JP2004343728A - Wireless av system, wireless center, av output device, station selection method, station selection data generation method, and av system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless AV system wherein a tuner unit designed as a separate unit from a monitor unit and to which an antenna wire is connected selects a station, selected video and audio signals are wirelessly transmitted to the monitor unit for reproducing the video and audio signals, and which has an excellent response characteristic corresponding to entry operations related to up/down station selection by a user, and to provide a wireless center, an AV output device, a station selection method, a station selection data generation method, and an AV system. <P>SOLUTION: A TV microcomputer 65 requests an auto scan to a wireless center microcomputer 41 via an SS transmission/reception unit 61 of a TV body 5 and an SS transmission/reception unit 45 of a wireless center 3 (S101 to S103 to S105). The wireless center microcomputer 41 returns a response indicating that the requested command is received to the TV microcomputer 65 via the SS transmission/reception unit 45 of the wireless center 3 and the SS transmission/reception unit 61 of the TV body 5 (S107 to S111, S115). The TV microcomputer 65 performs the request processing (S118) of the auto scan request received and channel specification information relating to channel setting including skip information on station-presence/station-absence is transmitted as a processing response to the TV microcomputer 65 (S121, S123 and S125). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an AV system, and in particular, a wireless AV system in which an AV output device and a wireless center are separated and communicably connected to each other, a wireless center, an AV output device, a tuning method, a tuning data generation method, It relates to an AV system.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a video and audio receiving / reproducing system (AV system), many monitors using a thin liquid crystal display device as a monitor unit for reproducing (displaying) a video have been developed. The use of the liquid crystal display device has a great advantage in that the display device itself can be reduced in weight and thickness, even though a large screen can be displayed.

For example, a system is disclosed in which a tuner section and a monitor section of a television receiver are separated, and a video signal and an audio signal are transmitted from the tuner section to the monitor section. In this system, an antenna line is connected to a separated tuner unit to select a channel, and the selected video and audio signals are wirelessly transmitted to a monitor unit to reproduce a video signal and an audio signal (for example, see Patent References 1 and 2).
JP 2001-160927 A (publication date: June 12, 2001) JP 2001-358966 A (publication date: December 26, 2001)

  In the above-described system, a stream can be received and displayed, and information such as a command can be bidirectionally exchanged between the monitor side and the tuner side. In this system, a channel is generally selected on the monitor side. In the case of selecting a channel up / down, the user inputs using the up / down channel selection key on the monitor side in order to view a video or the like displayed on the monitor. When a channel up / down channel selection key is input on the monitor side, it is converted into a command based on the wireless AV transmission system for wirelessly exchanging the monitor side and the tuner side, and after a certain interval, the tuner side And the tuner side decodes the command to perform actual up / down channel selection. Therefore, in the wireless AV transmission system, there is a problem that the response to the user's input is poor (the up-down channel cannot be selected smoothly) due to the delay time dependent on the above-mentioned interval related to the exchange of commands. there were.

  According to the conventional system, for example, as shown in FIG. 4 which is an explanatory diagram of the present invention, the key is set to an iso cycle of 3.6 ms * 16 = about 60 ms until the channel number determined after tuning is displayed on the monitor. When the code is changed from the monitor side to the tuner side, a delay time is required for the KEY decoding result to return from the tuner side to the monitor side in the next iso cycle 60 ms. That is, when the channel up and down are decoded on the tuner side, the key code is sent from the monitor section to the tuner section at an interval of 60 ms, the channel up and down are decoded by the tuner section, and the channel selection channel No. is sent from the tuner section to the monitor section. A delay time of 60 ms for the sending interval and a total of 120 ms occurs, and the time for displaying the channel number determined by the up / down channel selection on the monitor is delayed. This delay time becomes a communication interval. This communication interval is controlled by the smart link transmitter.

  The present invention relates to a system for selecting a channel by connecting an antenna line in a tuner unit separated from a monitor unit and wirelessly transmitting the selected video and audio signal to the monitor unit to reproduce the video and audio signal. To provide a wireless AV system, a wireless center, an AV output device, a channel selection method, a channel selection data generation method, and an AV system having good response characteristics corresponding to an input operation related to up / down channel selection by a user. The purpose is to:

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a tuner for selecting a channel, and a first transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving broadcast information selected by the tuner and other data. A wireless center having a display unit, a channel selection input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a channel selection process, and a first transmission / reception unit that receives the broadcast information. A second transmitting / receiving unit capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data between the first and second transmission / reception units; and a reference for specifying a channel selected by the up / down input operation when an up / down input operation of a channel is performed in the input operation. A wireless AV system having an AV output device having a first channel identification information storage unit for storing possible channel identification information is provided.

  According to the above system, when an up / down operation of a channel is performed on the AV output device side, the channel is identified by an up / down input operation with reference to the channel identification information stored in the first channel identification information storage unit. Since the channel selection channel is converted into a direct channel selection command for channel selection and transmitted to the tuner side, the delay associated with the exchange of the command can be reduced, and the response of the up / down channel selection can be improved.

  As described above, in the wireless AV system according to the present invention, in a system in which the tuner is arranged on the wireless center side and the display unit is separately arranged on the TV main body side and wirelessly associated with each other, channel up / down on the TV main body side is performed. When a tuning key is input, it is converted to a direct tuning command and sent to the tuner side, so there is no need to decode the command on the tuner side, reducing the delay time depending on the interval related to command exchange Therefore, there is an advantage that the response to the input for the user's up / down channel selection is improved.

  A wireless AV system according to the present invention has a form in which a monitor (AV output device) and a wireless center having a tuner are separated from each other, and performs communication between the two. And the tuner communicate with each other. In such a system, the monitor stores skip information relating to whether or not there is a station corresponding to the channel number.

