JP2006203611A - Channel selecting method in broadcasting receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a channel selecting method for a broadcasting receiver capable of automatically selecting a broadcast channel or broadcast frequency in which image quality of received video and/or sound quality of received sound exceed the level of user's preference and an allowable limit. <P>SOLUTION: A received signal of a broadcast radio wave mechanically selected and determined to be receivable is reproduced, information and data about a broadcast radio wave whose reproduced image quality and sound quality are determined to exceed the allowable limit set by the user are stored, and the second and successive channel selection is performed with the stored data as reference. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver that receives a broadcast such as a television broadcast or a radio broadcast, and more particularly to a channel selection method in a portable broadcast receiver.

  Television broadcasts and radio broadcasts differ in the frequency of radio waves that can be used in each region in order to avoid interference. For this reason, when a portable television broadcast receiver or portable radio broadcast receiver is carried and the user is moving by car or train while receiving television broadcast or radio broadcast, the received broadcast channel (broadcast wave) May not be received. In such a case, when trying to receive a television broadcast or a radio broadcast that can be received at the destination, it is necessary to search and select a receivable broadcast channel and reception frequency.

  Here, how the channel selection was performed in the conventional broadcast receiver will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a channel selection unit in a conventional broadcast receiver. In FIG. 3, the channel selection unit in the conventional broadcast receiver includes a tuner control unit 301, an automatic channel selection control unit 302, an automatic channel selection determination processing unit 303, and an initial state determination processing unit 304, which function as a microcomputer 300. In addition, a tuner 305 and a memory 306 are provided. The automatic channel selection control unit 302 instructs the tuner 305 to select a channel through the tuner control unit 301. Channel selection data such as channel information and frequency information when this channel selection is performed is stored in the memory 306. Whether or not the memory 306 is in the initial state is determined by the initial state determination processing unit 304. The automatic channel selection determination processing unit 303 determines from the initial state determination processing unit 304 that the memory 306 is in the initial state. Is obtained, the automatic channel selection control unit 302 is instructed to start the preset channel selection automatically and sequentially based on the channel selection data stored in the memory 306. A specific channel selection method is as follows. The automatic channel selection control unit 302 receives the search through the tuner control unit 301 to the tuner 305 through a predetermined frequency band based on the determination result of the automatic channel selection determination processing unit 303. Instructing to sequentially capture radio waves of broadcast stations above a predetermined level while judging whether the electric field strength of the broadcast waves is higher than a predetermined level compared to the predetermined level obtained from the memory 306, The supplementary broadcast station information is stored in the memory 306. A technique related to such a channel selection method is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
JP-A-9-307406

  However, whether or not the image quality of the received video and the sound quality of the received audio of the broadcasting station determined to be receivable by selecting automatically or mechanically as described above exceed the user's preference or allowable limit. Cannot be judged. Therefore, every time a search for channel selection is performed, the user needs to determine whether or not the reproduced image quality and / or sound quality of each selected broadcast station is satisfactory, There was a problem that the practicality was inferior.

  The present invention eliminates such problems of the prior art. The broadcast channel or broadcast frequency in which the image quality of the received video and / or the sound quality of the received audio exceeds the user's preference or allowable limit is set. An object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiver channel selection method capable of automatic channel selection.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the first aspect of the present invention (Claim 1) sequentially receives broadcast radio waves in a broadcast area while searching for broadcast radio waves in response to a user's channel selection command, and receives the received broadcast radio waves. The signal level or C / N of the reception signal of the broadcast radio wave is compared with a predetermined signal level set in advance or a predetermined C / N set in advance. Whether video and / or audio is reproduced from the broadcast radio wave reception signal determined to be greater than or equal to N, and the reproduced video and / or audio has an image quality and / or sound quality that is higher than an acceptable limit set by the user A broadcast receiver characterized by determining whether or not the broadcast radio wave is judged to have a quality exceeding the allowable limit, and storing information and data relating to the selected broadcast radio wave. Is that tuning method.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention (claim 2), in the case where information and data relating to broadcast radio waves determined to have a quality exceeding the allowable limit set by the user is stored, the broadcast is performed in response to the user's channel selection command. Received sequentially while searching for broadcast radio waves in the area, set based on the received signal level of the received broadcast radio wave or the C / N of the received signal of the broadcast radio wave and the stored data relating to the broadcast radio wave The signal level or C / N is compared, the broadcast radio wave determined to be equal to or higher than the signal level set based on the data or C / N or higher is selected, and information on the selected broadcast radio wave is stored. A channel selection method in a broadcast receiver according to the first aspect of the present invention.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention (invention 3), information and data relating to broadcast radio waves include the channel and / or frequency of the broadcast radio wave, its received signal level or C / N of the received signal, and / or a block at the time of demodulation. The channel selection method in the broadcast receiver according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the channel selection method is an error rate.

