JP2005328451A - Broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a broadcast receiver capable of presenting a broadcast station that suits user's taste among broadcast stations receivable from a position when the broadcast on watching becomes unable to receive as, for example, a vehicle moves. <P>SOLUTION: A control unit 11 stores the information about the broadcast station watched for more than a specified hours in a reception history storage 18 while relating it to the information about the current position acquired from an onboard navigation system 2. If a broadcast becomes unable to be received as a vehicle moves or due to other reason, the control unit 11 acquires information about the current position from the onboard navigation system 2, and searches a broadcast station which is receivable at the current position based on the information of service area for each broadcast station stored in a service area storage 17. It extracts a broadcast station whose reception history is stored in the reception history storage 18 among broadcast stations, and displays it as a reception recommended station on a display unit 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver that receives radio broadcasts and television broadcasts, and more particularly to a broadcast receiver suitable as a radio receiver and a television receiver mounted on a vehicle.

  Usually, an AM / FM radio receiver is mounted on a vehicle and can be driven while listening to a radio broadcast. In recent years, more and more vehicles are equipped with a TV (television) receiver so that passengers in the rear seat can watch TV programs even when the vehicle is running. However, if the vehicle is out of the service area of the broadcast station, it becomes impossible to receive the broadcasts that have been viewed so far, and it becomes necessary to search for a new favorite broadcast station. In this case, for example, the reception frequency is changed by pressing a channel selection button (seek up button or seek down button) provided in the radio receiver until a broadcast from a favorite broadcast station can be received. However, when driving a long distance, it may be necessary to repeat this operation many times, which is complicated. In particular, since there are many broadcast stations that can be viewed in urban areas, the user may have to press the channel selection button many times until a broadcast from a favorite broadcast station can be received.

A broadcast receiving apparatus that automatically sets a receivable broadcast station as a preset button has also been proposed. In this type of broadcast receiving apparatus, the reception frequency can be easily switched by simply pressing a preset button. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-145864 (Patent Document 1), channels are scanned in order to detect channels that can receive TV broadcasts, and are compared with reception data for each region registered in advance in the ROM. A TV broadcast receiver that identifies the current region and presets the reception channel is described. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-344291 (Patent Document 2) also describes a TV broadcast receiving apparatus that scans channels in order to detect and preset channels that can receive TV broadcasts at the current position.
JP-A-5-145864 JP 2002-344291 A

  However, in the conventional broadcast receiving apparatus described above, it takes time to receive a broadcast from a user's favorite broadcast station when the vehicle is removed from the service area of the broadcast station currently being viewed and the broadcast cannot be received. In some cases, there are difficulties in convenience. As described in JP-A-5-145864 and JP-A-2002-344291, it is possible to automatically detect and preset a receivable broadcasting station. Not only does this take time, but only the user's favorite broadcast stations are not preset, and the user himself / herself needs to search for a favorite broadcast station from among the preset broadcast stations.

  As described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiving apparatus that presents a broadcast station according to the user's preference among broadcast stations that can be received at the current position when the broadcast being viewed cannot be received. is there.

  The above-described problems include a display unit, a tuner unit that receives a broadcast from a broadcasting station, a location information acquisition unit that acquires information on a current location, and a service area acquisition unit that acquires service area information for each broadcasting station. A reception history storage unit that stores information on the broadcast station that is viewed in association with the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit, and a control unit that controls the display unit, the tuner unit, and the reception history storage unit. When the broadcast that has been received until then cannot be received, the control unit obtains the current location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit and the service area information for each broadcast station acquired by the service area acquisition unit. In accordance with the broadcast receiving apparatus, the broadcast stations stored in the reception history storage unit are extracted from the broadcast stations that can be viewed at the current position and displayed on the display unit. Resolve.

