CA2257734A1 - Television receiving set - Google Patents
Television receiving set Download PDFInfo
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- CA2257734A1 CA2257734A1 CA002257734A CA2257734A CA2257734A1 CA 2257734 A1 CA2257734 A1 CA 2257734A1 CA 002257734 A CA002257734 A CA 002257734A CA 2257734 A CA2257734 A CA 2257734A CA 2257734 A1 CA2257734 A1 CA 2257734A1
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- Prior art keywords
- video signal
- information
- display
- rating
- image
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N5/00—Details of television systems
- H04N5/44—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
- H04N5/445—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards for displaying additional information
- H04N5/45—Picture in picture, e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
- H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
- H04N21/25866—Management of end-user data
- H04N21/25875—Management of end-user data involving end-user authentication
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N5/00—Details of television systems
- H04N5/44—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards
- H04N5/445—Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards for displaying additional information
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
- Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
- Computer Graphics (AREA)
- Television Systems (AREA)
- Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
Abstract
A host microcomputer detects rating information in a selected main video signal whose image is to be displayed on a parent window. A rating information processing circuit detects rating information in a sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on a child window, and sends it to the host microcomputer. The host microcomputer compares the rating level information stored in a RAM with each of the rating information detected in the main and sub video signals, and performs image display output control for each of the main and sub video signals according to the comparison results.
Description
TELEVISION RECEIVING SET
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiving set provided with a multi-window function which allows the images of a plurality of video signals to be displayed at the same time.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiving set provided with a multi-window function which allows the images of a plurality of video signals to be displayed at the same time.
2. Description of the Related Art Many different kinds of television programs have been broadcasted. Anyone can easily watch these television programs by a television receiving set at home. Therefore, there has been conventionally a problem with television programs which are unsuited to low-age children, such as a television program having many violent scenes, being offered to low-age children without any limitation.
To solve this problem, a television program is broadcasted with so-called rating information being added, which is used to limit the output at a television receiving set. The output (offer) of a television program can be limited at a television receiving set.
This rating information is set according to the contents of television programs to specify, for example, a program for children of less than the age of six, a program for children of the age of seven and over, and a program unsuited to children of less than 14. It can be used to limit the output at a television receiving set according to the age of a viewer and other items.
A broadcasting station adds rating information specified according to the contents of a television program to the video signal of the program to broadcast it. Rating information is added to a video signal at, for example, the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period.
On the other hand, at a television receiving set, when viewers of television programs at the television receiving set include, for example, a child of less than 14, an administrator such as the parents of the child, sets in advance rating level information serving as a reference used for not outputting a television program having a rating information indicating that it is unsuited to children of less than 14 even if the program is selected.
The television receiving set extracts rating information added to the video signal of the selected television program, and compares the rating level information specified in advance in the television receiving set with information used for comparison with rating information, obtained from the extracted rating information.
When it is determined from the comparison result that the extracted rating information indicates, for example, that the program is for children of the age of seven and over, in other words, the program has a rating level lower than that of the rating level information specified in advance, the program is determined to be a television program which is allowed to be viewed at the television receiving set and the program is output.
Conversely, if the extracted rating information indicates, for example, that the program is unsuited to children of less than 14 or children of less than 17, in other words, the program has a rating level higher than that of the rating level information specified in advance, the program is determined to be a television program which is not allowed to be viewed at the television receiving set and the program is not output.
This processing is called blocking processing. A
control section formed of a microprocessor performs the processing in which rating information is extracted, decoded to obtain'information to be compared with a rating level, and compared with the rating level.
With the above processing, the user of the television receiving set controls television programs such that unsuited television programs are not offered according to the age of a child or other items, to effectively prevent a child from receiving an adverse effect of television programs.
Television receiving sets having a so-called multi-window function have been recently commercially available.
For example, the entire display screen of a display device such as a cathode-ray tube (CRT) is set to a parent window, and a so-called child window is provided at a part of the parent window. The images of two video signals can be reproduced at the same time with the parent window and the child window. Television receiving sets provided with a multi-window function which is called a picture-in-picture function are thus available.
Television receiving sets having a multi-window function are also available which allows the images of a plurality of video signals to be displayed at the same time on a plurality of windows made by dividing the display screen of a display device.
In such a television receiving set having a multi-window function, what kind of image display control is performed according to rating information added to each video signal has not been considered for each of a plurality of television programs which can be viewed at the same time.
It is examined that display control of a plurality of television programs which can be displayed at the same time is performed according to the rating information added to the video signal selected as the main video signal.
In a television receiving set having the picture-in-picture function, for example, control of a sub video signal used for image display on the child window is performed according to the rating information added to the main video signal selected for image display on the parent window. In the same way, in a television receiving set having a multi-window function which can divide the screen into a plurality of windows, for example, control of sub video signals used for image display on divided windows other than the main window is performed according to the rating information added to the main video signal selected for image display on the main divided window.
Therefore, when the rating information added to the main video signal has a higher rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, an image is not displayed on the child window, or on any divided windows other than the main window. With this operation, positive control of at least the video signal of the television program to be displayed on the parent window or on the main window is performed according to the rating information added to the video signal.
When the rating information added to the main video signal has a higher rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, however, even if the rating information added to an video signal used for image display on the child window or added to video signals used for image display on divided windows other than the main window has a lower rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, an image is not displayed on the child window, or on any divided windows other than the main window.
When the rating information added to the main video signal has a lower rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, even if the rating information added to a sub video signal used for image display on the child window or added to sub video signals used for image display on divided windows other than the main window has a higher rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, an image is displayed on the child window, or on a11 divided windows other than the main window.
It can be considered that the control section formed of the microcomputer extracts the rating information added to a sub video signal, decodes the extracted rating information, and compares the information obtained by decoding with a rating level.
If this is performed, however, a too large load is applied to the control section and a processing delay may occur. Especially in a television receiving set having a multi-window function for three windows or more, since blocking processing is applied to three or more sub video signals in the control section, it is considered that a case in which- appropriate blocking processing is not applied to each of the video signals may occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a television receiving set which allows, when the images of a plurality of video signals are displayed at the same time, output control of the plurality of video signals to be appropriately performed according to the rating information added to each video signal.
The foregoing object is achieved in one aspect of the present invention through the provision of a television receiving set having a function for combining the images of a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals and for displaying on one screen, including:
holding means for holding the restriction information specified by the user in advance; a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals; control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information _ g _ held by the holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by the holding means; a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and additional-information detecting means for the second video signal, for extracting the additional information added to the second video signal and for outputting information according to the extracted additional information to the control means, wherein the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section.
The restriction information specified by the user may be data according to the upper age limit of persons who are allowed to watch, such as rating level information.
The additional information may be display-rule data used to restrict display of each of the plurality of images corresponding to the plurality of input signals. The display-rule data may be data according the lower age limit of persons who are allowed to watch the corresponding image, such as rating information.
The television receiving set may be configured such that the second video signal corresponds to a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals, other than the first video signal, and blocking processing sections for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to the plurality of video signals are provided.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the holding means holds the rating level information serving as a reference for determining whether the image of a video signal is allowed to be output in the television receiving set by comparison with the rating information added to the video signal.
When a multi-window function such as a picture-in-picture function is used and the images of two video signals are displayed at the same time, for example, the control means extracts the rating information from the first video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window, detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information in the extracted rating information, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the first blocking processing section such that the image of the first video signal is not displayed when the output of the first video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal extracts the rating information added to the second video signal from the second video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, and sends information based on the extracted rating information to the control means.
According to the information related to the rating information, sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal and the rating level information held by the holding means, the control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the image of the second video signal is not displayed when the output of the second video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
With the above configuration, image display output control is appropriately performed for each of the first video signal and the second video signal according to the rating information added to each video signal.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal outputs the extracted rating information to the control means; and the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section by detecting information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information held by the holding means in the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal, and comparing the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the rating information detecting means for the second video signal sends the rating information extracted from the second video signal to the control means.
The control means detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information in the rating information extracted from the second video signal, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the second blocking processing section.
With this operation, since the information related to the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal is identical with the rating information extracted from the second video signal, the control means appropriately controls the second blocking processing section by applying the same processing as that applied to the rating information extracted from the first video signal to the rating information extracted from the second video signal. Since the rating information added to the second video signal is extracted by the rating information detecting means, the control means does not have an excessive load.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information held by the holding means in the extracted rating information and outputs the detected information related to a rating level to the control means; and the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section by comparing the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the rating information detecting means for the second video signal sends the information related to a rating level which is detected in the rating information extracted from the second video signal to the control means.
The control means compares the information related to a rating level sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the second blocking processing section.
With this operation, since the control means does not need to detect the information related to a rating level in the information based on the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal, the load of the control means does not increase. In other words, when a mufti-window function is used and the images of a plurality of video signals are displayed at the same time, blocking processing is appropriately applied to each video signal according to each video signal.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information held by the holding means in the extracted rating information, compares the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means, and outputs the comparison result to the control means; and the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section according to the comparison result.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the rating level information held by the holding means is sent to the rating information detecting means for the second video signal. The rating information detecting means for the second video signal compares the information related to a rating level which is detected in the rating information extracted from the second video signal with the rating level information sent from the holding means, and sends the comparison result to the control means.
