DE112015004080B4 - Digital broadcast receiving apparatus, broadcast area server, broadcast receiving system and method for generating broadcast area information - Google Patents

Abstract

A digital broadcast receiving apparatus comprising:a digital broadcast receiving unit (103) that receives digital broadcast;a position information acquisition unit (105) that acquires current position information representing a current position;a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit (106) that determines a receivable range on a basis the acquired current position and the reception state of the digital broadcasting at the position represented by the current position information, and generates polygon vertex coordinates produced by performing a process of smoothing an outline of the receivable area as neighboring broadcasting area information;a neighboring broadcasting area information storage unit (107), which stores the neighboring broadcast area information; a local information transmission unit (108) which serves the current position information to a broadcast area r sends; andan extracted broadcasting area information acquisition unit (109) that acquires broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its vicinity as extracted broadcasting area information from the broadcasting area server; whereinthe adjacent broadcast area information generation unit (106) combines receivable ranges from the extracted broadcast area information and the adjacent broadcast area information so as to include a new receivable area detected on a basis of the reception state, and broadcast area information obtained as a result of the combining as new adjacent broadcast area information in the storage unit (107) for adjacent broadcast area information.

Description

TECHNICAL AREA

The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus for receiving digital broadcasts. The present invention also relates to a broadcast area server for providing broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus. The present invention also relates to a broadcast receiving system including the digital broadcast receiving apparatus and the broadcast area server. The present invention also relates to a broadcast area information generating method executed in the broadcast receiving system.

STATE OF THE ART

The patent document WO 2013/ 157 159 A1 shows a digital broadcast receiving apparatus with receiving units that receive signals, signal intensity detection units that detect the reception intensity of the received signals, a channel scan control unit that detects receivable physical channels, an area map storage unit that stores coverage area information that indicate coverage areas, a current position detection unit that detects the current position, a tuning control unit that determines a distance threshold based on the reception intensity detected by the signal intensity detection units when the channel scan control unit detects a physical channel, and the detected current position is not included within the coverage area of the detected physical channel, and an area map generating unit generating the coverage area based on the determined distance threshold expands.

A system for providing information in an in-vehicle radio receiver is known from patent document US 2011/0 159 836 A1. An information providing device transmits area information related to a broadcast channel receivable in a driving area of the vehicle to the in-vehicle device. A storage unit stores the area information for each running area. A receiving unit receives checking information including a predetermined reference position or a position of the vehicle from the in-vehicle device. A decision unit decides a reference area set including a plurality of driving areas located within a predetermined distance from the reference position included in the received check information for each vehicle. An accumulation unit accumulates the received check information. A determining unit determines a running record of the vehicle in each running area based on the accumulated check information. An updating unit updates the reference range set based on the trip log. A transmission unit transmits the area information corresponding to the reference set area before the update to the in-vehicle device corresponding to the reference set area when the update unit has not yet performed the update, and transmits the area information corresponding to the reference set area after the update to the in-vehicle device corresponding to the set reference range when the update unit has performed the update.

From the patent document JP 2013 - 236 312 A a technology is known in which a current position and receiving state information of each in-vehicle receiving device is sent to a server via a network, and the server generates broadcast area information indicating which channel is receivable from which broadcast station in each area and transmits to each in-vehicle receiving device the network this information.

By performing such a process, broadcast area information can be generated more efficiently compared to cases where each digital broadcast receiving apparatus individually generates the broadcast area information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

In the prior art technology described above, however, each receiving device sends current position information and information about receivable channels or information about channels that have changed to non-receivable to the server when a channel search is finished, when a channel search is finished or if reception has become impossible. Therefore, the information collected on the server side is geographically discrete information, and creation (completion) of broadcast area information takes a long time on the server side even if receiving information is collected from a plurality of receiving devices.

The patent document JP 2013 - 236 312 A also describes an example in which the receiving device notifies the server of the receiving state information every time a constant period of time elapses or when a vehicle has traveled a constant distance. By reducing the constant time or the constant distances, intervals between the information acquisition points can be shortened. However, in this case, there is a problem that a frequency of transmission to the server becomes high and a network load is increased. There is also a problem that a network load for transmitting the generated broadcast area information to each receiving device in the reverse direction is also high.

The object of the present invention is to solve the problems described above, and is to obtain the broadcast area information quickly and with high efficiency while keeping a network load low.

MEANS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

According to the invention, this object is achieved with the features of the independent claims. Expedient refinements of the features are specified in the dependent claims.

• eine digitale Rundfunkempfangseinheit, die digitalen Rundfunk empfängt;
• eine Positionsinformation- Beschaffungseinheit, die eine aktuelle Position repräsentierende aktuelle Positionsinformationen beschafft;
• eine Erzeugungseinheit von benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die Informationen, die einen empfangbaren Bereich an der aktuellen Position und in einer benachbarten Umgebung der aktuellen Position repräsentieren, als benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen auf einer Basis des Empfangszustands des digitalen Rundfunks und der aktuellen Positionsinformationen erzeugt;
• eine Speichereinheit für benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die die benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen speichert;
• eine Lokalinformation-Sendeeinheit, die die aktuellen Positionsinformationen an einen Rundfunkbereichsserver sendet; und eine Beschaffungseinheit von extrahierten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die Rundfunkbereichsinformationen hinsichtlich der aktuellen Position und deren benachbarten Umgebung als extrahierte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen von dem Rundfunkbereichssever beschafft.

A digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises:

• a digital broadcast receiving unit that receives digital broadcast;
• a position information acquisition unit that acquires current position information representing a current position;
• a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit that generates information representing a receivable area at the current position and in a vicinity of the current position as neighboring broadcast area information on a basis of the reception state of the digital broadcast and the current position information;
• a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit that stores the neighboring broadcast area information;
• a local information transmission unit that transmits the current position information to a broadcast area server; and an extracted broadcasting area information acquisition unit that acquires broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its vicinity as extracted broadcasting area information from the broadcasting area server.

The adjacent broadcasting area information generating unit updates the adjacent broadcasting area information stored in the adjacent broadcasting area information storage unit on a basis of the extracted broadcasting area information, and the adjacent broadcasting area information generated by the adjacent broadcasting area information generating unit and the extracted broadcasting area information acquired by the extracted broadcasting area information acquiring unit Information representing the receivable area in the form of polygon vertex coordinates.

• eine digitale Rundfunkempfangseinheit, die digitalen Rundfunk empfängt;
• eine Positionsinformation-Beschaffungseinheit, die eine aktuelle Position repräsentierende aktuelle Positionsinformationen beschafft;
• eine Erzeugungseinheit von benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die Informationen erzeugt, die einen empfangbaren Bereich an der aktuellen Position und in der Nähe der aktuellen Position repräsentieren, als benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen auf der Basis des Empfangszustands des digitalen Rundfunks und der aktuellen Positionsinformationen erzeugt; und
• eine Speichereinheit für benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die die benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen speichert.

A digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention comprises:

• a digital broadcast receiving unit that receives digital broadcast;
• a position information acquisition unit that acquires current position information representing a current position;
• a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit that generates information representing a receivable area at the current position and in the vicinity of the current position as neighboring broadcast area information based on the reception state of the digital broadcast and the current position information; and
• a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit that stores the neighboring broadcast area information.

The adjacent broadcast area information generating unit treats an area not yet confirmed receivable as a receivable area surrounded by an area judged to be receivable when generating the adjacent broadcast area information.

• eine digitale Rundfunkempfangseinheit, die digitalen Rundfunk empfängt;
• eine Positionsinformation-Beschaffungseinheit, die eine aktuelle Position repräsentierende aktuelle Positionsinformationen beschafft;
• eine Erzeugungseinheit von benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die Informationen erzeugt, die einen empfangbaren Bereich an der aktuellen Position und in der Nähe der aktuellen Position repräsentieren, als benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen auf der Basis des Empfangszustands des digitalen Rundfunks und der aktuellen Positionsinformationen;
• eine Speichereinheit für benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die die benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen speichert.

A digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises:

• a digital broadcast receiving unit that receives digital broadcast;
• a position information acquisition unit that acquires current position information representing a current position;
• a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit that generates information representing a receivable area at the current position and in the vicinity of the current position as neighboring broadcast area information based on the reception state of the digital broadcast and the current position information;
• a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit that stores the neighboring broadcast area information.

The adjacent broadcasting area information generated by the adjacent broadcasting area information generating unit is information representing the receivable area in the form of polygon vertex coordinates, and
the adjacent broadcasting area information generating unit in generating the adjacent broadcasting area information performs smoothing when a distance between two convex vertices of an area decided to be receivable is less than or equal to a threshold value and the two convex vertices are across a concave vertex in the area by the two convex vertices are joined together.

• eine Lokalinformation-Beschaffungseinheit, die von jeder einer Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunk empfangenden digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen Informationen, die eine aktuelle Position jeder der Mehrzahl von Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen repräsentieren, und benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen empfängt, die angeben, ob jeder Punkt in der Nähe der aktuellen Position ein empfangbarer Bereich ist, in dem der digitale Rundfunk empfangbar ist, oder nicht;
• eine Erzeugungseinheit von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region, die Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region erzeugt oder aktualisiert, indem eine Vielzahl von Stücken von der Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen empfangenen benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen verwendet werden;
• eine Speichereinheit für Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region, die Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region speichert;
• eine Extrahiereinheit von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die, wenn eine Meldung einer aktuellen Position einer digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung von der digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung aus einer Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen empfangen wird, Rundfunkempfangsinformationen hinsichtlich der aktuellen Position und deren benachbarter Umgebung aus den in der Speichereinheit von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region gespeicherten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region extrahiert; und
• eine Sendeinheit für extrahierte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die die extrahierten Sendebereichsinformationen an die digitale Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung, die die Meldung der aktuellen Position abgegeben hat, sendet.

A broadcast area server according to the fourth aspect of the present invention comprises:

• a local information acquisition unit that receives, from each of a plurality of digital broadcasting receiving digital broadcasting receiving devices, information representing a current position of each of the plurality of broadcasting receiving devices and neighboring broadcasting area information indicating whether each point near the current position is a receivable area , in which the digital broadcast can be received or not;
• an entire region broadcasting area information generating unit that generates or updates entire region broadcasting area information by using a plurality of pieces of adjacent broadcasting area information received from the plurality of digital broadcasting receiving apparatuses;
• an entire region broadcasting area information storage unit that stores entire region broadcasting area information;
• a broadcasting area information extracting unit that, when a notification of a current position of a digital broadcasting receiving device is received from the digital broadcasting receiving device out of a plurality of digital broadcasting receiving devices, extracts broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its vicinity from the broadcasting area information stored in the broadcasting area information storage unit of the whole region extracted from the entire region; and
• an extracted broadcast area information transmission unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus that has issued the current position notification.

The neighboring broadcast area information received by the plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses and the whole region broadcast area information generated by the whole region broadcast area information generating unit is information representing a receivable area in the form of polygon vertex coordinates,
the entire region broadcasting area information generation unit combines parts of the plurality of pieces of the adjacent broadcasting area information received from the plurality of broadcast receiving apparatuses, the parts representing first and second areas overlapping each other, and generates and updates the entire region broadcasting area information below using a result of the combination, and
when combining, if a first vertex of the first receivable range is not included in the second receivable range A2 and a second vertex of the first receivable range is included in the second receivable range, the second vertex being adjacent to the first vertex, the second vertex is discarded and a new receivable range generating a line connecting the first vertex and a third vertex of the second receivable range as a side, the third vertex not being included in the first receivable range and the third vertex being closest to the first vertex.