  In the present invention, for example, when a broadcast of the same broadcast station is received for a certain time or longer, the control unit receives information on the broadcast station (broadcast station name or broadcast frequency, etc.) in association with the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means. Store in the history storage unit. And when the control unit can no longer receive the previously received broadcast, based on the current location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit and the service area information for each broadcast station acquired by the service area acquisition unit, Of the broadcast stations that can be viewed at the current position, the broadcast stations stored in the reception history storage unit are extracted and displayed on the display unit. A broadcast station having a reception history can be said to be a broadcast station that broadcasts a user's favorite program. Therefore, according to the broadcast receiving apparatus of the present invention, broadcast stations that meet the user's preference among the broadcast stations that can be received at the current position are displayed on the display unit.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a broadcast receiving apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to an in-vehicle radio receiver is described.

  The broadcast receiving apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a control unit 11, a tuner unit 12, an amplifier 13, a speaker 14, a display unit 15, an operation unit 16, a service area storage unit 17, and a reception history storage unit 18. And is connected to the vehicle-mounted navigation device 2 via a cable.

  The tuner unit 12 receives a radio broadcast signal having a frequency corresponding to a signal from the control unit 11, performs intermediate frequency amplification and detection, and outputs an audio signal. The amplifier 13 amplifies the audio signal output from the tuner unit 12 and drives the speaker 14.

  The display unit 15 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal panel, and displays the name of the radio broadcast station currently being listened to, the reception frequency, and the like according to the signal from the control unit 11.

  The operation unit 16 is provided with various buttons and the like for operating the radio receiver. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a front panel of the radio receiver according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, a display unit 15 is arranged on the front panel of the broadcast receiving apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, and a channel selection button (seek up button 33 and seek down button) that constitutes the operation unit 16 is provided. 34), a rotary encoder 35, and an “OK” button 36. The actual broadcast receiving apparatus 1 is provided with an AM / FM switching button, a volume adjustment button, a preset button, and the like, but the description thereof is omitted here.

  The service area storage unit 17 stores service areas of various broadcasting stations. In the present embodiment, the service area of a broadcasting station is composed of a set of data indicating the names of administrative divisions such as municipalities where the broadcasting of the broadcasting station can be heard. The reception history storage unit 18 stores the broadcast reception history written by the control unit 11 as will be described later.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an in-vehicle navigation device connected to the broadcast receiving device 1 of the present embodiment. The in-vehicle navigation device 2 includes a map data storage unit 21 that stores map data, a vehicle position detection unit 22 that detects the latitude / longitude of the current position of the vehicle, and a display configured by a liquid crystal panel that can display a map. It is comprised by the part 23 and the control part 24 which controls them.

  The map data storage unit 21 is provided with a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) or HDD (Hard Disk Drive) as a storage medium for storing map data. The vehicle position detection unit 22 detects a GPS receiver that receives a GPS signal transmitted from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite, a gyro that detects a rotation angle of the vehicle, and a speed or a travel distance of the vehicle. And a sensor.

  The control unit 24 is configured by a microcomputer, and executes various processes according to a preset program. For example, the control unit 24 reads out map data of a region including the current position of the vehicle from the map data storage unit 21 based on the vehicle position detected by the vehicle position detection unit 22, draws a map image, and displays the map image on the display unit 23. To do. In addition, the control unit 24 determines the city name of the current location from the map data based on the latitude / longitude data of the current location of the vehicle detected by the vehicle location detection unit 22 according to the signal from the broadcast receiving device 1. The information indicating the city name of the current position is acquired and transmitted to the broadcast receiving apparatus 1.

