JP2000152124A - Control method for television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly turn off the power supply of a TV receiver to attain the power saving even when a viewer sleeps while watching a program by displaying and/or outputting in voices the end of the program, giving a warning in voices to the viewer when a call is set and turning off the power supply of the TV receiver when no call is set respectively if no response is received from the viewer. SOLUTION: If a viewer turns on a call setting mode, 'What program do you watch next ?' is displayed and/or outputted in voices via a display/voice output part 6 when a prescribed program ends. At the same time, an electronic program list is displayed on a TV receiver via an EPG output part 5 and the viewer can selects the programs. If the viewer does not give any response within a prescribed time via an operating part 4, a ring tone continues for a while. If no response is received from the viewer even under such conditions, the power supply of the TV receiver is turned off.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control method for a television receiver, and more particularly to a control method capable of flexibly saving power of a television receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a viewer selects and receives a desired broadcasting station by a tuner circuit of a television receiver and cuts off the power supply to the television receiver when the broadcast is completed, the viewer is required to receive the broadcast signal. After confirming the end of the broadcast, it was necessary to turn off the power switch. However, if the viewer turns off the television receiver after confirming the end of the broadcast, if the viewer falls asleep before the end of the broadcast, power is supplied to the television receiver even if the broadcast ends. And wasted power.

[0003] In order to avoid this, the viewer sets a timer built in or external to the television receiver in advance to turn off the power at a predetermined time or after a predetermined time has elapsed. A timer has been proposed. However, it is troublesome for the viewer to set the off timer in advance, and if the time of the off timer is not exactly adjusted to the broadcast end time, the power supply may be cut off during viewing before the end of the broadcast, In some cases, power was supplied after the broadcast was over. Furthermore, it cannot cope with a situation in which the viewer falls asleep during viewing.

On the other hand, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-93134 discloses a circuit for detecting the end of broadcasting of a broadcasting station and cutting off the power supply circuit of a television receiver in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. I have.

[0005] In recent years, systems for digitizing and transmitting television signals via satellites such as broadcasting satellites and communication satellites and receiving the signals at homes have become widespread. In this system, since a large number of channels can be secured, an extremely large number of programs can be broadcast.

[0006] In such a system, an electronic program guide (EPG: Elec) is used to ensure that a viewer can select a desired program from many programs.
It has been proposed to transmit a trical program guide, receive and display it on the receiving side, and select a desired program from the EPG.

In the EPG, not only programs currently being broadcast,
Programs to be broadcast in the future will also be introduced.

[0008]

The off-timer circuit described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 5-93134 detects the end of broadcasting of a broadcasting station and shuts off the power of the television receiver. Therefore, for example, when the broadcast is performed for 24 hours, or when the time when the viewer wants to turn off the television is far from the broadcast end time,
If the viewer is watching a VTR or the like, it cannot be handled, and it is difficult to flexibly cope with such a situation.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a method for controlling a television receiver according to the present invention comprises the steps of transmitting a television signal supplied from outside and electronic program guide information relating to television broadcasting. Receiving, displaying the program selected by the viewer on a television receiver, determining the end of the program based on the end time of the program obtained from the electronic program guide information, Displaying and / or outputting a sound indicating that the program has ended; waiting for a response from the viewer within a predetermined time during which the display and / or sound is output; and receiving no response from the viewer. In this case, when the call setting is made, the viewer is warned by voice, and when the call setting is not made, the television is displayed. There is provided a method of controlling a television receiver and a step to turn off the down receiver, the.

When the viewer selects a program to be viewed next when there is a response from the viewer, the selected program is displayed on the television receiver and the operation is continued for a predetermined time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling a television receiver, wherein the power of the television receiver is turned off when a program is not selected even after the elapse.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a television receiver according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a television receiver to which the method for controlling a television receiver according to the present invention is applied. In the figure,
A television signal is supplied from a terminal installed in the room via a cable, and the television signal is input to a receiving unit. On the other hand, the EPG data is input to the EPG receiving unit 1 via a cable, and the EPG data is supplied to the EPG storage device 2 and is temporarily stored. Control unit 3
Creates an electronic program guide based on the EPG data stored in the EPG storage device 2 for the program selected by the operation means 4 such as a remote controller,
The signal is output to the G output unit 5. In addition, the program selected by the operation unit 4 supplies a video signal and an audio signal to a video unit (not shown) and an audio unit (not shown) via a receiving unit (not shown), and displays them on a television receiver. And loudspeakers.

The operation means 4 such as a remote controller can perform operations such as switching channels, turning on / off the power, and adjusting the volume.

The data required to create the electronic program guide includes a service provider that specifies a provider that supplies a service (broadcast channel), a service name that indicates a service name, and a service type that indicates a service type. (Service type), title indicating the program name, subtitle indicating the subtitle of the program, current date and time, program start time, program time length (program end time), parental rate specifying viewers under a predetermined age, video mode , A provided language, a provided audio mode, a category indicating a genre of the program, a program outline description indicating a performer, and the like.