A broadcast receiving system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of digital broadcasting devices receiving digital broadcasting and a broadcasting area server.

• eine digitale Rundfunkempfangseinheit, die digitalen Rundfunk empfängt;
• eine Positionsinformation-Beschaffungseinheit, die eine aktuelle Position repräsentierende aktuelle Positionsinformationen beschafft;
• eine Erzeugungseinheit von benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die Informationen erzeugt, die einen empfangbaren Bereich an der aktuellen Position und in der Umgebung der aktuellen Position repräsentieren, als benachbarte Bereichsinformationen auf der Basis des Empfangszustands des digitalen Rundfunks und der aktuellen Positionsinformation;
• eine Speichereinheit für benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die die benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen speichert; und
• eine Lokalinformation-Sendeeinheit, die die aktuellen Positionsinformationen und die benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die in der Speichereinheit für benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen gespeichert sind, an den Rundfunkbereichsserver sendet.

Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices includes:

• a digital broadcast receiving unit that receives digital broadcast;
• a position information acquisition unit that acquires current position information representing a current position;
• a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit that generates information representing a receivable area at the current position and in the vicinity of the current position as neighboring area information based on the reception state of the digital broadcast and the current position information;
• a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit that stores the neighboring broadcast area information; and
• a local information transmission unit that transmits the current position information and the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit to the broadcast area server.

• eine Lokalinformation-Beschaffungseinheit, die die benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen von jeder der Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunkempfängervorrichtungen empfängt;
• eine Erzeugungseinheit von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region, die Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region erzeugt oder aktualisiert, indem eine Vielzahl von Stücken von von der Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen empfangenen benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen verwendet werden;
• eine Speichereinheit von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region, die Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region speichert;
• eine Extrahiereinheit von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die, wenn eine Meldung einer aktuellen Position einer digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung von der digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung aus einer Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen empfangen wird, Rundfunkbereichsinformationen hinsichtlich der aktuellen Position und deren benachbarter Umgebung aus den in der Speichereinheit von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region gespeicherten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region extrahiert; und
• eine Sendeeinheit von extrahierten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die die extrahierten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen an die digitale Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung, die die Meldung der aktuellen Position abgegeben hat, sendet.

The round area server includes:

• a local information acquisition unit that receives the neighboring broadcast area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiver devices;
• an entire region broadcasting area information generation unit that generates or updates entire region broadcasting area information by using a plurality of pieces of adjacent broadcasting area information received from the plurality of digital broadcasting receiving apparatuses;
• an entire region broadcasting area information storage unit that stores entire region broadcasting area information;
• a broadcasting area information extracting unit that, when a notification of a current position of a digital broadcasting receiving device is received from the digital broadcasting receiving device out of a plurality of digital broadcasting receiving devices, extracts broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its vicinity from the broadcasting area information stored in the whole region broadcasting area information storage unit extracted from the entire region; and
• an extracted broadcast area information transmission unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus that has issued the current position notification.

Each of the plurality of digital broadcasting receiving apparatuses further includes an extracted broadcasting area information acquiring unit that acquires broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its surroundings as the extracted broadcasting area information from the broadcasting area server,
the adjacent broadcast area information generation unit of each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses updates the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit on a basis of the extracted broadcast area information.

The adjacent broadcasting area information generated by the adjacent area information generating unit of each of the plurality of digital broadcasting apparatuses and the entire region broadcasting area information generated by the entire region broadcasting area information generating unit of the broadcasting area server is information specifying a receivable area in the form of Plot polygon vertex coordinates.

A broadcasting area information generating method according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, executed by a plurality of digital broadcasting receiving digital broadcasting receiving devices and a broadcasting area server.

• Empfangen eines digitalen Rundfunks;
• Beschaffen von aktuellen Positionsinformationen, die eine aktuelle Position repräsentieren,
• Erzeugen von Informationen, die einen empfangbaren Bereich an der aktuellen Position und in der benachbarten Umgebung der aktuellen Position repräsentieren, als benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen auf einer Basis des Empfangszustands des digitalen Rundfunks und der aktuellen Positionsinformationen;
• Speichern der erzeugten benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformation in einer Speichereinheit für benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen; und
• Senden der aktuellen Positionsinformationen und der benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die in der Speichereinheit für benachbarte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen gespeichert sind, an den Rundfunkbereichsserver.

Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices performs the following steps:

• receiving a digital broadcast;
• obtaining current position information representing a current position,
• generating information representing a receivable area at the current position and in the vicinity of the current position as neighboring broadcasting area information based on the reception state of the digital broadcasting and the current position information;
• storing the generated adjacent broadcast area information in an adjacent broadcast area information storage unit; and
• Sending the current position information and the adjacent broadcasting area information stored in the adjacent broadcasting area information storage unit to the broadcasting area server.

• Empfangen der benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen von jeder der Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen;
• Erzeugen oder Aktualisieren von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region unter Verwendung einer Mehrzahl von Stücken der von der Mehrzahl von digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen empfangenen benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen;
• Speichern der erzeugten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen des gesamten Bereichs in einer Speichereinheit für Rundfunkbereichsinformationen des gesamten Bereichs;
• wenn eine Meldung einer aktuellen Position einer digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung von der digitalen Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung aus einer Mehrzahl von Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtungen empfangen wird, Extrahieren von Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der aktuellen Position und deren benachbarter Umgebung aus den Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region, die in der Speichereinheit für Rundfunkbereichsinformationen der gesamten Region gespeichert sind; und
• Senden der extrahierten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen an die digitale Rundfunkempfangsvorrichtung, die die Meldung der aktuellen Position abgegeben hat.

The broadcast area server does the following:

• receiving the adjacent broadcast area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices;
• generating or updating broadcast area information of the entire region using a plurality of pieces of the neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices;
• storing the generated whole-area broadcasting area information in a whole-area broadcasting area information storage unit;
• when a notification of a current position of a digital broadcasting receiving apparatus is received from the digital broadcasting receiving apparatus among a plurality of broadcasting receiving apparatuses, extracting broadcasting area information of the current position and its vicinity from the broadcasting area information of the whole region stored in the broadcasting area information of the whole region; and
• Sending the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus that has issued the current position notification.

• Beschaffen der Rundfunkbereichsinformationen hinsichtlich der aktuellen Position und deren benachbarter Umgebung als extrahierte Rundfunkbereichsinformationen von dem Rundfunkbereichsserver; und
• Aktualisieren der benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen, die in der Speichereinheit der benachbarten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen gespeichert sind, auf einer Basis der beschafften extrahierten Rundfunkbereichsinformationen.

Each of the plurality of digital receiving devices further performs the following steps:

• acquiring the broadcast area information on the current position and its vicinity as extracted broadcast area information from the broadcast area server; and
• updating the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit on a basis of the acquired extracted broadcast area information.

The neighboring broadcast area information generated by each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses and the broadcast area information of the entire area generated by the broadcast area server are information representing a receivable area in the form of polygon vertex coordinates.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION

According to the first aspect of the present invention, adjacent broadcasting area information generated by a digital broadcasting receiving apparatus and extracted broadcasting area information acquired by a broadcasting area server are information representing receivable areas in the form of polygon vertex coordinates. Therefore, the amount of data of the broadcast area information can be reduced, a transmission load for transmitting and receiving the broadcast area information can be reduced, and a storage capacity of a storage unit for adjacent broadcast area information can also be made lower.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, since an area surrounded by an area judged to be receivable is treated as a receivable area in generating the broadcasting area information, information indicating that reception is possible in the surrounding area can can be obtained without driving into the surrounding area. Also, by this process, the amount of information representing the receivable areas can be reduced, and the processing of the broadcast area information can be performed faster.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, on an outline of the receivable area, two convex vertices are connected across a concave vertex. Therefore, in an area judged to be non-receivable, a portion adjacent to the concave vertex can be treated as receivable and information indicating that reception is possible in the portion adjacent to the concave vertex can be obtained without going into the part adjacent to the concave vertex. Also, by this process, the amount of information representing the receivable areas can be reduced, and the processing of the broadcast area information can be performed faster.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the neighboring broadcast area information received from the broadcast area server and the broadcast area information of the entire region received from the broadcast area server are information that the receivable ba represent areas in terms of polygon vertex coordinates. Therefore, the data amount of the broadcast area information can be reduced, the transmission load for transmitting and receiving the broadcast area information can be reduced, and the storage capacity of the broadcast area information storage unit of the entire region can also be made smaller.

According to the fifth and sixth aspects of the present invention, the broadcasting area information of the entire region and the neighboring broadcasting area information of each receiving device are generated by the receiving devices and the broadcasting area server. Therefore, these pieces of information can be generated efficiently and quickly. In addition, since the broadcast area information generated by the digital broadcast receiving devices and the broadcast area server is information representing the receivable areas in the form of polygon vertex coordinates, the data amount of the broadcast area information can be reduced, the transmission load for sending and receiving the broadcast area information can be reduced and the storage capacity of the storage unit for storing broadcast area information can also be made smaller.

character list

• 1 Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing the structure of a broadcast receiving system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
• 2(a) Fig. 12 is a diagram showing relation between a block and mesh areas formed by dividing an observation object region into a mesh, and
• 2 B) Fig. 12 is an illustration showing a block enclosing a current position and its surrounding blocks.
• 3 12 is a diagram showing an example of network data generated by a digital broadcast receiving apparatus in the first embodiment.
• 4 FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a procedure for generating adjacent broadcast area information in the receiving apparatus 1 indicates.
• 5(a) - 5(f) Fig. 13 are diagrams showing an operation for generating the adjacent broadcast area information in the receiving device according to Figs 1 demonstrate.
• 6(a) and 6(b) are representations showing different examples of netgroups on which a prediction process using a in the 5(b) and 5(c) shown expansion is performed.
• 7(a) and 7(b) 12 are diagrams showing an example of broadcast area information on a channel generated by the digital broadcast receiving apparatus in the first embodiment.
• 8(a) - 8(d) 12 are illustrations showing a method of combining two receivable ranges overlapping each other.
• 9 Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
• 10 Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing the structure of a broadcast area server according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
• 11 Fig. 14 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
• 12 Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing the structure of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

First embodiment

1 Fig. 12 shows a broadcast receiving system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated broadcast receiving system includes a plurality of broadcast receiving devices 101 (only one is shown in 1 1) and a broadcast reception server 201. The digital broadcast reception apparatuses 101 and the broadcast reception server 201 are connected to each other via a network 301. FIG. The digital broadcast receiving device 101 is an in-vehicle digital broadcast receiving device, for example. A 3G network or an LTE network for mobile phones, for example, is used as the network 301 .

The digital broadcast receiving device (hereinafter referred to only as “receiving device” as needed) 101 includes a digital broadcast receiving unit 103, a video/audio output unit 104, a position information acquisition unit 105, a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106, a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107, a local information transmission unit 108, an extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109, a channel selection control unit 110, and a service list display unit 111.

The digital broadcast receiving unit 103 connected to an antenna 102 receives a broadcast wave received from the antenna 102, performs a decoding process for video and audio compressed data streams, and acquires service list data, EPG data, etc. from the radio wave.

