JP2002051272A - Channel selection method for multi-channel broadcast - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a channel selection method for multi-channel broadcasting that automatically selects a program to be received. SOLUTION: In a multi-channel broadcast where the same broadcast contents are repetitively transmitted by each channel, a control section 5 (1) stores broadcast position information (e.g. music name) included in broadcast contents to a storage section 6 at start of reception of a prescribed channel, (2) monitors whether or not the broadcast position information included in the broadcast contents is coincident with the stored broadcast position information after that, and (3) switches a reception channel to a succeeding preset channel to select a program to be automatically received when the coincidence is detected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a channel selection method in multi-channel broadcasting, and more particularly to a channel selection method in multi-channel broadcasting capable of automatically switching from one channel to another channel when receiving digital broadcasting. About the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, consumers can use various broadcasting media such as television broadcasting, cable broadcasting, and radio broadcasting. Each of these broadcast media is provided independently by a plurality of broadcast stations. For example, in television broadcasting, a user operates a reception channel switch provided in a television broadcast receiver main body. Thus, a desired broadcast station is selected to receive a program.

[0003] In recent years, broadcasting that converts a broadcast signal into a digital signal and compresses and transmits the digital signal, so-called digital broadcasting, has appeared. This digital broadcast has less deterioration in sound quality and image quality than conventional television broadcasts and radio broadcasts. In addition, since data is transmitted after being compressed, it is possible to increase the number of channels. For this reason, the consumer can select a desired program from a much larger number of programs than conventional broadcast media.

Meanwhile, in the future broadcasting industry, SDARS in the United States and RADIVIT in Japan
The development of multi-channel digital broadcasting having about 100 channels, such as ION, is planned.
In this multi-channel digital broadcasting, each channel is not a program providing method of providing programs of various genres as in the conventional broadcasting. Instead, for each channel, for example, a news channel, a weather forecast channel, It is expected that a broadcast genre is assigned to each channel such as a channel or a pop channel. That is, for example, in a music program, it is anticipated that the same content will be broadcast in a two-hour cycle so that the current request channel of the cable broadcast repeatedly transmits the music requested by the request in a two-hour cycle. Is done. In addition, the weather channel of the current NTT “weather information service” is called “Aizu area weather” → “Nakadori area weather” → “Hamadori area weather” → “Aizu area weather” ... Thus, it is expected that the same content will be repeatedly broadcast. Then, the consumer selects and uses a program providing desired information from a number of channels.

[0005]

When a digital broadcast receiver for receiving the above digital broadcast is mounted on a vehicle,
It is expected that the user will switch the program while driving. However, since there is no means for switching programs other than manual switching, the digital broadcast receiver has the advantage of being able to provide many desired programs. The problem of hindrance arises.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a channel selection method in a multi-channel broadcast for automatically switching a program to be received.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in a multi-channel broadcast in which the same broadcast content is repeatedly transmitted for each channel, (1) at the start of reception of a predetermined channel, broadcast position information included in the broadcast content is stored; (2) Thereafter, it is monitored whether or not the broadcast position information included in the broadcast content matches the stored broadcast position information. (3) When a match is detected, the receiving channel is switched to automatically receive the program. To switch. In addition, the broadcast position information is used as a song title, and by monitoring whether or not the song titles match, the program to be automatically received among the repeatedly broadcasted music programs is switched. Furthermore, by monitoring whether or not the program name and the information indicating the program end position match as the broadcast position information, a program to be automatically received is switched even in a general program other than a music program.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (A) Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a method for selecting a repeatedly broadcasted music program from among programs transmitted by digital broadcasting.
Predetermined information (for example, song name) of the song received at the start of reception is stored. Then, the stored predetermined information of the music is compared with the predetermined information of the music transmitted thereafter, and if they are the same, it is considered that the music program has been received, and other music programs are received. Automatically switch to the program.

[0009] Even if the received program is a program that is repeatedly broadcast and is a program other than a music program, the program end data of the received program is stored at the start of reception. Then, in the same manner as when a music program is selected, the program end data sequentially transmitted is compared with the stored data, and when the same program end data is received, the program is received as a whole. Considering this, it automatically switches to another program.