  The skip information is, for example, the result of the auto scan of the channel actually obtained on the tuner side, for example, when the remote control input for requesting the tuner side to perform the auto scan for channel setting is performed on the monitor side. Is received by the monitor in a form in response to the request. By storing this in a storage unit provided on the monitor side, it is possible to specify a channel to be selected even when the user performs an up / down channel selection. When a tuning request is made to the tuner, the channel specified on the monitor side based on the up / down tuning is sent to the tuner by sending a direct tuning command to the tuner, which is a command for directly tuning the channel. The time from the channel selection input operation to the display of the program actually selected on the monitor can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, a wireless AV system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking a television reception / playback system 1 as an example. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a television reception / playback system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of the wireless center unit 3 which is a tuner-side device in the television reception / playback system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of a TV main unit 5 which is a monitor-side device in the television reception / playback system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration exchanged between the tuner side and the monitor side in the television reception / playback system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a menu configuration example including a channel setting menu. FIG. 6 is a configuration example of a remote control device. FIG. 7 is a configuration example of skip information obtained by the auto preset. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a sequence example of bidirectional communication between the tuner side and the monitor side in the television reception / playback system 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a television receiving / reproducing system 1 which is a display-separated type wireless TV receiver.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 9, a television receiving / reproducing system (wireless AV system) 1 according to the present embodiment includes a tuner-side wireless center 3 and a TV (TV body) 5 with a built-in battery and a liquid crystal monitor. It is comprised including.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the TV main body 5 is wireless with a built-in battery. In addition, a remote controller is provided so that a remote controller of a video deck or the like can be operated. The wireless center 3 is connected to antennas such as BS and U / V, AV equipment such as DVD players and VCRs, and CATV set-top boxes. Then, video and / or audio data is wirelessly transmitted from the wireless center 3 to the TV main body 5.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the wireless center 3 includes a video 1 input (with S terminal) terminal 7a, a video 2 input (decoder input) terminal 7b, and a video 3 input (monitor / BS output shared) terminal 7c. , An AC power supply terminal 11a, a Car-DC terminal 11b, a BS antenna 15a, a UHF / VHF antenna 15b, and a diversity antenna 15c so that a channel can be selected even in a vehicle. On the other hand, the TV 5 with a liquid crystal monitor has a video 4 input (also used for TV output) terminal 21, an AC power supply terminal 23a, and a Car-DC terminal 23b so as to be viewable even in a car, for example.

  The wireless center 3 and the TV 5 with a liquid crystal monitor are communicably connected, for example, wirelessly based on the IEEE802.11b standard. MPEG2 stream information is transmitted wirelessly from the wireless center 3 to the TV 5 with a liquid crystal monitor, and other command (control command) data and the like are transmitted between the two by bidirectional communication.

  Next, a configuration example of the tuner side (wireless center side) device will be described with reference to FIG. Description of the components described in FIG. 1 will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 2, the wireless center 3 includes a wireless center microcomputer 41 for controlling the whole, a first AV selector 43, and a spread spectrum (SS) transmission / reception unit 45. The video inputs 1 to 3 (external inputs) 7 a to 7 c are switched by the AV selector 43 based on the source selection command 43 a.

  Further, the wireless center 3 includes a BS tuner 33 connected to the BS antenna 15a and a U / VHF tuner 31 connected to the UHF / VHF antenna 15b, and includes a first storage unit (EEPROM) 47. A tuning process is performed by the readable wireless center microcomputer 41 based on the tuning command 31a. The signal after the tuning process is input to the video / audio demodulator 35 and demodulated, and the audio switching unit 37 performs the audio switching process based on the audio switching command 37a from the wireless center microcomputer 41. . The video signal and the audio signal after the audio switching processing are input to the first AV selector 43. Here, a source selection process is performed based on a voice switching command 37 a from the wireless center microcomputer 41, and is input to the SS transmitting / receiving unit 45.

  The SS transmission / reception unit 45 includes an A / D converter 51, an MPEG2 encoder 53, a first SS wireless transmission / reception engine 55, and a first SS-CPU 57 for controlling these. The video / audio signal subjected to the source selection processing based on the source selection command 43a is A / D-converted by the A / D converter 51, and is encoded into the MPEG2 format by the MPEG2 encoder 53, for example. Data encoded in the MPEG2 format based on the command 57a is sent to the TV 5 with a built-in battery monitor and a variety of commands (data) are bidirectionally communicated with the TV 5 with a built-in battery monitor.

  The TV 5 with a liquid crystal monitor includes a TV microcomputer 65 capable of reading a second storage unit (EEPROM) 73, an SS transmission / reception unit 61, a second AV selector 67, a TV unit (liquid crystal display) 71, and a remote control device (FIG. 7). And a remote control light receiving unit 75 for receiving the input of (1). The SS transmission / reception unit 61 has a second SS wireless transmission / reception engine 77, an MPEG2 decoder 81, a D / A converter 83, and a second SS-CPU 85 for controlling these. Further, the TV 5 with a liquid crystal monitor is compatible with battery driving, and has a battery 87b and a battery charger microcomputer 87a accordingly.

  The streaming information transmitted from the wireless center 3 side and encoded in the MPEG2 format is transmitted to the second SS radio in the SS transmission / reception unit 61 according to an instruction of the second SS-CPU 85 which has received the TV command 85a from the TV microcomputer 65. The data is received by the transmission / reception engine 77, decoded by the MPEG2 decoder 81, and D / A converted by the D / A converter 83. The D / A converted AV signal information is sent to the second AV selector 67, and a source selection command 67a from the TV microcomputer 65 determines which of the external input signal from the external input (4) 21 is to be selected. After an arbitrary OSD process is performed based on, for example, an OSD output command 93a from the TV microcomputer 65, the image data is sent to the TV unit 71, and a display based on the video / audio signal information is performed.