The video/audio output unit 104 performs video display and output of audio data decoded by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 . Incidentally, for this explanation, it is assumed that the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 is a unit for receiving television broadcasts, that outputting video is unnecessary, and an audio output unit is used instead of the video/audio output unit 104 in cases where the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 is a unit is receiving only radio broadcasts.

The position information acquisition unit 105 formed with a GPS module, for example, acquires information representing a current position of the reception device 101 including the position information acquisition unit 105, that is, information representing the current position of a vehicle equipped with the reception device 101 (current position information) and transmits the acquired current position information to the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106, the local information transmission unit 108, the channel selection control unit 110, and the service list display unit 111.

The neighboring broadcast area information generating unit 106 acquires and successively collects the current position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 105 at each time point and information representing the state of reception of each channel by the digital broadcast reception unit 103 (reception state of the radio wave transmitted from each broadcasting station is broadcast on its channel) at each time (reception status information) and generates broadcast area information showing the reception status of each channel at each position (current position at each time). The broadcast area information is generated for each of the plurality of channels. The broadcast area information on each channel is information indicating whether the channel can be received at the current position and many places near the current position at any time. In other words, broadcast area information on each channel is information indicating whether or not each point is in a receivable area of the channel. Therefore, the broadcast area information on each channel is information indicating one or more receivable areas of the channel at the current position and its vicinity, and is referred to as adjacent broadcast area information.

Areas that are non-receivable areas are referred to as non-receivable areas. The non-receivable areas include areas where reception has been detected impossible and areas where reception has not been confirmed possible.

The adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 stores the broadcast area information on the plurality of channels generated by the adjacent broadcast area information generation unit 106 .

As explained in more detail later, the broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 is updated by using the adjacent broadcast area information generated by the adjacent broadcast area information generating unit 106 and extracted broadcast area information acquired by the extracted broadcast area information acquiring unit 109, which will be explained later. Meanwhile, the adjacent broadcast area information generating unit 106 refers to broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit when the adjacent broadcast area information is generated.

The neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 deletes the broadcast area information about a position farthest from the current position when the amount of broadcast area information stored exceeds its storage capacity, thereby preventing the broadcast area information about the current position and its vicinity from being deleted.

The local information sending unit 108 sends the current position information acquired by the position information acquiring unit 105 and the adjacent broadcasting area information stored in the adjacent broadcasting area information storage unit 107 to the broadcasting area server 201. The local information sending unit 108 reports to the broadcasting area server 201 the current position by transmitting the current position information. The current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information can be sent either at the same time or later.

The extracted broadcast area information acquiring unit 109 acquires the extracted broadcast area information transmitted from the broadcast area server 201 via the network 301 . The extracted broadcast area information is broadcast area information on the current position that the local information transmission unit 108 reports to the broadcast area server 201 and on the vicinity of the current position.

When the vehicle equipped with the receiving device 101 enters a new area (e.g., network area, which will be explained later) where the vehicle has never traveled, and a receivable channel is detected in the new area when a new receivable channel is in an area is detected in which the vehicle has already run and when it is detected that a channel indicated as receivable according to the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 has now changed to non-receivable, the generation unit leads 106 of adjacent broadcast area information performs generation or regeneration of the adjacent broadcast area information on the channel, thereby updating the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 .

Here, “new area where the vehicle has never been driven” means an area different from the areas about which the broadcast area information has been stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 . The “area where the vehicle has already run” means an area for which the adjacent broadcast area information of the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 has been stored.

The same applies to expressions "a network area in which the vehicle has never driven", "a network area in which the vehicle has already driven", "a block in which the vehicle has never driven" and "a block in which which the vehicle has already driven”, which is used later.

In a state where no adjacent broadcast area information has been stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107, as in a manufacturer-shipped state of the receiving apparatus, the following process can be performed. The local information transmission unit 108 notifies the broadcast area server 201 of the current position. When the neighboring broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its neighboring environment is sent from the broadcasting area server 201, the neighboring broadcasting area information can be stored in the neighboring broadcasting area information storage unit 107, and the neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit 106 can use the information stored in the neighboring broadcasting area information storage unit 107 update according to the reception state by the digital broadcast reception unit 103 . In cases where neighboring broadcasting area information cannot be acquired from the broadcasting area server 201, the neighboring broadcasting area information generation unit 106 can obtain the neighboring broadcasting area information by collecting information representing the receiving state of the digital broadcasting receiving unit 103 and the current position information obtained from the position information Procurement unit 104 are procured at any time, generate.

As mentioned above, the digital broadcast receiving devices 101 and the broadcast area server 201 are connected to each other via the 3G network, the LTE network, or the like for mobile phones, for example. For this connection, the local information transmission unit 108 and the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 are connected to a cellular phone via cable or short-range wireless communication, and the cellular phone is connected to the network 301 . An illustration of these points is omitted in the drawing.

The broadcasting area server 201 comprises a local information obtaining unit 202, a broadcasting area information of the whole region generating unit 203, a broadcasting area information of the whole region storing unit 204, a broadcasting area information extracting unit 205, and a transmitting unit unit 206 of extracted broadcast area information.

The local information acquisition unit 202 receives the current position information and the neighboring broadcasting area information from the receiving device 101 and sends the current position information and the neighboring broadcasting area information to the broadcasting area information generation unit 203 of the entire region, while also sending the current position information to the broadcasting area information extraction unit 205.

The entire region broadcasting area information generation unit 203 generates or updates broadcasting area information regarding the entire observation object region (entire region broadcasting area information) by using a plurality of pieces of adjacent broadcasting area information acquired from the plurality of receiving devices 101 connected to the network 301 .

The broadcast area information of the entire region on each channel is generated or updated using the adjacent broadcast area information on the same channel. The whole region broadcasting area information storage unit 204 stores the whole region broadcasting area information generated or updated by the whole region area information generating unit 203 .

The whole region broadcasting area information, which is generated by the whole region broadcasting area information generation unit 203 and may also be referred to as a broadcasting area map, is information indicating the receivable areas of each channel in the observation object region, that is, information indicating whether the Broadcasting is receivable or not on each channel at each point in the observation object region. In other words, the broadcasting area information of the entire region is information indicating whether each point is in a receivable range of broadcasting on each channel or not. The whole region broadcasting area information is gradually constructed by collecting the neighboring area information sequentially transmitted from the plurality of receiving apparatuses 101 in the whole region broadcasting area information storage unit 204 and further updated by using new neighboring broadcasting area information. The observation object region can be exemplified only a part of a country, the entire country, or a region spanning several longitudes.

Initially (at the start of the operation of the broadcasting area server 201), the storage contents of the broadcasting area information storage unit 204 of the entire region may be either information indicating that reception is impossible (a state in which reception is detected as impossible or a state in which reception has not been confirmed as possible) in the entire observation object region, or information that is a result of prediction based on known information, e.g. information that indicates that reception is possible in a range that a radio wave from a broadcasting station can be expected to achieve.

When a current position report is received from a receiving device 101 (when the current position information is received via the local information acquisition unit 202), the broadcast area information extracting unit 205 extracts broadcast area information regarding the current position represented by the report and its vicinity from the whole region broadcasting area information stored in the whole region broadcasting area information storage unit 204, and provides the extracted information as extracted broadcasting area information.

The extracted broadcast area information sending unit 206 sends the extracted broadcast area information output from the broadcast area information extracting unit 205 to the receiving device 101 (the above receiving device 101 that has sent the current position notification).

As mentioned above, when the local information sending unit 108 of the receiving device 101 installed in each vehicle sends the current position information and the neighboring broadcasting area information to the broadcasting area server 201, the broadcasting area server 201 updates the broadcasting area information of the entire region using the received neighboring broadcasting area information, extracts the neighboring broadcast area information regarding the current position represented by the current position information and its surroundings from the updated broadcast area information of the entire region, and sends the extracted information as extracted broadcast area information.

The extracted broadcast area information acquiring unit 109 acquires the extracted broadcast area information sent from the broadcast area server 201 and sends the extracted broadcast area information to the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit 106 .

The updating of the broadcast area information in the broadcast area server 201 is also performed when the neighboring broadcast area information is broadcast from a receiving device 101 installed in another vehicle.

The receiving device 101 of each vehicle outputs the current position notification at a constant frequency or when the vehicle has moved to a new area, for example, and thereby causes the broadcast area server 201 to receive the broadcast area information regarding the current position of the vehicle and a nearby area the current position of the latest (updated) whole region broadcasting area information stored in the whole region broadcasting area information storage unit 204 of the broadcasting area server 201 as the extracted broadcasting area information.

As shown above, when in the receiving device 101 of each vehicle, when new adjacent broadcast area information is generated by the adjacent broadcast area information generation unit 106 from the reception state by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103, the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 is matched with this new adjacent Broadcast area information overwritten.

When new extracted broadcast area information is received by the extracted broadcast area information acquiring unit 109, the adjacent broadcast area information generating unit 106 reads out the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107, combines the read adjacent broadcast area information with the extracted broadcast area information acquired by the adjacent broadcast area information acquiring unit 109 of extracted broadcast area information has been obtained, and stores the broadcast area information obtained as the result of the combining in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 as new broadcast area information.

In this way, the update of the adjacent broadcast area information in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 is performed.

It is also possible to store the extracted broadcast area information as new adjacent broadcast area information in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 (overwrite) without combining the adjacent broadcast area information with the extracted broadcast area information. This is because the extracted broadcast area information sent from the broadcast area server 201 is broadcast area information updated by using the neighboring broadcast area information sent from the receiving device 101 just before transmitting the extracted broadcast area information. Incidentally, the combining or the rewriting can be performed separately for each channel, and the selection of whether to perform the combining or the rewriting can also be performed separately for each channel.

Information generated and transmitted/received by the receiving device 101 and the broadcasting area server 201, respectively, is information representing the receivable range of each channel with a set of polygon vertex coordinates as coordinates of vertices of a polygon, i.e., information representing the receivable range with a polygon and are formed as a data set representing coordinates of vertices of a polygon. As the coordinates of the vertices, data expressed by using a longitude/latitude coordinate system is used. Such a set of polygon vertex coordinates may hereinafter also be referred to simply as "polygon vertex data".

In order to generate the broadcasting area information representing the receivable polygon areas, the receiving device 101 and the broadcasting area server 201 acquire the reception state information in units of network areas formed by the observation object region expressed in the longitude/latitude coordinate system by lines parallel to meridians and lines parallel to latitude lines in a grid, and they manage data representing the receiving state of each channel in each network area as network data.

For example, each network area is specified by a network area number and the posi tion of each mesh area is represented by the coordinates of its upper left (northwest) vertex. It is assumed that each mesh area is a quadrilateral area whose vertical and horizontal dimensions (dimension in a meridian direction and dimension in a latitude direction) are both 1 km, for example. An area formed by a plurality of mesh areas MA is referred to as a block BL. As for example in 2(a) 1, each block BL is formed as an area in which four mesh areas are aligned in a vertical direction and four mesh areas are aligned in a horizontal direction, that is, a square area each side of which is 4 km is given.

2 B) Fig. 12 shows a plurality of blocks each formed as described above. Since the mesh areas MA are formed by dividing the observation object region into a lattice, it can be said that the blocks are also formed by dividing the observation object region into a lattice in the same way. The position of each block is also represented by the coordinates of its top left (northwest) vertex, for example.