The control means controls the second blocking processing section according to information indicating the comparison result sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal.
The control means controls the second blocking processing section with the direct use of the information based on the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal. In addition, the detection of the information related to a rating level or the comparison of the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means is not required in the control means.
Therefore, the load applied to the control means for controlling the second blocking processing section is suppressed to the minimum level.
Therefore, also in this case, when a multi-window function is used and the images of a plurality of video signals are displayed at the same time, blocking processing is appropriately applied to each video signal according to each video signal.
A television receiving set according to the present invention may include display information generating means for generating a signal used for displaying display information at the display area of the image of the second video signal, wherein the control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the signal generated by the display information generating means is output instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is performed for the second video signal.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the second blocking processing section outputs the signal generated by the display information generating means instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is applied to the second video signal under control of the control means, and the display information of the signal generated by the display information generating means is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal.
When the image of the second video signal is not output because the second video signal is blocked by the second blocking processing section, the display information indicating that the second video signal is blocked is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal. In this case, since the condition in which the second video signal is blocked is understood at a glance by the display information, the user does not take it for a trouble in the television receiving set.
Since only the signal for displaying the display information generated by the display information generating means is used instead of the second video signal, the display information indicating that the second video signal is blocked is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal relatively easily without performing complicated processing.
The foregoing object is achieved in another aspect of the present invention through the provision of a television receiving set having a function for combining the images of a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals and for displaying on one screen, including:
holding means for holding at least the restriction information specified by the user in advance; a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals; first control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by the holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by the holding means; a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and second control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the second video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by the holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by the holding means.
Also in this case, the restriction information specified by the user may be data according to the upper age limit of persons who are allowed to watch, such as rating level information.
The additional information may be display-rule data used to restrict display of each of the plurality of images corresponding to the plurality of input signals. The display-rule data may be data according the lower age limit of persons who are allowed to watch the corresponding image, such as rating information.
The television receiving set may be configured such that the second video signal corresponds to a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals, other than the first video signal, and blocking processing sections for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to the plurality of video signals are provided.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the holding means holds the rating level information serving as a reference for determining whether the image of a video signal is allowed to be output in the television receiving set, by comparison with the rating information added to the video signal.
When a multi-window function such as a picture-in-picture function is used and the images of two video signals are displayed at the same time, for example, the control means extracts rating information from the first video signal, detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the' rating level information in the extracted rating information, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the first blocking processing section such that the image of the first video signal is not displayed when the output of the first video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
On the other hand, in the same way as in a case of the control means for detecting the rating information in the first video signal, the second control means extracts rating information from the second video signal. The second control means detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information in the extracted rating information, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the second control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the image of the second video signal is not displayed when the output of the second video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
Image display output is appropriately controlled for each of the first video signal and the second video signal according to the rating information added to each of the video signals. Since the first blocking processing section and the second blocking processing section are controlled by separate control means, the load of controlling both blocking processing sections is separated.
A television receiving set according to the present invention may be configured such that display information generating means for generating a signal used for displaying display information at the display area of the image of the second video signal is included, and the second control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the signal generated by the display information generating means is output instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is performed for the second video signal.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the second blocking processing section outputs a signal generated by the display information generating means instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is applied to the second video signal under control of the second control means, and the display information of the signal generated by the display information generating means is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal.
In this case, since the condition in which the second video signal is blocked is understood at a glance by the display information, the user does not take it for a trouble in the television receiving set. When the second blocking processing section performs image-display-output disabling processing under control of the second control means, since only the signal generated by the display information generating means is used instead of the second video signal, a load is not applied to the control means, which performs processing for the first video signal.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a view used for describing a rating information example.
Fig. 3 is a view of a parent window and a child window in a case in which a picture-in-picture function is used.
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 6 is a view of a parent window and a child window in the television receiving set shown in Fig. 5, with display information being displayed on the child window.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Television receiving sets according to embodiments of the present invention will be described below by referring to the drawings. The following embodiments will be described, assuming that the present invention is applied to television receiving sets each having a picture-in-picture function and allowing images to be reproduced at the same time on a parent window and a child window. In the following embodiments, to simplify a description, a description of an audio system in each of the television receiving sets will be omitted.
First embodiment Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to a first embodiment. As shown in Fig. l, the television receiving set of the present embodiment is provided with an antenna 1, a distributor 2, tuners 3a and 3b, an external input terminal 4, a switch circuit 5, a blocking processing section 6, a video processor 7, a video amplifier 8, a CRT 9, a host microcomputer 10, an operation key section 11, a rating information processing circuit (in the figure, described as a V-chip IC) 21, a blocking processing section 22, a chroma decoder 23, and a picture-in-picture controller (hereinafter called a PIP controller) 24.
The operation key section 11 includes various operation keys, such as a power on/off key, a station selection key, adjustment keys for image quality, the amount of sound, and sound quality, a picture-in-picture on/off key, a switching key for a parent window/child window, and an operation key used for inputting rating level information. The user can input various directions through the operation key section 11 to the television receiving set of the present embodiment.
The host microcomputer 10 is provided with a CPU l00, a ROM 101, and a RAM 102 as shown in Fig. 1. According to the directions which the user inputs through the operation key section 11, the host microcomputer 10 serves as a control section for controlling each section of the television receiving set of the first embodiment.
The host microcomputer 10 receives rating level information input through the operation key section 11 and writes it into the RAM 102 serving as holding means. The rating level information serves as a reference for determining whether the image display output of, for example, a television program to be viewed is allowed at the television receiving set.
In other words, the rating level information is compared with information related to a rating level detected in the rating information offered by being added to the video signal of a television program, as described later.
The rating level information is used, for example, for directing not to output a television program unsuited to children of less than 14. It is information having a plurality of bits used for discriminating between television programs allowed to be output and television programs not allowed, in the television receiving set.
In this first embodiment, the RAM 102 of the host microcomputer 10 is non volatile, which means that even if the main power is turned off, written rating-level information is not deleted.
As described above, the rating information which is the basis of the information related to a rating level to be compared with the rating level information held by the RAM
102 is specified according to the contents of a television program, and is offered by being added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period of the video signal of the television program.
In this case, the rating information has two bytes in a format specified by Electronic Industries Association (EIA), and is formed of movie-program rating information called an MPAA rating and rating information for drama programs and news programs, called a parental guideline.
Among this rating information of two bytes, for example, the rating level of the MPAA rating is specified with the lower three bits of the first byte and the rating level of the parental guideline is specified with the lower three bits of the second byte.
For the parental guideline, for example, as shown in Fig. 2, a rating is specified in six levels from TV-Y to TV-MA with the use of the lower three bits (g2, gl, and g0) of the second byte.
In this parental guideline, TV-Y indicates a television program for children of six years of age and under, which is good for all children. TV-Y7 indicates a television program created for children of seven years of age and over, which may includes a very slightly violent scene called fantasy violence (FV). A mark x is placed for TV-Y7 at the column of FV in Fig. 2. TV-G is assigned to a television program which most parents think has no problem for people of a11 ages, which does not include an inappropriate violent scene or an obscene word.
TV-PG indicates a television program which parents think is inappropriate for young children, which includes one or more of a slightly violent scene (V), a slightly sexual scene (S), a vulgar word (L), and a slightly suggestive sexual dialog (D), as shown by marks x in Fig. 2.
TV-14 indicates a television program inappropriate for children of 14 years of age and under, which includes one or more of a violent scene (V), a sexual scene (S), a very vulgar word (L), and a strongly suggestive sexual dialog (D).
TV-MA indicates a television program for adults and inappropriate for children of 17 years of age and under, which includes one or more of a severe violent scene (V), a direct sexual expression (S), and a strongly vulgar word (L).
In this parental guideline, as shown by marks x in Fig.
2, fantasy violence (FV), a violent scene (V), a sexual situation (S), a language for adults (L), and a suggestive sexual dialog (D) included in TV-Y7, TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA
are indicated.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, video signals received by the antenna 1 are sent to the tuners 3a and 3b through the distributor 2. The tuners 3a and 3b select video signals to be reproduced, according to the control signals sent from the host microcomputer 10 and based on the direction input of the user, and send the selected video signals to the switch circuit 5.
The television receiving set of the present embodiment can receive a video signal sent from an external apparatus such as a VCR (video cassette tape recorder) or a laser disc player through the external input terminal 4. The video signal input through the external input terminal 4 is sent to the switch circuit 5.
According to the control signal sent from the host microcomputer 10, the switch circuit 5 assigns the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, among the video signals sent from the tuners 3a and 3b and the video signal input through the external input terminal 4.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent screen is sent from the switch circuit 5 to the host microcomputer 10 and the blocking processing section 6. The sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is sent to the rating information processing circuit 21 and the blocking processing section 22.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, the host microcomputer 10 extracts the rating information added to the main video signal sent from the switch circuit 5 and detects information related to a rating level in the extracted rating information, which is to be compared with the rating level information held by the RAM
l02.