  As described above, the TV microcomputer 65 has an OSD generation function unit therein and displays information such as the channel, time, and volume of a program on a screen of a television or the like. 2. Description of the Related Art In a video device such as a TV and an electronic device such as a video conference system, information such as a channel, time, and volume of a program is generally displayed on a TV screen. The OSD data is stored not in an image but in a format called a bitmap, and the bitmap is converted into YUV format pixel values represented by Y, Cb, and Cr. Is superimposed on the original image. If an image reproducing device such as a DVD or a CATV set-top box (not shown) is connected to the external input (4) 21, the OSD display can be performed on the display screen by superimposing the reproduced image or video from an external source. . The OSD synthesizing unit 69 (FIG. 3) performs the image superimposition process of the original image such as a television broadcast and the OSD display.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a transmission / reception data configuration. As shown in FIG. 4, transmission / reception data 131 exchanged between the tuner side and the monitor side in the television reception / playback system according to the present embodiment is transmitted and received by the first SS wireless transmission / reception engine 55 and the second SS wireless transmission / reception engine. A transmission / reception process is performed with the engine 77 at regular intervals defined by an isocycle 132. As shown in FIG. 4, the configuration of the transmission / reception data packet includes an R packet 133 sent from the wireless center 3 as the route (R) to the TV 5 with a liquid crystal monitor as the leaf (L), a gap 134, and a gap 134. And an L packet 135 sent from the TV 5 with the liquid crystal monitor as the leaf (L) to the wireless center 3 as the route (R).

  The R packet 133 includes a portion using a long preamble (1 Mbps) and other data portions 145 to 153 (11 MHz). The part using the long preamble (1 Mbps) includes the synchronous data 141 and the PHY header data 143, and has a period of 192 μs. On the other hand, other data portions include a MAC header 145, control data (CB) 147, status command data 151 composed of asynchronous data, and synchronous data (isochronous data) 153. The status command data 151 is data including a status command sent from the wireless station to the TV main body, and includes skip information described below. The synchronization data 153 is MPEG2 video stream data.

  Following the R packet 133, a gap (GAP) 134 of 120 μs is provided, and then an L packet 135 sent from the TV main body to the wireless station is provided. Similarly to the R packet 133, the L packet 135 includes portions 161 and 163 using a long preamble (1 Mbps) and other data portions (11 MHz), and includes a MAC header portion 165, a retry tag 167, and an asynchronous data portion. 171. The asynchronous data section 171 is data including a status command sent from the TV main body side to the wireless station side. The data described above is sent as a whole in 3.6 ms cycle.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the channel setting menu. As shown in FIG. 5, the channel setting menu includes an auto preset (automatic tuning), a manual memory, and a region number setting. The manual memory includes a remote control number, a reception channel display, a channel display, reception fine adjustment, external setting, and skip.

  FIG. 6 is a configuration example of a remote control device. As shown in FIG. 6, the remote control device 200 includes a channel number input unit 201 for inputting a channel number, a selection button 203, an up / down channel selection button 205, and a power switch 207. The channel number input section 201 has a direct channel selection button, which allows direct input by channel number. The up / down channel selection button 205 is a button for channel selection by ± one channel at a time. The selection button 203 has a selection button 203a and a selection decision button 203b.

  FIG. 7 is a configuration example of a channel number on a display screen obtained by auto preset. When the auto-preset execution is selected by the selection button 203 (FIG. 6), the auto-preset process is executed, a message indicating that the auto-preset is being performed is displayed on the channel-related display screen, and when the auto-preset process is completed, the direct tuning button is displayed. 213 of channel numbers stored from the upper left in the order of channel selection numbers corresponding to. In the example shown in the figure, channels 1 to 12 are stored in channel selection numbers 1 to 12 of the same number, and channels 13 to 62 are stored in unused numbers not received. 1 channel at the 1 channel position, 14 channels at the 2 channel position, 3 channels at the 3 channel position, 4 channels at the 4 channel position, and 38 channels at the 5 channel position on the remote controller Are associated with each other. These pieces of associated information are stored in the second storage unit (EEPROM) 73 shown in FIG. 3 as channel identification information.

  The channel identification information may be generated by the auto channel scan, or may be information generated in response to an input operation for up / down channel selection, and may be generated based on skip information indicating that there is no station and no station. May be created. When the skip information is created, the information is sequentially stored in the first storage unit (EEPROM) 47 on the wireless station side, and when the skip information is stored to some extent, the wireless station side transmits the information to the TV main body side. What is necessary is just to send the skip information collectively to the second storage unit (EEPROM) 73 of the TV main body side.

  Hereinafter, an example of creating channel identification information will be described with reference to FIG. The sequence diagram shown in FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a time series of information exchange between the wireless center microcomputer 41 and the SS transmitting / receiving unit 45 of the wireless center 3 and the SS transmitting / receiving unit 61 and the TV microcomputer 65 of the TV body 5. is there. For example, the TV microcomputer 65 transmits an auto scan request to the wireless center microcomputer 41 via the SS transmitting / receiving unit 61 of the TV main body 3 and the SS transmitting / receiving unit 45 of the wireless center 3 by transmitting a request command (S101-S103-S105). ). On the other hand, the wireless center microcomputer 41 returns a response to the effect that the request command has been received to the TV microcomputer 65 via the SS transmitting / receiving unit 45 of the wireless center 3 and the SS transmitting / receiving unit 61 of the TV main body 5 (S107- S111, S115). A transmission processing response is also returned from the SS transmission / reception unit 61 to the TV microcomputer 65 (S104). During this time, the TV microcomputer 65 of the TV main body 5 monitors the timeout (S117a).