Such a method of forming the network areas with information indicating the number and position of the network, such a method of forming the blocks with information indicating the position of each block is shared by the broadcast area server 201 and the plurality of reception areas 101 .

For example, when it is decided that reception is possible at a certain place in each network area from the result of reception by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103, the processing is performed on the assumption that reception is possible in the entire network area. If, on the other hand, reception is detected as impossible at a certain location in the network area that has been recorded as being receivable, it is possible to immediately modify the recording to indicate that reception is, or is, impossible in the entire network area it is also possible to modify the record to indicate that reception is impossible in the entire network area under the condition that reception has been detected as impossible at two or more locations in the network area.

The network data regarding each network area has such a structure as in 3 is shown as an example. in the in 3 In the example shown, each network area is assigned a unique network number, and with respect to each network number, a longitude and a latitude, channel numbers of receivable channels and their broadcasting station names and partner station ID information used to evaluate the presence/absence of broadcasting of the same program used, kept as primary data.

As information representing the longitude and latitude, the coordinates of the top left (northwest) vertex of the mesh area are used as mentioned above.

The partner station ID is an ID used to indicate that a broadcasting station is in a partner station relationship. Each ID is defined by a broadcasting standard. If the value of this ID is the same, it can be decided that the same program is being broadcast. Although the ID has been described as the partner station ID in this example, there are cases where an ID having a similar role and a different name is defined by the broadcasting standard, and it may vary depending on the country or region . In such cases, the ID can be used as the partner station ID in the network data contained in 3 are shown are recorded.

The neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 of each receiving apparatus 101 stores broadcast area information regarding the block to which the current position belongs and its surrounding blocks as the neighboring broadcast area information. Therefore, the storage capacity required by the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 for storing the adjacent broadcast area information can be as small as the capacity for storing the broadcast area information regarding the block to which the current position belongs and its surrounding blocks. Surrounding blocks here means blocks within a predetermined range from the block to which the current position belongs. As the surrounding blocks, blocks that are adjacent to the block to which the current position belongs are used, for example. Here, adjacent blocks can mean that blocks are adjacent in the vertical direction, in the horizontal direction, or in an oblique direction. Among the plurality of blocks BL included in 2 B) are shown, the block including the current position is denoted by the reference character BL-c and the blocks adjacent to the block BL-c are denoted by the reference characters BL-n.

When the vehicle equipped with each receiving device 101 has moved to a new block BL, the local information Sen deunit 108 the current position information to the broadcast area server 201.

When the broadcast area information regarding the new block to which the current position belongs and the surrounding blocks (extracted broadcast area information) are sent from the broadcast area server 201, the extracted broadcast area information acquiring unit 109 acquires the extracted broadcast area information. The adjacent broadcast area information generation unit 106 combines the extracted broadcast area information with the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107, and writes the broadcast area information obtained as a result of the combining in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 as the new neighboring broadcast area information. In short, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 updates the neighboring broadcast area information.

Next, an operation for generating the adjacent broadcast area information performed by the adjacent broadcast area information generating unit 106 will be described below with reference to FIG 4 and the 5(a) until 5(f) described.

1. (a) das Fahrzeug einen neuen Netzbereich, in dem das Fahrzeug noch nicht gefahren ist, betritt, eine neue Rundfunkwelle (eine Rundfunkwelle auf einem speziellen Kanal einer speziellen Rundfunkstation) empfangen wird und der Empfang als möglich detektiert wird, oder
2. (b) der Empfang einer neuen Rundfunkwelle (eine Rundfunkwelle auf einem speziellen Kanal einer speziellen Rundfunkstation) in einem Netzbereich als möglich detektiert wird, in dem das Fahrzeug schon einmal gefahren ist.

First, in a step ST11, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 decides whether or not the updating of the network data is necessary. The neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 decides that the update of the network data is necessary and proceeds to step ST12 specifically in a case where:

1. (a) the vehicle enters a new network area in which the vehicle has not yet driven, a new broadcast wave (a broadcast wave on a special channel of a special broadcast station) is received and reception is detected as possible, or
2. (b) Reception of a new broadcast wave (a broadcast wave on a specific channel of a specific broadcast station) is detected as possible in a network area where the vehicle has traveled before.

In step ST12, the network data is updated. In this update process, such as in 5(a) shown, if the reception of a radio transmission on a certain channel (e.g. channel 24) of a certain broadcasting station (e.g. broadcasting station A) is newly detected as possible at a certain position (current position), the network data ( 3 ) of the May network area, which includes the current position. Specifically, information indicating that in the network area Mai, the reception channel number is channel 24, the broadcasting station name is broadcasting station A, and the partner station ID is broadcasting station AA is added or used to rewrite the stored information.

After the step ST12, a process for updating the broadcast area information on the channel on which reception has been newly detected as possible (ST13 - ST15) is performed.

First, in step ST13, a process for determining a cluster (group) of receivable network areas adjacent to each other (grouping process) is performed. In particular, in 5(b) with respect to each network area, whether or not the broadcasting on the same channel (the same channel of the same broadcasting station) is also receivable in its neighboring network areas is checked, and if it is receivable, such network areas are sequentially recorded as network areas of the same group.

As a result of the grouping process, discrimination of standalone areas is performed. In general, an entire receivable range of a particular channel is seldom formed as one continuous range but is actually formed by a plurality of ranges separated from each other. Such separate areas are referred to as free-standing areas.

5(b) shows an example of the result of the grouping process described above. In the example shown, there are two areas (network groups) in which a radio transmission can be received on a certain specified channel.

Subsequently, in step ST14, a process of predicting receivable areas is performed. This prediction process is a process of estimating or predicting isolated non-receivable areas (areas that are treated as non-receivable) as receivable and is also referred to as the "fill-in" process. In this process, the decision or treatment of such areas as "not receivable" is changed to a decision or treatment as "receivable". In this prediction process, first, receivable areas that are in 5(b) are shown, extended by the number of networks that exist outside, making the surrounding network areas of "unreceivable" be changed to "receivable". For example, by setting an extension mesh number to 1, mesh areas Ma - Mw adjacent to the original receivable areas Aa and Ab are changed to "receivable" as in 6(a) is shown.

Subsequently, an unreceivable area Ac that has become smaller as the result of the above process is extended outward by the same number of nets, by which its surrounding net areas are returned from “receivable” to “not receivable”. However, in cases where an unreceivable area had disappeared in the previous process of extending the receivable areas, extending the unreceivable area is impossible, and returning from “receivable” to “unreceivable” is also impossible. Thus, although the mesh areas Ma - Mm and Mr - Mw return to "non-receivable" as in the original state, the mesh areas Mn - Mq become "receivable" without returning to "non-receivable".

5(c) shows the receivable ranges after such a process has been performed. As shown, the non-receivable mesh areas Mn - Mq, which were surrounded by receivable mesh areas before this process was performed, have become receivable mesh areas and are filled in by the prediction.

Even if an area surrounded by receivable areas in all directions is not provided, there are cases when a non-receivable area Ac includes a part Ad that is narrow between two receivable areas Aa and Ab, such as in FIG 6(b) is shown, in which non-receivable network areas Na - Nf delimiting the two receivable areas Aa and Ab are filled, and the two receivable areas Aa and Ab are connected to each other and become one receivable area.

Although the extension mesh number was set to 1 in the example above, the extension mesh number can be increased to fill in larger non-receivable areas that are surrounded by or in between receivable areas. When the extension mesh number is set to 5 and a contraction mesh number is set to 2, the extension mesh number and the contraction mesh number can be set to different values. For example, by setting the extension mesh number to a value larger than the contraction mesh number, an effect of creating a relatively large receivable range is obtained. In addition, it is also possible to first perform the contraction process and then perform the extension process. This method can be used when detached small receivable areas are to be removed.

Subsequently, in step ST15, a vertex extraction process for the receivable areas (network groups) is performed. A vertex extraction is performed for each mesh group obtained as a result of the grouping and the stretching.

Extraction of vertices is performed tracing the outline counter-clockwise, for example. In particular, while the outline (boundary line) of the net group, as in 5(c) shown is traced counterclockwise, points where the direction of the outline changes are extracted as the vertices. In 5(d) the extracted vertices are indicated by filled circles.

Information on the extracted vertices is sequentially recorded on each net group.

7(a) shows a receivable area that differs in shape from those in 5(d) differs. 7(b) shows data structures of the information about the receivable range, which is in 7(a) is shown. In the illustrated example, the broadcasting station name, receiving channel number, partner station ID, and number of vertices are recorded, and then the coordinates and type of each vertex are recorded, in the order of vertices A, B, C, D, and E, that is , counterclockwise along the outline. The vertex type records whether the vertex is a convex vertex or a concave vertex. Here, convex vertex means a vertex whose interior angle is less than 180 degrees, and concave vertex means a vertex whose interior angle is greater than 180 degrees.

When an inside non-receivable area is large compared to the extension network number in step ST14, there are cases where the decision on the inside non-receivable area is not changed to a receivable area. Even in such cases, the decision on the inner non-receivable area is changed to a receivable area when its perimeter is surrounded by an outline, that is, surrounded by a receivable area, by the processing of step ST15 shown in FIG 5(d) is shown.

In step ST16 in 4 a smoothing process is then carried out. This smoothing method is a method of smoothing the outline of the receivable area, or in an example described below, a method of smoothing the outline while extending each receivable area (area decided to be receivable).

The smoothing process is described with reference to the 5(d) and 5(e) explained. In 5(d) first evaluates the type of a vertex sequentially counterclockwise along the outline. Then, when a part in which vertices appear in the order of "convex vertex - concave vertex - convex vertex" is detected, a distance between the two convex vertices across the concave vertex is determined. For example, a distance PR between convex vertices P and R across a vertex Q is determined. The Manhattan distance, for example, is determined as the distance PR. In this case, the example below 5(d) the sum of a distance PQ and a distance QR is determined as the distance PR. When the distance PR is greater than a threshold, the concave vertex Q lying between the two convex vertices PR is maintained as a vertex. If the distance PR is less than or equal to the threshold, the concave vertex Q is eliminated from the vertices and the vertex R is considered to be the closest vertex to the vertex P. As a result, a page PR is generated. A polygonal shape is smoothed by such a process. 5(e) shows the result of this process.

Incidentally, it is also possible to use the Euclidean distance instead of the Manhattan distance for the distance PR in the above process.

A set of coordinates of vertices of the polygons ( 5(f) obtained as the result of the smoothing is stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 in a polygon vertex data format such as in FIG 7(b) is shown.

The above explanation was given for the process in which the adjacent broadcast area information generation unit 106 detects the receivable areas of a broadcast on a specific channel, e.g. channel 24, via a specific broadcast station, e.g. the broadcast station A, based on the reception state of the broadcast and the detected areas stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 in the polygon vertex data format. The adjacent broadcasting area information generating unit 106 generates the polygon vertex data representing the receivable areas and stores the generated polygonal vertex data in the adjacent broadcasting area information storage unit 107 also for receivable areas on other channels of the two same broadcasting stations A and receivable areas of different channels of different broadcasting stations in a similar way.

After the adjacent broadcast area information on a specific channel of a specific broadcasting station stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 is updated as explained above, the updated adjacent broadcast area information on the channel is sent from the local information transmission unit 108 to the broadcast area server 21 in the polygon vertex -Data format, as in 7(b) shown, sent.