The host microcomputer 10 compares the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the RAM 102, determines whether the image display output of the main video signal is allowed in the television receiving set of the first embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 6 according to the determination result.
Specifically, the host microcomputer 10 in the first embodiment slices the main video signal to obtain the signal added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period, and extracts the rating information added to the main video signal. The extracted rating information has two bytes in a rather complicated format as described above.
Therefore, the host microcomputer 10 decodes the rating information detected by slicing to obtain information related to a rating level in a format which provides easy comparison with the rating level information held by the RAM
l02. The information related to a rating level has, for example, the same number of bits as the rating level information held by the RAM 102.
The host microcomputer 10 compares the information related to a rating level detected by decoding, with the rating level information held by the RAM l02. When the rating level of the information related to a rating level is lower than that of the rating level information held by the RAM 102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the main video signal is allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 6 such that the main video signal is sent from the switch circuit 5 to the video processor 7.
Conversely, when the rating level of the information related to a rating level is higher than that of the rating level information held by the RAM 102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the main video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 6 such that the main video signal is not sent from the switch circuit 5 to the video processor 7.
In other words, when the specified rating level information indicates, for example, that a program inappropriate for children of less than 14 is not output, the images of video signals having rating information lower in a rating level than the specified information, such as a program (TV-Y) appropriate for children of six years of age and below and a program (TV-Y7) appropriate for children of seven years of age and above, are output. In this case, the images of video signals to which rating information higher in a rating level than the specified rating level information is added, such as a program (TV-14) inappropriate for children of less than 14 or a program (TV-MA) inappropriate for children of less than l7, are not output.
As described above, the blocking processing section 6 blocks the main video signal under control of the host microcomputer 10 to disable the image display output of the main video signal.
On the other hand, the rating information processing section 21, which receives the sub video signal from the switch circuit 5, slices the sub video signal to obtain the signal added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period, and detects the rating information added to the sub video signal. Namely, in the first embodiment, the rating information processing section 21 serves as rating information detecting means. The rating information detected by the rating information processing circuit 21 is sent to the host microcomputer 10.
The host microcomputer 10 decodes the rating information sent from the rating information processing circuit in the same way as for the rating information detected from the main video signal, described above, to obtain information related to a rating level in a format which provides easy comparison with the rating level information specified by the user. The host microcomputer compares the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information specified by the user and stored in the RAM 102.
When the rating level of the information related to a rating level for the sub video signal is lower than that of the rating level information stored in the RAM 102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the sub video signal is allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 22 such that the sub video signal is sent from the switch circuit 5 to the chroma decoder 23.
Conversely, when the rating level of the information related to a rating level for the sub video signal is higher than that of the rating level information stored in the RAM
102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the sub video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 22 such that the sub video signal is not sent from the switch circuit 5 to the chroma decoder 23.
When the image of the sub video signal is allowed to be displayed on the child window, since the sub video signal is not blocked by the blocking processing section 22, as described above, it is sent to the chroma decoder 23, predetermined processing for a video signal whose image is to be displayed is applied, and the resultant signal is sent to the PIP controller 24.
The PIP controller 24 receives the positional information of the child window from the host microcomputer 10, generates a video signal for the child window used for displaying an image on the child window, from the video signal sent from the chroma decoder 23, and sends it to the video processor 7.
The video processor 7 applies processing such as combining the main video signal of which the image display output is allowed in the television receiving set and whose image is to be displayed on the parent window, with the video signal for the child window which has been generated from the sub video signal of which the image display output is allowed, to form a video signal for display for displaying the images for the parent and child windows on the CRT 9. The formed video signal for display is amplified by the video amplifier 8 and sent to the CRT 9. With this operation, the image of the main video signal is displayed on the parent window of the display screen of the CRT 9, and the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the child window, which is formed at a part of the parent window.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, as shown in Fig. 3, the image of the main video signal is displayed on the parent window 9M on the display screen of the CRT 9, and the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the child window 9S on the display screen of the CRT 9.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, as described before, the rating information is detected in each of the video signals of which the images are displayed on the parent and child windows, and according to each rating information, image display control is separately performed for the main video signal whose image is displayed on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is displayed on the child window.
Therefore, when the output of the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M is allowed in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment and the output of the video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S is not allowed in the television receiving set, only the image of the main video signal is displayed on the parent window 9M, and the image of the sub video signal is not displayed on the child window 9S. In this case, the child window 9S is shown in blue.
When the output of the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M is not allowed in the television receiving set and the output of the video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S
is allowed in the television receiving set, the image of the main video signal is not displayed on the parent window 9M, and only the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the child window 9S. In this case, the display area of the parent window is shown in blue.
When both the output of the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M and the output of the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S are allowed, the images of the video signals are displayed on the parent window 9M and the child window 9S, respectively. When neither the output of the main video signal nor the output of the sub video signal is allowed in the television receiving set, neither the image of the main video signal nor the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the parent window 9M or the child window 9S.
As described above, in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, appropriate reproduction control is applied not only to the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M but also to the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S according to the rating information added to the sub video signal.
Modified embodiments In the first embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 21 detects the rating information added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period of the sent sub video signal, and sends it to the host microcomputer 10 as is. The host microcomputer 10 decodes the rating information sent from the rating information processing circuit 21 and compares with the rating level information. According to the result of this comparison, the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22.
The rating information processing circuit 21 can have a decoding function for the detected rating information to reduce the load of the host microcomputer 10.
In other words, the rating information processing section 21 slices the sent sub video signal to obtain the signal added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period, and detects the rating information added to the sub video signal. The rating information processing circuit 21 decodes the detected rating information to obtain information related to a rating level in a format which provides easy comparison with the rating level information specified by the user, and sends the information related to a rating level to the host microcomputer 10.
The host microcomputer 10 receives the information related to a rating level from the rating information processing circuit 21, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the RAM 102. With this operation, the host microcomputer 10 determines whether the sub video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the child window is a video signal whose output is allowed in the television receiving set, and controls the blocking processing section 22.
With this configuration, since the host microcomputer does not need to decode the rating information sent from the rating information processing circuit 21 to obtain the information related to a rating level, the load of the host microcomputer 10 is not increased.
The rating information processing circuit 21 may further compare the information related to a rating level with the rating level information. In this case, the host microcomputer 10 needs to send the rating level information specified by the user to the rating information processing circuit 21.
The rating information processing circuit 21 compares the rating level information sent from the host microcomputer 10 with the information related to a rating level detected in the rating information extracted from the video signal, and determines whether the sub video signal is allowed to be output in the television receiving set.
The rating information processing circuit 21 then sends information obtained from the comparison, namely, information indicating whether the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is allowed to be output in the television receiving set, back to the host microcomputer 10 as return data. The return data is sent from the rating information processing circuit 21 to the host microcomputer 10 through a bus connecting the host microcomputer 10 to the rating information processing circuit and other circuits. It can of course be returned by the use of a port, namely, by a high/low-level signal at the port.
The host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22 according to the return data sent from the rating information processing circuit 21. In this case, the host microcomputer 10 does not need to perform decoding or comparison for the rating information detected in the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window. In other words, since the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22 according to the return data sent from the rating information processing circuit 21, the load of the host microcomputer 10 does not increase.
As described above, when the rating information processing circuit 21 extracts the rating information from the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, detects the information related to a rating level in the extracted rating information, and performs comparison with the rating level information specified by the user, the rating information processing circuit 21 can directly control the blocking processing section 22.
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a television receiving set in which a rating information processing circuit 21 directly controls a blocking processing section 22. In this case, as described above, the rating information processing circuit 21 compares the rating level information with information related to a rating level obtained by decoding the rating information extracted in the sub video signal to determine whether the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child screen is allowed to be output in the television receiving set.
The rating information processing circuit 21 outputs, for example, a high-level signal to the blocking processing section 22 when it determines that the sub video signal is not allowed to be output, and outputs a low-level signal when it determines that the sub video signal is allowed to be output.
With this, the blocking processing section 22 does not output the sent sub video signal when it receives a high-level signal from the rating information processing circuit 21, and outputs the sent sub video signal to a chroma decoder 23 when it receives a low-level signal.
With this operation, since the host microcomputer 10 only needs to send the rating level information to the rating information processing circuit 21 with respect to blocking processing for the sub video signal whose image is to be output on the child window, the load of the host microcomputer 10 does not increase.
Also in this case, the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 6, which applies blocking processing to the main video signal, and the rating information processing circuit 21 controls the blocking processing section 22, which applies blocking processing to the sub video signal. Control is thus separated.
As described above, in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, image display outputs are controlled for the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, according to the rating information added to each video signal.
