JP2000138871A - Television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically select other channels which broadcast the same program, without the need for a plurality of reception sections. SOLUTION: This television receiver is provided with a reception section 2, that receives a television broadcast and outputs an identification signal corresponding to a received broadcast such as a reception channel, a GPS receiver 8 that detects a current position, a storage means 10 that stores service area data and data of a broadcast name of each broadcast station corresponding to the identification signal, and an arithmetic section 9 that compares the service area data read from the storage means 10 with current position data from the GPS receiver 8 to discriminate whether or not the current position is within a service area of the same broadcast station as the name of the broadcast station corresponding to the received channel at present. When it is discriminated that the reception sensitivity of the broadcast station whose program is received at present is deteriorated, other channel of the same broadcast station is selected. Or a broadcast station of the same network affiliates may be selected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiver having a function of automatically switching the same broadcasting station or affiliated broadcasting stations to continuously watch a currently watched program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an on-vehicle television receiver, the reception condition changes as the vehicle moves over a wide range, and the channels that can be viewed well change every moment. In such an environment, in order to allow the user to continuously watch the program currently being watched, a conventional in-vehicle television receiver uses a plurality of channels so as to be able to receive even a channel different from that of the currently receiving broadcast station. It is provided with a receiving unit, and by analyzing and comparing both broadcast contents by A / D conversion or the like, it is determined whether or not the same contents are broadcast on another channel. If the reception state is poor, the reception state is good. The channel was selected and received.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, a plurality of receiving sections must be provided in order to simultaneously receive other channels, so that a large amount of circuit space is required and the apparatus can be downsized. There was a problem that it became difficult.

[0004] The present invention solves such a conventional problem, and provides a television receiver which can automatically switch to another channel which is broadcasting the same broadcast without requiring a plurality of receivers. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a broadcast station which stores service area data and broadcast station name data of each broadcast station and whose current position corresponds to a current reception channel. If it is determined that the receiving station is within the service area of the same broadcasting station as the name and if it is within the service area and the receiving sensitivity of the currently receiving broadcasting station is reduced, This automatically switches to another channel of the channel or another channel of the series, so that even if the receiving sensitivity is reduced and the viewing condition is deteriorated, no automatic operation is required without any special operation. It is possible to continuously select and watch the same broadcasting station or affiliated broadcasting station.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention receives a radio wave from a television broadcast station, outputs audio and video, and outputs an identification signal corresponding to a received broadcast such as a reception channel. Receiving means, a position detecting means for detecting a current position of the receiving means, a storage means for storing service area data and broadcast station name data of each broadcasting station corresponding to the identification signal, and read from the storage means. Means for comparing the service area data with the current position data output from the position detecting means to determine whether or not the current position is within the service area of the same broadcasting station as the broadcasting station name corresponding to the current receiving channel Comprising, when it is determined that the current location is within the service area, and that the receiving sensitivity of the currently receiving broadcast station is reduced,
A television receiver characterized by switching to another substitute channel of the same broadcasting station. Even if the receiving sensitivity is reduced and the viewing condition is deteriorated, the same broadcasting is automatically performed without any special operation. You can select another channel of the station and continue watching.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receiving means for receiving a radio wave from a television broadcast station, outputting audio and video, and outputting an identification signal corresponding to a received broadcast such as a reception channel. Position detecting means for detecting a current position of the receiving means, storage means for storing service area data and broadcast station name data of each broadcast station corresponding to the identification signal, and service area data read from the storage means. Comparing the current position data output from the position detecting means with a means for determining whether the current position is within the service area of the same broadcasting station as the broadcasting station name corresponding to the current receiving channel, When it is determined that the position is out of the service area of the broadcasting station, the television receiver switches to another alternative channel of the same broadcasting station. A device, even if the reception sensitivity is deteriorated viewing state have decreased, or the like without requiring any special operation What can continue to watch automatically select another channel of the same broadcast station.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when there are a plurality of alternative channel candidates, the broadcast channel whose current position is closest to the location of the transmitting antenna is selected. The television receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a broadcast station having a good reception state can be preferentially selected.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when there are a plurality of alternative channel candidates, the distance relationship between the transmitting antenna location and the current location is calculated, and the receiving sensitivity is the highest with respect to the service area radius. 3. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein a broadcast channel considered to be high is selected, and a broadcast station having a good reception state can be preferentially selected.

