JP2005117181A - Teletext receiving card - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a novel teletext receiving card which is loadable to an external interface of a PDA. <P>SOLUTION: The teletext receiving card has: an interface controller 20; a teletext receiving module 21 receiving sound information and character information at the same time; and a low frequency amplifier circuit 22, included in a card package connectable to an external bus 24 of the PDA or the like. The low frequency amplifier circuit 22 outputs the sound information received by the teletext receiving module 21 as a sound signal, and the character data received by the teletext receiving module 21 are sent to the interface controller 20, wherein the protocol of the character data is converted into a protocol compatible with the external bus 24, and the resulting character data are transmitted to the PDA via the external bus 24. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a peripheral device capable of providing a mobile information terminal such as a radio that does not have a radio wave reception function, and more particularly to a character multiplex broadcast reception card connected to a pocket computer or the like.

  Portable information terminals (hereinafter also referred to as “PDA” in this specification) equipped with external interfaces compliant with international standards are rapidly spreading. Various portable information terminals exist, but if a common external interface is installed, data can be exchanged by using a common protocol even between different types of devices.

  In recent years, functions of devices have been actively integrated, and a technology related to a multifunctional portable information terminal device in which the capacity of the entire device is reduced by combining various portable information terminals has been proposed (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

  However, although Patent Document 1 described above describes connecting an optional device such as a radio receiver to an apparatus main body (portable information terminal) via an interface (see paragraph 20), the internal configuration thereof is described. It is not specifically explained.

By the way, in recent years, text multiplex broadcasting (so-called “visible radio”) is known in which text information is multiplexed and transmitted on a music or voice signal. In addition to a car navigation system, a television, and the like, a portable multiplex broadcast receiver has been realized as the multiplex broadcast receiver itself, but a multiplex broadcast receiver using a PDA is not known.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-215217

  However, when the conventional card-type radio receiver is configured to be connected to the external interface of the PDA, eventually, a plurality of independent devices are simply connected via the interface, and this provides added value. Must not.

  Inventors of the present case pay attention to the fact that the external interface of PDA has become highly functional in recent years, and data transmission at a higher rate than before has been possible. We thought that it would not be possible to realize a highly functional teletext broadcast reception function that has higher added value than conventional portable radio receivers that can display data.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a novel text multiplex broadcast receiving card that can be attached to an external interface of a PDA.

The character multiplex broadcast receiving card according to the present invention includes an interface controller 20 and a character multiplex broadcast receiving module 21 that can simultaneously receive voice information and character information in a card housing connectable to the external bus 24 of the PDA. A multiplex broadcast receiving card 12 comprising a low-frequency amplifier circuit 22,
The audio information received by the text multiplex broadcast receiving module 21 is output as an audio signal by the low frequency amplifier circuit 22,
The character data received by the character multiplex broadcast receiving module 21 is transmitted to the interface controller 20, where protocol conversion corresponding to the external bus 24 is performed, and then transmitted to the PDA 10 via the external bus 24. It is characterized by being.

  According to such a configuration, it is possible to display the text information of the text multiplex broadcast with the PDA while receiving the audio signal with the receiving card body.

  The interface controller 20 in the receiving card preferably includes a protocol engine 31, external interfaces 33a to 33c, a microcontroller unit 36 and its input / output port 38.

  When the microcontroller unit is mounted in this way, control signals such as a power switch, channel selection (tuning), and volume control related to the reception system for multiplex broadcasting can be provided on the PDA side.

  When the text multiplex broadcast card according to the present invention is used, a portable information terminal that does not have a text multiplex broadcast receiving function can be used as a text multiplex broadcast receiver.

  Various external interfaces are known. As an example, a card-type peripheral device compliant with the SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output) standard is taken as an example. The description will be given with reference.

(Overall system diagram)
FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a text multiplex broadcast receiving system using a text multiplex broadcast receiving card according to the present invention. The host device 10 may be of any type as long as it is a portable information terminal equipped with an SDIO interface. However, in the case of the present invention, a system that displays character multiplex broadcasting on the host device side is assumed. For this reason, it is necessary to provide the character information display unit 11 at least on the host device side. The display unit 11 displays character information such as a broadcasting station name, a song name, and an artist name.