  Hereinafter, in the broadcast receiving apparatus of the present embodiment, an operation when the broadcast reception history is stored in the reception history storage unit 18 will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, in step S11, the control unit 11 monitors whether or not the user has selected a channel. When it is determined that the channel selection operation has been performed (YES), that is, when the user has pressed the channel selection button (seek up button 33 or seek down button 34) of the operation unit 16, the process proceeds to step S12. The tuner unit 12 is controlled to change the reception frequency. When the user presses the seek button 33, the reception frequency is increased by a predetermined frequency, and when the user presses the seek down button 34, the reception frequency is decreased by a predetermined frequency.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S13, and the control unit 11 determines whether or not a broadcast signal from the broadcast station has been received. This determination is made based on the voltage of the received electric field strength signal (S meter signal) output from the tuner unit 12. That is, when the voltage of the received electric field strength signal is lower than the set value, it is determined that the broadcast signal is not received, and when the voltage of the received electric field strength signal is equal to or higher than the set value, it is determined that the broadcast signal is received. If it is determined in step S13 that the broadcast signal from the broadcast station has not been received (NO), the process returns to step S12, and the tuner unit 12 is controlled to further change the reception frequency.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S13 that the broadcast signal from the broadcast station has been received (YES), the process proceeds to step S14, and the broadcast of the received broadcast station is output from the speaker 14 and provided to the user. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S15, and it is determined whether or not the next channel selection operation is performed within a certain time (for example, within 5 minutes). When the next channel selection operation is performed within a predetermined time, the received broadcast station is assumed not to meet the user's preference, and the process returns to step S12. The control unit 11 controls the tuner unit 12 to change the reception frequency.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S15 that the next channel selection operation has not been performed within a predetermined time, the process proceeds to step S16 assuming that the broadcasting station currently being listened to matches the user's preference.

  In step S <b> 16, the control unit 11 transmits a signal requesting information on the current position to the vehicle-mounted navigation device 2. When information indicating the city at the current position is sent from the in-vehicle navigation device 2 to the broadcast receiving device 1 in response to this signal, the process proceeds to step S17, and the control unit 11 receives the current position information. It is stored in the reception history storage unit 18 in association with information indicating the broadcast station in the middle.

  In this way, information on the broadcasting station where the user has listened to the broadcast for a certain period of time and information indicating the position (city) at that time are accumulated in the reception history storage unit 18.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a reception history stored in the reception history storage unit 18. As shown in FIG. 5, the reception history storage unit 18 includes an area code indicating a position (city) when receiving the broadcast, a broadcast type code indicating the type of FM broadcast, AM broadcast, and the like. The broadcast frequency of the selected broadcast station is stored. When storing reception histories of a plurality of broadcasting stations, these pieces of information are stored as a table.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation when the vehicle is removed from the service area of the broadcasting station being viewed as the vehicle travels in the broadcast receiving apparatus of the present embodiment.

  First, in step S21, the control unit 11 monitors whether or not the reception state of the currently received broadcast signal is good. The determination of whether or not the reception state is good is made based on the voltage of the reception field strength signal described above.

  When it is determined in step S21 that the reception state is not good (NO), the process proceeds to step S22, and information on the current position (city) is acquired from the in-vehicle navigation device 2.

  After that, the process proceeds to step S23, where the control unit 11 reads the service area information of the radio broadcast station that has been listened to from the service area storage unit 17, and the current position acquired from the in-vehicle navigation device 2 has been listened to so far. It is determined whether it is within the service area of the broadcasting station. When it is determined that it is within the service area (YES), the process returns to step S21, and when it is determined that it is outside the service area (NO), the process proceeds to step S24.

  In step S24, based on the signal from the control unit 11, a message indicating that the service area has been removed is displayed on the display unit 15, for example, a message such as “Departed from the service area of the broadcasting station”.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S25, where the control unit 11 determines whether there is a reception history of a broadcasting station having the current position as a service area. That is, the control unit 11 searches the service area storage unit 17 and extracts a broadcasting station having the current position as a service area. Then, it is checked whether or not the reception history storage unit 18 stores the reception history of those broadcasting stations. When there is a reception history in the reception history storage unit 18, the process proceeds to step S26, and the reception history of the broadcasting station having the current position as the service area is presented to the user.

  FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 15 when there is a reception history of a broadcasting station whose current location is a service area. When the user rotates the rotary encoder 35 of the operation unit 16 while the screen shown in FIG. 7A is displayed, the cursor (shown by a bold line in the figure) moves up and down. When the cursor is moved to a desired reception history item and a “decision” button 36 provided on the operation unit 16 is pressed, the control unit 11 controls the tuner unit 12 to start from the broadcast station indicated in the reception history at the cursor position. Receive broadcasts.

