JP3490764B2 - Control device for cable broadcasting receiver - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for a cable broadcasting receiver called CATV / BOX (cable box) connected to a video tape coder (VTR) or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A general cable broadcasting receiver descrambles a designated CH (channel) from a cable broadcasting signal if necessary, extracts a video signal and an audio signal, and uses a built-in RF converter. Specific C
It is converted into an H radio signal (RF signal) and output. The cable broadcasting receiver normally switches the reception CH according to an instruction of a remote control (remote control) signal. When the VTR uses the signal received by the cable broadcasting receiver,
Connect the wireless signal output terminal of the cable broadcasting receiver and the wireless signal input terminal of the VTR with an antenna wire to receive the VTR reception channel.
Is synchronized with the radio signal output CH of the cable broadcasting receiver.

VT having a control function of a cable broadcasting receiver
R has a remote control transmission circuit, and transmits a remote control signal for a cable broadcasting receiver from this circuit. When recording a cable broadcast, at the reserved time, the remote control transmission circuit outputs a remote control signal to instruct a channel selection so that the cable broadcast receiver can select the required channel. Further, since there are many types of cable broadcasting receivers and the remote control signal format is different, the VTR having a remote control transmission circuit has a function of selecting a model of the cable broadcasting receiver and storing the model name. At the time of remote control transmission, the remote control signal format is determined according to the stored contents.

[0004]

The frequency of the radio signal output by the cable broadcasting receiver may deviate from the center frequency of CH. Therefore, it is necessary for the VTR to perform a fine adjustment operation in order to ensure the best reception state when the radio signal from the cable broadcasting receiver is stable.

Also, it is desirable to mute the screen and audio for an appropriate time during the CH switching period. Otherwise, unwanted video and audio will be recorded,
This is because it has an unpleasant effect when the VTR is reproduced.

However, the timing for starting channel selection when the cable broadcast receiver receives a channel selection instruction and the time required until a normal signal is output vary depending on the model of the cable broadcast receiver.

That is, when the cable broadcasting receiver receives an arbitrary channel selection instruction for a while (until the receiving state of the receiver becomes stable), the signal output from it deviates from the center frequency of the desired channel. Even if the VTR is finely adjusted (so-called offset tuning) in a state where the degree of deviation is large, the digital AFT circuit of the VTR cannot search and find the shifted frequency, and the actual receiver In a stable state, a searchable frequency is missed, and as a result, the VTR quits the search and does not tune to a certain frequency of the actual broadcast frequency, but tunes to a regular frequency. In such a case, not only the reception condition is extremely poor in the state of being tuned to the regular frequency, but in some cases, the signal of the desired program cannot be received. In particular, in the case of reserved recording, since the user is absent, it is not possible to make a fine adjustment manually by seeing how the screen looks, and even if the user is at the reserved time, a device that can make a fine adjustment manually is a VTR. If it is not provided, the connected cable broadcasting receiver may not be able to ensure the best reception. In addition, an unsightly video or audio may be output during switching due to insufficient mute period.

[0008]

A control device of the present invention receives a cable broadcast receiver and a signal which is selected and RF-converted by the cable broadcast receiver and transmits a remote control signal to transmit the cable broadcast. A video recorder for performing tuning control of the receiver, the video recorder having means for storing the model of the cable broadcasting receiver, the type of tuning operation of the cable broadcasting receiver of each model, and its output radio. The memory in which the time until the signal stabilizes is stored, and the video and audio are muted during the video and audio muting period when tuning according to the model of the cable broadcasting receiver according to the contents of the memory, and fine adjustment is started. The control means for switching the timing is provided.

It is preferable to use a microcomputer as the control means.

Further, the microcomputer controls a mute circuit provided in the video recorder for muting a tuner / IF (intermediate frequency) circuit output.

[0011]

According to the above configuration, when the VTR controls the cable broadcasting receiver to perform an absence message, the wireless signal output by the cable broadcasting receiver is kept in the best receiving state with an appropriate MUTE period. Can be received.

Further, control can be easily performed by using a microcomputer, and the microcomputer controls a mute circuit for muting the output of the tuner / IF (intermediate frequency) circuit provided in the video recorder to mute the video / audio signals. Therefore, unwanted video / audio is not recorded.

[0013]

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, 1 is a cable broadcasting receiver to which a cable broadcasting signal is input, and 2 is a broadcasting signal obtained in the form of an RF signal therefrom. VTR for recording and reproducing
A TV receiver as a monitor TV for displaying a reproduction signal from R2 or a signal received by a tuner, and 20 is a remote control transmission unit including an infrared light emitting element, which is a VTR.
At the time of recording reservation by, the channel of the cable broadcasting receiver is controlled by the remote control signal transmitted from the transmitter 20. Reference numeral 11 represents a remote control signal reception window representatively showing a remote control signal reception window, and 16 is a channel display section. The channel display section 16 confirms reception of the current reception channel and remote control signal.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of FIG.
The CATV broadcast receiver 1 includes a tuner / tuning circuit 13 for receiving and selecting CATV broadcasts, and a de-scramble circuit 14 for canceling a scrambled broadcast selected by the circuit 13. An RF converter 15 for RF-modulating the video and audio signals output from the de-scramble circuit 14 to a specific channel (in the US, any channel between 2CH and 7CH), and a VTR described later. And a control circuit 12 for controlling the tuner channel selection circuit 13 and the channel display unit 16 in response to the signal received by the remote control receiving unit 11. It is composed of a microcomputer.