  The host device 10 includes an SDIO host (not shown) inside, and can exchange data and the like by connecting to an SDIO card application via an external bus (SD bus).

  This receiving system is used by attaching the teletext receiving card 12 according to the present invention to the SDIO card slot of the host device 10. The SDIO card 12 includes an SDIO controller, a text multiplex broadcast receiving module, and the like, and further includes an audio output terminal 12a for outputting an audio signal. An earphone 13 is connected to output sound.

(Internal structure of teletext receiving card)
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram for explaining the internal configuration of the audio multiplex broadcast receiving card according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram inside the SDIO controller 20 in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, an SDIO controller 20, a text multiplex broadcast receiving module 21, and a low-frequency amplifier circuit 22 composed of an operational amplifier or the like are provided inside the card casing. Further, in this embodiment, a memory device 23 such as an EEPROM is further connected to record voice information and character information, record an application program for operating this receiving system, and other various data. Etc. can be recorded.

  The SDIO controller 20 is a one-chip semiconductor device that connects an SDIO host conforming to the SDIO standard and a plurality of applications via an external bus (SD bus) 24, and needs to decode commands sent from the SDIO host. An SD interface unit (protocol engine) for sending a response to the SDIO host, an application interface unit, and a temporary storage memory (R / W FIFO) memory between the SD interface unit and the application interface unit. That is, the SDIO controller 20 is a type of interface controller that conforms to the SDIO standard for performing data communication between a host device and an application device.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the SDIO controller 20 shown in this embodiment includes an SD protocol engine (HIM: host interface module) 31 that decodes commands sent from the SDIO host and sends necessary responses to the SDIO host, and temporary storage. A memory (R / W FIFO) 32 and a plurality of application interfaces 33a, 33b, and 33c are included. Note that the control register (SDIOREG) 34 is included in the HIM although it is depicted as a functional block. The control register 34 is a configuration necessary for the SDIO host to control the SD device.

The SDIO controller 20 includes a memory interface 33c that can connect HS-UART (UART capable of high speed) 33a, PCMCIA 33b, and flash memory such as EEPROM as an application interface.
Other application interfaces such as those corresponding to a PC card bus or other interfaces may be mounted.

  The SDIO controller 20 further includes a FIFO controller (DMA) 35, a microcontroller unit (MCU) 36, an I-RAM 37a and a D-RAM 37b, and a GPIO 38. The MCU enables complicated data control and can be serially connected to an external module through a general-purpose input / output port (GPIO). Although only one DMA 35 is shown in FIG. 1, there are actually three DMAs 35. Each DMA is connected to RFIFOs 32a, 32b, and 32c that temporarily store data sent from the DMA corresponding to each application interface and a WFIFO 32d that temporarily stores data sent from the SDIO host via the HIM.

Thus, if the interface controller has an application interface and a general-purpose input / output port (GPIO), a general-purpose teletext broadcast receiving module can be connected to the input / output interface of the module. For example, if the input / output port of the text multiplex broadcast receiving module 21 has a serial communication interface, it may be connected to the GPIO port or the I ² C serial port of the interface controller 20.

  Alternatively, when receiving a text multiplex broadcast having a large data rate (data amount), a text multiplex broadcast receiving module capable of parallel connection of multiple bits can be connected instead of a serial connection. It is sufficient that the format of the application interface on the interface controller side and the format of the interface of the input / output port of the teletext receiving module are the same.

  In the circuit example shown in FIG. 2, since the used text multiplex broadcast receiving module has a serial input / output port, a part of GPIO is used for character data communication. The operational amplifier is also controlled by using another port of GPIO.

  The SD bus includes VDD, VSS (1), VSS (2), SCLK, SCMD, SDAT0, SDAT1, SDAT2, and SDAT3. VDD, VSS (1), VSS (2) are power supply lines, SCLK is an SD clock, SCMD is a command line, and SDAT0 to SDAT3 are data lines.

