JP2005039675A - Television receiving system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a television receiving system by which setting can be switched between a standard reproduction mode and a reproduction assistance mode for aged viewers, and TV can be watched in a set mode without consciously conducting special operations. <P>SOLUTION: A remote control device 10 for remote-controlling the television is provided with a skin age measuring means 11 which calculates the skin age according to the state of its contact part in contact with the skin of an operator and judges the operator as an aged person according to the calculated skin age, and a transmitting means 19 which transmits a request for assistance to a television receiver 20 when the operator is judged as an aged person by the skin age measuring means 11. In response, the television receiver 20 is provided with assistance processing means (23, 24, 27, 28 and 31) which perform image processing in response to the visual performance of the elderly with respect to image signals, and perform voice processing in response to the acoustic performance of the elderly with respect to sound signals according to the request for assistance transmitted from the remote control device 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a television receiver system having a playback support mode for elderly people.

  Human visual characteristics and auditory characteristics gradually decrease with age regardless of individual differences. For example, when a characteristic of 20 years old is used as a reference, the characteristic of 60 years old is greatly reduced. Further, it is known that an elderly person over 60 years old has a low luminance, that is, it is difficult to see a dark image or a high frequency of sound is difficult to hear. In order to cope with this phenomenon, even if a function that can adjust image quality and sound quality is added to reproduce images that are easy for the elderly to see and sounds that are easy to hear, complicated adjustment operations are required and realized. It is not easy. For this reason, a television receiver having a playback support mode for elderly people has been proposed. According to this television receiver, it is possible to convert video signals and audio signals so that elderly people can easily see and hear them, and therefore elderly people can easily view television (for example, see Patent Document 1 below). .

On the other hand, it has been proposed to estimate the skin age in a non-invasive manner based on the vibration of a vibrating body in contact with the skin. The skin age is an index indicating a virtual age specific to the skin determined by the skin condition and the like, and it is possible to easily determine the necessity, method or degree of necessity of skin maintenance (for example, see Patent Document 2 below) ).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-247563 JP 2001-212087 A

  The television receiver having the above-described playback support mode switches between the standard playback mode and the playback support mode for the elderly by operating the “support button for the elderly”. However, since the television is generally placed between tea in the home and viewed by the whole family, it may be difficult for the general public to keep watching in the playback support mode for the elderly. Therefore, it may be possible to set the playback support mode for the elderly only when the elderly desire, but it is harsh to force the elderly to perform operations other than normal operations. In many cases, the user views the standard mode without switching. On the other hand, a general person may watch the video in the playback support mode for the elderly without being aware of it. For this reason, the conventional television receiver described above has a problem that the playback support mode for elderly people does not function effectively.

  Note that the non-invasive method of estimating skin age based on the vibration of a vibrating body in contact with the skin eliminates the need for an invasive test in which keratinocytes are detached from the skin with tape or the like, and then the detached keratinocytes are observed with a microscope. Although there is an advantage that the examination can be performed quickly, there has been no suggestion about application to a television having a playback support mode for elderly people.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. By applying the fact that skin age can be estimated non-invasively based on the vibration of a vibrating body, it is not necessary to be aware of special operations. Another object of the present invention is to provide a television receiver system that can switch between a standard playback mode and a playback support mode for elderly people according to the viewer and that can be viewed in the set mode.

  The television receiver system according to the present invention calculates the skin age based on the state of the contact portion in contact with the operator's skin in the remote control device for remotely operating the television, and is an elderly person from the calculated skin age. A skin age measuring means for determining the situation, and a transmission means for transmitting a support request to a television receiver when the operator determines that the operator is an elderly person by the skin age measuring means, Based on the support request transmitted from the remote control device, the John receiver performs image processing corresponding to the visual characteristics of the elderly person on the image signal, and the auditory characteristics of the elderly person on the audio signal Support processing means for executing audio processing corresponding to the above is provided, and the setting is switched between the standard playback mode and the playback support mode for elderly people according to the viewer.

