JP2003283945A - Av system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an AV system which improves serviceability for a user when an AV apparatus is switched. <P>SOLUTION: An AV apparatus is switched from an analog broadcast receiver unit to a digital broadcast receiver unit to display a video 51 of a digital broadcast program on a video output unit (common monitor) 26. Information about a program being viewed now but usually not outputted from the digital broadcast receiver unit to the video output unit 26 and hence not displayed on this unit 26 are automatically outputted temporarily from the digital receiver unit to the output unit 26 to display information about the program being viewed now (e.g. the broadcast station name 52, the channel number 53 and the present program contents 54 in character information), superposed on the program video 51 being viewed now on this unit 26, as shown in Fig. 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an AV (Audio).
and Visual) system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An AV system in which a plurality of AV devices and a shared monitor and a shared speaker are interconnected and integrated and enjoyed has been realized in various forms. FIG. 3 shows a first configuration example of the AV system. In this case, the digital broadcast receiving device 11, the DVD reproducing device 12, and the D-VHS recording device 1 are shown.
3 as three types of AV devices, and these AV devices are switched by the control device 15 with a built-in amplifier under the operation of the operation unit 14 such as a remote controller to switch the video output device (shared monitor) 16 and the audio output device (shared). The speaker) 17 is connected.

FIG. 4 shows a second configuration example of the AV system.
This is a case where a plurality of units including the units 21 to 26 are integrated as one device. In this AV system, a digital broadcast receiving unit 22 and an analog broadcast receiving unit 23 are provided as two types of AV devices, and the outputs of these AV devices are the remote control operation unit 2.
Under the operation of 7, the output switching unit 24 (controlled by the control unit 21) is switched to be connected to the audio output unit (shared speaker) 25 and the video output unit (shared monitor) 26.

[0004]

By the way, the AV shown in FIG.
DVD playback device 12 or D-VHS in the system
While enjoying the video and audio from the recording device 13 or while enjoying the video and audio from the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 in the AV system of FIG. 4, the digital broadcast receiving device 11 of FIG. Often, the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 (hereinafter referred to as digital broadcast receiving means) is switched to watch the digital broadcast program.

In this case, when switching to a digital broadcast program, it may be wondering what the current program is displayed on the shared monitor or what program is being broadcast on another channel. Not a few.

In this case, conventionally, the user operates the operation unit 14 or 27 to display the information about the current program or the program information of another channel obtained from the digital broadcast receiving means on the shared monitor. , So that you can check those information. However, the method of displaying the above information on the shared monitor under the operation of the user is troublesome, and it may be confusing to forget the operation method. Further, in this method, after confirming the above information, the user needs to operate the operation unit 14 or 27 again to delete the above information from the shared monitor, which is more troublesome.

Further, conventionally, for example, a simple display device such as a liquid crystal display is attached to a part of the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 so that the channel number and the program name of the current program can be constantly displayed on the simple display device. However, in this method, since the simple display device is small, it is not possible to display (confirm) the current program content or the program information broadcast on another channel. In addition, the user's point of view is usually focused on the shared monitor, which is the main video output device, and it is rare to look at the simple display device.
Moreover, since the simple display device is small and the character size of the information displayed therein is small, even if the simple display device is provided, it is not so useful at present.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
An object of the present invention is to provide an AV system that can improve the convenience of the user when switching AV equipment such as when switching from other AV equipment to digital broadcast receiving means.

[0009]

According to the AV system of the present invention, in an AV system including a plurality of AV devices, a shared monitor and a shared speaker, a device for switching the AV devices and the device for switching the AV devices can be switched. AV
When a video obtained from a device is displayed on the shared monitor, information that is not output to the normal shared monitor obtained from the switched AV device is automatically output to the shared monitor, and the information is shared with the video. It is characterized by comprising means for displaying on the monitor and means for automatically erasing the information displayed on the shared monitor by this means after a predetermined time.

In a preferred form, the AV system stores the information displayed on the shared monitor, and the information obtained from the switched AV equipment when the AV equipment is switched by the means. If both of the information are equivalent to each other, it is possible to further include means for prohibiting the operation of displaying the information obtained from the switched AV device on the shared monitor. Further, the switched AV device is a digital broadcast receiving means, the video displayed on the shared monitor is the video of the program currently being viewed, and the information displayed together with the video is information relating to the program currently being viewed and other channels. Is at least one of the program information. In addition, the information is superimposed on the video displayed on the shared monitor,
Alternatively, the image and the screen are displayed separately. Further, the information is character information.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, embodiments of an AV system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiment of the AV system according to the present invention is an integrated type A shown in FIG.
Description will be made with reference to the V system. This AV system is
As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 21, the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 as the first AV device, the second
The analog broadcast receiving unit 23 as an AV device, an output switching unit 24, an audio output unit (shared speaker) 25, a video output unit (shared monitor) 26, and an operation unit 27.

