JPH11298863A - Receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to easily grasp program information and to easily select a program by selecting one item among plural selection items and scrolling and displaying information that is related to the item. SOLUTION: A cursor is shown and a specific selection item 304 is selected with the cursor. An elapsed time is measured from a selected state. When a fixed time does not pass, processing becomes unnecessary and when the fixed time passed, it is decided whether, there exists program data which are not displayed. If information that is not shown does not exist, no processing is performed. When the information that is not displayed exists, output data is changed so that the information which is not displayed can be shown. In such a case, display contents are shown in such a manner that they are scrolled on a screen, e.g. as shown in selection items 305 and 306 by changing the output data by a specific quantity at a time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a receiver having a function of displaying text information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, text information such as a program guide has been provided in teletext broadcasting, digital broadcasting using satellites, and the like, and there are reception devices for displaying the text information on a screen. As a display method on the screen, for example, FIG.
As shown in the front view of the receiving device screen of (a), the title of the program is displayed for each channel. For these pieces of character information, a certain size of character size is used in view of the resolution of the display, the viewing distance, and the like. Therefore, the amount of information that can be displayed in one screen is also limited.

As a method of displaying the program guide information on the screen, a plurality of text information is displayed on the screen, and an operation means for selecting any one of the program information, for example, a remote controller is provided. There is a receiving apparatus that displays text information related to the received program information 445 in a specific area 446 on the screen, for example, in the upper part of the screen shown in FIG. In this case, the amount of program information related to a selection item (for example, a program title) displayed in the specific area 446 on the screen depends on the size of the display area. Therefore, if the selection item display area is widened in order to secure the number of selection items, the amount of related information decreases. Conversely, if the display area of the related information is made large, the display area of the selection items becomes narrow, and the number of selection items that can be displayed is reduced, making it difficult to use. When a specific button of a remote controller (hereinafter, simply referred to as a remote controller) is pressed in a state where a selection item is selected, as shown in the front view of the receiving device screen of FIG. There is a receiving device in which related information is displayed in a display area 447. However, this receiving apparatus has a drawback that the operation of pressing the specific button is troublesome, or the selection item is hidden, making it difficult to use.

FIGS. 14 to 16 show still another conventional technique.
This will be described with reference to the front view of the screen of the receiving device shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 14A, a method of displaying a text broadcast on a screen is to display a video of a broadcast program and a plurality of icon images 500 representing each program of the text broadcast on the screen, Point one of the images 500 to the cursor 440
And confirm the selected teletext program in a specific area on the screen, in this case, an area 502 on the right side of the screen.
There is a receiving device to display. In this case, if the text broadcast program information is displayed using many areas of the screen, the image of the broadcast program becomes smaller, or the text broadcast program item, that is, the area for displaying the icon image 500 becomes narrower.
The number of teletext selection items to be displayed is reduced.

Conversely, when the display area 503 of teletext program information is narrowed as shown in FIG. 14B, the number of characters and the amount of information that can be displayed are reduced. Also, when the character size is displayed small, the characters are difficult to read. In addition, in such a display method, when turning over the page of the displayed teletext program, the user must display information that is not displayed on the screen by operating a remote controller or the like, which is troublesome.

As a method of displaying the contents of teletext on the screen, there is a receiving apparatus in which information 504 of a specific teletext program is scrolled and displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG.
By providing a specific button, for example, one news button 505 on the remote controller and pressing it, news is displayed on the screen. In order to display the contents of teletext on the screen, it is necessary to specify display on the screen by operating a push button of the remote controller, and the user needs to temporarily take his / her eyes off the screen. In addition, since there is only one type of character information program to be scrolled and displayed, a desired program cannot be viewed.

As another prior art, as shown in FIG. 16, a plurality of images of a program currently being broadcast are displayed on a screen, and channel information being broadcast is added to each image and displayed. There is a receiving apparatus in which the selected image is displayed on the entire screen by selecting such a program with a cursor 440. In this case, the information about the selected image is information such as the channel number of the broadcasting station that is broadcasting, and no information about the program is provided.

[0008]

As described above, in the prior art, only text information, program information, and an image being received are displayed on a limited screen. Information could not be obtained simultaneously and easily. Further, even if a program title is selected and detailed information of the selected program is obtained, sufficient information cannot be displayed because the display area is limited.