Incidentally, in order to reduce a transmission load on the network 301, transmission of the polygon vertex data from the local information transmission unit 108 to the broadcast area server 201 may be performed by only transmitting data corresponding to the difference from the polygon vertex data previously (last) sent from the broadcast area server 201 and received by the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109, that is, by transmitting only data corresponding to the change.

Next, the operation of the broadcast area information generation unit 203 of the entire region in the broadcast area server 201 will be described.

The whole region broadcasting area information generation unit 203 reacquires the neighboring broadcasting area information in the polygon vertex data format 7(b) from each receiving apparatus 101 connected to the network 301 via the local information acquisition unit 202, creates new broadcast area information regarding the same areas as that of the acquired neighboring broadcast area information, and stores the created broadcast area information in the whole region broadcast area information storage unit 204. The area information generated from the acquired neighboring broadcast area information is broadcast area information corresponding to a part of the broadcast area information of the entire region. The generated Broadcasting area information is used to update the above part of the broadcasting area information of the entire region.

As a part of such a process, the region-wide broadcast area information generation unit 203 performs a process of combining a plurality of pieces of broadcast area information transmitted from a plurality of receiving devices, for example, a process of integrating receivable ranges that overlap each other and the are represented by the broadcast area information.

the 8(a) - 8(d) 12 illustrate the process performed by the whole region broadcast area information generating unit 203 for combining or integrating two receivable areas with respect to the same channel (ie, having the same broadcast station attributes) represented by the broadcast area information transmitted from the two receiving apparatuses becomes.

The illustrated example assumes a case where each of the two receivable ranges clusters with respect to the same channel in the two receiving apparatuses and the two receivable ranges partially overlap with each other. Such two receivable areas are combined with each other and a new receivable area forming a cluster is created. When receivable areas are combined together, broadcast area information representing the new receivable area obtained as the result of the combining is generated.

In 8(a) a polygon ABCDE indicates the receivable area A1 of a channel A represented by the broadcast area information generated by a receiving device 101-1, while a polygon LMNOP indicates a receivable area A2 of the same channel A represented by that of another receiving device 101-2 generated broadcast area information.

In order to generate a new receivable area by combining these two receivable areas, first, by starting from a starting point of the polygon forming a receivable area (first receivable area) A1, that is, by starting from a vertex A of the polygon that from the polygon vertex data 7(b) is represented, each vertex is selected sequentially in the order of recording (B, C, D, ...), that is, counterclockwise along the outline, and the following evaluation and processing can be performed for each selected vertex as a perceived vertex will.

Regarding the perceived peak of the first receivable range A1, it is decided whether or not the peak is included in the other receivable ranges (second receivable range) A2 (i.e., located in the second receivable range).

If the perceived vertex is not included in the second receivable range A2, the vertex is determined as a vertex of the new receivable range, and then the evaluation of the next vertex is performed.

In the example after 8(b) For example, the vertices A, B, C and D are not included in the second receivable area A2 and thus all of these vertices are sequentially recorded as the vertices of the new receivable area in the order of the vertices A, B, C and D.

When the perceived peak is included in the second receivable range A2, the peak is not determined as a peak of the new receivable range. In the example after 8(b) the vertex E is included in the second receivable range A2 and thus this vertex is removed and does not remain as a vertex of the new receivable range.

Then, with respect to the vertex D immediately before the removed vertex E (ie, with respect to the vertex treated as the object of the immediately preceding evaluation and processing), a vertex of the second receivable range A2 not included in the first receivable range A1 and has the shortest distance to the vertex D is determined. In the example after 8(b) a vertex N satisfies this condition. Thus, vertex N is recorded as the next vertex of the new receivable range after vertex D. Similarly, a straight line DN connecting vertex D and vertex N is generated as one side of the new receivable range.

Subsequently, a plurality of vertices of the second receivable range A2, which has the vertex N as one of its vertices, become successive in the counterclockwise direction along the outline selected by starting from the vertex N and the evaluation is carried out for each selected vertex as the perceived vertex. In the illustrated example, the evaluation is performed in the order of the vertices O, P, L and M. First, the evaluation for vertex O next to vertex N is performed. That is, it is judged whether or not the vertex O is included in the first receivable range A1.

In the example after 8(c) the vertex O is not included in the first receivable area A1 and thus the vertex O is recorded as a vertex of a new receivable area next to the vertex N. Similarly, the peaks P and L are successively recorded as the peaks of the new receivable range.

In the evaluation of the next vertex M of the second receivable range A2 after the vertex L, the vertex M is included in the first receivable range A1 and thus the vertex M is not determined as a vertex of the new receivable range. Then, regarding the vertex L immediately before the vertex M, a vertex of the first receivable range A1 not included in the second receivable range A2 and having the shortest distance to the vertex L is determined. In the example of 8(c) vertex A satisfies this condition. Thus, the vertex A is recorded as a vertex of the new receivable range and a vertex next to the vertex L. Thus, a straight line LA connecting the vertex L and the vertex A is generated as one side of the new receivable range.

Since the vertex A is a start point of the vertices of the new receivable range, generation of the polygon vertex data representing the new receivable range is completed. As above, the in the 8(a) - 8(d) process shown successively selects the vertices of the two areas A1 and A2 and is terminated when the starting point of the vertices of the new receivable area is reached (the vertex A in the example of Fig 8(a) - 8(d) ).

As the result of the above process, the two receivable areas A1 and A2 of the same channel represented by the broadcast area information from the two receiving devices 101-1 and 101-2 are combined together and the new receivable area A3, which is defined by a polygon ABCDNOPLA, in 8(d) is formed is generated and stored in the broadcast area information storage unit 204 of the entire region in the polygon vertex data format 7(b) saved. The new receivable area A3 includes a part Aw where the two receivable areas A1 and A2 overlap each other, parts A1v and A2v each belonging to only one of the two receivable areas A1 and A2, and triangular areas Aea and Aeb belonging to belong to neither of the two receivable areas A1 and A2.

The triangular areas Aea and Aeb are adjacent to the original areas A1 and A2, a vertex of each of the triangular areas Aea and Aeb coincides with a vertex of the overlapping part Aw, and a side opposite to the vertex coincides with the side DN or LA which can be generated by combining the areas A1 and A2.

Since the areas Aea and Aeb do not belong to any of the original areas A1 and A2, the areas Aea and Aeb can be said to be portions extended by the prediction.

As above, the in the 8(a) - 8(d) 11 is a process in which the region-wide broadcast area information generating unit 203 combines parts of multiple pieces of the adjacent broadcast area information received by a plurality of receiving devices 101 together, the parts including the first and second overlapping receivable ranges A1 and represent A2. If in this process the first vertex D of the first receivable range A1 is not included in the second receivable range A2 and the second vertex E of the first receivable range A1 adjacent to the first vertex D (ie located at the opposite end of the same side) in the second receivable area A2 is included, the second vertex E is removed and the third vertex N as the vertex of the second receivable area A2, which is not included in the first receivable area A1 and is closest to the first vertex D, i.e., the Vertex N as the vertex closest to the first vertex D of the vertices of the second receivable range A2 not included in the first receivable range A1 is connected to the second vertex D and thus forms a side DN of the new receivable range A3 , which as a result of the combin ierens is obtained.

In the above, in the 8(a) - 8(d) In the process shown, an inside/outside judgment is made as to whether or not a certain peak of one receivable range (perceived peak) is included in the other receivable range. In this decision-making process, a half-line is drawn from the perceived vertex in an arbitrary direction, e.g. in the horizontal direction, and the perceived vertex is judged to be within the other receivable area if the half-line aligns with a side or outline of the other receivable area an odd number of times or as outside the other receivable area when the half line intersects with the side or outline of the other receivable area an even number of times. This inside/outside judging method is also usable in other cases, for example, in a process of deciding whether or not the current position is included in any receivable area.

As above, the broadcast area server 201 generates the new broadcast area information by combining a plurality of pieces of broadcast area information from a plurality of receiving devices, and updates the broadcast area information of the entire region using the generated broadcast area information. For example, the generated area information and a corresponding part of the broadcasting area information of the entire region (a part regarding the same channel and the same place) are combined with each other, and the "corresponding part" is overwritten with the broadcasting area information obtained as the result of the combining.

When a notification of the current position is received from a specific receiving device 101, the current position is relayed from the local information obtaining unit 202 to the broadcast area information extracting unit 205 of FIG. The broadcast area information extracting unit 205 extracts the broadcast area information representing the receivable areas in the block including the current position and its surrounding blocks (the polygon vertex data after 7(b) ) and the extracted broadcast area information is sent from the extracted broadcast area information sending unit 206 to the receiving device 101 . As “the receivable range in the block including the current position and its surrounding blocks”, a receivable range having a vertex located in the block including the current position or the surrounding blocks can be extracted as an example.

The extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 of the receiving device 101 acquires the extracted broadcast area information sent from the broadcast area server 201 via the network 301 and forwards the extracted broadcast area information to the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 . The neighboring broadcast area information generating unit 106 performs a process of combining using the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 and the extracted broadcast area information acquired from the broadcast area server, and stores new broadcast area information, which is stored as the result of the combining are obtained as new adjacent broadcast area information in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 . Here, the process of combining adjacent broadcast area information by the generation unit 106 can be performed either by performing a process similar to the process described in FIGS 8(a) - 8(d) 1, or by overwriting the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 with the extracted broadcast area information acquired from the broadcast area server 201.

The service list display unit displays a service list indicating a channel receivable at the current position and/or a broadcasting station performing broadcasting on the channel (by the way, a displayed channel number is not necessarily identical to a channel number stored in the broadcasting area information (physical channel number) is included, but it may be a corresponding channel number as an example). In this case, the service list is created by first acquiring the current position information from the position information acquisition unit 105, and then information representing the channels receivable at the current position and/or the broadcasting stations performing the broadcasting on the channels. is extracted from the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 . In order to judge whether or not a channel is receivable at the current position, it is necessary to make a decision as to whether the current position is in a receivable range of the channel is included or not. This decision can be made similar to the previously mentioned inside/outside decision made for each vertex. Specifically, a half-line is drawn from the current position in an arbitrary direction, for example, in a horizontal direction, and the current position is judged to be within a receivable range if the half-line aligns with a side or outline of the receivable range an odd number of times intersects or is judged to be outside the receivable area if the half-line intersects the side or outline of the receivable area an even number of times. Channels for which the current position is judged to be within a receivable range are extracted and included in the service list.

When a channel (displayed channel) displayed on the service list display unit 111 is selected by a user, the channel selection control unit 110 selects the channel (or a corresponding physical channel).

When the receiving state of the currently viewed/heard channel deteriorates, for example, when an index representing the receiving state is worse than a threshold value, the channel selection control unit 110 acquires the current position information from the position information acquisition unit 105, refers to the broadcast area information on other channels that stored in the adjacent broadcasting area information storage unit 107, extracts receivable channels at the current position, and searches the extracted channels as a channel having a value identical to the partner station ID of the channel currently seen/heard. When a channel with the same partner station ID is detected, the detected channel is selected. By performing such automatic switching, continuation of viewing/listening of the same program can be made possible.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the broadcast area information is generated and updated through cooperation of the receiving devices and the broadcast area server, and thus the broadcast area information can be generated quickly and with high efficiency. In addition, since the polygon vertex data is generated and transmitted as the broadcast area information, the transmission load on the network 301 can be reduced.

