JP2006005861A - Device and method for displaying character super - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital broadcasting receiver, which changes a method for displaying a character super even when a title and the character super are received simultaneously and reads through the title and the character super and in which the character super does not disturb a broadcasting image. <P>SOLUTION: The title and the character super are read through by controlling the display timing and display time of the character super while the title and the character super do not disturb a broadcasting program even when the title and the character super are received simultaneously. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver, and more particularly, to a display device and method for superimposing characters.

A conventional method of displaying a character superimposition is to record the character superimposition in a memory when the character superimposition is received, and select whether or not the character superimposition is superimposed on the video signal according to the intention of the viewer (Patent Document). 1). Specifically, FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a conventional character super display method.
JP 2001-309276 A

  However, in the conventional configuration, even when the subtitle and the character super are received at the same time, there is a possibility that the character super is displayed, and the subtitle and the character super must be read at the same time, and one of the characters cannot be read. End up. At this time, the broadcast video is obstructed and difficult to see. Especially in portable receivers with a small screen size, the ratio of subtitles / superimposes to the screen increases, and the difficulty of viewing is remarkable. The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problem. Even when subtitles and character superimposes are received simultaneously, the display method of the character supers is changed so that the subtitles and character supers are completely read, and the character supers are broadcast. An object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiver that does not interfere with video.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, a character super display device according to the present invention receives a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, a caption, and a character super are multiplexed to display the character super display device. When the caption and the character superimpose are received at the same time, the data of the character superimposition can be temporarily stored in the memory, and the stored character superimposition can be displayed at the timing when the caption is not displayed.

  In addition, in a character super display device that receives a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed and displays the character super, the content of the received character super is analyzed to determine the importance, The display time of the character super can be determined according to the importance.

  In addition, in a character super display device that receives a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed and displays the character super, it is determined whether or not the character super is repeated, and is determined to be repeated. In this case, instead of displaying the character superimposition, an icon indicating that the content is the same as the previously received character superimposition can be displayed.

  According to the present invention, even if subtitles and superimpose characters are received at the same time, by changing the display method of the superimpose characters, the subtitles and superimpose characters cannot be read completely, and the superimpose characters do not interfere with the broadcast video. It is possible to prevent the broadcast video from becoming difficult to see.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
An example of a receiver that receives a digital broadcast according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 shows a hardware configuration diagram of a receiver according to the present invention. In this receiver, an antenna unit that receives a digital broadcast signal, a tuner 2 that selects the digital broadcast signal, a demodulation unit 3 that demodulates the digital broadcast signal into a transport stream (digital data), a video signal and an audio signal, A TS decoder 4 that separates a transport stream in which subtitles and character super, etc. are multiplexed into video signals, audio signals, subtitles and character super, an audio decoder 5 that decodes audio signals, and a video decoder 6 that decodes video signals. And a synthesizing unit 7 for synthesizing video and character information such as subtitles and character superimposing, a speaker 8 for generating sound, a screen 9 for displaying video, a memory such as a ROM 10 and a RAM 11, and a CPU 12.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a receiver according to this embodiment.

  The function of each block will be described below.

  The tuner 101 receives a multiplexed digital broadcast signal such as a selected video signal, audio signal, subtitle, and character superimpose.

  The demodulator 102 converts the digital broadcast signal into a transport stream that is digital data.

  The TS decoder unit 103 separates the multiplexed transport stream into broadcast video, audio signal, subtitle, character super, and the like.

  The storage memory 104 temporarily stores video signals, audio signals, subtitles, character supermarkets, and the like.

  The user setting management unit 105 holds viewer setting information.

  The decoder control unit 106 performs a control process for transferring the video signal and the audio signal separated by the TS decoder unit 103 to the audio decoder unit 107 and the video decoder unit 108 or to the storage memory unit 104.

  The audio decoder unit 107 decodes the audio signal, converts it into an analog signal, and transfers it to the audio output unit 112.

  The video decoder unit 108 decodes the video signal and converts it into a predetermined format.