  The wireless center microcomputer 41 performs a request process for the received auto scan request (S118). When the process is executed, channel specifying information regarding which channel has been set, including skip information indicating whether a station is present or not, is transmitted to the TV microcomputer 65 in the form of a process response (S121, S123, S125). This channel identification information is stored in an EEPROM (second storage unit) 73 provided in the TV main body 5. When the up / down channel selection is performed by the remote control device 200 (FIG. 6), the channel identification information stored in the EEPROM 73, which is information that can be referred to to specify the channel selected by the up / down input operation. Is transmitted to the wireless center unit (tuner unit) 3 in the form of a direct channel selection command for selecting the channel selected by referring to FIG.

  Thereby, when the channel up / down channel selection key is input in the TV main unit 5, the channel is converted into a direct channel selection command and then sent to the wireless center unit 3, that is, the up / down channel selection key is decoded on the monitor side. Since it is sent to the tuner after being converted into a direct channel selection command, there is no need to decode and convert the up / down channel selection command into a direct channel selection command in the wireless center unit 3. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay time depending on the interval related to the exchange of the command, thereby improving the response to the user's input for up / down channel selection. For example, according to the television receiving / reproducing system 1, the time required for displaying the channel number determined after the channel selection on the monitor is reduced by 120 ms or more, as compared with the conventional system.

  Here, FIG. 10 is a detailed functional block diagram of the television reception / playback system 1. The functional configuration when the wireless AV system of the present invention is applied to a display-separated type wireless TV receiver will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the television reception / playback system (wireless AV system) 1 includes a wireless center 3 and a TV main body (AV output device) 5. As described above, in the television receiving / reproducing system 1, the wireless center 3 including the tuner unit and the TV main unit 5 including the TV unit (display unit) 71 are provided separately.

  The wireless center 3 includes at least a tuner unit 301, a first transmission / reception unit 303, a second channel identification information storage unit 305, and a first control unit 307.

  Tuner section 301 performs channel selection. The tuner unit 301 is realized by the wireless center microcomputer 41 (FIG. 2).

  The first transmission / reception unit 303 transmits and receives the broadcast information selected by the tuner unit 301 and other data. The first transmission / reception unit 303 transmits broadcast information to the second transmission / reception unit 505 of the TV main body 5, and transmits and receives data (including commands) wirelessly to and from the first transmission / reception unit 505. Do. The first transmission / reception unit 303 is realized by the SS transmission / reception unit 45 (FIG. 2), and the control is performed by the first SS-CPU 57 (FIG. 2).

  The second channel specifying information storage unit 305 stores channel specifying information 305a generated in response to an input operation from the TV main body 5 to the tuner unit 301 for prompting a tuning process and specifying a channel. The second channel specifying information storage unit 305 is realized by the EEPROM 47 (FIG. 2).

  The first control unit 307 performs control to collectively transmit the channel identification information 305a stored in the second channel identification information storage unit 305 to the TV main body 5. Note that the first control unit 307 is realized by the wireless center microcomputer 41 (FIG. 2).

  The TV main unit 5 includes at least a TV unit 71, a channel selection input unit 503, a second transmission / reception unit 505, a first channel identification information storage unit 507, a command conversion unit 509, and a second control unit 511.

  The TV unit 71 outputs video and / or audio based on broadcast information.

  The channel selection input unit 503 accepts an input operation by a user for prompting the tuner unit 301 of the wireless center 3 to perform a channel selection process. Note that the channel selection input unit 503 is realized by the TV microcomputer 65 (FIG. 3).

  The second transmission / reception unit 505 receives broadcast information transmitted from the wireless center 3 and transmits and receives data (including commands) wirelessly to and from the wireless center 3. The second transmission / reception unit 505 is realized by the SS transmission / reception unit 61 (FIG. 3), and the control is performed by the second SS-CPU 85 (FIG. 3).

  The first channel specifying information storage unit 507 stores channel specifying information 507a that can be referred to to specify the channel selected by the up / down input operation when a channel up / down input operation is performed in the input operation by the user. Remember. Here, the first channel specifying information 507a is skip information indicating whether or not a station is registered in the channel selected by the up / down input operation, based on the currently selected channel. Is information acquired from the wireless center 3. That is, the channel specifying information 507a is a copy of the channel specifying information 305a. Note that the first channel specifying information storage unit 507 is realized by the EEPROM 73 (FIG. 3).

  Here, FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the channel identification information 305a and 507a. As shown in the figure, in the channel specifying information 305a, 507a, reception channel data, channel display data, reception fine adjustment data, external setting data, skip data, and the like are managed in association with each channel.

  The command conversion unit 509 refers to the channel specifying information 507a and converts the up / down input operation into a direct command for causing the tuner unit 301 of the wireless center 3 to directly select a channel. Note that the command conversion unit 509 is realized by the TV microcomputer 65 (FIG. 3).

  The second control unit 511 performs an up / down input operation with reference to the channel specifying information 507a stored in the first channel specifying information storage unit 507 when the user performs a channel up / down input operation in the input operation by the user. A direct channel selection command for directly selecting the specified channel is generated and transmitted to the wireless center 3. The second control unit 511 is realized by the TV microcomputer 65 (FIG. 3).

  Next, a method of selecting a channel between the wireless center 3 and the TV main body 5 in the television receiving / reproducing system 1 having the above configuration will be described.