The rating information added to the main video signal is detected by the host microcomputer 10, and the rating information added to the sub video signal is detected by the rating information processing circuit 21. With this configuration, a large load is not applied to the host microcomputer 10, processing for the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is not delayed, and the display of the sub video signal is controlled according to the rating information added to the sub video signal in the same way as for the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window.
In a television receiving set having a multi-window function which allows the screen to be divided into three or more windows, the image display output of each video signal is controlled according to the rating information added to each video signal by providing rating information processing circuits 21 correspondingly to the number of sub video signals to be handled even if a plurality of sub video signals are handled.
Second embodiment In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, described above, the main and sub video signals which are determined to be not allowed to be displayed are blocked by the blocking processing section 6 and the blocking processing section 22. If a video signal is blocked in this way, since an image is not displayed, the parent window 9M or the child window 9S, on which an image was to be displayed, is shown, for example, in blue as described above.
In this case, the user of the television receiving set cannot immediately understand why an image is not displayed, and may think that the television receiving set is out of order. Therefore, when a video signal is blocked according to rating information, it can be considered that a message indicating that an image is blocked is displayed.
When message information is~shown in the child window, since the child window has a small display area formed at a part of the display screen of the CRT 9 as also shown in Fig.
3, the display position of the message information and the size of the message information to be displayed need to be adjusted according to the size of the child window and the position of the child window on the display screen of the CRT 9. This means that display processing becomes complicated.
When the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is blocked, a television receiving set according to a second embodiment allows a message indicating the condition to be displayed on the child window relatively easily without performing complicated processing.
Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to the second embodiment. As shown in Fig. 5, the television receiving set according to the second embodiment is configured in substantially the same way as for the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, described before by referring to Fig. 1, except for a rating information processing circuit 21A and a switch circuit 25.
Therefore, in Fig. 5, the same symbols as those in Fig. 1 are assigned to the portions corresponding to those in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, and the descriptions thereof will be omitted.
The rating information processing circuit 21A extracts rating information from the sub video signal, detects information related to a rating level by decoding the extracted rating information, and compares the detected information related to a rating level with rating level information.
The rating information processing circuit 21A
determines whether the image of the sub video signal is allowed to be displayed in the television receiving set by the comparison between the information related to a rating level and the rating level information, and sends the comparison result back to the host microcomputer 10 as return data. With this operation, the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22 such that reproduction control is performed for a second video signal according to the rating information added to the sub video signal.
In addition, the rating information processing circuit 21A has a so-called on-screen display (OSD) function, which displays display information such as characters, figures, and illustrations on the screen, in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment. In other words, in the second embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 21A is provided with an OSD processing section 21l serving as display information generating means for generating a signal for displaying display information such as characters, figures, and symbols on the child window.
When the rating information processing circuit 21A
determines that the sub video signal is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, it sends return data indicating the condition back to the host microcomputer 10, and blocks the sub video signal so that the image of the sub video signal is not displayed. The rating information processing circuit 21A controls the OSD processing section 21l such that a video signal for displaying display information indicating that the image of the sub video signal is not displayed because the sub video signal is blocked is generated and is sent to an end of the switch circuit 25.
As shown in Fig. 5, a video signal is sent to the other end of the switch circuit 25 from the chroma decoder 23. In this case, the rating information processing section 21A
switches the switch circuit 25 so as to output the signal sent from the OSD processing section 21l.
With this operation, the video signal for displaying display information sent from the OSD processing section 211 is sent to the PIP controller 24. The PIP controller 24 converts the video signal from the OSD processing section 211 to a signal for the child window according to the positional information of the child window and other pieces of information sent from the host microcomputer 10, and sends it to the video processor 7, as described before. The video processor 7 combines the main video signal with the video signal for the child window which has been formed by the OSD processing section 211 and processed by the PIP
processing section 24, and sends it to the CRT 9 through the video amplifier 8.
With this operation, when the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is blocked because it is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, a display information, for example, of "Being blocked" formed by the signal generated by the OSD
processing section 211 is displayed on the child window 9S
as shown in Fig. 6. With this operation, the condition in which an image is not displayed on the child window because the sub video signal is blocked is reported to.the user.
In this case, in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, the display information is displayed on the child window 9S just by sending the video signal for displaying the display information from the OSD
processing section 211 to the PIP controller 24 instead of the sub video signal. In other words, after the display signal of the display information is generated by the OSD
processing section 211, the display information is displayed on the child window 9S without performing special processing.
In this case, since the PIP processing circuit 24 applies only the same processing to the signal sent from the OSD processing circuit 211 as that usually applied to the sub video signal, the display position of the display information does not shift and the size of the display information does not become inappropriate.
When the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window is blocked because it is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, message information indicating that the signal is blocked can be displayed on the parent window.
In this case, when the host microcomputer 10 determines that the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, for example, the host microcomputer 10 sends message information indicating that the main video signal is blocked and control information instructing that the message information is displayed on the parent window to the video processor 7.
The video processor 7 needs to form a video signal for displaying the message information on the parent window.
With this operation, when neither the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window nor the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is allowed to be reproduced in the television receiving set, message information indicating that a video signal is blocked can be displayed on each of the parent window 9M and the child window 9S.
Also in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 21A may control the blocking processing section 22 according to the determination result in the rating information processing circuit 21A.
Since the rating information processing circuit 21A is provided with the OSD function in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, blocking processing for a video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the child window is not required by the use of the blocking processing section 22.
In other words, when the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, since message information generated by the OSD processing section 211 is displayed, the child window is not disturbed even if blocking processing is not performed by the blocking processing section 22. Namely, the OSD processing section 211 applies blocking.
In the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 22A
controls the switch circuit 25. The host microcomputer 10 may of course control the switch circuit 25.
As described above, also in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, display control is performed for the main video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the child window, according to the rating information added to each video signal.
In addition, when the selected sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is blocked because it is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, message information indicating that the signal is blocked can be displayed on the child window.
As described above, since the OSD processing section 221 of the rating information processing circuit 21A and the PIP controller 24 perform the processing required for displaying message information on the child window, a load is not applied to the host microcomputer. Inconveniences do not occur such as a shift of message information displayed on the child window from the child window.
In the first and second embodiments, the present invention is applied to a television receiving set having a picture-in-picture function. The present invention can also be applied to a television receiving set provided with a multi-window function other than the picture-in-picture function.
In a television receiving set which allows the CRT
screen to be divided into three or more windows and an image to be reproduced at the same time on each divided window, the rating information processing circuit 21 or the rating information processing circuit 21A described in the first or the second embodiment is required for each of a plurality of video signals whose images can be displayed at the same time.
With this configuration, image display output control is performed for each of a plurality of video signals whose images are to be displayed at the same time, according to the rating information added to each video signal.
As described above, even in a case in which three or more windows can display images at the same time, the load is prevented from converging only on the host microcomputer by providing the rating information processing circuit 21 or the rating information processing circuit 21A for a video signal used for reproducing an image on each window. In addition, the display outputs of video signals whose images are to be displayed at the same time can be positively controlled according to the rating information of the video signals.
Therefore, by providing the rating information processing circuit 21 or the rating information processing circuit 21A for each of a plurality of sub video signals whose images can be displayed at the same time by the use of a multi-window function, without making a large change in the host microcomputer, appropriate blocking processing is applied to each video signal in a television receiving set having various multi-window functions.
To solve this problem, a television program is broadcasted with so-called rating information being added, which is used to limit the output at a television receiving set. The output (offer) of a television program can be limited at a television receiving set.
This rating information is set according to the contents of television programs to specify, for example, a program for children of less than the age of six, a program for children of the age of seven and over, and a program unsuited to children of less than 14. It can be used to limit the output at a television receiving set according to the age of a viewer and other items.
A broadcasting station adds rating information specified according to the contents of a television program to the video signal of the program to broadcast it. Rating information is added to a video signal at, for example, the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period.
On the other hand, at a television receiving set, when viewers of television programs at the television receiving set include, for example, a child of less than 14, an administrator such as the parents of the child, sets in advance rating level information serving as a reference used for not outputting a television program having a rating information indicating that it is unsuited to children of less than 14 even if the program is selected.
The television receiving set extracts rating information added to the video signal of the selected television program, and compares the rating level information specified in advance in the television receiving set with information used for comparison with rating information, obtained from the extracted rating information.
When it is determined from the comparison result that the extracted rating information indicates, for example, that the program is for children of the age of seven and over, in other words, the program has a rating level lower than that of the rating level information specified in advance, the program is determined to be a television program which is allowed to be viewed at the television receiving set and the program is output.
Conversely, if the extracted rating information indicates, for example, that the program is unsuited to children of less than 14 or children of less than 17, in other words, the program has a rating level higher than that of the rating level information specified in advance, the program is determined to be a television program which is not allowed to be viewed at the television receiving set and the program is not output.
This processing is called blocking processing. A
control section formed of a microprocessor performs the processing in which rating information is extracted, decoded to obtain'information to be compared with a rating level, and compared with the rating level.
With the above processing, the user of the television receiving set controls television programs such that unsuited television programs are not offered according to the age of a child or other items, to effectively prevent a child from receiving an adverse effect of television programs.