  According to the present invention, by applying the fact that the skin age can be estimated non-invasively based on the state of the contact portion, the standard reproduction mode can be selected according to the viewer without performing special operations. And a television receiver system that can be switched to a playback support mode for elderly people and that can be viewed in the set mode.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a television receiver system according to the present invention, in which (a) shows the configuration of the remote control device and (b) shows the configuration of the television receiver. Show. In the figure, the remote control device 10 is a television based on the skin age measurement unit 11 for determining that the operator is an elderly person, a plurality of operation buttons 17, 18,. And a transmitter 19 for transmitting a support request to the receiver 20. Among these, the skin age measurement unit 11 detects a vibration of the vibration body, and a vibration body driving unit 13 that drives a vibration body (not shown) that is integrally supported with a contact that contacts the skin and generates vibration. The vibration detection unit 12 for generating vibration information, the skin index memory 15 for storing the previously acquired correlation between the change in the vibration of the vibrating body in contact with the skin and the skin age, and the vibration information of the vibration detection unit 12 The skin age calculation unit 14 that calculates the skin age with reference to the data stored in the skin index memory 15, and the remote control operator is called the elderly from the calculated skin age, for example, whether the age is over 60 It is comprised with the age determination part 16 which determines.

  On the other hand, the television receiver 20 receives a broadcast signal and demodulates it into a video signal and an audio signal, a video demodulator 22 that receives the video signal and performs YC separation, and a luminance signal. A luminance control unit 23 that changes the luminance signal level, a color control unit 24 that receives the color signal and adjusts the saturation, and receives a signal in which the luminance and saturation are adjusted, and performs edge enhancement and noise removal A process unit 25 that performs image processing, an image display unit 26 that displays an image based on the signal, a speech rate conversion unit 27 that converts speech to a speed that is easy to hear, a speech processing unit 28 that adjusts the volume of speech, A sound reproduction unit 29 that reproduces the sound, a remote control reception unit 30 that receives a signal from the remote control device 10, and a signal that sets the TV mode for elderly people when a support request is included in the received signal The brightness control 23, the color control section 24, and a mode setting unit 31 added to the speech speed converting section 27 and the audio processing unit 28.

  The operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described below. The remote control device 10 includes a large number of operation buttons 17, 18,..., And when any one of them is operated, the skin age measurement unit 11 and the transmission unit 19 start operation. Further, when these buttons are operated, the operator's skin comes into contact with the contact integrated with the vibrating body. Therefore, a signal corresponding to the operation buttons 17, 18,... Is transmitted from the transmitting unit 19 to the television receiver 20, while the vibrating body is driven by the vibrating body driving unit 13, and the vibration detecting unit 12 has a skin. The vibration information of the vibrating body when it contacts the contact is added to the skin age calculation unit 14. The skin age calculation unit 14 calculates the skin age using the correlation data between the change in vibration as the state of the contact portion stored in advance in the skin index memory 15 and the skin age. The age determination unit 16 determines whether or not the calculated skin age is an elderly person having a predetermined value or more, for example, 60 years or more, and sends a support mode signal to the transmission unit 19 when it is determined to be an elderly person. Therefore, the remote control device 10 transmits a support mode signal to the television receiver 20 when the person who operates it is an elderly person, and transmits a standard mode signal to the television receiver 20 if the person is a general person who is not an elderly person. To do.

  Next, in the television receiver 20, the remote control receiving unit 30 receives the support mode signal or the standard mode signal transmitted from the remote control device 10. The mode setting unit 31 performs mode setting according to the received signal. In this case, after setting once, mode setting unit 31 continues the current mode until a new mode signal is sent from remote control device 10. This is because, when watching television, once the channel and volume are set with the remote control device, the operation is usually not performed until the end of the program or the viewing of the television is stopped.

Hereinafter, image and sound processing corresponding to the support mode directly related to the present invention will be described.
The broadcast signal TS is demodulated by the tuner unit 21, and a video signal SV and an audio signal SA are output. The video signal SV is subjected to YC separation and carrier color signal demodulation in the video demodulator 22 to output a luminance signal SY and a color signal SC. The luminance control unit 23 changes the luminance signal level non-linearly according to the average luminance level of the luminance signal SY when the mode setting unit 31 is setting the support mode, so that an image that is easy for an elderly person to see is obtained. Perform control processing. In addition, it is said that the ability to distinguish color differences is highest in the twenties, and after that it decreases with age and the number of colors that can be identified by the elderly is about ½ that of the younger generation. Furthermore, 80% of people in their 60s suffer from cataracts, and when they become cataracts, the eye lens becomes cloudy, so it is said that they are looking through a yellow filter. For this reason, in the color control unit 24, it is also preferable to adjust the saturation or correct the saturation so as to cancel such a change in the vision of the elderly.