  According to the channel selection method in the broadcast receiver of the present invention, the user can select a broadcast channel in which the image quality and / or sound quality of the received video signal and / or audio signal is at or above the allowable limit determined by the user. Channel search can be easily performed, especially in the case of using a portable broadcast receiver that has a high possibility of moving and using different broadcast areas, and therefore has a high frequency of channel search. A greater effect can be exhibited.

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

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a broadcast receiver to which a channel selection method according to the present invention is applied in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, 101 is a tuner that receives broadcast radio waves, 102 is an AV signal processing unit for reproducing AV information as content based on a signal received by the tuner 101, and 103 is reproduced by the AV signal processing unit 102. A display unit for displaying the AV information, 104 is an operation unit for the user to operate the broadcast receiver, 105 is a memory for storing various information, and 106 is a tuner based on instructions from the operation unit 104. Reference numeral 101 denotes a control unit for controlling each constituent block such as the AV signal processing unit 102, the display unit 103, and the memory 105. The display unit 103 includes a speaker that reproduces sound as well as displaying video and the like.

  Next, the channel selection method in Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 showing a flowchart of the channel selection operation executed in the broadcast receiver.

  First, a case where channel selection is performed for the first time will be described. When the user performs an operation of instructing “channel selection” on the operation unit 104 of the broadcast receiver, the control unit 106 controls the tuner 101 based on the operation of the channel selection instruction by the user to start channel selection (step S1). Specifically, before starting the channel selection, the control unit 106 determines whether or not it is the first channel selection from the information stored in the memory 105 (step S2), and if it is the first channel selection, the control unit 106 Sets a predetermined signal level read from the memory 105 or a predetermined C / N (for example, a value set in advance by the broadcast receiver manufacturer) to the tuner 101 (step S3), and starts reception of broadcast radio waves (step S3). In step S4), it is determined whether or not the signal level of the received broadcast radio wave or the C / N of the received broadcast radio wave is equal to or higher than a set predetermined signal level or higher than a set predetermined C / N (step S4). S5). If it is determined in step S5 that the signal level of the received broadcast radio wave or the C / N of the received broadcast radio wave is equal to or higher than the set predetermined signal level or higher than the set predetermined C / N, 106 causes the AV signal processing unit 102 to perform signal processing on the received signal to reproduce the AV information, and displays the reproduced AV information, that is, the video signal and / or the audio signal on the display unit 103 ( Step S6). The user views the video and / or audio displayed on the display unit 103, and determines whether the image quality and sound quality of the displayed video and / or audio are within the allowable limit of the user (step S7). In step S7, when it is determined that the image quality and / or the sound quality are within the allowable limits of the user, the user instructs the broadcast receiver through the operation unit 104 to store information regarding the reception channel. Upon receiving an instruction to store from the user, the control unit 106 receives information about the reception channel determined to be within the allowable limit, such as the reception channel, the reception signal level or the C / N of the reception signal, and the digital In the case of broadcasting, information such as a block error rate is stored in the memory 105 (step S8). The operations from step S4 to step S8 are repeated until the channel selection operation for the channel to be selected, for example, in the case of UHF band television broadcasting, from channel 13 to channel 62 is completed. When the search in is completed, the control unit 106 causes the tuner 101 to end the channel selection operation (step S13). Information on the reception channel that has been determined that the image quality and / or sound quality of the receivable and reproduced video signal and / or audio signal is within the allowable limit of the user by performing the channel selection operation as described above. That is, the broadcast channel, the received signal level or the C / N of the received signal, and the block error rate in the case of digital broadcasting are recorded in the memory 105.