Television receiving sets having a so-called multi-window function have been recently commercially available.
For example, the entire display screen of a display device such as a cathode-ray tube (CRT) is set to a parent window, and a so-called child window is provided at a part of the parent window. The images of two video signals can be reproduced at the same time with the parent window and the child window. Television receiving sets provided with a multi-window function which is called a picture-in-picture function are thus available.
Television receiving sets having a multi-window function are also available which allows the images of a plurality of video signals to be displayed at the same time on a plurality of windows made by dividing the display screen of a display device.
In such a television receiving set having a multi-window function, what kind of image display control is performed according to rating information added to each video signal has not been considered for each of a plurality of television programs which can be viewed at the same time.
It is examined that display control of a plurality of television programs which can be displayed at the same time is performed according to the rating information added to the video signal selected as the main video signal.
In a television receiving set having the picture-in-picture function, for example, control of a sub video signal used for image display on the child window is performed according to the rating information added to the main video signal selected for image display on the parent window. In the same way, in a television receiving set having a multi-window function which can divide the screen into a plurality of windows, for example, control of sub video signals used for image display on divided windows other than the main window is performed according to the rating information added to the main video signal selected for image display on the main divided window.
Therefore, when the rating information added to the main video signal has a higher rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, an image is not displayed on the child window, or on any divided windows other than the main window. With this operation, positive control of at least the video signal of the television program to be displayed on the parent window or on the main window is performed according to the rating information added to the video signal.
When the rating information added to the main video signal has a higher rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, however, even if the rating information added to an video signal used for image display on the child window or added to video signals used for image display on divided windows other than the main window has a lower rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, an image is not displayed on the child window, or on any divided windows other than the main window.
When the rating information added to the main video signal has a lower rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, even if the rating information added to a sub video signal used for image display on the child window or added to sub video signals used for image display on divided windows other than the main window has a higher rating level than the rating level information specified in advance, an image is displayed on the child window, or on a11 divided windows other than the main window.
It can be considered that the control section formed of the microcomputer extracts the rating information added to a sub video signal, decodes the extracted rating information, and compares the information obtained by decoding with a rating level.
If this is performed, however, a too large load is applied to the control section and a processing delay may occur. Especially in a television receiving set having a multi-window function for three windows or more, since blocking processing is applied to three or more sub video signals in the control section, it is considered that a case in which- appropriate blocking processing is not applied to each of the video signals may occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a television receiving set which allows, when the images of a plurality of video signals are displayed at the same time, output control of the plurality of video signals to be appropriately performed according to the rating information added to each video signal.
The foregoing object is achieved in one aspect of the present invention through the provision of a television receiving set having a function for combining the images of a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals and for displaying on one screen, including:
holding means for holding the restriction information specified by the user in advance; a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals; control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information _ g _ held by the holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by the holding means; a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and additional-information detecting means for the second video signal, for extracting the additional information added to the second video signal and for outputting information according to the extracted additional information to the control means, wherein the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section.
The restriction information specified by the user may be data according to the upper age limit of persons who are allowed to watch, such as rating level information.
The additional information may be display-rule data used to restrict display of each of the plurality of images corresponding to the plurality of input signals. The display-rule data may be data according the lower age limit of persons who are allowed to watch the corresponding image, such as rating information.
The television receiving set may be configured such that the second video signal corresponds to a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals, other than the first video signal, and blocking processing sections for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to the plurality of video signals are provided.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the holding means holds the rating level information serving as a reference for determining whether the image of a video signal is allowed to be output in the television receiving set by comparison with the rating information added to the video signal.
When a multi-window function such as a picture-in-picture function is used and the images of two video signals are displayed at the same time, for example, the control means extracts the rating information from the first video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window, detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information in the extracted rating information, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the first blocking processing section such that the image of the first video signal is not displayed when the output of the first video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal extracts the rating information added to the second video signal from the second video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, and sends information based on the extracted rating information to the control means.
According to the information related to the rating information, sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal and the rating level information held by the holding means, the control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the image of the second video signal is not displayed when the output of the second video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
With the above configuration, image display output control is appropriately performed for each of the first video signal and the second video signal according to the rating information added to each video signal.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal outputs the extracted rating information to the control means; and the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section by detecting information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information held by the holding means in the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal, and comparing the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the rating information detecting means for the second video signal sends the rating information extracted from the second video signal to the control means.
The control means detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information in the rating information extracted from the second video signal, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the second blocking processing section.
With this operation, since the information related to the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal is identical with the rating information extracted from the second video signal, the control means appropriately controls the second blocking processing section by applying the same processing as that applied to the rating information extracted from the first video signal to the rating information extracted from the second video signal. Since the rating information added to the second video signal is extracted by the rating information detecting means, the control means does not have an excessive load.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information held by the holding means in the extracted rating information and outputs the detected information related to a rating level to the control means; and the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section by comparing the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the rating information detecting means for the second video signal sends the information related to a rating level which is detected in the rating information extracted from the second video signal to the control means.
The control means compares the information related to a rating level sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the second blocking processing section.
With this operation, since the control means does not need to detect the information related to a rating level in the information based on the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal, the load of the control means does not increase. In other words, when a mufti-window function is used and the images of a plurality of video signals are displayed at the same time, blocking processing is appropriately applied to each video signal according to each video signal.
The rating information detecting means for the second video signal detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information held by the holding means in the extracted rating information, compares the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means, and outputs the comparison result to the control means; and the control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section according to the comparison result.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the rating level information held by the holding means is sent to the rating information detecting means for the second video signal. The rating information detecting means for the second video signal compares the information related to a rating level which is detected in the rating information extracted from the second video signal with the rating level information sent from the holding means, and sends the comparison result to the control means.
The control means controls the second blocking processing section according to information indicating the comparison result sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal.
The control means controls the second blocking processing section with the direct use of the information based on the rating information sent from the rating information detecting means for the second video signal. In addition, the detection of the information related to a rating level or the comparison of the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means is not required in the control means.
Therefore, the load applied to the control means for controlling the second blocking processing section is suppressed to the minimum level.
Therefore, also in this case, when a multi-window function is used and the images of a plurality of video signals are displayed at the same time, blocking processing is appropriately applied to each video signal according to each video signal.
A television receiving set according to the present invention may include display information generating means for generating a signal used for displaying display information at the display area of the image of the second video signal, wherein the control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the signal generated by the display information generating means is output instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is performed for the second video signal.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the second blocking processing section outputs the signal generated by the display information generating means instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is applied to the second video signal under control of the control means, and the display information of the signal generated by the display information generating means is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal.
When the image of the second video signal is not output because the second video signal is blocked by the second blocking processing section, the display information indicating that the second video signal is blocked is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal. In this case, since the condition in which the second video signal is blocked is understood at a glance by the display information, the user does not take it for a trouble in the television receiving set.
Since only the signal for displaying the display information generated by the display information generating means is used instead of the second video signal, the display information indicating that the second video signal is blocked is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal relatively easily without performing complicated processing.
The foregoing object is achieved in another aspect of the present invention through the provision of a television receiving set having a function for combining the images of a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals and for displaying on one screen, including:
holding means for holding at least the restriction information specified by the user in advance; a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals; first control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by the holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by the holding means; a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and second control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in the second blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the second video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by the holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by the holding means.
Also in this case, the restriction information specified by the user may be data according to the upper age limit of persons who are allowed to watch, such as rating level information.
The additional information may be display-rule data used to restrict display of each of the plurality of images corresponding to the plurality of input signals. The display-rule data may be data according the lower age limit of persons who are allowed to watch the corresponding image, such as rating information.
The television receiving set may be configured such that the second video signal corresponds to a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals, other than the first video signal, and blocking processing sections for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to the plurality of video signals are provided.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the holding means holds the rating level information serving as a reference for determining whether the image of a video signal is allowed to be output in the television receiving set, by comparison with the rating information added to the video signal.
When a multi-window function such as a picture-in-picture function is used and the images of two video signals are displayed at the same time, for example, the control means extracts rating information from the first video signal, detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the' rating level information in the extracted rating information, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the control means controls the first blocking processing section such that the image of the first video signal is not displayed when the output of the first video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
On the other hand, in the same way as in a case of the control means for detecting the rating information in the first video signal, the second control means extracts rating information from the second video signal. The second control means detects information related to a rating level used for comparison with the rating level information in the extracted rating information, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the holding means. According to the comparison result, the second control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the image of the second video signal is not displayed when the output of the second video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set.
Image display output is appropriately controlled for each of the first video signal and the second video signal according to the rating information added to each of the video signals. Since the first blocking processing section and the second blocking processing section are controlled by separate control means, the load of controlling both blocking processing sections is separated.
A television receiving set according to the present invention may be configured such that display information generating means for generating a signal used for displaying display information at the display area of the image of the second video signal is included, and the second control means controls the second blocking processing section such that the signal generated by the display information generating means is output instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is performed for the second video signal.