  First, the tuner unit 301 of the wireless center 3 selects a channel based on the input operation acquired by the channel selection input unit 503 of the TV main body 5. Next, the first control unit 307 collects channel identification (setting) information 305a including skip information on whether or not a station is registered in each channel based on the channel selection result of the tuner unit 301, and acquires the channel identification information. 305a is transmitted to the TV main body 5 wirelessly. Then, the channel specifying information 305a received by the second control unit 511 is stored in the first channel specifying information storage unit 507 as the channel specifying information 507a.

  Next, in response to the up / down channel selection operation in the channel selection input unit 503, the command conversion unit 509 refers to the channel identification information 507a stored in the first channel identification information storage unit 507 to specify the channel specified. Is generated, and a direct channel selection command for selecting the specified channel is generated. The second transmission / reception unit 505 wirelessly transmits the direct channel selection command to the wireless center 3.

  Note that the first control unit 307 may transmit the channel identification information 305a to the TV body 5 in a lump.

  Next, referring to FIG. 12, a description will be given of a sequence of processing such as direct channel selection command creation, transmission, and channel change in the case of a channel change in the television reception / playback system 1 having the above configuration.

  First, the tuning input unit 503 of the TV main body 5 acquires the tuning key input by the user (S51). Next, the command conversion unit 509 determines whether the input tuning key is a channel up / channel down or a channel number is directly input (S53). At this time, if the channel selection key is channel up / channel down (YES in S53), whether the broadcast station is assigned to a channel number obtained by adding / subtracting the current channel number by 1 according to each of them. Information (broadcast presence / absence information) indicating whether or not the information is obtained is obtained by referring to the channel identification information 507a (S55). Then, the process of step 55 is repeated until a broadcast channel is found based on the broadcast presence / absence information (S57). If a broadcast channel is found (YES in S57), the calculated broadcast channel number is set as a direct channel selection number (S59). On the other hand, when the channel number is directly input by the user in step S51 (NO in S53), the input channel number is set as the direct channel selection number (S61).

  Next, the second control unit 511 transmits a command of the direct channel selection number to the wireless center 3 (S63).

  Next, in the wireless center 2, the tuner unit 301 decodes and performs a channel selection operation based on the direct channel selection number received from the TV main body 5 (S33). Then, the selected channel number is transmitted as a command to the TV main body 5 (S35).

  Next, the TV main unit 5 displays the channel number received from the TV main unit 5 on the TV unit 71 (S65).

  For example, in step S55, when the channel up key is input when the currently selected channel is 10ch, the command conversion unit 509 adds the channel No. by 1 and determines whether there is a broadcast station based on the broadcast presence / absence information. Determine the channel number. Then, the channel No. is converted into a direct channel KEY for tuning and transmitted to the tuner unit 301. As described above, the TV main body 5 has the tuning information executed by the tuner unit 301, and can determine whether or not the broadcast station is assigned to the channel number.

  In the television receiving / reproducing system 1 having the above-described configuration, in a system in which the tuner is disposed in the wireless center 3 and the display unit is separately disposed in the TV main body 5 and communicably connected thereto, the channel of the TV main body 5 is increased. When the down tuning key is input, it is converted to a direct tuning command in accordance with the key and then sent to the tuner, so there is no need to decode the command in the tuner, and the delay time depending on the interval related to the exchange of the command is reduced. This has the advantage that the response to the input for the user's up / down channel selection is improved.

  As described above, the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to these examples, and various modifications are possible. Although the present invention has been described with reference to a television reception / playback system as an example, the present invention is applicable to other AV systems such as a personal computer and a DVD system. The description has been given based on an example in which the present invention is applied to an AV device communicably connected wirelessly. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is also applicable to an AV device networked by a wire or the like.

  The functional blocks (FIG. 10) of each device of the television reception / playback system 1 described above may be configured by hardware logic, or may be realized by software using a CPU as described below.

  That is, the wireless center 3 and the TV main unit 5 include a CPU (central processing unit) for executing instructions of a control program for realizing each function, a ROM (read only memory) storing the program, and a RAM (random) for expanding the program. access memory), and a storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the program and various data. An object of the present invention is to enable a computer to read a program code (executable program, intermediate code program, source program) of a control program of the wireless center 3 and / or the TV main body 5, which is software for realizing the above-described functions. This can also be achieved by supplying the recorded recording medium to each of the above-described devices, and reading out and executing the program code recorded on the recording medium by the computer (or CPU or MPU). The content stored in the recording medium is not limited to a program, but may be data.

  Examples of the recording medium include a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and a disk including an optical disk such as a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. System, a card system such as an IC card (including a memory card) / optical card, or a semiconductor memory system such as a mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM.

  Further, the wireless center 3 and / or the TV main unit 5 may be configured to be connectable to a communication network, and the program code may be supplied via the communication network. The communication network is not particularly limited. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication A net or the like can be used. The transmission medium constituting the communication network is not particularly limited. For example, even if the transmission medium is a wire such as IEEE1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL line, infrared rays such as IrDA or remote control, Bluetooth, It can also be used for wireless communications such as 802.11 wireless, HDR, mobile phone networks, satellite links, and terrestrial digital networks. Note that the present invention can also be realized in the form of a carrier wave or a data signal sequence in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  Note that the present embodiment does not limit the scope of the present invention, and various changes can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, the present embodiment can be configured as follows.

  A wireless AV system according to the present invention includes: a wireless center having a tuner unit for selecting a channel, and a first transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving broadcast information selected by the tuner unit and other data. A display unit, a channel selection input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a channel selection process, and wirelessly transmitting and receiving data between the first transmission and reception unit while receiving the broadcast information. A second transmission / reception unit capable of storing, when a channel up / down input operation is performed in the input operation, channel identification information that can be referred to to identify a channel selected by the up / down input operation; An AV output device having a first channel specifying information storage unit may be used.

