JP2000286735A - Channel selection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To fill the needs for users by selecting a channel with a high frequency of viewing at application of power. SOLUTION: A counter group 20a counts the number of viewing times of each channel for each prescribed time for each weekday for a prescribed past period. Furthermore, a memory 20b stores sound volume information for each prescribed time of each weekday. A control section 20 selects a channel with a maximum number of viewing times among the number of viewing times of each channel corresponding to the day of the week and the time at a point of time of application of power as an initial channel and also controls the sound volume of the selected channel by using any of a maximum value, a minimum value and a mean value stored in the memory 20b and set in advance by the user. Thus, a channel with a high frequency of viewing by the user is selected as an initial channel at application of power so as to fill the needs for the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a channel selecting device suitable for application to, for example, a television device. For details, the number of views of each channel for each predetermined time of each day of the week during the past fixed period is counted, and when the power is turned on, the number of views of each channel corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of the power-on is the largest. Channel is selected as an initial channel, so that a channel frequently viewed by a user at the time of power-on is selected as an initial channel, and the channel selection device is adapted to meet the needs of the user. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some television apparatuses have a last channel memory function. This feature
A channel to be selected immediately before the user turns off the power is stored, and the next time the power is turned on, the stored channel is selected as an initial channel. For example, this function is useful when you want to watch the channel you were watching that night the next morning.

[0003]

However, since the last channel memory function described above stores the channel immediately before the power of the apparatus is turned off, the last channel memory function satisfies all user needs. is not. For example, even if there is an A channel that the user normally looks at, if another B channel is selected immediately before the power is turned off, the B channel is selected the next time the power is turned on. Therefore, the user needs to switch to the A channel by key operation. Also, if you want to watch a drama that you often watch on Monday night at 10:00 am and turn on the power again the next Monday, and if another channel has been selected by then, the last channel function Not attainable. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a channel selection device in which a channel frequently viewed by a user at the time of power-on is selected at the time of power-on to meet the needs of the user.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a channel selecting apparatus for counting the number of times of viewing of each channel for a predetermined time on each day of the week in a past fixed period;
When the power is turned on, channel counting means for referring to the counted number of views of each channel corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of turning on, and selecting one channel having the maximum number of times of viewing, Channel selection control means for controlling so as to select one selected channel.

[0005] In the present invention, the number of times of viewing of each channel for each predetermined time of each day of the week during a past fixed period is counted. When the power is turned on, the channel having the largest number of times of viewing among the number of times of viewing of each channel corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of turning on is selected as the initial channel. Therefore, a channel frequently viewed by the user at the time of power-on is selected as an initial channel,
Can be adapted to user needs.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a channel selection system of a television apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. The television apparatus 10 includes a microcomputer, a control unit 20 for controlling the entire operation, an antenna 11 for receiving a broadcast signal, and a plurality of broadcasts received by the antenna 11. A tuner 12 for selecting a broadcast signal of a predetermined channel from the signals and outputting an intermediate frequency signal corresponding to the broadcast signal. The tuning operation in the tuner 12 is controlled by the control unit 20 based on the operation of the key operation unit 19 by the user.

The television apparatus 10 further includes a video intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 13 for amplifying an intermediate frequency signal output from the tuner 12, and a detection process for the intermediate frequency signal amplified by the amplifying circuit 13. The video detection circuit 14 for obtaining the video signal of the above-mentioned predetermined channel, the video amplification circuit 15 for performing an amplification process on the video signal, and the picture tube for displaying an image by the video signal output from the video amplification circuit 15 ( CRT) 17.

[0008] The television apparatus 10 outputs a second audio signal extracted from the vicinity of the last stage of the video intermediate frequency amplifier circuit 13.
An audio intermediate frequency amplification circuit 22 for amplifying the intermediate frequency signal;
An audio detection circuit 23 for obtaining an audio signal from the audio second intermediate frequency signal amplified by the audio intermediate frequency amplification circuit 22
And an audio amplification circuit 24 for amplifying the audio signal from the audio detection circuit 23, and a speaker 25 for outputting the audio signal from the audio amplification circuit 24 as audio. The amplification factor of the audio amplification circuit 24 is controlled by the control unit 20. The control unit 20 also includes a counter group 20a composed of a plurality of counters for counting the number of times of viewing of each channel for each predetermined time on each day of the week, and a memory 20b for storing volume information for each predetermined time on each day of the week. And

The operation of the television set 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The broadcast signal received by the antenna 11 is supplied to a tuner 12, a broadcast signal of a predetermined channel is selected, and an intermediate frequency signal corresponding to the broadcast signal of the predetermined channel is output from the tuner 12. The intermediate frequency signal is amplified by an intermediate frequency amplifier circuit 13 and then supplied to a video detection circuit 14 for detection. The video signal output from the video detection circuit 14 is amplified by a video amplification circuit 15 and then received. It is supplied to the tube 17. As a result, the picture related to the broadcast signal of the above-mentioned predetermined channel is displayed on the picture tube 17. The audio second intermediate frequency signal extracted from the video intermediate frequency amplification circuit 13 is amplified by the audio intermediate frequency amplification circuit 22 and detected by the next audio detection circuit 23. The audio signal obtained by the audio detection circuit 23 is amplified by the audio amplification circuit 24 and output from the speaker 25 as audio.

The counter group 20a in the control unit 20 counts the number of times a channel has been viewed for a predetermined period of time in the past, for example, each day of the week from Sunday to Saturday in the past 5 weeks, for example, every 5 minutes. That is, when a channel of N channel is selected in a certain 5 minute time slot,
The value of the counter corresponding to that time slot of N channels is incremented by one. In addition, the value increased before 5 weeks is subtracted from the value of each count. FIG. 2 shows an example of counting the number of times of viewing of each channel. For example, in the time slot from 12:00 to 12:04 on Thursday, the number of times of viewing of three channels is two,
The number of viewing times of the channel is three.