The VTR2 is an R from the CATV broadcast receiver.
A tuner / channel selection IF circuit 21 for receiving an F signal, a mute circuit 22 for muting an output signal of this circuit 21 for a predetermined period in response to a control signal from a microcomputer, which will be described later, and a recording / reproducing section for the output from this mute circuit 22. Recorded at 24,
The TV receiver 3 reproduces the signal obtained by the recording / reproducing unit 24.
, A remote control transmission circuit 26 for transmitting a remote control signal to the transmission section 20, a remote control reception circuit 29 for receiving an infrared remote control signal from a remote control transmitter 30 for VTR control, and a table data memory ( R
OM) 27, model memory (RAM) 28, and tuner / channel selection IF circuit 21, mute circuit 22, recording / reproducing circuit 23, remote control transmitter 26, remote control receiving circuit 2
9, table data 27, model memory 28, etc.
It is composed of a microcomputer 25 that performs predetermined control or exchange of data.

By the way, the cable broadcast receiver 1 is classified into two types of channel selection operation according to the operation when the remote control channel selection instruction is received.

The first channel selection operation is to start channel selection after receiving all remote control channel selection instructions. 3 to 6 show examples of the operation at the time of tuning.

The channel currently being received is 05CH (FIG. 3), and the channel after the tuning operation is 12CH (FIG. 6).

First, the microcomputer of the VTR 2 transmits the channel number 1 from the remote control transmitter 20. The cable broadcasting receiver displays on the CH (channel) display unit 16 that the number 1 has been received. However, the received CH is 05CH
Are retained (FIG. 4).

Then, the number 2 is transmitted. Since the cable broadcasting receiver has 2-digit data, the channel selection operation starts for the first time here, but the output signal of the cable broadcasting receiver becomes unstable for a while after this (FIG. 5).

Assuming that it takes T1 time until the end of channel selection, this cable broadcasting receiver receives 12CH after a lapse of T1 time and outputs a stable radio signal (FIG. 6). As a result, the image of 12CH is reproduced on the TV receiver.

The second channel selection operation is a type of channel selection operation each time one channel number of the remote controller is received. 7 to 10 show examples of the operation at the time of tuning. As in the previous case, the currently receiving channel is 05CH (Fig. 7),
The channel after selection is 12CH (FIG. 10).

First, the VTR 2 transmits channel number 1 by a remote control signal. Then, the cable broadcasting receiver starts the operation of selecting the channel 51 by left-shifting the current channel 5 from the first channel to the 10th channel to 51CH.
The output RF signal immediately after this is in an unstable state (FIG. 8).

Then, the channel number 2 is transmitted. The 1st place of the current reception channel is left-justified to 12CH to start the tuning operation (FIG. 9), but the RF signal immediately after this is also unstable. If this cable broadcasting receiver takes T2 hours for channel selection, after a lapse of T2 time, it receives 12CH and outputs a stable RF (radio) signal (FIG. 10). Since the configurations of FIGS. 3 to 10 are the same as those of FIG. 1, their reference numerals are omitted.

Next, in this embodiment, FIG. 11 shows a mute period (MUTE) period and a fine adjustment timing with respect to a signal output from the cable broadcasting receiver which performs the above-mentioned first channel selection operation.

First, the transmission of the 2-digit remote control signal starts at point A and ends at point B. This period AB is about 3 seconds, depending on the model. Then, after the remote control signal indicating the two-digit number is transmitted, that is, the mute is started from the point B. After 1 hour from the point B, when the tuning of the cable broadcasting receiver becomes stable (point C), the VTR starts the fine adjustment operation. After the end of the fine adjustment operation, the VTR ends the mute (D
point). Therefore, the mute period changes from (point B) to (point D).

FIG. 12 shows the mute period and the fine adjustment timing for the signal output from the cable broadcasting receiver which performs the second channel selection operation. The VTR mutes the muting circuit 22 at the same time as transmitting the remote control signal indicating the first number.
Start with (point A). After sending the remote control signal (B
Point), and when the cable broadcasting receiver channel selection becomes stable after T2 hours (point C), the VTR starts fine adjustment. After fine adjustment ends, mute ends (point D). Therefore, the mute period is from (point A) to (point D).