  According to the above configuration, when the channel up / down operation is performed by the AV output device, the channel is selected by the up / down input operation with reference to the channel identification information stored in the first channel identification information storage unit. The selected channel can be specified and transmitted to the tuner. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay time related to the exchange of commands, which is a problem of the conventional system. Therefore, it is possible to improve the response to the input for the user's up / down channel selection.

  Further, in the wireless AV system according to the present invention, the AV output device further converts the up / down input operation into a direct command for causing the tuner unit to directly select a channel by referring to the channel identification information. A command conversion unit may be provided.

  According to the above configuration, when a channel up / down operation is performed on the AV output device, the channel is identified by an up / down input operation with reference to the channel identification information stored in the first channel identification information storage unit. The selected channel is converted into a direct channel selection command for channel selection, and this command can be sent to the tuner side. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay related to the exchange of commands and improve the response of the up / down channel selection.

  Further, in the wireless AV system according to the present invention, the first channel specifying information is information indicating whether or not a station is registered in the channel selected by the up / down input operation based on a current channel selection channel. It may be.

  According to the above configuration, it is further possible to determine whether or not a station is registered in the selected channel based on the up / down direction of the input operation and the current channel selection channel. Also, the data structure for that is simple.

  Further, in the wireless AV system according to the present invention, the first channel identification information is skip information obtained based on a result of a channel scan executed in the tuner unit, and is transmitted from the wireless center to the AV output device. It may be transmitted.

  According to the above configuration, further, the skip information obtained based on the result of the channel scan executed in the tuner unit can be transmitted from the wireless center to the AV output device, and can be used as the first channel specifying information. Therefore, since it is not necessary to separately prepare the first channel specifying information, the operation of creating and updating the first channel specifying information can be omitted.

  Further, a wireless center according to the present invention includes a tuner unit for selecting a channel, and a first transmitting / receiving unit for wirelessly transmitting / receiving broadcast information selected by the tuner unit and other data. A center that is provided separately from the wireless center and that includes an display unit that displays broadcast information selected by the tuner unit. A configuration may be provided that includes a second channel identification information storage unit that stores channel identification information for identifying a channel generated by the above.

  According to the above configuration, the wireless center can specify a channel generated in the AV output device and received from the AV output device based on the channel specifying information stored in the second channel specifying information storage unit. Therefore, when a channel up / down operation is performed by the AV output device, it is possible to specify the channel selected by the up / down input operation and send the channel to the tuner. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay time related to the exchange of commands, which is a problem of the conventional system. Therefore, it is possible to improve the response to the input for the user's up / down channel selection.

  Furthermore, the wireless center according to the present invention may include a first control unit that performs control to collectively transmit the channel identification information stored in the second channel identification information storage unit to the AV output device. .

  According to the above configuration, for example, when the skip information obtained based on the result of the channel scan executed in the tuner unit is transmitted from the wireless center to the AV output device and used as the first channel identification information By transmitting the channel specifying information to the AV output device collectively, the operation of creating and updating the channel specifying information becomes easy.

  Further, the AV output device according to the present invention includes a display unit, and a channel selection input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting a tuner unit of a wireless center provided separately from the display unit to perform a channel selection process. A transmitting / receiving unit that receives broadcast information sent from the wireless center and can transmit and receive data wirelessly to and from the wireless center, and when an up / down input operation of a channel is performed in the input operation, And a first channel specifying information storage unit that stores channel specifying information that can be referred to to specify the channel selected by the up / down input operation.

  According to the above configuration, when the channel up / down operation is performed by the AV output device, the channel is selected by the up / down input operation with reference to the channel identification information stored in the first channel identification information storage unit. The selected channel can be specified and transmitted to the tuner. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay time related to the exchange of commands, which is a problem of the conventional system. Therefore, it is possible to improve the response to the input for the user's up / down channel selection.

  Further, the AV output device according to the present invention, when an up / down input operation of a channel is performed in the input operation, refers to the channel identification information stored in the first channel identification information storage unit and performs the up / down operation. A second control unit may be provided for controlling the generation of a direct channel selection command for directly selecting a channel specified by the input operation and transmission to the wireless center.

  According to the above configuration, when a channel up / down operation is performed on the AV output device, the channel is identified by an up / down input operation with reference to the channel identification information stored in the first channel identification information storage unit. The selected channel is converted into a direct channel selection command for channel selection, and this command can be sent to the tuner side. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay related to the exchange of commands and improve the response of the up / down channel selection.

  Also, the tuning method according to the present invention includes a wireless center having a tuner unit for selecting a channel; a display unit; and a tuning input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a tuning process. A tuning unit between the tuner unit and the AV output device having a storage unit, wherein the tuner unit selects a channel based on the input operation; and Collecting channel identification information including skip information as to whether or not a station is registered on a channel, wirelessly transmitting the channel identification information to the AV output device, and transmitting the transmitted channel identification information to the storage unit. A channel identified by referring to the channel identification information stored in the storage unit in accordance with an up / down channel selection operation in the channel selection input unit. Find the channel, and sending in generating a direct tuning command for selecting a specified channel wireless to the wireless center side, may be a method having.

  According to the above configuration, the channel identification information including the skip information obtained based on the result of the channel scan executed in the tuner unit is transmitted from the wireless center to the AV output device. Then, when a channel up / down operation is performed by the AV output device, a direct channel for selecting a channel selected by the up / down input operation is referred to by referring to the channel identification information stored in the storage unit. It can be converted to a tuning command and sent to the tuner. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay related to the exchange of commands and improve the response of the up / down channel selection. Further, since the skip information or the like generated by the tuner unit is used, the operation of creating and updating the channel specifying information becomes easy.