(B) Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multi-channel broadcast receiver for realizing the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an antenna, 2 is a digital broadcast receiving unit for receiving a desired digital broadcast, 3 is an amplifier that amplifies and outputs an input analog signal, 4 is a speaker that outputs audio, and 5 is a digital broadcast. A control unit for controlling the receiving unit, a storage unit 6 for storing various data and the like received later described below, and an operating unit 7 for operating the digital broadcast receiver.

The digital broadcast receiving unit 2 includes an RF unit 2a,
A / D converter 2b, demodulator 2c, error correction decoder 2
d, received data selection unit 2e, MPEG unit 2f, and D /
It has an A conversion unit 2g and the like. RF unit 2a is antenna 1
Converts the received digital broadcast signal into a baseband signal and outputs it. The A / D converter 2b converts a baseband analog signal into digital data and outputs the digital data.
The demodulation unit 2c performs, for example, FFT processing or differential decoding processing on the digital data, and outputs encoded data. The error correction decoding unit 2d performs an error correction process on the encoded data and decodes the encoded data into MPEG data. The reception data selection unit 2e selects only the MPEG data of the desired program from the input MPEG data, and inputs it to the MPEG unit 2f. The MPEG unit 2f converts the input MPEG data into the original digital data and converts the digital data into a D / A converter 2g.
To enter. The D / A converter 2g converts the input audio data, for example, a digital audio signal into an analog audio signal and outputs it.

The control section 5 controls the digital broadcast receiving section 2 so as to receive a desired program from a predetermined broadcast station. Further, the control unit 5 extracts broadcast position information (for example, song name data and artist name data) at the start of reception that is sent together with music data of a desired program, and stores the information in the storage unit 6. ing. The storage unit 6 stores broadcast position information and a desired program (channel) input by the user operating the operation unit 7.

Here, the data structure of digital broadcasting will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows the data structure when digitally broadcasting an n-channel music program.

In digital broadcasting, n-channel broadcast contents are mapped to frames of a predetermined length, and these frames are sequentially transmitted, so that n-channel broadcasts can be simultaneously performed. That is, the frame includes channel data for each channel (FIG. 2A). The channel data is composed of song data that is data of the song currently being transmitted, and service control header data that is header information of the channel data (FIG. 2B). The service control header data includes service control data storing control information such as a frame synchronization header and a bit rate, and an auxiliary data group (FIG. 2C).

The auxiliary data group includes a plurality of auxiliary data (FIG. 2D). The auxiliary data includes information on the program being received, for example, the name of the song being received, the name of the artist of the song, the name of the program being broadcast, and program end data. Here, the program end data is data indicating the number of frames until the end of the currently received program. For example, if the program end data is 8, it indicates that eight more frames will be transmitted after the currently received channel data.

The auxiliary data includes an auxiliary data identifier and a program I
D and actual data, and FIG. 2 (e) shows an example thereof. The auxiliary data identifier is an identifier indicating the content of the data stored in the actual data. The program ID is an ID assigned to each program. Actual data is data with the content indicated by the auxiliary data identifier,
For example, it includes program end data such as a song title, an artist name, and text data of lyrics.

(C) Processing A channel selection method in multi-channel broadcasting will be described. Here, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation in the case of receiving a music program repeatedly broadcast. When the user operates the operation unit 7 to select a plurality of desired channels to be received in the order of reception, the control unit 5 stores these channels in the storage unit 6 (step 10).
1). Next, the control unit 5 controls the reception data selection unit 2e to start receiving the first channel. Then, the control unit 5 acquires the song name data and the artist name data of the music at the start of the reception from the auxiliary data group of the channel data selected by the reception data selection unit 2e,
The stored music is stored in the storage unit 6 (step 102), and the reproduction of the received music is started (step 103).