From the EPG data, the program end time information is supplied to the display and audio output unit 6. The display and audio output unit 6 compares the program end time information with the current time information indicating the current time. Then, a character output and / or audio output indicating the end of the program is output to the television receiver.

Next, a method for controlling a television receiver according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, EPG
The receiving unit 1 sequentially receives the EPG data and accumulates the latest program information in the EPG storage device 2 built in the television receiver or the set-top box, and this operation is always performed (step S0). .

The viewer selects a desired program using the operation unit 4. Of course, it is also possible to automatically turn on the power of the television receiver by program reservation and tune to a desired channel (step S1). At this time, the EPG storage device 2
Accumulates the program end time information indicating the end time of the selected program. Therefore, the control unit 3 calls the EPG storage device 2 every few minutes to check whether the program end time is changed. Alternatively, a flag may be set for a program whose end time is likely to be changed due to an extension of a baseball broadcast, and the checking operation may be performed only once when the flag is present.

The end time of the desired program is confirmed by comparing the program end time information of the EPG data with the current time information by the control unit 3, and the end of the broadcast of the desired program is determined (step S2).

When the broadcasting of the desired program is completed, the display and the audio output unit 6 ask the viewer for the next instruction. Specifically, display and / or audio output of "What is the next program to watch?" Is performed (step S3). At this time, the electronic program guide created by the EPG data is stored in E
The program may be displayed on the television receiver from the PG output unit 5 so that the viewer can select a program based on the display.

If the viewer responds to the display and / or audio output within a predetermined period of time using the operation unit 4, the process proceeds to step S5. If the viewer selects the next program, the process returns to step S1. Is displayed. When the viewer selects the power-off, step S6
And the power of the television receiver is turned off.
On the other hand, if the viewer does not respond within a predetermined time,
Move to step S7.

In step S7, the correspondence changes depending on the setting of the presence / absence of a call made by the viewer in advance. More specifically, if the viewer does not respond to the display and / or audio output of "What program do you want to watch next?" When the call setting is turned on by the operation unit 4, audio output for calling the viewer is performed at the end of the desired program (step S8). Is set to be turned off (step S6).

In step S8, when the call setting is on, after the display and / or audio output of "What is the next program to watch?" In step S3, the control unit 4 counts a predetermined time. . When there is no response within the predetermined time, the viewer is likely to be asleep, and the display and the sound output unit 6 call out a sound for waking up the viewer and try to wake up the viewer. . Here, the state where the calling voice is output continues for a while, and if the viewer answers during that time, the process returns to step S4. If there is no response from the viewer within a predetermined time after the calling sound is output, the process proceeds to step S6, and the power of the television receiver is turned off.

The predetermined time and the time during which the calling voice is output in the above-described embodiment can be arbitrarily set by the viewer, and the time setting is registered in advance.

As described above, the viewer does not need to set the time of the off-timer of the television receiver in accordance with the end time of the program. Of the program can be continued. Also, if the call setting is turned on, if the viewer wants to always watch the program to be broadcast next to the program currently being viewed, the viewer falls asleep in the middle of the program currently being broadcast. Also, since a warning is given by sound to wake up the viewer, a desired program is not missed. On the other hand, if the call setting is turned off, even if the viewer falls asleep during the broadcast of the program, the television receiver can be turned off when the program ends, and the viewer can continue It is possible to prevent the television receiver from being turned off when the user wants to watch another program.

[0024]

As described above in detail, according to the method of controlling a television receiver according to the present invention, even if a viewer falls asleep while watching a television program, the power can be appropriately turned off. Can save power of the television receiver. In addition, it is possible to flexibly respond to a request from the viewer that the user cannot sleep unless the television is on, or that he wants to watch this television but falls asleep before starting. Furthermore, since the end time of the program is obtained from the EPG data, there is an effect that the viewer does not need to make detailed settings.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a method for controlling a television receiver according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a method for controlling a television receiver according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 EPG receiving part 2 EPG storage device 3 Control part 4 Operation part 5 EPG output part 6 Display and sound output part

Claims (2)

[Claims] Receiving an externally supplied television signal and electronic program guide information relating to a television broadcast; displaying a program selected by a viewer on a television receiver; Judging the end of the program based on the end time of the program obtained from the information; displaying and / or outputting sound that the program has ended; and displaying and / or outputting sound. A step of waiting for a response from the viewer within a predetermined time; and, if there is no response from the viewer, when a call setting has been made, a warning is given to the viewer by voice, and the call setting is made. And turning off the power of the television receiver when there is no television receiver. 2. When there is a response from the viewer, when the viewer selects a program to be viewed next, the selected program is displayed on a television receiver to continue the operation,
The method according to claim 1, wherein the power of the television receiver is turned off when no program is selected after a predetermined time has elapsed.