JP2002230478A - Method and device for reading url - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a device for reading a URL which is capable of surely recording a URL display screen and specifying URL information from the recorded signal. SOLUTION: The device for reading a URL is provided with an A/D converter, which converts a video signal including URL information to a digital signal, a first memory for storage of the digital signal, a CPU which generates a static screen from the digital signal stored in the first memory and divides this static screen into a prescribed number of blocks to specify a block the picture of which is changed less with time, a second memory in the blocks the pictures of which are changed less are stored, and a third memory, in which plural URL character strings are preliminarily stored as template images are connected via a bus line. The character string related to the URL information is specified by matching processing between blocks, which are stored in the second memory and the screens of which are less changed, and template images stored in the third memory.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a URL reading apparatus and method, and more particularly to a URL reading apparatus for reading a URL character string displayed on a television screen and using it as an Internet input / output means.
It relates to means and procedures for transmitting to a PC terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet in recent years, URL (Uniform Resource Locator) information, which means a server address, is provided as a character telop as a guide for providing detailed information related to news being broadcast on a television screen through the Internet. Many cases are displayed as

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of URL information displayed on a television screen. As shown in this figure, URL information (URL character string) 101 is usually displayed on the lower side of the TV screen 100 in many cases. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the structure of the URL character string 101. The URL is configured by listing a protocol name 102 for accessing information, a server name 103 connected to the Internet and owning the information, and a directory and file name 104 storing the information.

[0004] Therefore, a viewer who wants to obtain the above detailed information records the URL displayed on the television screen, and uses the URL as a PC (Performance) as an input / output means connected to the Internet.
sonalComputer) using a keyboard or the like to access the information (server) on the Internet and obtain the desired information.

[0005]

However, the conventional method of reading URL information as described above has the following problems. That is, the URL on the TV screen
The time that information is displayed is generally as short as a few seconds, and
URLs are difficult to remember because they consist of a combination of alphanumeric and symbolic characters, and therefore difficult for viewers to record on paper. Therefore, a method of recording the URL information on the VTR is conceivable, but it is unknown when the URL is displayed on the TV screen, and even if the recording is started immediately when the URL is displayed, the recording operation of the tape is not performed. Since a mechanical element such as loading is included, a predetermined time is required until recording starts, and therefore, the URL display screen cannot be recorded in some cases. The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems relating to the conventional URL reading device and method, and can reliably record a URL display screen without a time lag until the start of recording, and specify URL information from the recorded signal. It is another object of the present invention to provide a URL reading apparatus and method capable of automatically inputting this URL information to a PC as an Internet input / output means.

[0006]

According to one aspect of the present invention, an A / D converter for converting a video signal containing URL information into a digital signal is provided. A converter, a first memory for storing the digital signal, and a still image generated from the digital signal stored in the first memory, and the still image is divided into a predetermined number of blocks and the time elapses. In contrast, a CPU for specifying a block with a small screen change, a second memory for storing the block with a small screen change, and a plurality of U
A third memory that stores the RL character string as a template image is connected via a bus line, and a block with a small screen change stored in the second memory and the template image stored in the third memory. The character string related to the URL information is specified by the matching process. The invention according to claim 2 of the URL reading apparatus and method according to the present invention is a method of converting a video signal containing URL information into a digital signal and storing the digital signal in a first memory, and a step of converting the digital signal stored in the first memory. A procedure for generating a still image from a signal, dividing the divided image into a predetermined number of blocks, and specifying a block with a small screen change with time and storing the block with a small screen change in a second memory, A procedure for specifying a character string related to the URL information by performing a matching process between a plurality of URL character strings stored in the third memory as a template image in advance and a block having a small screen change stored in the second memory. Become.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows U according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an Internet system using the RL reading device and method. In the Internet system shown in this example, a video signal is input from a television receiver 11 capable of receiving television broadcast waves, and a URL reading device 14 according to the present invention connected to the Internet 13 via a PC 12 as input / output means is provided. And the Internet 13 has a plurality of servers each having information.
15 is connected, and an infrared remote control switch 16 for turning on / off the URL reader 14 operated by a television viewer (not shown) is provided.