  When the user moves the cursor to the item “Search for another broadcast station” using the rotary encoder 35 and presses the “OK” button 36 while the screen of FIG. Controls the tuner unit 12 to search for a broadcast signal from a broadcast station by stepping up or down the reception frequency in steps of a predetermined frequency from the current reception frequency.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S25 that there is no reception history of the broadcasting station whose current location is the service area (NO), the process proceeds to step S27, for example, as shown in FIG. The display unit 15 displays that there is no reception history of the broadcasting station whose location is the service area.

  In FIG. 7B, the cursor is positioned at the item “Find Broadcast Station”, and when the “OK” button 36 provided on the operation unit 16 is pressed in this state, the control unit 11 causes the tuner unit 12 to And the reception frequency is stepped up or down in steps of a predetermined frequency from the current reception frequency to search for a broadcast from a broadcasting station.

  As described above, in the broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present embodiment, when the vehicle moves away from the broadcast area of the broadcast station that has been listened to before, it has been listened to before from the broadcast stations that can be heard at the current position of the vehicle. Since a broadcast station with a certain frequency is displayed on the screen as a recommended broadcast station, the user can listen to a broadcast from a favorite broadcast station with a simple operation, and the user-friendliness is improved compared to the conventional one.

(Second Embodiment)
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  This embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the reception history storage unit 18 stores the viewing time for each broadcasting station, and the other basic configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment. Therefore, this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of history storage of the broadcast receiving apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. First, in step S31, the control unit 11 monitors the presence or absence of a channel selection operation by the user. When it is determined that the selection operation has been performed (YES), that is, when the user presses the channel selection button (seek up button 33 or seek down button 34) of the operation unit 16, the process proceeds to step S32, where the tuner The reception frequency is changed by controlling the unit 12.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S33, and the control unit 11 determines whether or not a broadcast signal from the broadcast station has been received based on the received electric field strength signal output from the tuner unit 12. When it is determined that the broadcast signal from the broadcast station cannot be received (NO), the process returns to step S32, and the tuner unit 12 is controlled to further change the reception frequency.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S33 that a broadcast signal from the broadcast station has been received (YES), the process proceeds to step S34, where the broadcast of the broadcast station is output from the speaker 14 and provided to the user. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S35, and it is determined whether or not the next channel selection operation has been performed within a certain time (for example, within 5 minutes). When the next channel selection operation is performed within a predetermined time (YES), the process returns to step S32, and the tuner unit 12 is controlled to change the reception frequency.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S35 that the next channel selection operation has not been performed within a predetermined time (NO), it is determined that the currently watched broadcast station matches the user's preference, and step S36 is performed. Migrate to

  In step S <b> 36, the control unit 11 transmits a signal requesting information on the current position to the vehicle-mounted navigation device 2. When information indicating the city at the current position is sent from the in-vehicle navigation device 2 to the broadcast receiving device 1 in response to this signal, the process proceeds to step S37, and the control unit 11 obtains the current position information. The information is stored in the reception history storage unit 18 in association with information indicating the broadcasting station that is receiving.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S38, and the channel selection operation (change of the reception frequency) by the user is monitored. When the channel selection operation by the user is performed, the process proceeds to step S39, and the control unit 11 writes the viewing time in the reception history of the broadcast station that has been listened to in the reception history storage unit 18. When a broadcast from the same broadcasting station has been received before and the viewing time is written in the reception history storage unit 18, the current viewing time is added to the previous viewing time to obtain the reception history storage unit 18. To remember.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a reception history stored in the reception history storage unit 18 in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the reception history storage unit 18 includes an area code indicating a position (city) when receiving the broadcast, a broadcast type code indicating the type of FM broadcast, AM broadcast, and the like, The broadcast frequency of the received broadcast station and the accumulated time spent watching the broadcast of the broadcast station are stored.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the viewing time for each broadcasting station is stored, and when the broadcasting station with the reception history is displayed on the display unit 15, the viewing time is displayed in the order of the viewing time. As a result, there is an effect that it becomes easier to select a user's favorite broadcast station.