  The character super analysis unit 109 performs character super decoding processing and analysis processing, converts the character super analysis into a predetermined format, and transfers it to the synthesis unit 111. Specific analysis processing will be described later.

  The caption analysis unit 110 performs caption decoding processing and analysis processing. Specific analysis processing will be described later.

  The synthesizing unit 111 arranges the video signal transferred from the video decoder unit 109, the character supermarket transferred from the character super analysis unit 109, and the subtitle transferred from the subtitle analysis unit 110 at a predetermined position and synthesizes them.

  The audio output unit 112 outputs the audio signal transferred from the audio decoder unit 107.

  The video output unit 113 outputs the synthesized video transferred from the synthesis unit 111.

  Next, the receiver operates in the following procedure.

  (1) The carrier of the broadcast program selected by the viewer with the tuner 101 is selected as the digital broadcast signal in which the video signal, the audio signal, the caption, and the character superimposition are multiplexed. The selected carrier wave is transferred to the demodulator 102.

  (2) The demodulator 102 demodulates the carrier wave from the tuner 101 into digital data called a transport stream (hereinafter abbreviated as TS).

  (3) The demodulated TS is transferred to the TS decoder unit 103 through the system bus.

  (4) The digital data multiplexed by the TS decoder unit 103 is separated into a video signal, an audio signal, a caption, a character supermarket, and the like. A TS is composed of a series of fixed-length packets. Digital data such as video signals, audio signals, subtitles, and character superimposes are inserted into one packet. The TS decoder unit 103 connects the same type of packets with the digital data and converts the digital data into a format called PES.

  (5) The video signal and the audio signal are transferred to the decoder control unit 106, the caption is transferred to the caption analysis unit 110, and the character super is transferred to the character super analysis unit 109.

  (6) The decoder control unit 106 waits until the video signal and audio signal are decoded, and then transfers the video signal to the video decoder unit 108 and the audio signal to the audio decoder unit 107. A variable length PES header is added to the PES. A parameter called PTS indicating the output time is inserted in this header part, and the output timing is controlled by comparing the PTS and the system time called STC which the receiver has. When waiting for the timing of decoding processing, video signals and audio signals are stored in the storage memory 104.

  (7) The audio decoder unit 107 decodes the audio signal transferred from the TS decoder unit 103 and converts it into an analog signal.

  (8) The video signal transferred from the decoder control unit 106 by the video decoder unit 108 is decoded into a video signal of a predetermined format and transferred to the synthesis unit 111 together with the display position information.

  (9) The character super analysis unit 109 performs a decoding process on the character super transferred from the TS decoder unit 103. Analyzing the decoded character supermarket and collating it with the setting contents of the user setting management unit 105, according to the analysis contents, display timing and display time of the character supermarket, whether to display, fonts and colors to be displayed, After performing processing such as character size, display position information is added and transferred to the combining unit 111. At this time, the superimposing character is stored in the storage memory unit 104 as necessary. Note that the character super display position may be obtained by using the information attached to the received character super as it is or by acquiring the display position from the user setting management unit 105.

  (10) The caption analysis unit 110 decodes the caption transferred from the TS decoder unit 103. The decoded subtitle is changed in character size as necessary, and transferred to the synthesis unit 111 together with the display position information.

  (11) The synthesizing unit 111 synthesizes the decoded video signal, subtitle, and character superposition at a predetermined position. Here, a plurality of display planes are provided, and video signals are displayed on the back plane, and are displayed according to display position information having subtitles and superimposes on the front plane.

  All these planes are combined and transferred to the image display unit 113. When transferred from the video decoder unit 108, the character super analysis unit 109, and the caption analysis unit 110, the data is immediately synthesized and transferred to the video output unit.

  (12) The sound output unit 112 outputs sound.

  (13) The video output unit 113 outputs the synthesized image.

  Next, a display method when subtitles and character superimpose are received simultaneously will be described.

  Whether the character super has been received is determined by whether the character super has been transferred from the TS decoder unit 103.