  Further, the tuning method according to the present invention is configured to wirelessly communicate with a wireless center having a tuner unit for performing channel selection, and to perform a display unit and an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a tuning process. What is claimed is: 1. A channel selecting method for an AV output device, comprising: a tuning input unit to be accepted; and a storage unit, wherein the tuner selects a channel based on the input operation; Obtaining channel identification information including skip information on whether or not a station is registered on each channel obtained based on the result and storing the channel identification information in the storage unit; and performing an up / down channel selection operation in the channel selection input unit. In response to the search for the specified channel with reference to the channel specifying information stored in the storage unit, and selects the specified channel. And sending wirelessly to generate direct tuning commands because the wireless center side, may be a method having.

  According to the above configuration, the channel identification information including the skip information obtained based on the result of the channel scan executed in the tuner unit is transmitted from the wireless center to the AV output device. Then, when a channel up / down operation is performed by the AV output device, a direct channel for selecting a channel selected by the up / down input operation is referred to by referring to the channel identification information stored in the storage unit. It can be converted to a tuning command and sent to the tuner. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay related to the exchange of commands and improve the response of the up / down channel selection. Further, since the skip information or the like generated by the tuner unit is used, the operation of creating and updating the channel specifying information becomes easy.

  Also, the tuning data generation method according to the present invention is configured to wirelessly communicate with an AV output device having a display unit, a tuning input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting a tuning process, and a storage unit. It is a tuning data generation method in a wireless center having a tuner unit for performing a tuning process, comprising: a step of causing the tuner unit to select a channel based on the input operation; and A method of collecting channel identification information including skip information as to whether or not a station is registered in each channel based on the channel identification information, and sending the channel identification information to the AV output device side in a batch by wireless. Good.

  According to the above configuration, in the wireless center, channel identification information including skip information on whether or not a station is registered in each channel is collected based on the tuning result of the tuner unit. Then, the channel specifying information is collectively transmitted from the wireless center to the AV output device, and is used as the channel specifying information. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately prepare channel identification information used in the AV output device. Further, since channel identification information including skip information on whether or not a station is registered in each channel is collected based on the channel selection result of the tuner unit, an operation for creating channel identification information is not separately required.

  Also, an AV system according to the present invention includes a tuner device having a tuner unit for selecting a channel, and a first transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving broadcast information selected by the tuner unit and other data. A display unit, a channel selection input unit configured to receive an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a channel selection process, and a first transmission / reception unit that receives the broadcast information. A second transmitting / receiving unit capable of transmitting / receiving data to / from the unit, and for specifying a channel selected by the up / down input operation when an up / down input operation of a channel is performed in the input operation. An AV output device having a first channel specifying information storage unit that stores referenceable channel specifying information may be provided.

  According to the above configuration, in the AV system in which the AV output device and the tuner device are formed to be separable, when the channel up / down operation is performed by the AV output device, the data is stored in the first channel specifying information storage unit. With reference to the specified channel specifying information, it is possible to specify the channel selected by the up / down input operation and send it to the tuner. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the delay time related to the exchange of commands, which is a problem of the conventional system. Therefore, it is possible to improve the response to the input for the user's up / down channel selection.

  Note that the wireless center may be realized by a computer. In this case, a control program of the wireless center that causes the computer to realize the wireless center by operating the computer as each of the units, and a computer that records the program A readable recording medium also falls within the scope of the present invention.

  Further, the AV output device may be realized by a computer. In this case, a control program for a wireless center that causes the computer to realize the AV output device by operating the computer as each of the units, and records the program. The computer-readable recording medium described above also falls within the scope of the present invention.

  The wireless AV system of the present invention is suitable for, but not limited to, a home AV network system such as a display-separated type wireless TV receiver for wirelessly transmitting video and / or audio data. / PHS (Personal Handy-Phone System) (registered trademark), a portable information terminal (PDA (Personal Digital Assistants)), and a wireless communication device such as a personal computer monitor with a built-in TV reception function. Particularly, suitable video sources include television program broadcasting and data broadcasting using the Internet, television reception using a mobile television or a mobile phone, program reception using a LAN spot, and the like.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a television reception / playback system according to the present embodiment. It is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of a tuner side (wireless center side) device in the television reception / playback system according to the present embodiment. It is a functional block diagram showing an example of composition of a monitor side (TV side) device in a television reception and reproduction system by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a data structure exchanged between the tuner side and the monitor side in the television reception / playback system by this Embodiment. It is a figure showing an example of a channel setting menu. 3 is a configuration example of a remote control device. It is a structural example of skip information obtained by auto preset. It is a figure which shows the example of a sequence of the bidirectional communication between the tuner side and the monitor side in the television reception / playback system by this Embodiment. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a television reception / playback system according to the present embodiment. It is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example on the tuner side and the monitor side in the television reception / playback system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure of a channel identification information table managed on the tuner side and the monitor side in the television reception / playback system according to the present embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing a series of processes such as direct channel selection command creation, transmission, and channel change when a channel is changed in the television reception / playback system according to the present embodiment.