According to the television receiving set of the present invention, the second blocking processing section outputs a signal generated by the display information generating means instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is applied to the second video signal under control of the second control means, and the display information of the signal generated by the display information generating means is displayed at the display area of the image of the second video signal.
In this case, since the condition in which the second video signal is blocked is understood at a glance by the display information, the user does not take it for a trouble in the television receiving set. When the second blocking processing section performs image-display-output disabling processing under control of the second control means, since only the signal generated by the display information generating means is used instead of the second video signal, a load is not applied to the control means, which performs processing for the first video signal.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a view used for describing a rating information example.
Fig. 3 is a view of a parent window and a child window in a case in which a picture-in-picture function is used.
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 6 is a view of a parent window and a child window in the television receiving set shown in Fig. 5, with display information being displayed on the child window.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Television receiving sets according to embodiments of the present invention will be described below by referring to the drawings. The following embodiments will be described, assuming that the present invention is applied to television receiving sets each having a picture-in-picture function and allowing images to be reproduced at the same time on a parent window and a child window. In the following embodiments, to simplify a description, a description of an audio system in each of the television receiving sets will be omitted.
First embodiment Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to a first embodiment. As shown in Fig. l, the television receiving set of the present embodiment is provided with an antenna 1, a distributor 2, tuners 3a and 3b, an external input terminal 4, a switch circuit 5, a blocking processing section 6, a video processor 7, a video amplifier 8, a CRT 9, a host microcomputer 10, an operation key section 11, a rating information processing circuit (in the figure, described as a V-chip IC) 21, a blocking processing section 22, a chroma decoder 23, and a picture-in-picture controller (hereinafter called a PIP controller) 24.
The operation key section 11 includes various operation keys, such as a power on/off key, a station selection key, adjustment keys for image quality, the amount of sound, and sound quality, a picture-in-picture on/off key, a switching key for a parent window/child window, and an operation key used for inputting rating level information. The user can input various directions through the operation key section 11 to the television receiving set of the present embodiment.
The host microcomputer 10 is provided with a CPU l00, a ROM 101, and a RAM 102 as shown in Fig. 1. According to the directions which the user inputs through the operation key section 11, the host microcomputer 10 serves as a control section for controlling each section of the television receiving set of the first embodiment.
The host microcomputer 10 receives rating level information input through the operation key section 11 and writes it into the RAM 102 serving as holding means. The rating level information serves as a reference for determining whether the image display output of, for example, a television program to be viewed is allowed at the television receiving set.
In other words, the rating level information is compared with information related to a rating level detected in the rating information offered by being added to the video signal of a television program, as described later.
The rating level information is used, for example, for directing not to output a television program unsuited to children of less than 14. It is information having a plurality of bits used for discriminating between television programs allowed to be output and television programs not allowed, in the television receiving set.
In this first embodiment, the RAM 102 of the host microcomputer 10 is non volatile, which means that even if the main power is turned off, written rating-level information is not deleted.
As described above, the rating information which is the basis of the information related to a rating level to be compared with the rating level information held by the RAM
102 is specified according to the contents of a television program, and is offered by being added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period of the video signal of the television program.
In this case, the rating information has two bytes in a format specified by Electronic Industries Association (EIA), and is formed of movie-program rating information called an MPAA rating and rating information for drama programs and news programs, called a parental guideline.
Among this rating information of two bytes, for example, the rating level of the MPAA rating is specified with the lower three bits of the first byte and the rating level of the parental guideline is specified with the lower three bits of the second byte.
For the parental guideline, for example, as shown in Fig. 2, a rating is specified in six levels from TV-Y to TV-MA with the use of the lower three bits (g2, gl, and g0) of the second byte.
In this parental guideline, TV-Y indicates a television program for children of six years of age and under, which is good for all children. TV-Y7 indicates a television program created for children of seven years of age and over, which may includes a very slightly violent scene called fantasy violence (FV). A mark x is placed for TV-Y7 at the column of FV in Fig. 2. TV-G is assigned to a television program which most parents think has no problem for people of a11 ages, which does not include an inappropriate violent scene or an obscene word.
TV-PG indicates a television program which parents think is inappropriate for young children, which includes one or more of a slightly violent scene (V), a slightly sexual scene (S), a vulgar word (L), and a slightly suggestive sexual dialog (D), as shown by marks x in Fig. 2.
TV-14 indicates a television program inappropriate for children of 14 years of age and under, which includes one or more of a violent scene (V), a sexual scene (S), a very vulgar word (L), and a strongly suggestive sexual dialog (D).
TV-MA indicates a television program for adults and inappropriate for children of 17 years of age and under, which includes one or more of a severe violent scene (V), a direct sexual expression (S), and a strongly vulgar word (L).
In this parental guideline, as shown by marks x in Fig.
2, fantasy violence (FV), a violent scene (V), a sexual situation (S), a language for adults (L), and a suggestive sexual dialog (D) included in TV-Y7, TV-PG, TV-14, and TV-MA
are indicated.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, video signals received by the antenna 1 are sent to the tuners 3a and 3b through the distributor 2. The tuners 3a and 3b select video signals to be reproduced, according to the control signals sent from the host microcomputer 10 and based on the direction input of the user, and send the selected video signals to the switch circuit 5.
The television receiving set of the present embodiment can receive a video signal sent from an external apparatus such as a VCR (video cassette tape recorder) or a laser disc player through the external input terminal 4. The video signal input through the external input terminal 4 is sent to the switch circuit 5.
According to the control signal sent from the host microcomputer 10, the switch circuit 5 assigns the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, among the video signals sent from the tuners 3a and 3b and the video signal input through the external input terminal 4.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent screen is sent from the switch circuit 5 to the host microcomputer 10 and the blocking processing section 6. The sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is sent to the rating information processing circuit 21 and the blocking processing section 22.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, the host microcomputer 10 extracts the rating information added to the main video signal sent from the switch circuit 5 and detects information related to a rating level in the extracted rating information, which is to be compared with the rating level information held by the RAM
l02.
The host microcomputer 10 compares the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the RAM 102, determines whether the image display output of the main video signal is allowed in the television receiving set of the first embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 6 according to the determination result.
Specifically, the host microcomputer 10 in the first embodiment slices the main video signal to obtain the signal added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period, and extracts the rating information added to the main video signal. The extracted rating information has two bytes in a rather complicated format as described above.
Therefore, the host microcomputer 10 decodes the rating information detected by slicing to obtain information related to a rating level in a format which provides easy comparison with the rating level information held by the RAM
l02. The information related to a rating level has, for example, the same number of bits as the rating level information held by the RAM 102.
The host microcomputer 10 compares the information related to a rating level detected by decoding, with the rating level information held by the RAM l02. When the rating level of the information related to a rating level is lower than that of the rating level information held by the RAM 102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the main video signal is allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 6 such that the main video signal is sent from the switch circuit 5 to the video processor 7.
Conversely, when the rating level of the information related to a rating level is higher than that of the rating level information held by the RAM 102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the main video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 6 such that the main video signal is not sent from the switch circuit 5 to the video processor 7.
In other words, when the specified rating level information indicates, for example, that a program inappropriate for children of less than 14 is not output, the images of video signals having rating information lower in a rating level than the specified information, such as a program (TV-Y) appropriate for children of six years of age and below and a program (TV-Y7) appropriate for children of seven years of age and above, are output. In this case, the images of video signals to which rating information higher in a rating level than the specified rating level information is added, such as a program (TV-14) inappropriate for children of less than 14 or a program (TV-MA) inappropriate for children of less than l7, are not output.
As described above, the blocking processing section 6 blocks the main video signal under control of the host microcomputer 10 to disable the image display output of the main video signal.
On the other hand, the rating information processing section 21, which receives the sub video signal from the switch circuit 5, slices the sub video signal to obtain the signal added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period, and detects the rating information added to the sub video signal. Namely, in the first embodiment, the rating information processing section 21 serves as rating information detecting means. The rating information detected by the rating information processing circuit 21 is sent to the host microcomputer 10.
The host microcomputer 10 decodes the rating information sent from the rating information processing circuit in the same way as for the rating information detected from the main video signal, described above, to obtain information related to a rating level in a format which provides easy comparison with the rating level information specified by the user. The host microcomputer compares the detected information related to a rating level with the rating level information specified by the user and stored in the RAM 102.
When the rating level of the information related to a rating level for the sub video signal is lower than that of the rating level information stored in the RAM 102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the sub video signal is allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 22 such that the sub video signal is sent from the switch circuit 5 to the chroma decoder 23.
Conversely, when the rating level of the information related to a rating level for the sub video signal is higher than that of the rating level information stored in the RAM
102, the host microcomputer 10 determines that the image display output of the sub video signal is not allowed in the television receiving set of the present embodiment, and controls the blocking processing section 22 such that the sub video signal is not sent from the switch circuit 5 to the chroma decoder 23.