While the above description has been given for cases where the digital broadcast receiving device is a device for receiving television broadcasts, the features of the embodiment described above are also applicable to the digital broadcast receiving devices for receiving radio broadcasts, the receiving devices for receiving radio broadcasts of digital data such as traffic information and broadcast area servers connected to these receiving devices.

Advantages of the embodiment described above are explained further below.

In digital television transmission, the DVB-T system is operated in Europe, Africa, Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Australia.

The ATSC system operates in North America and South Korea, the DTMB system and CMMB system operates in China, the DMB system operates in South Korea and Europe, and the ISDB system operates in Japan and South America.

For digital radio broadcasting, DAB will operate in Europe and South Korea, HD radio will operate in North America, and ISDB-TSB will soon operate in Japan.

The in-vehicle receiving device must treat such broadcast transmission systems of different countries around the world as the object of reception; however, it is extremely difficult for a single receiving device to generate the broadcast area information in such a wide area.

In this embodiment, the reception state of each of the plurality of reception devices is detected, and the adjacent broadcast area information is generated based on the detection result and transmitted to the broadcast area server. The broadcasting area server generates the broadcasting area information of the whole region by collecting neighboring broadcasting area information from the plurality of receiving devices, extracts the broadcasting area information on the current position of each of the receiving devices and its neighborhood from the broadcasting area information of the whole region, and sends the extracted broadcasting area information to the receiving device. In this case, each of the receiving devices can also acquire broadcast area information regarding an area where the vehicle has not traveled yet with high efficiency.

As another method, it is also conceivable that, as broadcast area information prepared by the broadcast area server, broadcast area information is generated by traveling all over the world in advance and examining the broadcast reception state. However, a large amount of development work is required to generate the broadcast area information with this method.

As still another method, it is also conceivable that broadcast area information all over the world is collected in websites on the Internet, broadcast stations, or the like, and each receiving device is allowed to collect broadcast area information by querying such websites, broadcast stations, or the like as an example. However, there are also countries, regions, and the like where no broadcast area information is published, and thus this method cannot be applied in such cases.

When each in-vehicle receiving device generates the broadcast area information and sends it to a broadcast area server, and the broadcast area server collects and stores the broadcast area information sent from each receiving device, as in this embodiment, the broadcast area information can be generated with high efficiency while keeping development costs low.

Furthermore, even in a case where the receivable areas change due to increase/decrease in transmission power of a transmitting station, addition/modification of a channel or the like, new development for dealing with such a change is unnecessary and changes in the broadcasting environment may occur in a be treated in a flexible manner.

Although there are cases where broadcast area information is published on websites on the Internet or the like, such broadcast area information is usually intended for stationary receiving devices in home use, and thus such broadcast area information is not suitable for the in-vehicle receiving devices that are different from the stationary receiving devices in antenna setting conditions . In particular, in a case where the in-vehicle reception device is a reception device that receives radio waves with multiple antennas and performs diversity reception processing, the receivable ranges are largely different from those of the stationary reception devices.

In this embodiment, broadcast area information is generated based on the receiving state at times when the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle receiving device is currently running. The broadcast area information is generated by collecting the current receiving state information from each in-vehicle receiving device. Therefore, broadcast area information suitable for the in-vehicle receiving device can be generated.

In addition, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 of each receiving apparatus maintains the in FIG 5(b) and 5(c) shown filling process and thereby changes the decision about network areas that are surrounded by receivable areas or lie between them into receivable areas and extends the areas evaluated or estimated as receivable. Therefore, information indicating that reception is possible can be acquired without actually driving in the area, time by actual driving to confirm that reception is possible can be saved, and the broadcast area information can be acquired with great time efficiency be generated.

Also, the generation unit 106 connects adjacent broadcasting area information on the outline of the receivable area as shown in FIGS 5(d) and 5(e) shown, two convex vertices overlying a concave vertex so as to form a new side, thereby changing the rating over a portion of a non-receiverable mesh area adjacent to the receivable mesh area to a receivable one and extending the one evaluated as receivable or estimated area. Therefore, information indicating that reception is possible can be acquired without actually driving in the area, the time for confirming that reception is possible by current driving can be saved, and the broadcast area information can be acquired with great time efficiency be generated.

In addition, since the broadcast area server 201 generates the new broadcast area information by collecting and combining a plurality of pieces of broadcast area information generated by a plurality of receiving devices as above, the broadcast area information can be generated with high efficiency.

In addition, when a plurality of receivable ranges are combined together, a range which is close to the plurality of receivable ranges and has not yet been confirmed as a receivable range is predicted and added as a receivable range, as in FIGS 8(a) - 8(d) shown. Therefore, information indicating that reception is possible can be acquired without actually driving in the area, the time for confirming that reception is possible by current driving can be saved, and the broadcast area information can be generated with great time efficiency will.

Incidentally, it is also conceivable to receive the broadcast area information from the receiving devices in a network data format similar to that described in 3 is shown to collect instead of the polygon vertex data format and cause the server to store the collected broadcast area information in the network data format and send broadcast area information to the receiving devices in the network data format or in the form of the service list. In this case, problems arise in that it is necessary to collect data representing the broadcast reception state from a large number of in-vehicle receiving devices located in a large area such as the whole world, to hold the collected data in a server and to send data individually to each of the large number of in-vehicle receiving devices existing in the large area every time the in-vehicle receiving device moves, and consequently on the network 301, the amount of data to be sent and received becomes extremely large.

Although the current mobile phone network environment, such as the 3G network and the LTE network, enables high-capacity communication, the constant occurrence of exchanging broadcast area information with vehicles in the large region, as in the whole world, leads to a persistent heavy network load . It is therefore important to keep the network load low.

In this embodiment, the broadcast area information collected by the broadcast area server from the receiving devices, the broadcast area information generated by the server, and the broadcast area information supplied to the receiving devices are all in the form of the polygon vertex data contained in 7(b) are shown, the number of vertices is reduced by extending, smoothing and combining the receivable areas, and the broadcast area information stored in each of the receiving devices is limited to broadcast area information regarding the current position and its neighborhood. Therefore, the amount of data to be handled can be reduced remarkably, the communication load on the network 301 can be reduced, and the memory capacity required for the receiving device can be reduced.

Specifically, in the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit 106, the receivable areas are represented by polygons as shown in FIG 5(f) shown, the polygon vertex data contained in 7(b) are obtained and the following process is performed. Therefore, the amount of broadcast area information can be increased compared to cases where the process is in the network data format as in the 3 shown, can be reduced, and the effect of remarkably reducing memory capacity required for the receiving apparatus 101 and the broadcast area server 201 can be obtained.

For the receivable areas in the network representation, as in 5(a) 1, the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit 106 performs the process of extracting the coordinates of the vertices of the polygons constituting the areas and smoothing the outlines of the polygons ( 5(e) ) through, thereby reducing the number of vertices of the polygons and reducing the amount of broadcast area information. Thus, the amount of broadcast area information can be further reduced, and the storage capacity required of the receiving device 101 and the broadcast area server 201 can be further reduced.

For the receivable areas in the network representation, as in 5(e) 1, the generation unit 106 extracts from neighboring broadcast area information the coordinates of the vertices of the polygons constituting the areas corresponding to the polygon vertex data 7(b) is obtained and the polygon vertex data is sent from the local information sending unit 108 to the network 301 . Therefore, the data transmission load on the network can be remarkably reduced compared to cases where data is sent to the network in the network data format as shown in 3 shown.

The whole area broadcast area information generating unit 203 combines the broadcast area information accordingly 7(b) through the in 8(a) - 8(d) process shown, updates the broadcast area information of the entire region by using the new broadcast area information that are generated by combining, and a necessary part of the updated broadcast area information of the whole region is transmitted from the extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit 206 to the receiving device 101 via the network 301 in the polygon vertex data format accordingly 7(b) Posted. Therefore, the transmission load on the network can be remarkably reduced compared to cases where data is in the in 3 network data format shown can be transmitted.

In the whole-area broadcasting area information generating unit 203 and the neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit 106, combining the receivable areas is performed by using the set of polygon vertex coordinates as shown in FIGS 8(a) - 8(d) shown performed. Therefore, compared to cases where the receivable ranges can be increased by processing a large amount of network data like that shown in 3 are combined, a processing load of the receiving device 101 and the broadcasting domain server 201 can be remarkably reduced, and thus the receiving devices and the broadcasting domain server 201 can be formed with low-cost embedded processors.

Since the broadcast area information managed by the receiving device 101 is based on information regarding the block BL-c to which the current position belongs and its surrounding blocks, such as the neighboring blocks BL-n, as in FIG 2 B) 1 are limited, the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 can reduce the amount of data to be stored and can be implemented with a memory of a small storage capacity.

Since the broadcast area information to be managed by the receiving device 101 is based on information regarding the block BL-c to which the current position belongs and its surrounding blocks, such as the neighboring blocks BL-n, as in FIG 2 B) 1 are limited, the capacity of a working memory necessary for generation of broadcast area information in the adjacent broadcast area information generation unit 106 can be reduced, the amount of calculation can be reduced, and the receiving apparatus can be formed with low-cost embedded processors.

The broadcast area information extracting unit 205 extracts broadcast area information regarding only the block BL-c to which the current position of each receiving apparatus 101 belongs and its surrounding blocks, such as the neighboring blocks BL-n, from the entire region broadcast area information storage unit 204 and the extracted ones Broadcast area information is sent from the extracted broadcast area information sending unit 206 to each receiving apparatus. Therefore, the amount of data sent and the network load can be significantly reduced compared to cases where all the broadcast area information of the entire region is transmitted.

Incidentally, since the broadcast area information generated by the receiving device 101 and the broadcast area server 201 is information obtained through the process of changing non-receivable locations surrounded by or located between receivable areas into receivable areas through the padding process and the smoothing process, such as in the 5(a) - 5(f) shown, and the combining process as in Figs 8(a) - 8(d) shown, which are performed by the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 and the entire region broadcast area information generation unit 203, there might be a concern that the security of the information on whether reception is possible or not in terms of the surrounding or intermediate locations, is low in comparison with cases where the receivable ranges are in the network data format as shown in 3 shown, are managed and misjudgment may occur. A fact that the influence of the misjudgment is small will be explained below.

In a place where a current viewing/listening of a program has just become unreceivable, when there exists a non-receivable area surrounded by or between receivable areas, the receivable areas being that of a partner or relay station as a candidate for the determination of the switching, even if that place is not receivable, the place can be determined as a receivable range due to the processes according to the 5(a) - 5(f) and the 8(a) - 8(d) be rated as wrong. However, the number of receivable areas of the partner or relay stations that broadcast the same program and overlap each other is about two in many cases. For example, if the broadcast area information obtained by the processes according to the 5(a) - 5(f) and 8(a) - 8(d) are obtained are referenced to perform switching to a partner or relay station, when reception becomes impossible, channel switching to the partner or relay station is performed since the current non-receivable area has been misinterpreted as a receivable area. As a result, an additional channel selection operation is performed once since reception in reality fails. On the other hand, in cases where data is managed in the network format, information obtained from the current reception state is stored with respect to each network area, and thus the reliability is high. Since it is recognized that there is no partner or relay station receivable at that location, no channel switching to a partner or relay station is performed, the currently watched/listened channel is maintained, and hence the non-receivable state is continued. For the user, there is not much difference between the case where the broadcast area information is obtained through the processes of 5(a) - 5(d) and 8(a) - 8(d) can be obtained and the case where data is managed in the network format, since the program remains non-receivable in both cases.