  As described above, the signal subjected to the luminance control processing and the color control processing is subjected to signal processing such as contour enhancement and noise removal and conversion processing to RGB signals in the process unit 25, and an image is displayed in the image display unit 26. Is displayed. In the processing of the audio signal, when the mode setting unit 31 sets the support mode, the speech speed conversion unit 27 converts the generated sound to a speed that is easy to hear. In addition, since the elderly people find it difficult to hear small sounds and feel loud sounds uncomfortable, a so-called “reclement phenomenon” occurs, so that the small sound is loud and the loud sound is small in the sound processing unit 28 to cancel this. Signal processing. The audio signal processed in this way is reproduced by the audio reproduction unit 29.

  Incidentally, the microcomputer (CPU) can be provided with various functions provided in the remote control device 10. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a specific processing procedure in that case. First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the remote control device is operated at regular intervals. If the remote control device is not operated, the measurement standby mode is set as it is. In the measurement standby mode, when any of the operation buttons 17, 18,... Such as the power source and the channel is operated in step S2, a signal corresponding to the operation button is transmitted to the television receiver 20 in step S3. Then, the vibration body is driven in step S4, and the signal returned from the skin is measured with respect to the vibration generated in the vibration body in step S5. Then, the skin age is calculated based on the vibration information detected in step S6. Next, it is determined whether the skin age calculated in step S7 is a predetermined value or more, for example, 60 years old or more, and if it is 60 years old or more, a support mode signal is selected in step S8, If it is less than 60 years old, the standard mode signal is selected in step S9 and transmitted in step S10. Thus, when it is determined that the operator is an elderly person, a support request is transmitted to the television receiver 20.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the transmission unit 19 in the remote controller 10 together with related elements. The remote control device 10 includes a keypad 104 in which a plurality of non-locking keys 103 (corresponding to the operation buttons 17, 18,... In FIG. 1) are arranged in a matrix, a key input interface circuit 105, and information relating to input keys. A data register 106 composed of a RAM or the like that temporarily stores data, an encoding and modulation circuit 107 that generates a remote control command code corresponding to the input key, and outputs a pulse position modulated signal based on the remote control command code; And a light projecting circuit 108 for projecting a remote control signal based on the modulation signal 107a.

The light projecting circuit 108 includes an infrared light emitting diode LED whose anode side is connected to a battery power source VB (not shown), an NPN transistor Q, and an emitter resistor RE that sets a light projecting current flowing through the infrared light emitting diode LED. It consists of
Here, the key input interface circuit 105 is configured to output a key press detection signal 105a when any key 103 is pressed. The oscillation frequency divider circuit 102 stops operating until a key press detection signal 105a is given in order to reduce battery power consumption, and when any key 103 is pressed, oscillation and frequency division of the original clock are performed. And various timing clock signals are supplied to each location. When various timing clocks are supplied from the oscillation frequency dividing circuit 102, the key input interface circuit 105 performs monitoring such as chattering and double pressing of the key 103. If the key input is normal, a key input confirmation signal is obtained. 105b is output. The sending control means 101 includes an address counter that advances based on the key input confirmation signal 105b. When the key input confirmation signal 105b is received, the sending control means 101 designates the address of the data register 106 and writes data via the address control bus 101b. Key information 106 a read from the data register 106 by supplying a control signal is supplied to the encoding and modulation circuit 107.

  When receiving the new key input confirmation signal 105b, the sending control means 101 writes new pressed key information 105c while managing the address of the data register 106. Further, when transmission of the remote control signal for all the pressed key information 105c written in the data register 106 is completed, the operation stop signal 101a is transmitted to the oscillation frequency dividing circuit 102 to stop the oscillation and frequency division.

On the other hand, a specific example of transmitting a support mode signal from the light projecting circuit 108 will be described. This support mode signal is not embedded in an existing pulse train and transmitted at the same time. Instead, a new support request pulse train is defined and transmitted separately. For example, the standard of company A is
Channel up (UP): 010101
Channel down (DOWN): 010110
If the code is Using the code that is free on this standard,
Support code: 111111
It is defined as

  If no operation is performed on the remote control device 10 for a certain period of time and then the channel up button is pressed, first, the channel up code “010101” is transmitted. Simultaneously with the transmission of this code, the skin age measurement unit 11 calculates the skin age and determines the elderly. When the calculation of the skin age and the determination of the elderly are finished and it is determined that the operator is an elderly person, a signal is sent to the data register 106 and the support code “111111” is transmitted. It takes a certain amount of time to calculate the skin age and determine the elderly, and it is practically difficult to transmit the code simultaneously with the channel up code, and the calculation of the skin age and the determination of the elderly by the skin age measuring unit 11 are finished. By configuring the support code to be transmitted in stages, there is no need to modify the existing code.

