JP2006325043A - Image display device and television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image display device which allows an appropriate viewing environment (ambient brightness) to be obtained in accordance with a displayed image content and enables a user to view the image content in a satisfactory environment. <P>SOLUTION: The image display device includes a toner part (2) for receiving a television signal and data relating to program information, an information detection part (6) for detecting information relating to a main genre and a sub-genre of a display program by using the television signal and/or the program information received by the tuner part, and an external apparatus control part (7) for controlling brightness of an external lighting device on the basis of the detected information relating to the main genre and sub-genre of the program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display device such as a television receiver, and more particularly to an image display device that can control an external device such as a room lighting device in accordance with the display contents.

  As an image display apparatus such as a television receiver, as a conventional technique for controlling the brightness of illumination of an external device, particularly a room according to the content of a video to be displayed (genre or type of broadcast program), for example, the following patent document Those described in 1 and 2 are known.

JP 2003-323169 A JP 2000-16471 A

  In the conventional techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the brightness of the illumination is controlled by using the content information included in the input television signal or the illumination setting signal corresponding to the genre and type of the broadcast program. However, in the ones described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the genre of the program can be determined only by a rough classification such as “movie”, “document”, and “animation”. The “movie” includes, for example, a live-action movie and an animation movie. In the cases described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the same illumination control is performed for the live-action movie and the animation movie.

  Animated movies, like normal “animations”, may contain video that changes frequently in color and brightness in a short period of time. It is preferable to reduce the irritation. However, those described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot cope with such a case.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technology capable of obtaining an appropriate viewing environment according to video content.

  To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an information detection unit that detects information related to a main genre and a sub genre of video content, and an external device based on the information related to the detected main genre and sub genre of the video content. In particular, an external device control unit for controlling the brightness of the lighting device in the room is provided.

  At least the main genre information of the video content is detected from program genre information included in the electronic program guide data input together with the video signal. Further, the sub-genre information of the video content may be detected from character data (for example, ASCII code) describing the content of the program, the program name, etc. included in the data of the electronic program guide. Further, the sub-genre information of the video content may be detected using information related to telecine conversion of the input video signal.

  Here, the external device control unit is configured so that, for example, when “movie” is detected as the main genre information, the brightness of the illumination is set higher than when “animation” is detected as the main genre information. To control. However, even when “movie” is detected as the main genre information, when “animation” is detected as the sub-genre information, for example, the same brightness as when “animation” is detected as the main genre information, for example. Control the lighting so that Further, even when “movie” is detected as the main genre information, when a specific genre such as “horror” is detected as the sub-genre information, “movie” is detected as the main genre information. The lighting is controlled so as to have the same brightness.

  According to the present invention, an appropriate viewing environment (ambient brightness) can be obtained according to the video content to be displayed, and the video content can be viewed in a favorable environment.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image display device 1 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a television receiver will be described as an example of an image display device. The present embodiment is an example in which main genre and sub-genre information of video content is detected from data of an electronic program guide that is input together with a television signal or separately from the television signal.

  An image display apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a tuner 2 for receiving and selecting an analog television signal and / or a digital television signal (hereinafter referred to as a TV signal) as a video signal. . The TV signal received by the antenna is input to the terminal 8 and a desired channel is selected by the tuner 2. Here, it is assumed that electronic program guide data representing program information (hereinafter referred to as EPG data) is superimposed or mixed on the TV broadcast signal. The signal selected by the tuner 2 is supplied to an audio / video processing circuit 3 where processing necessary for reproduction of audio / video such as demodulation and decoding is performed, and the video is sent to the display device 4 and the audio is sent to the speaker 5. Are output respectively.

  One configuration example of the sound / image processing circuit 3 is shown in FIG. The TV signal selected by the tuner 2 is input to the terminal 13, and the sound is reproduced by the sound demodulation circuit 18 and output to the terminal 20. On the other hand, the video is demodulated by the video demodulation circuit 14, separated into a luminance signal and a color signal by the YC separation circuit 15, and then converted in number of pixels by the scan converter 16. This pixel number conversion is performed in order to match the number of pixels of the TV signal with the number of pixels of the display device 4. Thus, the TV signal has the number of pixels equal to the number of pixels of the display device 4 and is output from the terminal 17 to the display device 4. Further, the program information detection circuit 21 detects EPG data transmitted together with the TV signal by broadcasting separately from the TV signal, and outputs it as video content information to the control circuit 6 via the terminal 19.

  The display device 4 includes, for example, a liquid crystal panel, a plasma display panel, an FED, a CRT, and the like. The display device 4 displays video based on the video signal from the audio / video processing circuit 3, and converts it into EPG data according to a user request. Display the program guide based on it. This program table is, for example, a screen in a matrix format with the horizontal axis as the time axis and the vertical axis as the channel axis, and is used for confirming a current or future program of a plurality of channels or for recording reservation.