  When the super character is transferred from the TS decoder unit 103, the subtitle analysis unit 110 determines whether the subtitle is transferred to the synthesis unit 111. If subtitles are not transferred, the superimpose is displayed as it is.

  Here, it is assumed that the subtitle transfer from the subtitle analysis unit 110 to the synthesis unit 111 is continuously performed, and the timing at which the character super can be displayed does not come immediately. At this time, the character super cannot be displayed, and the viewer cannot read the character super. Therefore, in such a case, subtitles and superimpose are displayed simultaneously. However, the display time of the character super is longer than the instructed time, and sufficient time is provided for the viewer to read the subtitle and the character super. This time is obtained by a calculation formula described later. In addition, when the subtitle and the character superimpose are displayed simultaneously, the ratio of the subtitle / superimpose to the screen inevitably increases. Therefore, the character size of the subtitle / superimpose may be automatically reduced.

  In order to process the above more efficiently, it is divided into three states (caption non-display state, subtitle normal display state, subtitle frequent display state) according to the subtitle display state. The definition of each state is shown in FIG. 3, and the state transition table is shown in FIG. Here, S is a period for determining the state of the caption, and is, for example, about 10 seconds. P is a threshold value for dividing the subtitle normal display state and the subtitle frequent display state, and the display probability is given by the following equation.

Display probability = (number of caption display counters) / (number of samplings for S seconds)
An algorithm for obtaining this display probability is shown in FIG.

  First, S seconds are sampled at equal intervals (T seconds). The sampling interval may be about 100 milliseconds, for example. Sampling processing is started at this time T, and it is checked whether subtitles are being displayed (step S10). This activation trigger may be an interrupt or a cyclic handler. If subtitles are being displayed, the subtitle display counter is incremented (step S11). Here, the state before S seconds out of the range of S is examined (step S12). If the subtitle is displayed at this time, the subtitle display counter is decreased (step S13). The caption display probability can be obtained by dividing the caption display counter by the number of samplings for S seconds (step S14).

  Next, how the state transition occurs will be described with reference to FIG. The display probability of captions is checked at regular intervals (for example, 1 second). If the display probability is 0, transition to the subtitle non-display state is made (steps S30 and S32).

  If the display probability is less than P, the subtitle normal reception state is entered (steps S31 and S32). If it is P or more, the subtitle frequent reception state is entered (step S34). The block that performs this process may be the TS decoder unit 103 or the caption analysis unit 110. Finally, the current subtitle accumulation amount is retained and the process ends.

  Next, a display method when a character supermarket is received will be described (see FIG. 7).

  First, the subtitle display state is checked (step S51). When the character super is received in the subtitle non-display state, the character super is immediately displayed as it is (step S52). When the superimpose is received in the subtitle normal display state, the superimpose is not displayed immediately, and is displayed after the subtitle display disappears (steps S54 to S56). In the subtitle normal display state, there is a time until the next subtitle is displayed after the subtitle has once disappeared. However, even in the normal subtitle reception state, even if the subtitles disappear once, there is a possibility that they will be received and displayed immediately. Therefore, if the next subtitle is received while the character super is displayed, the character super may be displayed longer for the time determined by the calculation formula shown in (A). By displaying the character super-long for a long time, it is possible to give sufficient time to read the character even when the subtitle and the character super-imultaneous display are simultaneously performed (steps S57 to S58).

(A) αΣmA _m + βΣnB _n
Formula (A) will be described below. Here, m is a number from the front of the currently displayed subtitle, and similarly, n is a number from the front of the currently displayed character super. A _m and B _n indicate the complexity of characters. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the characters are classified according to the character type such as alphabet or hiragana as shown in FIG. If it is a kanji, the number of strokes of the kanji is determined. The number of strokes of kanji can be determined by registering a correspondence table with character codes in advance. A numerical value indicating complexity is given according to these classifications. By taking these sums, it is possible to calculate the time required to read the characters.

  When superimpose is received in the subtitle frequent display state, the probability of finding a timing when no subtitle is displayed is very low. Therefore, at this time, the display time calculated by the equation (A) is added to the designated display time (step 57).