The operation unit 27 is a remote controller, for example, and transmits a request from the user to the control unit 21. The control unit 21 controls reception of a request from the operation unit 27 (user) and control of each unit. The digital broadcast receiving unit 22 and the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 are connected to the antennas 22a and 23a, respectively, and become operable according to a request from the control unit 21, receive a radio wave, and output a video signal and an audio signal. The output switching unit 24 includes a video / audio signal input from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 and a video / audio signal input from the analog broadcast receiving unit 23, and is controlled by the control unit 21 to control the digital broadcast receiving unit 22. The video / audio signal from the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 or the video / audio signal from the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 is switched and output to the audio output unit 25 and the video output unit 26. The audio output unit 25 reproduces the supplied audio signal as audio. The video output unit 26 displays the supplied video signal as a video.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing in detail the internal structure of the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 in the AV system. The digital broadcast receiving unit 22 includes a tuner 31, a demodulation unit 32, a demultiplexer 33, a video decoder 34, an audio decoder 35, a non-volatile storage device 36, a main controller 37, an OS.
The D control unit 38, the mixing unit 39, and the volatile storage device 40.

The tuner 31 selects a broadcast wave desired by the user from the radio waves received by the antenna 22a and supplies a signal to the demodulation section 32. The demodulation unit 32 demodulates the received signal to obtain a transport stream (hereinafter referred to as TS). The TS is sent to the demultiplexer 33. The demultiplexer 33 separates video data, audio data, and auxiliary information data such as program information from the TS, and supplies the video data to the video decoder 34, the audio data to the audio decoder 35, and the auxiliary information data to the main controller 37. . The audio decoder 35 converts the audio data into M
PEG demodulates and outputs as a voice signal. A control signal is supplied to the main controller 37 from the control unit 21 of FIG. The main controller 37 controls the entire digital broadcast receiving unit 22 and executes various processes. The main controller 37 is 1
As one control, the auxiliary information data such as the program information supplied from the demultiplexer 33 is stored in the nonvolatile storage device 3.
Store in 6. Further, the main controller 37 sends information for tuning to the tuner 31 and the demultiplexer 33. Furthermore, the main controller 37 sends an OSD control signal for displaying on-screen program information and the like to the OSD control unit 38. The OSD controller 38
Upon receiving the OSD control signal and the information data from the non-volatile storage device 36, display data for displaying various information such as program information on screen is generated. This display data is supplied to the mixing unit 39. The mixing unit 39 outputs the video data from the video decoder 34 as a video signal, and superimposes the display data from the OSD control unit 38 on the video data to output a video signal. Volatile storage device 4
0 operates as a work area when the main controller 37 executes various processes.

In the AV system shown in FIG. 4 as described above, the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 and the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 can be switched to selectively watch the digital broadcast program and the analog broadcast program. This operation will be described in detail. When the control unit 21 receives a request for switching AV equipment from the operation unit 27 (user), the control unit 21 confirms the currently operating AV equipment as shown in FIG. In step S1), if the currently operating AV device is the same as the requesting AV device, it is left as it is. However, for example, if the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 is operating and the request is the digital broadcast receiving unit 22, control is performed. The unit 21 notifies the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 of "operation stop switching" (step S2), the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 of "operation start switching" (step S3), and the output switching unit 24 of "digital broadcast switching". Output ”(step S
4). As a result, while the operation of the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 is stopped, the operation of the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is started, and the video / audio signal from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is output by the output switching unit 24. Can be viewed on the video output unit 26 and the audio output unit 25. On the contrary, if the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is operating and the request is the analog broadcast receiving unit 23, the control unit 21 notifies the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 of “operation stop switching” (step S5), and notifies the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 of "operation start switching" (step S
6) Request the output switching unit 24 for "analog broadcast output" (step S7). As a result, while the operation of the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is stopped, the operation of the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 is started, and the video / audio signal from the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 is output to the output switching unit 2
4 is output, the analog broadcast program can be viewed by the video output unit 26 and the audio output unit 25.

Further, in the above AV system,
When the AV equipment is switched from the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 to the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 and the video of the digital broadcast program is displayed on the video output unit 26, the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 normally outputs the video output unit 26.
Information relating to the current program (more specifically, information relating to the program currently being viewed) that is not output to the video output unit 26 and is not displayed on the video output unit 26 is automatically received.
2 to the video output unit 26 for temporary output, and as shown in FIG. 1, information about the current program (for example, the broadcasting station name 52, the channel number 53, and the current program content 5).
4, and the text information) can be displayed on the video output unit 26 by being superimposed on the current program video 51 (more specifically, the program video 51 currently being viewed). The information about the current program is temporarily displayed on the video output unit 26 as described above. If the information is displayed for a time that the user can sufficiently confirm, the digital broadcast receiving unit 2
The output from 2 automatically stops and the video output unit 26
It is automatically erased from the top. Further, when the information about the program displayed on the video output unit 26 as described above is stored in the non-volatile storage device 36 of FIG. 5 last time, and when the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 is switched to the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 this time. Digital broadcast receiving unit 22
The information on the current program to be output from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is compared with the stored program information, and if both information are the same, the information on the current program is output from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 at the time of this switching. Ban,
It is prohibited to display the program information on the video output unit 26. This prevents the program information from being displayed more than necessary, and suppresses the discomfort that the user may feel.