[0009] In addition, when trying to display information that is not fully displayed, remote control operation by the user is required, which is troublesome, and other displays such as selection items have disappeared, making it difficult to use.

[0010] It is an object of the present invention to provide a receiving apparatus which solves such a problem. Another object of the present invention is to display a plurality of selection items and related information about the selection items, and to automatically display information that is not displayed among the information about the selected items in a limited area. To provide a receiving device capable of performing such operations.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a means for displaying a plurality of selection items on a screen, a selection means for selecting one item from the plurality of selection items, Display means for scrolling and displaying information related to the selected item. This scrolled information is displayed in a predetermined area on the screen. In the present invention, the presence or absence of information related to the selected item is determined, and if there is information, it is automatically displayed.
Further, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the selection means has a cursor display means, and when the cursor is in a stop state for a predetermined time, information on an item selected by the cursor is automatically scrolled. To display.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of a receiving apparatus according to the present invention will be described using some examples. This embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings, taking as an example a case where the program guide information is superimposed on a broadcast and sent. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a receiving device according to the present invention. In the figure, 101 is a signal input terminal, 102 is a signal separation unit, 103 is an image processing unit, 104 is an image reproduction unit,
105 is an image processing unit, 106 is an image synthesis unit, 107 is a signal output terminal, 108 is an information processing unit, 109 is a data extraction unit, 110 is a data storage unit, 111 is a display data creation unit, 112 is a central processing unit, 113 Is the external control input unit, 1
14 is a clock device, and 115 is a memory unit. In the receiving apparatus shown in the figure, a signal input to a signal input terminal 101 is input to a signal separation unit 102. Signal separation unit 10
Reference numeral 2 separates image information and data information from the input signal and outputs the separated information. The image information is input to the image processing unit 103 and the data information is input to the information processing unit 108.

The image processing unit 103 processes, processes, and outputs the input image signal so that it can be displayed on a screen. For example, the image processing unit 103 includes an image reproducing unit 104 and an image processing unit 105, and the encoded image information is reproduced by the image reproducing unit 104 into an original image. The reproduced image is input to the image processing unit 105, where the image is processed for brightness, contrast, and contour correction, and the image is reduced and enlarged. Information processing unit is 1
08 generates and outputs a program guide image from the data information separated by the signal separation unit 102. This data may be input from the communication information to the data storage unit 110 through the modem 117 in some cases. The information processing unit 108 includes, for example,
It comprises a data extraction unit 109, a data storage unit 110, and a display data creation unit 111. Data extraction unit 109
Extracts the program information from the data information output from the signal separation unit 102, decodes it, and outputs it to the data storage unit 110. The data storage unit 110 stores the input program information. The stored program information is output to the display data creation unit 111 when composing a program guide image. The display data creation unit 111 creates and outputs a program guide image from the program guide information output from the data storage unit 110. The output program guide image is output to the image combining unit 106.
Is input to

An image synthesizing unit 106 synthesizes the input image signal and the program guide image into one image and outputs the image. The output image is output from the signal output terminal 107 and displayed on a screen by a display unit (not shown). Here, the central processing unit 112 responds to a command from a remote control or the like operated by the viewer input from the external control input unit 113, and the image processing unit 1
03 and the information processing unit 108 are controlled. For example, the image processing unit 103 controls the display size of the image and the image quality correction. In addition, the information processing unit 108 controls storage, editing, and retrieval of program guide data, and further controls or processes the display mode. In the figure, terrestrial broadcasting received by an antenna (not shown), satellite broadcasting such as CS and BS, and further communication are supplied to a signal separation unit 102, and program guide information is accumulated in a data recording unit 110. .

FIG. 2 shows a remote controller used for the receiving apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a remote controller used for the receiving device of FIG. In the figure, a remote control 200 includes a power button 201, a program guide button 202 used to display program guide information, and a multi-button 20 used to display images of a plurality of channels.
3, up / down / left / right buttons 204, 205, 206, 207,
It comprises a decision button 208, a volume control button 209 and a channel button 210. Now remote control 20
When the “0” program guide button 202 is pressed, the receiving device receives a command for displaying the program guide, and stores the command in the memory unit 115. When this command is received, the program data currently being broadcast is extracted from the program guide information stored in the data storage unit 110 by the output from the clock device 114, and the display data creation unit 111
The display data is created and sent to the image synthesizing unit 106. The image synthesizing unit 106 synthesizes the display data with the program video being viewed. As shown in FIG. In the area 301, the program guide currently being broadcast is displayed in the area on the right side of the screen.