(Embodiment 2)
In the following, the display method can be changed according to the contents of the character superimpose when the subtitle and the character superimpose are simultaneously displayed. You may apply only to character super-only reception. First, the importance level is set in the character superimposition. In this case, the viewer can freely set the importance according to the contents of the character super, and the character super that the user wants to know is displayed long and the character super that is not so important is displayed short.

  The importance of the character super is set according to the keyword as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, the display time may be set for each importance level, or it may be possible to select display / non-display.

  Specifically, the received character super is not displayed immediately, but is temporarily stored in the storage memory unit 104, and the contents of the character super are analyzed. The character super analysis unit 109 analyzes the character super stored in the memory. Here, it is determined whether or not a keyword registered in advance is included. The keywords to be registered are determined in advance as shown in FIG. It is also possible to add viewer-specific keywords.

  When the received character superimpose matches these keywords, the importance of the character super is assigned according to the keyword, and the display time of the character super is determined according to this importance. As a result, information important to the viewer is long, and unnecessary information can be displayed short or hidden.

  For example, it is assumed that the received character supermarket is “around 00:00, typhoon No. 19 landed on the XX peninsula”. At this time, a keyword “typhoon” is included in the character super, and this character super is classified into the importance B. It is displayed for 3 seconds longer than when displaying as it is.

  In this way, the character super classified by importance can change the color and font of the character super according to the importance, and it can also make it easier for viewers to understand which category it belongs to by changing the color and font. .

  For a viewer, a character supermarket generated in a remote area may not be important. In such a case, the display time can be shortened or not displayed. In this way, a region-specific classification setting for classifying by region where a character supermarket has occurred is provided. A search is made as to whether or not there is a place name (prefecture name here) registered in advance in the received character supermarket. The display time is determined based on the search result. This search process is also performed by the character super analysis unit 109. The place name may be simply registered, or the importance level may be set.

  For example, assume that the viewer lives in Tokyo. Character supermarkets such as “A fire breaks out in Tokyo ○○○ Ward” will increase the display time. Even if the viewer lives in another prefecture, if the relative lives in Tokyo, the display time can be extended by registering Tokyo. When a plurality of prefecture names are detected, processing according to the most important one is performed. If the prefecture name is not detected, it will be excluded from this regional classification setting.

(Embodiment 3)
When the received character superposition is repeated, it may be information already known to the viewer. At this time, the display time of the second and subsequent character superimpositions may be shorter than the first time, or a repeated icon may be displayed. Therefore, a function for determining whether or not the character superposition is repeated is provided. This determination is performed by the character super analysis unit 109. The determination is made according to the following procedure (see FIG. 10).

  (1) When a character super is received, the character super decoded by the character super analysis unit 109 and the time at that time are stored in the storage memory unit 104 (step S71).

  (2) When the next character super is received, the time of the character super held in the storage memory unit 104 is compared, and if it is within a specified time (for example, within 5 minutes), the received character super and the storage memory unit 104 Are compared as character codes (steps S72 and S73).

  (3) If the comparison results are the same, the character super is replaced with a predetermined icon and transferred to the synthesis unit 111 (step S74). If the comparison results are not identical, the comparison result is transferred to the synthesis unit 111 as it is (step S77).

  (4) When the character superimposition is repeated several times, the number of repetitions is measured, and the number of repetitions is combined with the repetition icon and transferred to the synthesis unit 111 (steps S75 and S76).

  The type of icon may be used properly according to the classification of the character supermarket. The display state is shown in FIG. When the importance is high, the icon display may be switched from the third time.

  The character super display device and method according to the present invention can prevent the subtitle and the character super from becoming unreadable, such as delaying the display timing of the character super even if the caption and the character super are received at the same time. It is useful as a device.