  Next, a case where the second and subsequent channel selection is performed will be described. If it is determined in step S2 that the channel selection is not the first time, that is, the second or subsequent channel selection, the memory 105 does not have the predetermined signal level or the predetermined C / N, but the selection performed before this time. The data regarding the reception channel stored in the operation of the station, that is, the reception signal level or the C / N of the reception signal when the user determines that the image quality and / or sound quality of the reception channel is within the allowable limit, In this case, since the block error rate and the like are stored, the control unit 106 reads out information on the reception channel stored from the memory 105 to the tuner 101, and, for example, based on the read data on the reception channel, The lowest received signal level or the lowest received signal among the data of the received reception channel. The C / N of the signal or the largest block error rate is set as a new predetermined reference value (step S9), the reception of the broadcast radio wave is started (step S10), the signal level of the received broadcast radio wave or the received broadcast It is determined whether or not the radio wave C / N is equal to or greater than a new predetermined reference value (step S11). If it is determined in step S11 that the signal level of the received broadcast radio wave or the C / N of the received broadcast radio wave is equal to or greater than the set new predetermined reference value, the control unit 106 broadcasts the received broadcast radio wave. The channel is stored in the memory 105 (step S12). The operations from step S10 to step S12 are repeated until the search within the channel selection target band is completed, and when the search within the channel selection target band is completed, the control unit 106 instructs the tuner 101 to Then, the tuning operation is terminated (step S13).

  As described above, in the channel selection operation after the second time, the user can use the broadcast channel in which the image quality and / or sound quality of the received video signal and / or audio signal is higher than the allowable limit determined by the user. Can be easily selected.

  The channel selection method in the broadcast receiver according to the present invention is useful for a portable broadcast receiver in which a user is likely to move and use different broadcast areas.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the broadcast receiver which applied the channel selection method which concerns on this invention in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart of the channel selection operation | movement performed in the broadcast receiver which applied the channel selection method based on this invention in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the channel selection part in the conventional broadcast receiver

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Tuner 102 AV signal processing part 103 Display part 104 Operation part 105 Memory 106 Control part 300 Microcomputer 301 Tuner control part 302 Automatic channel selection control part 303 Automatic channel selection judgment processing part 304 Initial state judgment processing part 305 Tuner 306 Memory

Claims (3)

In response to a user's channel selection command, broadcast radio waves in a broadcast area are sequentially received while being searched. The received signal level of the received broadcast radio wave or the C / N of the received signal of the broadcast radio wave is set in advance. Video and / or audio from the broadcast radio wave reception signal determined to be equal to or higher than the predetermined signal level or higher than the predetermined C / N. The broadcast radio wave that has been reproduced and has been judged whether the quality and / or sound quality of the reproduced video and / or audio is higher than the allowable limit set by the user and determined to be higher than the allowable limit And selecting and storing information and data relating to the selected broadcast radio wave. If information and data related to broadcast radio waves that have been judged to be of a quality that exceeds the tolerance set by the user are stored, they are sequentially received while searching for broadcast radio waves in the broadcast area in response to the user's channel selection command. The received signal level of the broadcast radio wave or C / N of the received signal of the broadcast radio wave is compared with the signal level or C / N set based on the stored data related to the broadcast radio wave, The broadcast reception according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast radio wave determined to be equal to or higher than a signal level set based on the data or C / N is selected, and information related to the selected broadcast radio wave is stored. Channel selection method in the machine. The information and data relating to the broadcast radio wave are a channel and / or frequency of the broadcast radio wave, a received signal level thereof or a C / N of the received signal, and / or a block error rate at the time of demodulation. Or the channel selection method in the broadcast receiver of 2.