For data transfer, a data transfer mode (1 bit mode) using only one data line out of four data lines (SDAT0 to SDAT3) and a data transfer mode (4 bit mode) using all data lines. And a special mode called SPI mode. Which mode is adopted depending on the bit rate of the text multiplex broadcasting is a design matter that can be appropriately selected by those skilled in the art.
When the bit rate is slow or when only audio signals are transmitted to the SD bus, it is sufficient to communicate with the host device in the SPI mode or the like, but when it is necessary to receive at a high bit rate, the communication is performed in the 4-bit mode. It is necessary to do.

(Operation of this system)
In general, a receiver for teletext broadcasting requires at least a power switch, channel selection (tuning), volume control, and a teletext receiver (display unit). In this receiving system, the PDA on the host device side is provided with all functions necessary for operating the input / output device such as the display unit, keyboard, memory, CPU, and other devices on the application side.
The microcontroller unit 36 is a kind of logic IC, and can control GPIO, SDIOREG (FN0), DMA, control of memory devices connected to the memory interface, and control of the teletext receiving module 21. Thus, control such as a power switch, channel selection (tuning), and volume control related to the reception system of the multiplex broadcasting can be performed, and communication with the host device can be performed via the SD bus.

  For this reason, audio is output from an audio output terminal provided on the SDIO card side with an earphone or the like, while operations such as power supply, volume adjustment, channel selection (tuning), and display of character information are all performed on the PDA on the host device side. Can be done. In addition, when an MCU is provided, an additional function of storing received digital data in a memory device or the like can be provided as an accessory function.

  The program for controlling the PDA radio receiver can be installed separately as an application program running on the operating system on the host device side, or by updating the SDIO host firmware (internal program). can do.

  Furthermore, as an additional function, the display mode (skin) of the display unit of the PDA, that is, various shapes and arrangements / colors of various buttons on the control screen, other color schemes, background images, and the like can be varied according to the user's preference. It could be changed. In addition, about the change of skin itself, since the general technique regarding software can be applied, description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  As another example of the additional function, when a memory function is installed, received voice and received character information can be recorded in the memory unit by an operation on the host device side.

  In addition, there may be an audio output terminal on the PDA side which is the host device, but the purpose of providing it on the character multiplex broadcast receiving card side is to increase the model dependency of the host device. With such a configuration, it operates as long as it is connected to a host device having at least an SDIO card slot, a display unit, and a control unit, and there is no need for an audio signal output terminal on the host device side. Of course, even if the dependence on the model is sacrificed, the audio output terminal can be provided on the PDA side with priority given to convenience and the like.

  The multiplex broadcast receiving card according to the present invention can further increase the utility value of the PDA and can be used as one of peripheral devices with high added value.

FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a teletext receiving system using a teletext receiving card according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram for explaining the internal configuration of the audio multiplex broadcast receiving card according to the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram inside the SDIO controller.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Interface controller 11 Display part 12 Character multiplex broadcast receiving card 12a Audio | voice output terminal 13 Earphone 20 SDIO controller 21 Character multiplex broadcast receiving module 22 Low frequency amplifier circuit 23 Memory device 31 SD protocol engine 32 Temporary memory (R / W FIFO)
33a, 33b, 33c Application interface 34 Control register (SDIOREG)
35 FIFO controller (DMA)
36 Microcontroller unit (MCU)
37a I-RAM
37b D-RAM
38 GPIO

Claims (2)

A card case connectable to an external bus (24) such as a PDA, an interface controller (20), a text multiplex broadcast receiving module (21) capable of simultaneously receiving audio information and text information, and low frequency amplification A teletext receiving card comprising a circuit (22),
The audio information received by the text multiplex broadcast receiving module (21) is output as an audio signal by the low frequency amplifier circuit (22),
The character data received by the text multiplex broadcast receiving module (21) is transmitted to the interface controller (20), where protocol conversion corresponding to the external bus (24) is performed, and then the external bus (24 The character multiplex broadcast receiving card is transmitted to the PDA via a personal computer. The interface controller (20) in the receiving card comprises a protocol engine (31), external interfaces (33a to 33c), a microcontroller unit (36) and its input / output port (38). The multiplex broadcast receiving card according to claim 1.

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