FIG. 2 shows a URL reading device 14 according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. The URL reader 14 shown in this example includes a receiver 21 for receiving an ON / OFF signal from the remote control switch 16,
An analog-to-digital converter (A / D converter) 22 for converting a video signal containing URL information from the television receiver 11 into a digital signal, and an image memory (first memory) 23 for storing the digital signal And a CPU 24 that controls the entire apparatus and performs image processing described later, a ROM 25 storing a program for the image processing and the like, and a working memory (second memory) 26 that stores data on which the CPU 24 performs image processing. When,
A template memory (third memory) 27 for storing a plurality of URL character strings as template images in advance, and an RS232C or USB (Universal Serial
Bus) using a PC interface 28
It is constituted by being connected by.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining image processing performed by the CPU 24. The image processing shown in this example reproduces a still image 30 at 1/30 second intervals. Note that coordinate axes (x axis, y
Axis) corresponds to the coordinate axes of the television screen shown in FIG. 4, and
The t axis means the passage of time.

The operation of the URL reading apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. First, when URL information is displayed on the television receiver 11, a viewer (not shown) transmits a remote ON signal to the URL reading device 14 from the remote control switch 16.

When the receiver 21 receives the remote ON signal, the URL reader 14 immediately converts the television video signal into an A signal.
The image data is converted to a digital signal via the
To memorize. Since TV broadcasts transmit moving images by transmitting 30 still images per second, the CPU 24 reproduces one still image every 1/30 second from the signal stored in the image memory 23.
(FIG. 3), each still image is divided into a predetermined number of blocks, and blocks whose screen changes little with the passage of time are stored in the working memory 26 as URL display area candidates. With this alone, still image parts other than character strings are also extracted, so the URL display area is narrowed down based on the strength of contrast and spatial frequency components unique to character strings (superimpose) .

The URL information is a character string composed of alphanumeric characters and symbols. For example, there are many specific character string patterns such as "www.", ".Co.jp", and "index.html". As is well known, even a single URL is inaccurate and cannot be accessed, so only the URL needs to be extracted. Accordingly, a matching process is performed between the image of the block with a small screen change stored in the working memory 26 and a plurality of template images related to a character string pattern specific to URL information stored in advance in the template memory 27, Patterns (images) determined to match are narrowed down as images containing URL character strings (URL information). Next, a character recognition process is performed on the image block extracted as a candidate for the URL display area.
Extract URL string as text data. For character recognition processing, general-purpose OCR (Optical Character Re
cognition) software.

When the specified URL character string is transmitted to the PC 12 via the PC interface 28, the URL character string is input to a browser (Internet browsing software) loaded on the PC 12, and as a result, the PC receives the URL character string. Since the designated server 15 is automatically accessed, the viewer can acquire desired information from the server 15 without inputting a URL character string by a keyboard operation.

As described above, since the URL reading device according to the present invention functions, the URL information displayed on the television screen can be reliably recorded without any mechanical element, and the information can be stored in the PC12.
, The viewer can automatically access the server connected to the desired Internet.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the URL information displayed on the television screen by matching the result with the template image stored in advance by storing the video signal in the image memory and performing predetermined image processing. URL reading device that is configured to read after specifying the image area of this, there is no mechanical element, this URL information can be reliably recorded, and this information can be automatically input to the browser software without using keyboard operation And a significant effect in realizing the method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of an Internet system using a URL reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of a URL reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining image processing in the URL reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of URL information (URL character string) displayed on a television screen.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a URL.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 TV receiver 12 PC as information input / output means 13 Internet 14 URL reader 15 Server 106 Remote control switch 21 Receiver 22 A / D converter 23 Image memory (first memory) 24 CPU 25 ROM 26 Working memory (second memory) 27 Template memory (third memory) 28 PC interface

Claims (2)

[Claims] An A / D converter for converting a video signal containing URL information into a digital signal; a first memory for storing the digital signal; and a digital signal stored in the first memory. A CPU that generates a still image, divides the still image into a predetermined number of blocks, and specifies a block with a small screen change over time; a second memory that stores the block with a small screen change; URL of
A third memory storing a character string as a template image is connected via a bus line, and a block having a small screen change stored in the second memory and a template image stored in the third memory are connected to each other. A URL reading device wherein a position of a character string relating to the URL information is specified by a matching process. 2. A procedure for converting a video signal containing URL information into a digital signal and storing the digital signal in a first memory, generating a still image from the digital signal stored in the first memory, and converting the still image into a predetermined number of blocks. A procedure of dividing blocks having a small screen change with time and a procedure of storing the blocks having a small screen change in a second memory, and a plurality of blocks previously stored in a third memory as template images. By performing a matching process between the URL character string and a block with a small screen change stored in the second memory,
Specifying the position of the character string related to the URL information
RL reading method.