[0010] The invention according to claim 5 of the present invention stores data indicating an affiliated station in addition to a broadcast station name, and switches to the affiliated station when it is determined that the same broadcast station does not exist. The television receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, even when the reception sensitivity is reduced and the viewing state is deteriorated, the same broadcasting station is automatically operated without any special operation. You can continue to select and watch another channel or affiliated broadcasting station.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a television antenna, and reference numeral 2 denotes a PLL synthesizer receiving unit (hereinafter, referred to as a receiving unit), which includes a tuner, a demodulation circuit, a power amplifier, and the like. Reference numeral 3a denotes a CRT or liquid crystal display for outputting video, 3b denotes a speaker for outputting audio, and 4 denotes a television control unit for controlling the receiving unit 2, which is composed of a microcomputer or the like. 5
Is a display unit, and 6 is an operation unit equipped with various operation buttons such as preset buttons. When an operation button of the operation unit 6 is operated, a control signal is transmitted from the television control unit 4 to the receiving unit 2 and the display unit 5.
And control of the receiving channel, display and the like are performed. 7 is a G that receives signals from a plurality of GPS satellites.
PS antenna, 8 is GP received by GPS antenna 7
A GPS receiver that calculates the current position of the vehicle based on the S signal and outputs the current position data. The GPS receiver is composed of a digital signal processing circuit and the like. Etc. can be output. Reference numeral 9 denotes an arithmetic unit including a microcomputer or the like. Reference numeral 10 denotes data relating to a plurality of broadcast stations, that is, channel data of each broadcast station, position (longitude, longitude) data of the location of the transmitting antenna of each broadcast station, and data of each broadcast station. The storage unit stores a broadcast station table in which radius data of a service area, station name data of each broadcast station, and the like are stored.

FIG. 2 schematically shows the broadcast station table. This broadcast station table stores data of a plurality of broadcast stations (channel number ch, latitude data x and longitude data y of the location of the transmitting antenna, radius data r of the service area, broadcast station name N) in ascending order of channel number. Things. The order in which the broadcast station tables are stored may be in the order of larger channel numbers or may be random regardless of the channel numbers. The calculation unit 9
The current receiving channel transferred from the receiving unit 2 and the GP
Based on the current position data output from the S receiving device 8,
The name of the currently receiving broadcast station can be determined.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows an operation flow of searching for the same broadcast station started by interruption every predetermined time in the arithmetic unit 9. It is assumed that the receiving unit 2 is currently receiving the broadcast station of channel number ch1. The broadcast station name corresponding to this channel ch1 is specified as follows. First, in step A, the broadcast station table is referred to, and in the broadcast station name table, the first broadcast station data of the plurality of broadcast station data of channel ch1, that is, the broadcast station data of ch1 of the broadcast station table in FIG. x1, y
1, r1, N1). Next, in step B, it is determined whether the channel of the read broadcast station data is channel ch1. Since the channel of the broadcast station data read in step A is ch1, it is determined yes in step B. Next, in step C, the channel ch1 is obtained from the current position data (latitude data xp, longitude data yp) read from the GPS receiver 8 and the latitude data x1 and y1 of the data read from the broadcast station table.
Calculate the distance between the transmitting antenna and its location. Next, in step D, the magnitude of the calculated distance and the radius r1 of the service area of the broadcasting station of channel ch1 is determined.
That is, it is determined whether or not the current position is within the service area of the broadcasting station of channel ch1. If the answer is YES in step D, the channel ch is set in step G.
The broadcast station name of No. 1 is specified as N1. On the other hand, if it is determined NO in step D, the process proceeds to step E, where the second broadcast station data of ch1 (ch1, x2, y2, r2, N
2) is read from the broadcast station table, and the process returns to step B to determine whether or not the data is in the service area by the same procedure as the first broadcast station data. The same operation is repeated until the broadcast station name can be specified. If the channel read in step E is determined to be no in step B,
The broadcast station is not specified (step F).

Next, an operation for searching for the same broadcasting station as the currently receiving channel will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step H, the head data of the broadcast station table is read. At step I, the station name N is the currently received station name N1.
It is determined whether it is the same as. If it is determined YES in step I, that is, if the station name is the same, in step J, the current position data (latitude data xp, longitude data yp) read from the GPS receiver 8 and the broadcast station table are read. From the longitude and latitude data of the output data, the distance to the transmitting antenna location is calculated. Next, in step K, it is determined whether or not the current location is within the service area. If the determination is yes in step K, the channel is registered in an alternative channel list in step M. When it is determined NO in step I or step J, the process proceeds to step L,
It is determined whether the reading from the broadcasting station table has been completed. If the reading has not been completed, the next data is read in step N, and the process returns to step I to repeat the comparison. When the comparison is completed from the beginning to the end of the broadcast station table, a channel that can be viewed at the current position among the channels of the same broadcast station as the currently received channel is selected in the substitute channel list.