Next, when at a place where three partner or relay station areas overlap, the broadcast area information obtained by the processes of 5(a) - 5(f) and 8(a) - 8(d) are obtained are used when a radio wave of the program currently being listened to/watched and two switching determination candidates are not receivable, there may be cases where a partner or relay station is wrongly judged to be receivable even though the partner or relay station was originally not receivable . However, the influence of the misjudgment is, at worst, that it takes time to switch to the partner or relay station once due to an extra channel selection, ie, about a few seconds, and such places where three partner or relay station areas overlap are rare. Therefore, the influence of the low reliability of the broadcast area information obtained through the processes of 5(a) - 5(f) and 8(a) - 8(d) are obtained, low.

What is more important than this is obtaining the significant effects, such as the advantage that the broadcast area information can be generated without having to travel through the entire observation object region, the effect that the storage capacities of the receiving devices and the broadcast area server can be reduced since not there is a need to manage a large amount of data, such as the network data, the advantage that the receiving devices and the broadcast area server can be implemented with low-cost embedded processors, since the amount of calculation can be reduced due to the small amount of data, and further the advantage that the communication load of the network can be significantly reduced.

Incidentally, it is conceivable to consider a configuration in which not the broadcast area information but a service list representing channels receivable at the current position is given to the receiving device. In this case, the receiving device needs to communicate with the server and acquire the service list every time the receiving device is moved. Thus, in cases where communication is impossible or the cellular phone is not carried in the vehicle, there arise problems that automatic switching to partner or relay stations cannot be performed in a short time or the service list cannot be displayed without to carry out the canal intake. In the configuration of this embodiment, the broadcast area information regarding the block including the current position and its surrounding blocks is held in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 . Therefore, even if the communication is impossible or the cellular phone is not carried in the vehicle, there is no problem as long as the vehicle is moved in a block from which the broadcast area information is held.

In addition, since the receiving device in the above-described embodiment stores the broadcast area information generated within the receiving device and stores the broadcast area information from the broadcast area server 201 in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 and the stored broadcast area information for switching to a partner or relay station and for is used to generate the service list, there is an effect that the receiving apparatus does not need to be equipped with a special-purpose receiver tuner for channel search to generate the service list, and the tuner hardware can be reduced.

Second embodiment

9 Fig. 12 shows a broadcast receiving system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The receiving device 101 after 1 is usable in combination with a broadcast area server other than the broadcast area server 201 according to 1 is. In other words, the broadcast area server is not limited to the configuration explained in the first embodiment as long as the receiving device 101 has the configuration described in the first embodiment and the broadcast area information communicated via the network 301 is in the polygon vertex data format 7(b) are.

In 9 is a broadcast area server 201b instead of the broadcast area server 201 in 1 shown. The internal structure of the broadcasting area server 201b is not in 9 shown. This is to indicate that the receiving apparatus 101 is independent of the internal structure of the broadcasting area server, that is, there is no restriction on the internal structure of the broadcasting area server.

Regardless of the internal structure of the broadcast area server 201, as long as the broadcast area information communicated on the network 301 conforms to the polygon vertex data format 7(b) , the effects are obtained from this fact, particularly the effect that the generation of the neighboring broadcast area information by the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit 106, the transmission of the neighboring broadcast area information by the local information transmission unit 108, and the acquisition of the information by the acquisition unit 109 with great time efficiency can be performed, the effect that the transmission load on the network 301 can be made low, and the effect that the storage capacity of the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 can be kept low.

Third embodiment

10 Fig. 12 shows a broadcast receiving system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

The broadcast area server 201 located in 1 shown is in combination with receiving devices different from the receiving devices 101 after 1 differentiate. In other words, the receiving devices are not limited to the structure explained in connection with the first embodiment as long as the broadcast area server 201 has the structure described in the first embodiment and the broadcast area information communicated via the network 301 is in the polygon vertex -Data format according to 7(b) given are.

In 10 is a receiving device 101c instead of the receiving device 101 in 1 shown. The internal structure of the receiving device 101c is not in 10 , this is to indicate that the broadcast area server 201 is independent of the internal structure of the receiving device, that is, there is no restriction on the internal structure of the receiving device.

Regardless of the internal structure of the receiving apparatus 101c, as long as the broadcast area information communicated on the network 301 is in the polygon vertex data format accordingly 7(b) are present, effects are obtained from this fact, particularly the effect that the acquisition of the neighboring broadcasting area information by the local information acquisition unit 202, the generation of the broadcasting area information of the entire region by the broadcasting area information of the entire region, the extraction of the broadcasting area information by the Broadcasting area information extracting unit 205 and the transmission of the extracted broadcasting area information by the transmitting unit 206 of extracted broadcasting area information can be performed with a great time efficiency, the effect that the transmission load on the network 301 can be made low and the effect that the storage capacity of the storage unit 204 for Storage area information of the entire region can be made low.

Incidentally, in preparation for cases where the broadcast area information handled by the receiving device 101c may not correspond to broadcast area information in the polygon vertex data format 7(b) are, the broadcast area server detects the type of the receiving device, that is, whether the receiving device is capable of processing information in the polygon vertex data format or not, and transmits data in a format corresponding to the detected type. Conforming to data other than the polygon vertex data format 7(b) is receivable broadcast area information regarding each in 3 shown network and a service list that represents channels that can be received at the current position of the receiving device.

Fourth embodiment

Although the receiving device sends the current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information to the broadcast area server 201 in the first embodiment, the receiving device may send only the current position information. A configuration example in this case is in 11 shown.

Although the receiving device 101d in 11 roughly identical to the receiving device 101 after 1 , it includes a local information sending unit 113 instead of the local information sending unit 108 in 1 .

The local information transmission unit 113 does not transmit the adjacent broadcast area information but transmits the current position information to the broadcast area server 201b. Upon receiving the current position information from the receiving device 101d, the broadcast area server 201b transmits broadcast area information regarding the block to which the current position represented by the current position information belongs and its surrounding blocks such as the neighboring blocks.

In the receiving apparatus 101d, the internal adjacent broadcast area information generation unit 106 generates the adjacent broadcast area information based on the reception state information by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 and the current position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 105, and stores the generated adjacent broadcast area information in the storage unit 107 for neighboring broadcast area information, and also the neighboring broadcast area information in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 is updated based on the extracted broadcast area information sent from the broadcast area server 201b.

Also in the structure of 11 the receiving device 101d retrieves the broadcast area information from the broadcast area server 201b in the polygon vertex data format 7(b) and the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 performs the update of the new broadcast area information, and thus effects are obtained that the processing of the broadcast area information in the receiving apparatus 101 can be performed with high efficiency and the transmission load and storage capacity can be reduced.

Fifth embodiment

The present invention is also applicable to configurations in which receiving devices are not connected to a broadcast area server.

As an example of a receiving device that is not connected to a broadcast area server, in 12 shown. The receiving device 101e shown is roughly identical to the receiving device 101 in 1 , but it is not related to the local information sending unit 108 or the extracted broadcast area information obtaining unit 109 as in FIG 1 shown equipped.

Even in cases where the receiving device is a device as in 1 is constructed apparatus shown, when the cellular phone for communication with the broadcasting area server is not carried in the vehicle or the vehicle is in an area where the cellular phone is not connectable, the receiving apparatus can be substantially equivalent in configuration to 12 be operated by some of the components of the device according to 1 turned off.

In the case of the receiving device 101e according to FIG 12 information cannot be obtained from the broadcast area server; however, each receiving device 101e collects the broadcast receiving state with the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 during driving of the vehicle equipped with the receiving device, and the neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit 106 generates the neighboring broadcasting area information by performing the process described in Figs 5(a) - 5(f) is shown with the accumulated broadcast reception states. Thus, broadcast area information can be tracked in the polygon vertex data format 7(b) can be generated with great efficiency over the extension of receivable areas by predicting as receivable areas without having to actually drive in the areas.

Also in the configuration after 12 For example, the broadcast area information held by the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit 107 is limited to broadcast area information regarding the block to which the current position belongs and its surrounding blocks such as the adjacent blocks. Therefore, even after the amount of data stored in the adjacent broadcasting area information storage unit 107 has reached its full storage capacity, it is possible to delete broadcasting area information regarding a block farthest from the block to which the current position belongs or constant broadcasting area information regarding Blocks that do not concern the block to which the current position belongs or the surrounding blocks, such as the neighboring blocks, each time the vehicle is moved to a new block.

When the receiving device generates the broadcast area information independently as in 12 shown, when the vehicle moves in an area where the vehicle travels for the first time, the problem arises that the service list cannot be displayed without performing the channel scan and the problem that the Searching for a partner or relay station takes a long time and the continuity of watching/listening to a program cannot be maintained.

On the other hand, in the configurations of 1 , 9 , 10 and 11 the broadcast area information regarding the current position can be acquired at any time from the broadcast area server by connecting the receiving device 101 to the network 301, and thus each receiving device can acquire the adjacent broadcast area information quickly and with great efficiency, and even when the vehicle is moving in an area where the Vehicle has not yet driven, receivable channels can be detected at the location. Thus, there are advantages in that the service list can be displayed and switching to a partner or relay station can be performed in a short time since the destinations of switching can be grasped only by referring to the broadcast area information even without performing a channel search.

Although the present invention has been described above as the receiving device, the broadcast area server and the broadcast receiving system, a method for generating broadcast area information performed by the receiving device, the broadcast area server or the broadcast receiving system also forms part of the present invention. Also, part or all of the components of the receiving apparatus, the broadcast area server and the broadcast receiving system, and part or all of the processing steps according to the broadcast area information generating method may be implemented by software, that is, by programmed computers. Thus, a program for causing a computer to implement or execute the aforementioned components or processing, and a computer-readable storage medium storing the program also form part of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, the broadcast area information can be generated quickly and with great efficiency.