FIGS. 3A to 3C are front views showing a first embodiment of the screen of the receiving apparatus. In the program guide information, a channel name or a channel number 302 is displayed on the left end of the right side area of the screen, and program information 303 such as a title of a program being broadcast on the channel and performers is displayed on the right side of each channel number 302. . At this time, one of the program information has been selected, and the selection operation can be performed by the cursor up / down buttons 204 and 205 of the remote controller 200. When a specific selection item 304 is selected by the cursor 300 as shown in FIG.
The information processing unit 108 shown in FIG. 1 performs the processing shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the flow of the receiving apparatus of FIG. In step 401, a cursor is displayed, and a specific selection item 304 is selected with the cursor. In step 402, the elapsed time is measured from the selected state. If the fixed time has not elapsed, the processing becomes unnecessary. If the fixed time has elapsed, step 403 is executed.
As shown in (2), it is determined whether or not any of the program data is not displayed in the display area. If no information is not displayed, no processing is performed.
If there is information that is not displayed, step 404
In, so that information that is not displayed is displayed,
Change output data. By changing the output data by a specific amount, the selection items 305 in FIG.
As shown in the selection item 306 of FIG. 5C and the selection item 307 of FIG. 5A, the content to be displayed is displayed as scrolling on the screen.

Next, as shown in the front views of the receiving device screens of FIGS. 5B and 5C, when the cursor down button 205 of the remote controller is pressed, the cursor 300 moves to the state shown in FIG. 5A. From the item 307 to the selection item 308 as shown in FIG.
Is moved to the selected state. Also in this case, the operation is performed according to the flowchart of FIG. Therefore, if all of the selected program information has not been completely displayed and there is an undisplayed portion, the display data is changed by the table information processing unit 108 after a certain period of time, so that the display data shown in FIG.
The selection item 308 in FIG. 5B and the selection item 309 in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the program guide information is scrolled, and all information related to the selected item is displayed. By displaying the program information on the screen in this way, the user does not need to perform a specific operation, and can obtain information on a program that is selected in a small area.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 6 (a) and 6 (b) are front views of a receiver screen showing a second embodiment of the present invention. When the program guide button 202 of the remote controller shown in FIG. 2 is pressed and the receiving device receives a command for displaying the program guide, the clock device 11
Based on the information of No. 4, the program data currently being broadcast is extracted from the program guide information stored in the data storage unit 110. The channel at the time when the program guide button 202 is pressed is determined by the central processing unit 112, and the information processing unit 108 sets the selected item to the channel and the program information of the selected program 312. An area 313 to be displayed is separately provided, and is combined with the program video by the image combining unit 106, and is displayed as shown in FIG.

Since the display area of the program 312 has a small display area, the information of the program selected by the cursor can be grasped in more detail by using the area 313 at the bottom of the screen having a larger display area. It becomes possible to do. However, even in the lowermost display area 313, there is a case where not all the program information can be displayed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the information processing unit 108 determines whether there is program information that cannot be displayed in the program information display area 313. After a lapse of time, the display data is changed, and as shown in a display area 313 of FIG. 6B, information that is not displayed is displayed by scrolling and displaying. In the case of the present embodiment, the program information flows from right to left, and characters that have not been displayed appear and become visible. As shown in the front view of the receiver screen of FIG. 7A, when the cursor down button 205 of the remote controller is pressed,
The display data creating unit 108 changes the display of the cursor 300 to the lower part 315, changes the information displayed in the lowermost display area 313 to the information of the program 315 where the cursor is located, and displays it on the screen. Also in this case, since all the program information cannot be displayed in the lowermost display area 313, FIG.
As shown in (b), after a certain time has elapsed, the display data is changed as needed and displayed on the screen by the information processing unit 108. In this embodiment, the user can easily obtain the guide information of the program simply by selecting a selection item, and furthermore, a display area of a program video being viewed and a display area of a program title list of each channel. , The information of the program currently being broadcast can be obtained.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a front view of a receiving apparatus screen showing the third embodiment of the present invention, showing an embodiment in which a program guide display is displayed using the entire screen. When the program guide button 202 of the remote controller is pressed in the normal program viewing state, the central processing unit 112 recognizes the viewing channel at that time,
In the information processing unit 108, by comparing the clock device 114 with the data storage unit 110, the program data currently being broadcast of the channel being viewed is extracted, and display data is created together with other channel names and titles. It is displayed on the receiving device screen as shown in FIG. At this time, the selection cursor 300 is in a state of selecting a program of the channel displayed before the remote control button is pressed. In this case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, the information processing unit 108 measures the time of the cursor stop state, and when a certain time is reached, determines whether all the program information is displayed in the display area and displays the information. If it is determined that there is something that has not been performed, the information processing unit 108 changes and outputs the display data. By this processing, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the program information display area 319 at the top of the screen,
Then, the program information is scrolled and displayed, and the information not displayed is displayed.