The switching of the receiving channel is performed by detecting the receiving sensitivity of the currently receiving channel on the basis of the signal from the receiving section 2 and automatically switching the receiving sensitivity when the receiving sensitivity is lowered. Further, this switching may be performed based on the fact that the channel being received is no longer within the service area instead of the reception sensitivity.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the reception status of the currently received broadcast becomes worse,
It is possible to automatically switch to the same broadcasting station and different broadcasting stations without any special operation.
When a plurality of channels are listed as an alternative channel list, as a method for narrowing down candidates from among them, the own vehicle can select a broadcast station closest to the location of the transmitting antenna. Further, as another method, it is possible to divide the distance between the position of the transmitting antenna and the current position by the radius of the service area, and select a broadcasting station having the smallest ratio (that is, the electric field strength is considered to be the strongest). The alternative broadcasting stations selected in this way are stored in the order in which they are closer to their own vehicle or in order of increasing electric field strength.

In the above embodiment, the GPS receiver is used to detect the current position.
Not only the S receiving device but also various current position detecting devices used for a navigation device or the like may be used. Further, in the above embodiment, the reception channel number output from the television control unit 4 is used as an identification signal for referencing the broadcast station table or the like, but it is set in the variable frequency divider of the PLL of the reception unit 2. The frequency division ratio may be used as an identification signal. The lowest channel is set to 1, and the order is set to 2, 3, 4,... For each channel separation (0.1 MHz), and this order is referred to the broadcast station table as the identification signal. You may make it. In addition, broadcast station series data (so-called network data) may be recorded in the broadcast station table, and if the same broadcast station is not searched, the channel may be switched based on the network data.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the reception status of the currently received broadcast is getting worse, the same broadcast and different channels are used without any special operation. It is possible to automatically switch to the affiliated broadcasting station. In addition, since the present invention can be realized by software, there is no need to change hardware such as adding components, and there is an effect that a space for a printed circuit board can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a television receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of a broadcast station table according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation for specifying a broadcast station name corresponding to a currently receiving channel in the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for searching for a channel broadcasting the same broadcasting station as the currently receiving broadcasting station in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of an alternative channel list as a result of a search by the flow in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 TV antenna 2 PLL synthesizer receiving unit 3a CRT or liquid crystal display 3b Speaker 4 TV control unit 5 Display device 6 Operation unit 7 GPS antenna 8 GPS communication device 9 Operation unit 10 Storage unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Receiving means for receiving radio waves from a television broadcasting station to output audio and video and outputting an identification signal corresponding to a received broadcast such as a receiving channel, and detecting a current position of the receiving means. Position detecting means, storing means for storing service area data and broadcast station name data of each broadcasting station corresponding to the identification signal, service area data read from the storing means and current position outputted from the position detecting means Comparing with the data, comprising means for determining whether the current position is within the service area of the same broadcast station as the broadcast station name corresponding to the current reception channel, the current position is within the service area, And when it is determined that the receiving sensitivity of the currently receiving broadcast station is reduced, switching to another alternative channel of the same broadcast station is performed. TV receiver. 2. Receiving means for receiving radio waves from a television broadcasting station to output audio and video, and outputting an identification signal corresponding to a received broadcast such as a receiving channel, and detecting a current position of the receiving means. Position detecting means, storing means for storing service area data and broadcast station name data of each broadcasting station corresponding to the identification signal, service area data read from the storing means and current position outputted from the position detecting means Means for comparing the current position with the data and determining whether or not the current position is within the service area of the same broadcast station as the broadcast station name corresponding to the current reception channel. A television receiver that switches to another alternative channel of the same broadcast station when it is determined that the alternative broadcast channel has been received. 3. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein, when there are a plurality of alternative channel candidates, a broadcast channel whose current position is closest to the location of the transmitting antenna is selected. 4. When there are a plurality of alternative channel candidates, a distance relationship between the location of the transmitting antenna and the current position is calculated, and a broadcast channel which is considered to have the highest reception sensitivity with respect to the service area radius is selected. The television receiver according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein data indicating an affiliated station is stored in addition to the broadcast station name, and when it is determined that the same broadcast station does not exist, switching to the affiliated station is performed. The television receiver as described.