Reference List

101, 101c, 101d, 101e

digital broadcast receiving device,

102

Antenna,

103

digital broadcast receiver unit,

104

video/audio output unit,

105

item information procurement unit,

106

neighboring broadcasting area information generation unit,

107

Adjacent broadcast area information storage unit,

108

local information sending unit,

109

acquisition unit of extracted broadcasting area information,

110

channel selection control unit,

111

service list display unit,

113

local information sending unit,

201, 201b

broadcast area server,

202

local information procurement unit,

203

Generating unit of broadcasting area information of the entire region,

204

Storage unit for broadcast area information of the entire region,

205

broadcast area information extracting unit,

206

sending unit of extracted broadcast area information,

ST11

process of evaluating the need for updating network data,

ST12

update process of network data,

ST13

grouping process

ST14

receivable range prediction process,

ST15

Vertex Extraction Process, ST16: Smoothing Process

Claims (14)

Digital broadcast receiving apparatus, comprising: a digital broadcast receiving unit (103) that receives digital broadcast; a position information acquiring unit (105) which acquires current position information representing a current position; a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit (106) that detects a receivable area on a basis of the acquired current position and the reception state of the digital broadcast at the position represented by the current position information and generates polygon vertex coordinates obtained by performing a process of smoothing an outline of the receivable areas are generated as adjacent broadcast area information; a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit (107) that stores the neighboring broadcast area information; a local information sending unit (108) sending the current position information to a broadcast area server; and an extracted broadcasting area information acquisition unit (109) that acquires broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its vicinity as extracted broadcasting area information from the broadcasting area server; whereby the adjacent broadcast area information generating unit (106) combines receivable areas from the extracted broadcast area information and the adjacent broadcast area information so as to include a new receivable area detected on a basis of the reception state, and broadcast area information obtained as a result of the combining as new adjacent broadcast area information in the storage unit (107) for adjacent broadcast area information. Digital radio receiving device claim 1 wherein the local information transmission unit (108) transmits the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit (107) to the broadcast area server in addition to the current position information. Digital radio receiving device according to one of Claims 1 until 2 wherein the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit (106) treats as a receivable area an area not yet confirmed to be receivable when generating the neighboring broadcast area information, the area being surrounded by an area judged to be receivable or between areas lies, which were rated as receivable. Digital radio receiving device according to one of Claims 1 until 3 wherein the adjacent broadcasting area information generating unit (106) performs smoothing when generating the adjacent broadcasting area information when a distance between two convex vertices of an area judged to be receivable is less than or equal to a threshold value and the two convex vertices across a concave vertex of the area by connecting the two convex vertices together. Digital broadcast receiving apparatus, comprising: a digital broadcast receiving unit (103) that receives digital broadcast; a position information acquiring unit (105) which acquires current position information representing a current position; a neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit (106) that generates information representing a receivable range at the current position and in the vicinity of the current position as neighboring broadcasting area information based on the reception state of the digital broadcasting and the current position information; and a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit (107) storing the neighboring broadcast area information, wherein the neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit (106), when generating the neighboring broadcasting area information, treats as a receivable area an area which has not yet been confirmed to be receivable, the area being surrounded by an area which has been judged to be receivable or lying between areas which have been determined as were rated receivable. Digital broadcast receiving device claim 1 or 5 , wherein when reception of the digital broadcast by the broadcast receiving device (103) at a specific place in a network area of a plurality of network areas obtained by dividing an observation object region into a lattice is formed is detected as possible, the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit (106) decides that reception of the digital broadcast is possible in an entire area of the network area. Digital radio receiving device claim 6 wherein: a block is formed of the plurality of mesh areas, and the adjacent broadcasting area information is broadcasting area information regarding a block to which the current position belongs and another block adjacent to the block. Digital radio receiving device claim 6 or 7 wherein: when generating the adjacent broadcasting area information, the adjacent broadcasting area information generating unit (106) performs one or more times a first process that defines a network area that is in an area not confirmed to be receivable and is adjacent to an area confirmed to be receivable as handles a network area confirmed to be receivable, after performing the first process one or more times, performs a second process one or more times covering a network area that is in a confirmed receivable area and is adjacent to an area confirmed not to be receivable , treated as a network area not confirmed receivable, and treated an area including a network area confirmed receivable as a receivable area after the second process was performed one or more times. Broadcast area server comprising: a local information acquisition unit (202) receiving from each of a plurality of digital broadcast receiving digital broadcast receiving devices information representing a current position of each of the plurality of broadcast receiving devices and neighboring broadcast area information indicating whether each place near the current position is a receivable area in which the digital broadcast can be received or not; an entire region broadcasting area information generating unit (203) that generates or updates entire region broadcasting area information by using a plurality of pieces of adjacent broadcasting area information received from said plurality of digital broadcasting receiving apparatuses; an entire region broadcasting area information storage unit (204) that stores entire region broadcasting area information; a broadcasting area information extracting unit (205) which, when a notification of a current position of a digital broadcasting receiving device is received from the digital broadcasting receiving device out of a plurality of digital broadcasting receiving devices, extracts broadcasting reception information on the current position and its vicinity from those stored in the storing unit (204) for broadcasting area information of the entire region extracts stored broadcasting area information of the entire region; and an extracted broadcast area information sending unit (206) that sends the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus that has issued the current position notification, wherein the neighboring broadcast area information received by the plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses and the whole region broadcast area information generated by the whole region broadcast area information generating unit (203) is information representing a receivable area in the form of polygon vertex coordinates, the entire region broadcast area information generation unit (203) combines parts of the plurality of pieces of the adjacent broadcast area information received by the plurality of broadcast receiving apparatuses, the parts representing first and second areas overlapping each other, and the broadcast area information of the whole Region created and updated using a result of combining, and if in combining a first vertex of the first receivable range is not included in the second receivable range and a second vertex of the first receivable range is included in the second receivable range, the second vertex being adjacent to the first vertex, the second vertex is removed and a new receivable range, the one the first vertex and a line connecting a third vertex of the second receivable range as one side is generated, the third vertex not being included in the first receivable range and the third vertex being closest to the first vertex. A broadcast area server comprising: a local information acquisition unit (202) acquiring information indicating a current position from each of a plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses represent each of the plurality of broadcast receiving apparatuses, and receives neighboring broadcast area information indicating whether or not each place near the current position is a receivable area where the digital broadcast is receivable; an entire region broadcasting area information generation unit (203) that generates or updates entire region broadcasting area information by using a plurality of pieces of adjacent broadcasting area information received from the plurality of digital broadcasting receiving apparatuses; an entire region broadcasting area information storage unit (204) that stores entire region broadcasting area information; a broadcasting area information extracting unit (205) which, when a notification of a current position of a digital broadcasting receiving device is received from the digital broadcasting receiving device out of a plurality of digital broadcasting receiving devices, extracts broadcasting reception information on the current position and its vicinity from those stored in the storing unit (204) for broadcasting area information of the entire region extracts stored broadcasting area information of the entire region; and an extracted broadcast area information sending unit (206) that sends the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving device that issued the current position notification, wherein the adjacent broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices and that from the generating unit (203) of the broadcasting area information of the whole region generated broadcasting area information of the whole region is information representing a receivable area in the form of polygon vertex coordinates, the broadcasting area information of the whole region generating unit (203) parts of the plurality of pieces of the adjacent broadcasting area information received by the plurality of broadcasting receiving apparatuses are combined, the parts representing first and second areas that overlap each other, and the broadcast area information of the total amten region is generated and updated using a result of the combining, and if in combining a first vertex of the first receivable range is not included in the second receivable range and a second vertex of the first receivable range is included in the second receivable range, the second vertex is adjacent to the first vertex, the second vertex is removed, and a new range defined by a third vertex of the second receivable range, the first vertex, and an intersection of a straight line connecting the first vertex and the second vertex with one side of the second receivable range is considered to be the receivable range, the third vertex is not included in the receivable range and the third vertex is closest to the first vertex. broadcast area server claim 9 or 10 wherein the broadcast area information extracting unit (205) extracts broadcast area information regarding a block to which the current position belongs and another block adjacent to the block from among a plurality of blocks formed by dividing an observation object region into a grid. A broadcast reception system comprising a plurality of digital broadcast receiving digital broadcast devices and a broadcast area server, each of said plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices comprising: a digital broadcast receiving unit (103) receiving digital broadcast; a position information acquiring unit (105) which acquires current position information representing a current position; a neighboring broadcast area information generating unit (106) that generates information representing a receivable area at the current position and in the vicinity of the current position as neighboring area information, based on the reception state of the digital broadcast and the current position information; a neighboring broadcast area information storage unit (107) that stores the neighboring broadcast area information; and a local information transmission unit (108) that transmits the current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit (107) to the broadcast area server, the broadcast area server includes: a local information acquisition unit (202) that receives the receives adjacent broadcast area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiver devices; a region-wide broadcasting area information generating unit (203) that generates or updates region-wide broadcasting area information by using a plurality of pieces of one of the plurality of digital broadcasts Adjacent broadcast area information received by radio receiving devices is used; an entire region broadcasting area information storage unit (204) that stores entire region broadcasting area information; a broadcasting area information extracting unit (205) which, when a notification of a current position of a digital broadcasting receiving device is received from the digital broadcasting receiving device out of a plurality of digital broadcasting receiving devices, extracts broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its vicinity from those stored in the storage unit (204) of broadcasting area information of the entire region extracts stored broadcasting area information of the entire region; and an extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit (206) which transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving apparatus which has issued the notification of the current position, each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses further comprises an extracted broadcast area information acquiring unit (109) which acquires broadcast area information regarding the current position and its surroundings as the extracted broadcast area information obtained from the broadcast area server, the adjacent broadcast area information generation unit (106) of each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses updates the adjacent broadcast area information stored in the adjacent broadcast area information storage unit (107) on a basis of the extracted broadcast area information, and the neighboring broadcast area information obtained from the generation unit (106) is generated from adjacent area information of each of the plurality of digital broadcasting apparatuses, and the entire region broadcasting area information generated by the entire region broadcasting area information generating unit (203) of the broadcasting area server is information specifying a receivable area in the form of Plot polygon vertex coordinates. broadcast reception system claim 12 wherein: the broadcast area information generation unit (203) of the entire region of the broadcast area server combines parts of the plurality of pieces of the adjacent broadcast area information received from the plurality of broadcast receiving apparatuses, the parts representing first and second areas overlapping each other , and the broadcast area information of the entire region is generated and updated using a result of the combining, and when combining a first vertex of the first receivable range is not included in the second receivable range and a second vertex of the first receivable range is included in the second receivable range is where the second vertex is adjacent to the first vertex, the second vertex is removed and a new receivable range containing one of the first vertex and a third vertex of the second n receivable range connecting line is generated as one side, wherein the third vertex is not included in the first receivable range and the third vertex is closest to the first vertex. A broadcast area information generation method executed by a plurality of digital broadcast receiving digital broadcast receiving devices and a broadcast area server, wherein each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices performs the steps of: receiving a digital broadcast; Acquiring current position information representing a current position, detecting a receivable range based on the acquired current position information and the reception state of the digital broadcasting at the position represented by the current position information, and generating polygon vertex coordinates obtained by a process of smoothing a outline of the receivable area are generated as adjacent broadcasting area information; storing the generated adjacent broadcast area information in an adjacent broadcast area information storage unit; and transmitting the current position information and the adjacent broadcasting area information stored in the adjacent broadcasting area information storage unit to the broadcasting area server, the broadcasting area server performs the steps of: receiving the adjacent broadcasting area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcasting receiving apparatuses; generating or updating broadcast area information of the entire region using a plurality of pieces of the neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices; storing the generated broadcast area information of the entire region in a memory means (204) for broadcast area information of the entire region; when a notification of a current position of a digital broadcasting receiving apparatus is received from the digital broadcasting receiving apparatus among a plurality of broadcasting receiving apparatuses, extracting broadcasting area information regarding the current position and its vicinity from the broadcasting area information of the entire region stored in the broadcasting area information of the entire region region are stored; and sending the extracted broadcasting area information to the digital broadcasting reception apparatus which has issued the notification of the current position, each of the plurality of digital reception apparatuses further executes the step of: acquiring the broadcasting area information on the current position and its vicinity as extracted broadcasting area information from the broadcasting area server; and combining receivable areas from the acquired extracted broadcast area information and the neighboring broadcast area information so as to include a new receivable area detected on a basis of the reception state, and storing broadcast area information obtained as a result of the combining as new neighboring broadcast area information in the storage unit (107) for adjacent broadcast area information.

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