When the cursor down button 205 of the remote controller is pressed in the state of FIG.
0 moves to the lower stage, and the information that cannot be displayed for the selected program is stored in the area 31 in the same manner as described with reference to FIG.
9 is displayed. In the present embodiment, the user can obtain detailed information of a specific program while keeping the display area of the program guide wide.

Next, the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
An example will be described. 9 (a), 9 (b), 1
0 (a) and (b) are front views of a receiving apparatus showing a third embodiment. When one of the cursor up / down / left / right buttons 204, 205, 206, 207 of the remote controller is pressed in the normal program viewing state, the central processing unit 112 recognizes the viewing channel at that time, and the information processing unit 108 , By comparing the clock device 114 with the data storage unit 110, the program data being broadcast on the currently watched channel is extracted, display data is created together with the channel number, and the image data is broadcasted by the image synthesis unit 106. 9A and is displayed as shown in FIG. 9A. The selection cursor 300 selects the channel 324 displayed before the remote control button is pressed, and the program information display area 325 displays the current channel (CH2 in the screen shown in the figure) selected by the cursor 300. Displays information about the program being broadcast. In this case, the operation is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Therefore, when the time of the cursor stop state has reached a predetermined time, it is determined whether or not all the program information is displayed in the display area 325.
The information processing unit 108 changes and outputs the display data.
By this processing, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the program information display area 325 at the bottom of the screen scrolls and displays the program information, and displays information that has not been displayed. When the cursor down button 205 of the remote controller is pressed in the state shown in FIG. 9B, the selection cursor 300 moves to the selection item 327 (CH3) shown in FIG. As shown in ()), in the program information display area 325, the selection item 327, that is, the program data currently being broadcast on the selected channel CH3 is displayed in the program information display area 325 at the bottom. In this embodiment, the user can obtain information on the program currently being viewed and information on another program currently being broadcast while keeping the display area of the program video being viewed wide.

An embodiment in which the selection item is an image will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 (a),
(B) is a front view of the screen of the receiving device showing the fifth embodiment of the present invention. When the multi-button 203 of the remote controller 200 is pressed in the normal program viewing state, the image processing unit 104 generates a multi-screen including videos of a plurality of channels, and selects the multi-screen 330 and one of the multi-screens. 300 indicating the information and the information processing unit 108
The information of the program currently being broadcast of the channel in the cursor selection state extracted in step (b) is combined with the image combining unit 106 in FIG.
It is displayed as shown in FIG. In the figure, 332 is an area for displaying the program information selected by the cursor 300. The program information to be extracted is extracted from the data storage unit 110 by recognizing the current time information by the clock device 114 and the channel information displayed when the multi button 203 is pressed. When the cursor right button 206 of the remote controller 200 is pressed in the state of FIG. 11A, the cursor 300 moves to the right as shown in FIG. 11B, and the selection items are changed from the items 331 to 333, that is, CH2. Screen, and in the information processing unit 108, the program data currently being broadcast is extracted from the program data of CH 2 stored in the data storage unit 110 based on the current time information from the clock device 114, and the program information It is displayed in the display area 332. Similarly, the remote control 20
By pressing the cursor button 0, the cursor 300 is displayed.
Is moved, and the program information of the channel indicated by the cursor 300 is displayed in the program information display area 332.
With these displays and operations, the user can list a plurality of program videos, and place the cursor on one of the videos for which the user wants to know more information on the program, thereby displaying information on the selected program (text in this example). ) Can be obtained, and selection of a program becomes easy.