Also, like the above-mentioned two types of cable broadcasting receivers, the time required for the channel selection operation depending on the model of the cable broadcasting receiver to stabilize the radio signal is T.
1, T2 and so on.

The VTR of this embodiment is constructed in consideration of the above points, and as described with reference to FIG.
8, the type of cable broadcasting receiver to be used is stored in advance in the memory 28 by the remote control transmitter 30. Further, the table data memory 27 configured as a ROM stores the time required for tuning operation and the time required for the radio signal to stabilize for each model of the cable broadcasting receiver as table data for each model as shown in FIG. .
In addition, in FIG. 13, the operation type 1 at the time of channel selection is as shown in FIG.
It operates in the same way as described above, and it is the operation type 2 at the time of tuning.
Means that the operation described in FIG. 12 is performed.

Next, the operation of the VTR in this embodiment will be described with reference to the procedure shown in the flow chart of FIG.

First, when the timer reservation start time comes, VT
The microcomputer 25 of R2 refers to the model-specific table and determines whether the operation of the cable broadcasting receiver model currently connected to the VTR at the time of channel selection is type 2 (S1),
In the case of type 2, the mute operation of the signal is started by the mute circuit 22 (S2), and the remote control signal is transmitted (S3). If it is determined in step 1 (S1) that the type is not type 2, the remote control signal is transmitted without muting.

At the time when the transmission of the remote control signal is completed, if it is judged in step 4 (S4) that the operation at the time of tuning the cable broadcasting receiver model currently connected to the VTR is type 1, muting of the signal is started. (S5), and the process proceeds to the next step 6 (S6). If it is determined in step 4 that the current VTR type is not 1, the process directly proceeds to step 6.

In step 6 (S6), referring to the table data (FIG. 13), the tuning time (T) of the cable broadcasting receiver whose internal timer circuit of the microcomputer is currently selected is selected.
1, T2, ... Tm, or Tn).
Then, it is judged whether or not this set channel selection time has ended (S7), and the timer set time has passed (C point (Type 11 in case of type 1) and D point in case of type 2). (FIG. 12)), the VTR next performs a fine adjustment operation (S8). Then, after the fine adjustment operation ends (point D in FIGS. 11 and 12) and the wireless signal transmitted from the cable broadcast receiver can be received in the best state, the mute output is ended (S9).

[0034]

According to the above configuration, when the VTR controls the cable broadcasting receiver to perform absence recording, the wireless signal output by the cable broadcasting receiver is best received with an appropriate MUTE period. Can be received in the state.

Further, control can be easily performed by using a microcomputer, and the microcomputer controls a mute circuit for muting the output of the tuner / IF (intermediate frequency) circuit provided in the video recorder to mute the video / audio signals. Therefore, unwanted video / audio is not recorded.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a control system embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a first stage of a first type channel selection operation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second stage of the operation of tuning the first type.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a third stage of the operation of tuning the first type.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a fourth stage of the operation of tuning the first type.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a first stage of a second type channel selection operation.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a second stage of the second type channel selection operation.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a third stage of the second type channel selection operation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a first stage of a second type channel selection operation.

FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram in the case where the present invention is applied to a receiver that performs a first type of channel selection operation.

FIG. 12 is an operation explanatory diagram when the present invention is applied to a receiver that performs a second type of channel selection operation.

[Fig. 13] Channel selection operation and R for each model of cable broadcasting receiver
It is a figure which shows the table data in which the time required until an F signal stabilizes was memorize | stored.

FIG. 14 is an operation explanatory diagram of the circuit block diagram of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cable broadcasting receiver 2 video tape recorders 3 television receiver 20 Remote control transmitter 25 microcomputer 27 table data memory 28 model memory

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-6-133312 (JP, A) JP-A-5-328239 (JP, A) JP-A-5-236381 (JP, A) JP-A-5-75889 (JP , A) JP 4-133574 (JP, A) JP 2-308691 (JP, A) JP 2-185189 (JP, A) Actual flat 6-41279 (JP, U) Actual flat 6-9266 (JP, U) Actual Kaihei 2-68391 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G11B 31/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cable broadcast receiver, and a video recorder for receiving a signal selected and RF-converted by the cable broadcast receiver and transmitting a remote control signal to control channel selection of the cable broadcast receiver. The video recorder stores means for storing the model of the cable broadcasting receiver, the type of tuning operation of the cable broadcasting receiver of each model, and the time until the output wireless signal stabilizes. Cable broadcasting provided with a memory and a control means for muting video and audio during a video and audio muting period at the time of channel selection corresponding to the model of the cable broadcasting receiver according to the contents of the memory and for switching the timing of fine adjustment start Receiver control unit. 2. The control device for a cable broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the control means is a microcomputer. 3. The tuner / I according to claim 2, wherein the microcomputer is provided in the video recorder.
A control device for a cable broadcasting receiver adapted to control a mute circuit for muting an F (intermediate frequency) circuit output.