When the reproduction of the currently received music is completed (step 104), the control unit 5 reads the music title data and artist name from the auxiliary data included in the service control header of the next transmitted music. Data is read (step 105). And the control unit 5
Compares the song name data and the artist name data read in step 105 with the song name data and the artist name data at the start of reception stored in the storage unit 6 (step 106). Here, when the control unit 5 determines that the two are not the same, the control unit 5 repeats the control after step 103. On the other hand, if both are determined to be the same,
It is determined that all the music programs of the currently received channel have been received, and the digital broadcast receiving unit 2 is controlled to switch to the reception of the next desired channel stored in the storage unit 6 (step 107). In this way, it is possible to switch the program to be automatically received among the repeatedly broadcasted music programs.

Next, the operation when a program other than a music program, which is a program that is repeatedly broadcast, is received will be described with reference to FIG. When the user operates the operation unit 7 to select a plurality of desired channels to be received in the receiving order, the control unit 5 stores these programs in the storage unit 6 (step 201). Next, the control unit 5 controls the reception data selection unit 2e to start receiving the first channel. Then, the control unit 5 reads out the program ID data and the program end data at the start of the reception from the auxiliary data group included in the channel data selected by the reception data selection unit 2e, and stores them in the storage unit 6 (Step 202). ),
The reproduction of the received program is started (step 203).

Then, the control unit 5 continuously acquires the program ID data and the program end data from the auxiliary data group of the channel data sequentially selected by the reception data selection unit 2e (step 204). Then, the control unit 5 compares the program ID data and the program end data sequentially obtained in step 204 with the program ID data and the program end data at the start of reception stored in the storage unit 6 (step 205). Here, the control unit 5
When it is determined that the two programs are the same, it is determined that all the programs of the currently received channel have been completely received, and the digital broadcast receiving unit 2 is controlled. Switching to channel reception (step 206). In this way, even when a program other than a music program is repeatedly broadcast, the program to be received can be automatically switched.

In the above-described embodiment, in the case of a music program that is repeatedly broadcast, it is determined whether or not the music program being received has been completely listened to using the music title data and the artist name data received at the start of reception. Although the determination is made, the present invention is not particularly limited to these two auxiliary data, and any data may be used as long as the auxiliary data can identify the music received at the start of reception. For example, when the order of broadcasting the music to be broadcast in the same program is recorded in the auxiliary data and transmitted, this data may be used, or only the music title may be used, or the artist name data and the lyrics may be used. A combination of data and the like may be used.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a multi-channel broadcast in which the same broadcast content is repeatedly transmitted for each channel, (1) at the start of reception of a predetermined channel, broadcast position information included in the broadcast content is stored. (2) Thereafter, it is monitored whether or not the broadcast position information included in the broadcast content matches the stored broadcast position information. (3) When a match is detected,
Since the program to be automatically received is switched by switching the reception channel, the program to be automatically received among the repeatedly broadcasted music programs can be switched. In addition, since the broadcast position information is used as a song title and the program is switched by monitoring whether or not the song title matches, the program to be automatically received among the repeatedly broadcasted music programs can be switched. Furthermore, since the broadcast position information is used as a program name and a program end position to monitor whether or not the program name and the information indicating the program end position match, program switching is performed, so that in general programs other than music programs, Can automatically switch the program to be received.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a digital broadcast receiver that realizes the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data structure of digital broadcasting.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the digital broadcast receiver when receiving a repeatedly broadcasted music program in the channel selection method for multi-channel broadcasting of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the digital broadcast receiver when a program other than a music program and which is repeatedly broadcast is received, in the channel selection method for multi-channel broadcasting of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 antenna 2 digital broadcast receiving unit 2a RF unit 2b A / D conversion unit 2c demodulation unit 2d error correction decoding unit 2e reception data selection unit 2f MPEG unit 2g D / A conversion unit 3 amplifier 4 speaker 5 control unit 6 storage unit 7 operation Department

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for selecting a channel in a multi-channel broadcast in which the same broadcast content is repeatedly transmitted for each channel, wherein at the start of reception of a predetermined channel, broadcast position information included in the broadcast content is stored and thereafter included in the broadcast content. Monitoring whether the broadcast position information matches the stored broadcast position information and, when a match is detected, switching a receiving channel; 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast location information includes at least a song title. 3. The channel selection method according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast position information is information indicating a program name and a program end position.