  The data stored in the reception history storage unit 18 may be described in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) as shown in FIG. For example, when a numerical area code is used as shown in FIG. 9, a comparison table of the area code and city is required, but when data is described in XML as shown in FIG. A table becomes unnecessary, and data search and sorting become easy.

  In the second embodiment, the cumulative viewing time is stored in the reception history storage unit 12; however, the time when viewing is stored and the reception history can be known at each time. Good.

  Furthermore, although the first and second embodiments have been described with respect to an example in which the present invention is applied to an FM radio receiver, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a digital radio receiver and a TV receiver. Furthermore, the present invention may be applied to an AV system that can receive both radio broadcasts and TV broadcasts.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to mobile phones and other portable electronic devices that can receive radio broadcasts and TV broadcasts. In this case, the information indicating the current position can be acquired from the base station of the mobile phone or detected by a GPS receiver built in the mobile phone or other portable electronic device. In addition, information on broadcasting stations that can be viewed at the current position may be acquired by communication connection to a specific server.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a broadcast receiving apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a front panel of the radio receiver according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an in-vehicle navigation device connected to the broadcast receiving device of the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation when the broadcast reception history is stored in the reception history storage unit in the broadcast receiving apparatus of the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a reception history stored in the reception history storage unit. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the broadcast receiving apparatus according to the first embodiment when the vehicle is removed from the service area of the broadcasting station being viewed as the vehicle travels. FIG. 7A is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the display unit when there is a reception history of a broadcasting station whose current location is the service area, and FIG. 7B is a broadcast whose current location is the service area. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen displayed on a display part when the reception log | history of a station does not exist. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of history storage of the broadcast receiving apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of a reception history stored in the reception history storage unit in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example in which data stored in the reception history storage unit is described in XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

Explanation of symbols

1 ... broadcast receiver,
2 Car navigation device,
11 ... control unit,
12 ... Tuner,
13 ... Amplifier,
14 ... Speaker,
15 ... display part,
16 ... operation part,
17 ... service area storage unit,
18 ... reception history storage unit,
21 ... Map data storage unit,
22 ... Vehicle position detection unit,
23 ... display part,
24. Control unit of navigation device,
33 ... Seek up button 34 ... Seek down button,
35 ... Rotary encoder,
36 ... Enter button.

Claims (6)

A display unit;
A tuner unit that receives broadcasts from broadcast stations;
Position information acquisition means for acquiring current position information;
Service area acquisition means for acquiring service area information for each broadcasting station;
A reception history storage unit that stores information on the broadcast station that was viewed in association with the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit;
A control unit that controls the display unit, the tuner unit, and the reception history storage unit;
When the control unit cannot receive the broadcast that has been received, the control unit is based on the current location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit and the service area information for each broadcast station acquired by the service area acquisition unit. A broadcast receiving apparatus, wherein a broadcast station stored in the reception history storage unit is extracted from broadcast stations that can be viewed at a current position and displayed on the display unit.   2. The broadcast according to claim 1, wherein the control unit stores the reception history of the broadcast station in the reception history storage unit when the tuner unit receives a broadcast of the same broadcast station for a predetermined time or more. Receiver device.   The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit stores a viewing time for each broadcast station when the reception history is stored in the reception history storage unit.   The control unit controls the tuner unit to receive a broadcast from a broadcast station designated by a user among broadcast stations that can be viewed at the current position displayed on the display unit. The broadcast receiving apparatus described in 1.   The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position information acquisition unit acquires information on a current position from an in-vehicle navigation apparatus.   The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a service area storage unit that stores a service area for each broadcasting station as the service area acquisition unit.

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