When the image of the sub video signal is allowed to be displayed on the child window, since the sub video signal is not blocked by the blocking processing section 22, as described above, it is sent to the chroma decoder 23, predetermined processing for a video signal whose image is to be displayed is applied, and the resultant signal is sent to the PIP controller 24.
The PIP controller 24 receives the positional information of the child window from the host microcomputer 10, generates a video signal for the child window used for displaying an image on the child window, from the video signal sent from the chroma decoder 23, and sends it to the video processor 7.
The video processor 7 applies processing such as combining the main video signal of which the image display output is allowed in the television receiving set and whose image is to be displayed on the parent window, with the video signal for the child window which has been generated from the sub video signal of which the image display output is allowed, to form a video signal for display for displaying the images for the parent and child windows on the CRT 9. The formed video signal for display is amplified by the video amplifier 8 and sent to the CRT 9. With this operation, the image of the main video signal is displayed on the parent window of the display screen of the CRT 9, and the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the child window, which is formed at a part of the parent window.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, as shown in Fig. 3, the image of the main video signal is displayed on the parent window 9M on the display screen of the CRT 9, and the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the child window 9S on the display screen of the CRT 9.
In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, as described before, the rating information is detected in each of the video signals of which the images are displayed on the parent and child windows, and according to each rating information, image display control is separately performed for the main video signal whose image is displayed on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is displayed on the child window.
Therefore, when the output of the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M is allowed in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment and the output of the video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S is not allowed in the television receiving set, only the image of the main video signal is displayed on the parent window 9M, and the image of the sub video signal is not displayed on the child window 9S. In this case, the child window 9S is shown in blue.
When the output of the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M is not allowed in the television receiving set and the output of the video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S
is allowed in the television receiving set, the image of the main video signal is not displayed on the parent window 9M, and only the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the child window 9S. In this case, the display area of the parent window is shown in blue.
When both the output of the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M and the output of the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S are allowed, the images of the video signals are displayed on the parent window 9M and the child window 9S, respectively. When neither the output of the main video signal nor the output of the sub video signal is allowed in the television receiving set, neither the image of the main video signal nor the image of the sub video signal is displayed on the parent window 9M or the child window 9S.
As described above, in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, appropriate reproduction control is applied not only to the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window 9M but also to the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window 9S according to the rating information added to the sub video signal.
Modified embodiments In the first embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 21 detects the rating information added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period of the sent sub video signal, and sends it to the host microcomputer 10 as is. The host microcomputer 10 decodes the rating information sent from the rating information processing circuit 21 and compares with the rating level information. According to the result of this comparison, the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22.
The rating information processing circuit 21 can have a decoding function for the detected rating information to reduce the load of the host microcomputer 10.
In other words, the rating information processing section 21 slices the sent sub video signal to obtain the signal added to the 21st horizontal period in a vertical blanking period, and detects the rating information added to the sub video signal. The rating information processing circuit 21 decodes the detected rating information to obtain information related to a rating level in a format which provides easy comparison with the rating level information specified by the user, and sends the information related to a rating level to the host microcomputer 10.
The host microcomputer 10 receives the information related to a rating level from the rating information processing circuit 21, and compares the information related to a rating level with the rating level information held by the RAM 102. With this operation, the host microcomputer 10 determines whether the sub video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the child window is a video signal whose output is allowed in the television receiving set, and controls the blocking processing section 22.
With this configuration, since the host microcomputer does not need to decode the rating information sent from the rating information processing circuit 21 to obtain the information related to a rating level, the load of the host microcomputer 10 is not increased.
The rating information processing circuit 21 may further compare the information related to a rating level with the rating level information. In this case, the host microcomputer 10 needs to send the rating level information specified by the user to the rating information processing circuit 21.
The rating information processing circuit 21 compares the rating level information sent from the host microcomputer 10 with the information related to a rating level detected in the rating information extracted from the video signal, and determines whether the sub video signal is allowed to be output in the television receiving set.
The rating information processing circuit 21 then sends information obtained from the comparison, namely, information indicating whether the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is allowed to be output in the television receiving set, back to the host microcomputer 10 as return data. The return data is sent from the rating information processing circuit 21 to the host microcomputer 10 through a bus connecting the host microcomputer 10 to the rating information processing circuit and other circuits. It can of course be returned by the use of a port, namely, by a high/low-level signal at the port.
The host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22 according to the return data sent from the rating information processing circuit 21. In this case, the host microcomputer 10 does not need to perform decoding or comparison for the rating information detected in the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window. In other words, since the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22 according to the return data sent from the rating information processing circuit 21, the load of the host microcomputer 10 does not increase.
As described above, when the rating information processing circuit 21 extracts the rating information from the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, detects the information related to a rating level in the extracted rating information, and performs comparison with the rating level information specified by the user, the rating information processing circuit 21 can directly control the blocking processing section 22.
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of a television receiving set in which a rating information processing circuit 21 directly controls a blocking processing section 22. In this case, as described above, the rating information processing circuit 21 compares the rating level information with information related to a rating level obtained by decoding the rating information extracted in the sub video signal to determine whether the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child screen is allowed to be output in the television receiving set.
The rating information processing circuit 21 outputs, for example, a high-level signal to the blocking processing section 22 when it determines that the sub video signal is not allowed to be output, and outputs a low-level signal when it determines that the sub video signal is allowed to be output.
With this, the blocking processing section 22 does not output the sent sub video signal when it receives a high-level signal from the rating information processing circuit 21, and outputs the sent sub video signal to a chroma decoder 23 when it receives a low-level signal.
With this operation, since the host microcomputer 10 only needs to send the rating level information to the rating information processing circuit 21 with respect to blocking processing for the sub video signal whose image is to be output on the child window, the load of the host microcomputer 10 does not increase.
Also in this case, the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 6, which applies blocking processing to the main video signal, and the rating information processing circuit 21 controls the blocking processing section 22, which applies blocking processing to the sub video signal. Control is thus separated.
As described above, in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, image display outputs are controlled for the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window, according to the rating information added to each video signal.
The rating information added to the main video signal is detected by the host microcomputer 10, and the rating information added to the sub video signal is detected by the rating information processing circuit 21. With this configuration, a large load is not applied to the host microcomputer 10, processing for the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is not delayed, and the display of the sub video signal is controlled according to the rating information added to the sub video signal in the same way as for the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window.
In a television receiving set having a multi-window function which allows the screen to be divided into three or more windows, the image display output of each video signal is controlled according to the rating information added to each video signal by providing rating information processing circuits 21 correspondingly to the number of sub video signals to be handled even if a plurality of sub video signals are handled.
Second embodiment In the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, described above, the main and sub video signals which are determined to be not allowed to be displayed are blocked by the blocking processing section 6 and the blocking processing section 22. If a video signal is blocked in this way, since an image is not displayed, the parent window 9M or the child window 9S, on which an image was to be displayed, is shown, for example, in blue as described above.
In this case, the user of the television receiving set cannot immediately understand why an image is not displayed, and may think that the television receiving set is out of order. Therefore, when a video signal is blocked according to rating information, it can be considered that a message indicating that an image is blocked is displayed.
When message information is~shown in the child window, since the child window has a small display area formed at a part of the display screen of the CRT 9 as also shown in Fig.
3, the display position of the message information and the size of the message information to be displayed need to be adjusted according to the size of the child window and the position of the child window on the display screen of the CRT 9. This means that display processing becomes complicated.
When the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is blocked, a television receiving set according to a second embodiment allows a message indicating the condition to be displayed on the child window relatively easily without performing complicated processing.
Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a television receiving set according to the second embodiment. As shown in Fig. 5, the television receiving set according to the second embodiment is configured in substantially the same way as for the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, described before by referring to Fig. 1, except for a rating information processing circuit 21A and a switch circuit 25.
Therefore, in Fig. 5, the same symbols as those in Fig. 1 are assigned to the portions corresponding to those in the television receiving set according to the first embodiment, and the descriptions thereof will be omitted.
The rating information processing circuit 21A extracts rating information from the sub video signal, detects information related to a rating level by decoding the extracted rating information, and compares the detected information related to a rating level with rating level information.
The rating information processing circuit 21A
determines whether the image of the sub video signal is allowed to be displayed in the television receiving set by the comparison between the information related to a rating level and the rating level information, and sends the comparison result back to the host microcomputer 10 as return data. With this operation, the host microcomputer 10 controls the blocking processing section 22 such that reproduction control is performed for a second video signal according to the rating information added to the sub video signal.
In addition, the rating information processing circuit 21A has a so-called on-screen display (OSD) function, which displays display information such as characters, figures, and illustrations on the screen, in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment. In other words, in the second embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 21A is provided with an OSD processing section 21l serving as display information generating means for generating a signal for displaying display information such as characters, figures, and symbols on the child window.
When the rating information processing circuit 21A
determines that the sub video signal is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, it sends return data indicating the condition back to the host microcomputer 10, and blocks the sub video signal so that the image of the sub video signal is not displayed. The rating information processing circuit 21A controls the OSD processing section 21l such that a video signal for displaying display information indicating that the image of the sub video signal is not displayed because the sub video signal is blocked is generated and is sent to an end of the switch circuit 25.
