels is 1 to 60.
It is assumed that there are 60 CH channels, and among them, there are 6 music specialty channels. When a user wants to view a music-only channel from among the 60 channels, a conventional remote control transmitter needs to press the CHup / down key 60 times to sequentially move the CH and search for the music channel while moving backward.

However, in the remote control transmitter 41 of the present invention, only the music key 42 is pressed six times as described later, so that the home terminal selects only the music exclusive channel and sequentially selects the channel.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the home terminal 49 of the present invention, which is common to FIG. 6 described in the background art, except that the microcomputer of the control circuit 28a differs in software and that the external memory 31a Only the memory contents are different. Therefore, the block diagram of the home terminal 49 of the present invention is the same as the content described in the related art, so that the detailed description is omitted.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of the external memory 31a of the present invention. The operation of the remote control system for CATV of the present invention will be described below, taking as an example the case where the number of channels is 60 in total and the program content is six.

In the memory contents of the external memory 31a,
The channel has its channel number stored as it is. That is, the memory value is 1 for CH1 and 60 for CH60.

The program contents are stored in memory after being replaced with numerical values of 1 to 6. That is, movie = 1, music = 2, sports = 3, news = 4, education = 5, shopping =
6 and so on.

The number of channels and the program contents are input from the center via a cable through the CATV input terminal 22, demodulated by the data receiver 27, and input to the microcomputer of the control circuit unit 28a.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the operation of the microcomputer of the control circuit of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation of the microcomputer of the control circuit 28a will be described.

First, starting from START, the last CH memory of the external memory 31a is initialized to 1.

In STEP 1, data from the remote controller is received and checked, and the data is checked if the received data is the movie key 42 or the music key 4.
3, the sports key 44, the news key 45, the education key 46, and the shopping key 47 are checked.

If none of the keys is selected, the process proceeds to STEP 2, where processing based on other remote control reception key functions is performed, and the process returns to STEP 1.

If it is the movie key 42 in STEP 1, 1 is set in the register m. Similarly, if it is music key 43, m
= 2 for sports key 44, m = 3 for news key 45, m = 4 for education key 46, m = 5 for shopping key 47, and m = 6 for register m. Then, the process proceeds to STEP3.

In STEP3, the value of the last CH memory is set in the register n, and the operation proceeds to STEP4.

In STEP 4, the contents of the memory of the external memory 31a shown in the figure are started from the CH of the register n and sequentially checked for 60 channels of the number of CHs, and the channel n having the same program content as the program content of the register m is selected. If the program content Mn of the external memory 31a matches the register m, the process proceeds to STEP5, where nCH is selected and its nC
H is stored in the last CH memory, and the process returns to STEP 1;
Thereafter, the same operation is repeated.

For example, when the user wants to watch a music program, after pressing the power key 15 of the remote control transmitter 41 and pressing the music key 43, as described above, there are six channels dedicated to music. Home terminal 4 only for CH
9 is selected and displayed on the television screen, and each time the music key is pressed, a channel can be sequentially selected and the CH is displayed on the CH display section 30. When a desired CH is displayed, key operation is performed at that time. Should be stopped.

That is, only 6 channels are selected as music channels from the 60 channels, and the contents thereof are sequentially displayed on the CH display section 3.
0 is displayed, and the user can select a desired channel.

In addition, other program contents are selected in the same manner, and
The channel corresponding to the dedicated channel selection key is selected and displayed on the CH display unit 30 sequentially. In addition, TV 26
, The video being selected and the channel are displayed on the screen.

[0034]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. In a CATV having a large number of channels, a desired program content is first selected with a selection key instead of selecting a desired program content from the channels, and a desired program is selected from several types of channels corresponding to the program content. Since selection can be made, a desired program can be selected with several key operations without having to select a channel in a forward or backward direction as in the related art. As a result, operability can be greatly improved.

It is clear that the effect of the present invention becomes greater as the number of channels increases.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a remote control transmitter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the home terminal.

FIG. 3 shows memory contents of an external memory unit of the home terminal.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a home terminal.

FIG. 5 is an external view of a conventional remote control transmitter.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the home terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 28a control circuit section 31a external memory 41 remote control transmitter 48 channel selection key section 49 home terminal

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] (1) data from a signal transmitted from a center;
Terminal with demodulation means for demodulating
Is composed of a down transmitter, in the CATV home terminal system that the home terminal of the CATV system for remotely controlling the home Terminal, a plurality of program contents by demodulated by the demodulating means from a previously transmitted signal from the center memory means for memory by comparing the contents of the channel number and program on the basis of data provided, the said remote control transmitter, in addition to the numeric keypad to the station channel selection, corresponding to the plurality of program content for each of the depressed Cha
The same number of program selection keys as the contents of the program for sequentially forwarding only the channel are provided, and one of the program selection keys of the remote control transmitter is used during viewing.
By pressing the tuning key, the home its data
Check the program content received and selected at the terminal
Check the memory contents of the memory means and select
Select the channel number of the same program content as the broadcasted program content.
And each time the same tuning key is pressed, the memory means
Check the memory contents of the same as the selected program contents
A home terminal system for CATV , wherein a channel number of a program content is sequentially selected, and only a channel corresponding to the channel selection key is selected.