Explanation of reference numerals

1 TV reception / playback system (wireless AV system, AV system)
3 wireless center (tuner device)
5 TV main unit (AV output device)
7a Video 1 input (with S terminal) terminal 7b Video 2 input (decoder input) terminal 7c Video 3 input (monitor / BS output) terminal 11a AC power supply terminal 11b Car-DC terminal 15a BS antenna 15b UHF / VHF antenna 15c Diversity Antenna 23a AC power terminal 23b Car-DC terminal 27 Video 4 input (TV output) terminal 31 U / VHF tuner 33 BS tuner 35 Video / audio demodulator 37 Audio switching unit 41 Wireless center microcomputer 43 First AV selector 45 SS transmission / reception unit ( Wireless transmission / reception unit)
47 First Storage Unit (EEPROM)
51 A / D converter 53 MPEG2 encoder 55 First SS wireless transmission / reception engine 57 First SS-CPU
61 SS transmission / reception unit 65 TV microcomputer 67 second AV selector 71 TV unit (liquid crystal display)
73 Second Storage Unit (EEPROM)
75 remote control light receiving unit 77 second SS wireless transmission / reception engine 81 MPEG2 encoder,
83 D / A converter 85 Second SS-CPU
301 Tuner section 303 First transmission / reception section 305 Second channel identification information storage section 305a Channel identification information 307 First control section 501 Display section 503 Channel selection input section 505 Second transmission / reception section 507 First channel identification information storage section 507a Channel Specific information 509 Command conversion unit 511 Second control unit

Claims (11)

A wireless center having a tuner unit for selecting a channel, and a first transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving the broadcast information selected by the tuner unit and other data;
A display unit, a channel selection input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a channel selection process, and wirelessly transmitting and receiving data between the first transmission and reception unit while receiving the broadcast information. A second transmission / reception unit capable of storing, when a channel up / down input operation is performed in the input operation, channel identification information that can be referred to to identify a channel selected by the up / down input operation; A wireless AV system having an AV output device having a first channel specifying information storage unit.   The AV output device further includes a command conversion unit that converts the up / down input operation into a direct command for causing the tuner unit to directly select a channel by referring to the channel identification information. Item 2. The wireless AV system according to item 1.   The first channel identification information is skip information indicating whether or not a station is registered in the channel selected by the up / down input operation, based on a currently selected channel, and based on a channel scan, The wireless AV system according to claim 1, wherein the information is information acquired from a wireless center. A wireless center, comprising: a tuner unit that performs channel selection; and a first transceiver unit that wirelessly transmits and receives broadcast information and other data selected by the tuner unit.
A channel generated in response to an input operation for prompting a tuning process to the tuner unit from an AV output device including a display unit that is provided separately from the wireless center and that displays broadcast information selected by the tuner unit, A wireless center having a second channel specifying information storage unit for storing channel specifying information for specifying.   5. The wireless center according to claim 4, further comprising: a first control unit that performs control to collectively transmit the channel specifying information stored in the second channel specifying information storage unit to the AV output device. .   A display unit, a channel selection input unit that receives an input operation for prompting a channel selection process to a tuner unit of a wireless center provided separately from the display unit, and receives broadcast information transmitted from the wireless center. A transmission / reception unit capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data to and from the wireless center, and specifying a channel selected by the up / down input operation when a channel up / down input operation is performed in the input operation. And a first channel specifying information storage unit that stores channel specifying information that can be referred to for performing the output.   When an up / down input operation of a channel is performed in the input operation, the channel specified by the up / down input operation is directly selected by referring to the channel specifying information stored in the first channel specifying information storage unit. 7. The AV output device according to claim 6, further comprising a second control unit for performing a control for generating a direct channel selection command for transmitting the command to the wireless center. A wireless center having a tuner for performing channel selection;
A channel selection method between an AV output device having a display unit, a channel selection input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a channel selection process, and a storage unit,
Based on the input operation, the tuner section performs channel selection,
Collecting channel setting information including skip information on whether or not a station is registered in each channel based on the tuning result of the tuner unit, and wirelessly transmitting the channel setting information to the AV output device;
The transmitted channel setting information is stored in the storage unit, and in response to an up / down channel selection operation in the channel selection input unit, the channel setting information is specified by referring to the channel setting information stored in the storage unit. Searching for a channel, generating a direct channel selection command for channel selection of the specified channel, and wirelessly transmitting the command to the wireless center side. An AV which is wirelessly associated with a wireless center having a tuner unit for performing channel selection, and has a display unit, a tuning input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a tuning process, and a storage unit. A channel selection method in an output device,
Causing the tuner unit to select a channel based on the input operation;
A step of acquiring channel setting information including skip information on whether or not a station is registered in each channel obtained based on the tuning result of the tuner unit and storing the acquired channel setting information in the storage unit,
According to an up / down channel selection operation in the channel selection input section, a channel specified by referring to the channel setting information stored in the storage section is searched, and the specified channel is selected. Generating a direct channel selection command and sending it to the wireless center side wirelessly. Channel selection in a wireless center having a tuner unit that is wirelessly associated with an AV output device having a display unit, a channel selection input unit that receives an input operation for prompting a channel selection process, and a storage unit and performs a channel selection process A data generation method,
Causing the tuner unit to select a channel based on the input operation;
Based on the tuning result of the tuner section, channel setting information including skip information on whether or not a station is registered in each channel is collected, and the channel setting information is collectively transmitted to the AV output device side wirelessly. A tuning data generation method having a step. A tuner device including: a tuner unit that performs channel selection; and a first transceiver unit that transmits and receives broadcast information selected by the tuner unit and other data.
A display unit, formed so as to be separable from the tuner device, a channel selection input unit for receiving an input operation for prompting the tuner unit to perform a channel selection process, and a first transmission / reception unit that receives the broadcast information and A second transmission / reception unit capable of transmitting / receiving data to / from, and a reference for specifying a channel selected by the up / down input operation when an up / down input operation of a channel is performed in the input operation. An AV system comprising: an AV output device having a first channel identification information storage unit that stores possible channel identification information.

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