As shown in Fig. 5, a video signal is sent to the other end of the switch circuit 25 from the chroma decoder 23. In this case, the rating information processing section 21A
switches the switch circuit 25 so as to output the signal sent from the OSD processing section 21l.
With this operation, the video signal for displaying display information sent from the OSD processing section 211 is sent to the PIP controller 24. The PIP controller 24 converts the video signal from the OSD processing section 211 to a signal for the child window according to the positional information of the child window and other pieces of information sent from the host microcomputer 10, and sends it to the video processor 7, as described before. The video processor 7 combines the main video signal with the video signal for the child window which has been formed by the OSD processing section 211 and processed by the PIP
processing section 24, and sends it to the CRT 9 through the video amplifier 8.
With this operation, when the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is blocked because it is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, a display information, for example, of "Being blocked" formed by the signal generated by the OSD
processing section 211 is displayed on the child window 9S
as shown in Fig. 6. With this operation, the condition in which an image is not displayed on the child window because the sub video signal is blocked is reported to.the user.
In this case, in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, the display information is displayed on the child window 9S just by sending the video signal for displaying the display information from the OSD
processing section 211 to the PIP controller 24 instead of the sub video signal. In other words, after the display signal of the display information is generated by the OSD
processing section 211, the display information is displayed on the child window 9S without performing special processing.
In this case, since the PIP processing circuit 24 applies only the same processing to the signal sent from the OSD processing circuit 211 as that usually applied to the sub video signal, the display position of the display information does not shift and the size of the display information does not become inappropriate.
When the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window is blocked because it is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, message information indicating that the signal is blocked can be displayed on the parent window.
In this case, when the host microcomputer 10 determines that the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, for example, the host microcomputer 10 sends message information indicating that the main video signal is blocked and control information instructing that the message information is displayed on the parent window to the video processor 7.
The video processor 7 needs to form a video signal for displaying the message information on the parent window.
With this operation, when neither the main video signal whose image is to be displayed on the parent window nor the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is allowed to be reproduced in the television receiving set, message information indicating that a video signal is blocked can be displayed on each of the parent window 9M and the child window 9S.
Also in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 21A may control the blocking processing section 22 according to the determination result in the rating information processing circuit 21A.
Since the rating information processing circuit 21A is provided with the OSD function in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, blocking processing for a video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the child window is not required by the use of the blocking processing section 22.
In other words, when the sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set, since message information generated by the OSD processing section 211 is displayed, the child window is not disturbed even if blocking processing is not performed by the blocking processing section 22. Namely, the OSD processing section 211 applies blocking.
In the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, the rating information processing circuit 22A
controls the switch circuit 25. The host microcomputer 10 may of course control the switch circuit 25.
As described above, also in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, display control is performed for the main video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the parent window and the sub video signal whose image is to be reproduced on the child window, according to the rating information added to each video signal.
In addition, when the selected sub video signal whose image is to be displayed on the child window is blocked because it is not allowed to be output in the television receiving set according to the second embodiment, message information indicating that the signal is blocked can be displayed on the child window.
As described above, since the OSD processing section 221 of the rating information processing circuit 21A and the PIP controller 24 perform the processing required for displaying message information on the child window, a load is not applied to the host microcomputer. Inconveniences do not occur such as a shift of message information displayed on the child window from the child window.
In the first and second embodiments, the present invention is applied to a television receiving set having a picture-in-picture function. The present invention can also be applied to a television receiving set provided with a multi-window function other than the picture-in-picture function.
In a television receiving set which allows the CRT
screen to be divided into three or more windows and an image to be reproduced at the same time on each divided window, the rating information processing circuit 21 or the rating information processing circuit 21A described in the first or the second embodiment is required for each of a plurality of video signals whose images can be displayed at the same time.
With this configuration, image display output control is performed for each of a plurality of video signals whose images are to be displayed at the same time, according to the rating information added to each video signal.
As described above, even in a case in which three or more windows can display images at the same time, the load is prevented from converging only on the host microcomputer by providing the rating information processing circuit 21 or the rating information processing circuit 21A for a video signal used for reproducing an image on each window. In addition, the display outputs of video signals whose images are to be displayed at the same time can be positively controlled according to the rating information of the video signals.
Therefore, by providing the rating information processing circuit 21 or the rating information processing circuit 21A for each of a plurality of sub video signals whose images can be displayed at the same time by the use of a multi-window function, without making a large change in the host microcomputer, appropriate blocking processing is applied to each video signal in a television receiving set having various multi-window functions.
Claims (12)
1. A television receiving set having a function for combining the images of a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals and for displaying on one screen, comprising:
holding means for holding the restriction information specified by the user in advance;
a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals;
control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means;
a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and additional-information detecting means for the second video signal, for extracting the additional information added to the second video signal and for outputting information according to the extracted additional information to said control means, wherein said control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said second blocking processing section.
holding means for holding the restriction information specified by the user in advance;
a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals;
control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means;
a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and additional-information detecting means for the second video signal, for extracting the additional information added to the second video signal and for outputting information according to the extracted additional information to said control means, wherein said control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said second blocking processing section.
2. A television receiving set according to Claim 1, wherein the restriction information specified by the user is data according to the upper age limit of persons who are allowed to watch.
3. A television receiving set according to Claim 1, wherein the additional information is display-rule data used to restrict display of each of the plurality of images corresponding to the plurality of input signals.
4. A television receiving set according to Claim 3, wherein the display-rule data is data according the lower age limit of persons who are allowed to watch the corresponding image.
5. A television receiving set according to Claim 1, wherein the second video signal corresponds to a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals, other than the first video signal, and blocking processing sections for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to the plurality of video signals are provided.
6. A television receiving set according to Claim 1, wherein said additional-information detecting means for the second video signal outputs the extracted additional information to said control means; and said control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said second blocking processing section by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the additional information sent from said additional-information detecting means for the second video signal, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means.
7. A television receiving set according to Claim 1, wherein said additional-information detecting means for the second video signal detects information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted additional information and outputs the detected information related to the display rule to said control means; and said control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said second blocking processing section by comparing the information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means.
8. A television receiving set according to Claim 1, wherein said additional-information detecting means for the second video signal detects information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted additional information, compares the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means, and autputs the comparison result to said control means; and said control means controls the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said second blocking processing section according to the comparison result.
9. A television receiving set according to Claim 1, further comprising display information generating means for generating a signal used for displaying display information at the display area of the image of the second video signal, wherein said control means controls said second blocking processing section such that the signal generated by said display information generating means is output instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is performed for the second video signal.
10. A television receiving set having a function for combining the images of a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals and for displaying on one screen, comprising:
holding means for holding at least the restriction information specified by the user in advance;
a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals;
first control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means;
a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and second control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said second blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the second video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means.
holding means for holding at least the restriction information specified by the user in advance;
a first blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a first video signal among the plurality of video signals;
first control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said first blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the first video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means;
a second blocking processing section for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to a second video signal other than the first video signal; and second control means for controlling the execution of image-display-output disabling processing in said second blocking processing section by extracting the additional information added to the second video signal, by detecting information related to a display rule used for comparison with the restriction information held by said holding means, in the extracted information, and by comparing the detected information related to the display rule with the restriction information held by said holding means.
11. A television receiving set according to Claim 10, wherein the second video signal corresponds to a plurality of video signals corresponding to a plurality of input signals, other than the first video signal, and blocking processing sections for performing image-display-output disabling processing corresponding to the plurality of video signals are provided.
12. A television receiving set according to Claim 10, further comprising display information generating means for generating a signal used for displaying display information at the display area of the image of the second video signal, wherein said second control means controls said second blocking processing section such that the signal generated by said display information generating means is output instead of the second video signal when image-display-output disabling processing is performed for the second video signal.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP10003875A JPH11205710A (en) | 1998-01-12 | 1998-01-12 | Television receiver |
| JPP10-003875 | 1998-01-12 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2257734A1 true CA2257734A1 (en) | 1999-07-12 |
Family
ID=11569370
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002257734A Abandoned CA2257734A1 (en) | 1998-01-12 | 1999-01-06 | Television receiving set |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPH11205710A (en) |
| KR (1) | KR19990067826A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2257734A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP2003018528A (en) * | 2001-07-02 | 2003-01-17 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Reproduction device |
| KR20030062921A (en) * | 2002-01-21 | 2003-07-28 | 삼성전자주식회사 | display apparatus and controlling method thereof |
-
1998
- 1998-01-12 JP JP10003875A patent/JPH11205710A/en active Pending
-
1999
- 1999-01-06 CA CA002257734A patent/CA2257734A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1999-01-11 KR KR1019990000401A patent/KR19990067826A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| KR19990067826A (en) | 1999-08-25 |
| JPH11205710A (en) | 1999-07-30 |
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
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| FZDE | Discontinued | ||
| FZDE | Discontinued |
Effective date: 20050106 |