Next, with reference to FIG. 12, an example will be described in which more program videos can be viewed than in the case shown in FIG. FIGS. 12 (a) and 12 (b) are front views of a receiver screen showing a sixth embodiment of the present invention. In the case of FIG.
The number of images to be displayed, that is, the number of channels is increased by increasing the area 338 for displaying images and reducing the displayed images as compared with the case of 1.
Therefore, the area of the program information display area 340 is smaller than that in the case of FIG. Therefore, when the time of the cursor stop state reaches a predetermined time, the selection item 339 selected by the cursor 300, in this case, the program information relating to the current time of CH1 is information as shown in FIG. The display area 340 is scrolled and displayed. Also,
The same operation is performed when the cursor 300 is moved using the remote controller 200 and another selection item is selected. FIG.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, compared to the embodiment of FIG.
Since the program information display area 340 at the bottom of the screen is narrowed to only one line of text, many program images can be displayed. Therefore, the user can easily recognize the program information on the selection screen while listing many program videos, and the operation of selecting a program becomes easy.

[0025]

As described above, in a receiver for displaying text information such as a program guide, a screen is effectively used to display many selection items, many images, or large images on a screen. The information desired by the user can be provided while being displayed, and the user can easily grasp the program information and easily select the program.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a remote controller used for the receiving device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a first embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a processing flow of the receiving apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a first embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a second embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a second embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a third embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing a fourth embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a fourth embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a front view showing a fifth embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing a sixth embodiment of the screen of the receiving device according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a front view of a screen of a conventional receiving device.

FIG. 14 is a front view of a screen of a conventional receiving device.

FIG. 15 is a front view of a screen of a conventional receiving apparatus and a front view of a remote controller.

FIG. 16 is a front view of a screen of a conventional receiving device.

[Explanation of symbols]

102: signal separation unit, 103: image processing unit, 104: image reproduction unit, 105: image processing unit, 106: image synthesis unit,
108 ... information processing unit, 109 ... data extraction unit, 110 ...
Data storage unit, 111 display data creation unit, 112 central processing unit, 113 control input unit, 114 clock device, 1
15: memory unit, 117: modem, 200: remote control,
202: Program guide button, 203: Multi button, 3
00 ... cursors, 313, 319, 325, 332, 3
40 Scroll display unit.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masato Sugiyama 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Multimedia System Development Division of Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuo Ishikura 1-280 Koigakubo, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo (72) Inventor Mitsuo Nakajima 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi Multimedia Systems Development Division (72) Inventor Satoshi Hatakeyama 292, Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Address: Hitachi, Ltd. Video Information Media Division (72) Inventor Katsunori Nakatani 4-6 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A means for displaying a plurality of selection items on a screen, a selection means for selecting one item from the plurality of selection items, and a display for scrolling and displaying information related to the selected item. And a receiving device. 2. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the presence / absence of information related to the selected item is determined, and if the related information is present, the information is automatically displayed. . 3. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said selection means has a cursor display means, and when said cursor is stopped for a predetermined time, information relating to said selected item is displayed. A receiving device characterized by automatically displaying. 4. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information related to the selected item is displayed in a specific area of a display screen. 5. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, as the information related to the selected item, information not displayed among the selected items is scrolled and displayed. 6. The receiving apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information to be scrolled and displayed is displayed in an area where the selected item is displayed. 7. A receiving device capable of displaying a plurality of images on a display screen, a selecting means for selecting one image from the plurality of images, and specifying information on the image selected by the selecting means on the screen. Means for displaying in an area. 8. A means for displaying a plurality of selection items on a screen, a means for selecting said selection items, a means for judging the presence or absence of undisplayed information among the items selected by said selection means, Means for automatically displaying the non-displayed information. 9. A means for displaying a plurality of selection items on a screen, a means for selecting said selection items, and a state in which said selection means selects said selection items has passed a predetermined time. Receiving automatically the information related to the selected item. 10. The receiving apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said related information is displayed in a predetermined area on a display screen. 11. The receiving apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said selection means has means for displaying a cursor, moves said cursor, selects another selection item, and sets a stop time of said cursor in advance. A receiving apparatus for automatically displaying information related to the other selection item when a predetermined time has elapsed. 12. The receiving apparatus according to claim 9, wherein an image related to the selected item is displayed on a part of a display screen. 13. The receiving apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said selecting means has means for displaying a cursor, and said cursor is moved out of the display screen so that a new selected item is displayed on the screen. A receiving device for displaying. 14. The receiving apparatus according to claim 9, wherein information related to the selected item is automatically displayed by automatically turning the page.