Hardware configuration diagram of a digital broadcast receiver in an embodiment of the present invention Block diagram of a digital broadcast receiver in an embodiment of the present invention The figure which defined the state of a subtitle in an embodiment of the invention The figure showing the state transition of a subtitle in an embodiment of the invention The flowchart which calculates | requires the display probability of a caption in embodiment of this invention Flowchart when subtitle state transition occurs in an embodiment of the present invention The flowchart which shows the display method of the character superposition in embodiment of this invention The figure which showed the complexity of subtitles and character superposition in an embodiment of the invention The figure which shows an example of the importance setting of the character superposition in embodiment of this invention The flowchart which showed the display method of the character superimpose received repeatedly in embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of a display of the character superimpose received repeatedly in embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Antenna 2 Tuner 3 Demodulation part 4 TS decoder 5 Audio decoder 6 Video decoder 7 Synthesis | combination part 8 Speaker 9 Screen 10 ROM (Flash)
11 RAM (main memory)
12 CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Tuner 102 Demodulation part 103 TS decoder part 104 Accumulation memory part 105 User setting management part 106 Decoder control part 107 Audio decoder part 108 Video decoder part 109 Character super-analysis part 110 Subtitle analysis part 111 Synthesis part 112 Audio output part 113 Video output part 113

Claims (16)

In a character super display device that receives a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, a caption, and a character super are multiplexed and displays the character super,
When a caption and a character superimpose are received at the same time, the data of the character superimposition is temporarily stored in a memory, and the stored character superimposition is displayed at a timing when the caption is not displayed. The display frequency of subtitles is measured, and when the superimposition is received when the subtitle display frequency exceeds a certain value, the display time of the superimpose is made longer than usual. The character super display device described. 3. The character super display device according to claim 2, wherein when the subtitle is received and displayed during display of the character super, the display time of the character super is extended. 4. The character super display device according to claim 2, wherein the display time of the character super is calculated from the displayed subtitle and the complexity of the character super. The character super display device according to claim 2, wherein the character size of the subtitle and the character super is changed to reduce the ratio of the area occupied by the character information to the entire screen. In a character super display device that receives a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed and displays the character super,
A character super display device characterized by analyzing the content of the received character super to determine the importance and determining the display time of the character super according to the importance. 5. The character super display device according to claim 4, wherein the importance of the character super can be changed by an operation of a viewer, or an analysis keyword can be registered or deleted. 8. The character super display device according to claim 6, wherein region information is extracted from the received character super, and the display time is determined according to the importance setting classified according to the region information. In a character super display device that receives a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed and displays the character super,
If it is determined whether or not the character super is repeated, and if it is determined that it is a repeat, instead of displaying the character super, an icon that means the same content as the previously received character super is displayed. Character super display device. The character super display device according to claim 9, wherein the number of repeated reception of the character super is counted and the number of times is also displayed. In a character super display method for receiving a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, a caption, and a character super are multiplexed and displaying the character super,
When a caption and a character superimpose are received at the same time, the character superseding data is temporarily stored in a memory, and the stored character superimposition is displayed at a timing when the caption is not displayed. In a character super display method for receiving a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed and displaying the character super,
A character super display method comprising: analyzing the received character super content to determine an importance level; and determining a display time of the character super according to the importance level. In a character super display method for receiving a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed and displaying the character super,
If it is determined whether or not the character super is repeated, and if it is determined that it is a repeat, instead of displaying the character super, an icon that means the same content as the previously received character super is displayed. Character super display method. In a character super display program for receiving a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, subtitles and character super are multiplexed on a computer and displaying the character super,
When a caption and a character super are received at the same time, the character super data is temporarily stored in a memory, and the stored character super is displayed at a timing when the caption is not displayed. In a character super display program for receiving a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed on a computer and displaying the character super,
A character super display program characterized by analyzing the contents of the received character super to determine the importance and determining the display time of the character super according to the importance. In a character super display program for receiving a digital broadcast signal in which a video signal, an audio signal, and a character super are multiplexed on a computer and displaying the character super,
If it is determined whether or not the character super is repeated, and if it is determined that it is a repeat, instead of displaying the character super, an icon that means the same content as the previously received character super is displayed. Character super display program.

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