The memory 20b in the control unit 20 includes:
Similarly, sound volume information is stored for a predetermined period of time, for example, every 5 minutes, for each day of the week from Sunday to Saturday, using information on the sound volume for a certain past period, for example, 5 weeks. For example, if a channel has been viewed four times in the past five weeks in a certain five-minute time slot, and the volume of each channel is V1, V2, V3, V4, the volume information of this time slot is The maximum value, the minimum value, and the average value are stored in the memory 20b.

Next, the setting of the initial channel and initial volume of the control unit 20 when the power is turned on will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when the power is turned on, in step ST31, the current day of the week and hour and minute are obtained from a clock circuit (not shown) provided in the control unit 20. Next, in step ST32, the counter group 20a refers to the counted number of times of viewing of each channel corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute of the on-time, and selects the channel with the largest number of times of viewing. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, when the ON time is between 12:00 and 12:04 on Thursday, 6
Since the number of times the channel has been viewed is three times, which is the maximum, six channels are selected. When the number of times of viewing of all the channels corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of turning on is 0, for example, the channel selected before turning off the power or the default channel is selected. Also, when there are two or more channels with the largest number of views,
For example, a channel with a small channel number is selected.

Next, in step ST33, the tuner 12 is controlled to select the selected channel. In the next step ST34, the volume is set. The control unit 20 reads the volume information corresponding to the current day of the week and hour and minute from the memory 20b, and controls the amplification factor of the audio amplification circuit 24 based on the information. In this case, the control is performed using the maximum value, the minimum value, and the average value that are set in advance by the user. When there is no volume information corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of turning on, the volume is controlled, for example, to the volume before the power was turned off.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the number of times of viewing of each channel for each predetermined time of each day of the week in the past fixed period is counted, and when the power is turned on, the number of times of viewing corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at that time are counted. In this case, a channel having the maximum number of times of viewing is selected as an initial channel. Therefore, even if the user does not perform a channel switching operation after the power is turned on, a channel frequently viewed by the user is automatically selected, and the user's needs can be met.

In the above-described embodiment, a channel having a large on-time is selected every hour and minute of each day of the week in a past fixed period. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the channel with the highest viewing frequency may be selected only on the day of the week without limiting the time, or the channel with the highest frequency of viewing on the hour and minute of the day without limiting the day of the week. May be selected. Further, a channel having the longest on-time in a certain period in the past may be selected.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the volume when the power is turned on is set in advance by the user among the maximum value, the minimum value, and the average value as the stored volume information. Although it was controlled using things, it is not limited to this. For example, it is considered that the use as shown in FIG. Therefore, for example, a fixed volume is set as shown in FIG. 4 corresponding to time zones such as late night, morning, noon, and night, and volume control is performed using the volume information according to the ON point. Is also good. In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to a television device. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied to other receivers such as a radio receiver. Can be.

[0017]

According to the present invention, for example, the number of times of viewing of each channel for each predetermined time on each day of the week during a past fixed period is counted, and when the power is turned on, each channel corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of turning on is counted. In this case, a channel having the maximum number of times of viewing is selected as an initial channel. Therefore, a channel frequently viewed by the user at the time of power-on is selected as an initial channel, and can be adapted to the needs of the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a television device as an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the number of viewing times of a channel.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of setting an initial channel and an initial volume when the power is turned on.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of volume setting for a day.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Television apparatus 12 Tuner 13 Video intermediate frequency amplification circuit 14 Video detection circuit 15 Video amplification circuit 17 Picture tube 19 Key operation unit 20 Control unit 20a Counter group 20b Memory 22 Audio intermediate frequency amplification circuit 23 Audio detection circuit 24 Audio amplification circuit 25 Speaker

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A view count integrating means for counting the number of views of each channel for each predetermined time on each day of the week during a fixed period in the past, and when the power is turned on, the number of views of each channel corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of the power on. Refer to the counted views,
Channel selecting means for selecting one channel having the maximum number of times of viewing, and tuning control means for controlling to select the selected one channel when the power is turned on. Tuning device. 2. A volume information obtaining means for obtaining volume information for each predetermined time of each day of the week during the past fixed period, and using the volume information corresponding to the day of the week and hour and minute at the time of turning on the power. The channel selection device according to claim 1, further comprising a volume control unit configured to control a volume. 3. The tuning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the volume information is information on a maximum volume, a minimum volume, or an average volume. 4. A volume information storage means for storing volume information for each predetermined time of day, and a volume for controlling a volume by using the volume information corresponding to the time of the ON time when the power is turned on. The tuning device according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit. 5. A viewing time integrating means for integrating the viewing time of each channel for each day of the week during a past fixed period, and referring to the integrated viewing time of each channel corresponding to the day of the week when the power is turned on when the power is turned on. And a channel selecting means for selecting one channel having the maximum viewing time, and a tuning control means for controlling to select the selected one channel when the power is turned on. Tuning device. 6. A viewing time integrating means for integrating the viewing time of each channel at a predetermined time of day during a fixed period in the past, and when the power is turned on, the integrated time of each channel corresponding to the time at the time of turning on the power. Channel selection means for referring to the selected viewing time and selecting the one channel having the maximum viewing time, and tuning control means for controlling to select the selected one channel when the power is turned on. A tuning device, comprising: 7. A viewing time integrating means for integrating the viewing time of each channel during a fixed period in the past, and referring to the integrated viewing time of each channel at power-on, and A channel selection device, comprising: a channel selection unit that selects a channel; and a channel selection control unit that controls so as to select the one selected channel when the power is turned on.