The operation of displaying information about the current program will be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the AV device is switched from the analog broadcast receiving unit 23 to the digital broadcast receiving unit 22, information about the current program to be output from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is acquired (step S11). Then, this information is compared with the program information previously displayed on the video output unit 26 stored in the nonvolatile storage device 36 of FIG. 5 (step S12). If both program information are the same, the output of the information about the current program from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is prohibited, and the display of the information about the current program on the video output unit 26 is prohibited, and the processing ends. Becomes
On the other hand, when both program information are compared in step S12 and it is determined that both program information are not equal,
Information about the current program is output from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22, and as shown in FIG.
6, information 52 to 54 relating to the current program is displayed by being superimposed on the current program image 51 (step S1).
3). It is measured whether a predetermined time has elapsed from this information display (step S14). Then, when another request is made from the user (operation unit 27) within the predetermined time (step S15), the information display operation is terminated at that time. on the other hand,
If there is no other request from the user, the information display operation is continued as it is, and when the predetermined time has elapsed, the information output regarding the current program from the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is stopped, and the information regarding the current program 52 to 54 is output as an image. It is erased from the unit 26 (step S16). At the same time, the information currently displayed is stored in the non-volatile storage device 36 of FIG. 5 for the purpose of information comparison at the next same switching (step S17).

The digital broadcast receiving unit 22 can output the program information of other channels in addition to the information about the current program image and the current program. Therefore, when switching to the digital broadcast receiving unit 22, as shown in FIG. 2, the current program video 61, the information 62 on the current program, and the program information 63 of another channel may be displayed on the video output unit 26. it can. Of course, also in this case, the information display is temporary at the time of switching. Furthermore, when the information of this time and the information displayed last time are compared and both information is judged to be equivalent, the display of the information 62, 63 is prohibited. Further, in this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the current program image 61, the information 62 on the current program, and the program information 6 of another channel are divided into screens.
3 is preferably displayed on the video output unit 26. Further, the information 62 on the current program may be omitted and only the program information 63 of another channel may be displayed as the information.

According to the AV system as described above, when the digital broadcast receiving unit 22 is switched to, the information about the current program and / or the program information of another channel is automatically and temporarily sent to the video output unit 26. Since the information is displayed, the user can check the information without bothering the user, and the convenience of the user can be improved. Further, since the information is displayed on the video output unit (shared monitor) 26 where the user's line of sight is constantly focused, the convenience of the user can be further enhanced, and the video output unit (shared Monitor) 2
In the case of No. 6, the screen is large, so if the display information is information about the current program, it is possible to display the program content in addition to the broadcasting station name and channel number in large characters, and at the same time the program information for other channels is also large. It is possible to display in characters, and it is possible to increase the amount of information that can be provided. Furthermore, the information at the time of switching this time and the information displayed at the previous time are compared, and if both pieces of information are the same, the information is prohibited from being displayed. You can prevent giving.

The above embodiment is based on FIG.
However, the present invention can be applied to the AV system having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 and other AV systems having other configurations.
Further, although the above-described embodiment is a case where the present invention is applied to the digital broadcast receiving means, the present invention is applicable to other AV
Of course, it can be applied to equipment.

[0021]

As described in detail above, the AV of the present invention is used.
According to the system, it is possible to enhance user convenience when switching AV equipment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a first display example displayed on a video output unit in an embodiment of an AV system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a second display example displayed on the video output unit in the embodiment of the AV system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a first configuration example of an AV system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second configuration example of the AV system.

5 is a block diagram showing in detail the internal configuration of a digital broadcast receiving unit in the AV system of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

22 Digital broadcasting receiving unit 23 Analog broadcast receiving unit 25 Audio output unit (shared speaker) 26 Video output unit (shared monitor) 51,61 Program video currently being viewed 52-54,62 Information about the program currently being viewed 63 Program information for other channels

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. In an AV system comprising a plurality of AV devices, a shared monitor and a shared speaker, means for switching the AV equipment and AV equipment switched by this means, and an image obtained from the switched AV equipment is shared monitor. And a means for automatically outputting to the shared monitor information that is not output to the shared monitor, which is obtained from the switched AV device when the information is displayed on the display device, and means for displaying the information together with the video on the shared monitor. In the AV system, the information displayed on the shared monitor is automatically erased after a predetermined time. 2. A means for storing the information displayed on the shared monitor, and, when switching the AV equipment, comparing the information obtained from the switched AV equipment with the information stored by the means, and The AV system according to claim 1, further comprising means for prohibiting an operation of displaying information obtained from a switched AV device on the shared monitor when both pieces of information are equivalent. 3. The switched AV device is a digital broadcast receiving means, the video displayed on the shared monitor is the program video currently being viewed, and the information displayed together with the video is:
The AV system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the AV system is at least one of information on a program currently being viewed and program information on another channel. 4. The AV system according to claim 1, wherein the information is displayed by being superposed on a video displayed on the shared monitor or by being divided into screens with the video. . 5. The AV system according to claim 1, wherein the information is character information.