  By the way, when the support code is transmitted to the remote control receiving unit 30 of the television receiver 20, the mode setting unit 31 sets the support mode. In accordance with this setting, the speech speed conversion unit 27 converts the generated speech to a speed that is easy to hear, and the speech processing unit 28 performs signal processing so that a small sound is loud and a loud sound is small. As shown by the relationship between the input level and the output level of the audio signal level, the gain (Gain) is gradually increased and gradually decreased from L3 when the input level is in the range of L1 to L3 (L1 <L3). As a result, when the input level is greater than L2 (L1 <L2 <L3) and less than or equal to L4 (L3 <L4), the gain is greater than 1, and when the input level is greater than L4, the gain is less than 1. By doing so, a small sound whose input level is between L2 and L4 is amplified and easy to hear, and a sound whose input level is higher than L4 is attenuated and is not uncomfortable.

  Further, it is known that the relationship between the hearing level and the frequency of the elderly rapidly decreases at a high frequency exceeding 2 kHz as shown by the characteristic line (1) in FIG. On the other hand, when the gain of the audio signal is gradually increased from the portion exceeding 2 kHz as shown in FIG. 6 and corrected so as to be lifted at a constant rate in the high region exceeding 3 kHz, the sound audible to the elderly is shown in FIG. As shown in the characteristic line (2), it is possible to improve the difficulty in listening at high frequencies.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the skin age measurement unit 11 starts operating while transmitting a signal corresponding to the operation of the operation buttons 17, 18,... Of the remote control device 10 to the television receiver 20. However, since the support mode signal is transmitted to the television receiver 20 only when the skin age measurement unit 11 determines that the person is an elderly person, the standard reproduction mode can be used without performing special operations. And support mode can be switched.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a television receiving system according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the specific process sequence at the time of giving a microcomputer the function of the principal part of one embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the principal part of the remote control apparatus which comprises one embodiment of this invention. In order to demonstrate operation | movement of one embodiment of this invention, it is the diagram which showed the relationship between the input level of an audio | voice signal, and an output level. In order to demonstrate operation | movement of one embodiment of this invention, it is the diagram which showed the relationship between a frequency and the hearing level of elderly people. In order to demonstrate operation | movement of one embodiment of this invention, it is the diagram which showed the relationship between a frequency and a gain.

Explanation of symbols

10 Remote control device 11 Skin age measuring unit (skin age measuring means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Vibration detection part 13 Vibrating body drive part 14 Skin age calculation part 15 Skin index memory 16 Age determination part 17, 18 Operation button 19 Transmission part (transmission means)
20 Television Receiver 21 Tuner 22 Video Demodulator 23 Luminance Controller (Support Processing Unit)
24 color control unit (support processing means)
25 process part 26 image display part 27 speech speed conversion part (support processing means)
28 Voice processing unit (support processing means)
29 Voice reproduction unit 30 Remote control reception unit 31 Mode setting unit (support processing means)
101 Sending Control Unit 101a Operation Stop Signal 101b Address Control Bus 102 Oscillation Divider 103 Key 104 Keypad 105 Key Input Interface Circuit 105a Key Press Detection Signal 105b Key Input Confirmation Signal 105c Press Key Information 106 Data Register 106a Key Information 107 Encoding and Modulation circuit 107a Modulation signal 108 Emitting circuit LED Infrared light emitting diode Q Transistor RE Emitter resistance VB Battery power supply

Claims (1)

A skin age is calculated based on the state of the contact portion in contact with the skin of the operator, and a skin age measuring means for determining that the person is an elderly person from the calculated skin age, and the operator by the skin age measuring means A remote control device including transmission means for transmitting a support request to the television receiver when it is determined that the user is an elderly person,
Based on the support request transmitted from the remote control device, the image processing corresponding to the visual characteristics of the elderly for the image signal, and the audio processing corresponding to the hearing characteristics of the elderly for the audio signal A television receiver including support processing means for executing
A television receiver system equipped.

Images