  The EPG data separated and detected by the program information detection circuit 21 is supplied to a control circuit 6 having, for example, a microcomputer and a memory. The control circuit 6 acquires the EPG data as data relating to the video content of the received TV signal, stores it in the memory, and detects information on the main genre and subgenre of the received TV signal from the stored EPG data.

  Then, the control circuit 6 determines the control amount of the external device based on the detected main genre and sub-genre information of the received TV signal and transmits it to the external device control unit 7. The external device control unit 7 controls the external device according to the control amount obtained from the control circuit 6. According to the above configuration, it is possible to realize control of an external device according to video content. Here, the external devices are, for example, a lighting device in a room where the image display device 1 is installed, an air conditioner, other audio devices, and the like, and these external devices are controlled according to video content. A control signal for controlling the external device may be transmitted from the external device control unit 7 to each external device by wireless or may be transmitted by wire.

  Next, a specific example of control of the illumination device will be described with reference to FIG. 2, taking as an example the case where the external device is an illumination device in a room where the image display device 1 is installed. In this example, the illumination device 10 is controlled by the external device control unit 7 using infrared rays. Therefore, the external device control unit 7 has an infrared transmission function. A control signal transmitted from the external device controller 7 is transmitted to a control receiver 9 connected to an illumination device such as a fluorescent lamp or an incandescent lamp. The control receiver 9 controls the lighting device 10 according to the received control signal.

  Here, a specific example of EPG data, detection of genre information from the EPG data, and illumination control according to the detection result will be described. As described above, the EPG data is data for configuring a program table displayed on the display device. For each of a plurality of programs, for example, program genre information, program start and end time information, broadcast channel Information about the program name, and description about the program contents (information about the program outline, performers, etc.). The program genre information includes, for example, “movie”, “drama”, “animation”, “sports”, and the like. Further, the description of the program name and the program content includes character data composed of ASCII codes. These pieces of information are superimposed or mixed on the TV signal, for example, and are separated from the TV signal together with demodulation and decoding of the TV signal and stored in the memory in the control circuit 6. Here, the memory in the control circuit 6 stores EPG data for several hours to several days or weeks of the previous channel, and this content is periodically updated (for example, several hours or once a day). .

  The microcomputer in the control circuit 6 searches and extracts EPG data corresponding to the currently viewed program from the memory. For example, when an “external device control button” provided on a remote controller (not shown) is operated, the corresponding program is searched from the memory from the channel and time of the program displayed on the screen when this operation is performed, and the corresponding operation is performed. EPG data may be extracted. Here, it is assumed that the program currently being viewed (that is, the program displayed on the screen of the display device 4) is an animated movie. At this time, the microcomputer in the control circuit 6 extracts “movie” from the memory as genre information of the program. Thereby, the microcomputer detects and determines that the main genre of the program being viewed is “movie”. Here, in the microcomputer, a control amount of illumination is set in advance for each piece of main genre information. For example, when the main genre is “movie”, the control amount L1 with the brightness of the illumination as the first brightness, and with respect to “animation”, the illumination brightness is higher than the first brightness. For the control amount L2, the drama, and the “sport”, the control amount L3 that sets the brightness of the illumination to a third brightness intermediate between the first brightness and the second brightness, respectively. It is set in the microcomputer. In this example, the microcomputer detects that the main genre of the program is “movie”, and therefore temporarily sets the illumination control amount L1.

  Subsequently, the microcomputer in the control circuit 6 detects the sub-genre of the program being viewed from the description of the program content stored in the memory. For example, the microcomputer stores in advance a character code corresponding to a character string related to a specific genre, and stores, for example, in the memory whether the character code corresponding to “animation” or “animation” is included in the description of the program content. The EPG data of the viewed program being viewed is searched. As a result, when a character code corresponding to “animation” or “animation” is extracted, the microcomputer detects and determines that the sub-genre of the program being viewed is “animation”. Then, the microcomputer corrects the control amount L1 and sets the final illumination control amount L0 so that the brightness of the illumination is higher than the temporarily set control amount L1. Here, the control amount L1 is corrected to be equal to the control amount L2. The control amount L0 obtained here does not need to be equal to the control amount L2, and may be at least larger than the control amount L1.

  The control amount L0 set in this way is transmitted to the external device control unit 7 and transmitted to the control reception unit 9 by infrared rays. The control receiver 9 controls the lighting device 10 according to the control amount L0. As a result, it is possible to obtain the brightness of the illumination suitable for the “animation movie” that is the video content of the currently viewed program.

  In the above example, when searching for a sub-genre, the character code corresponding to “animation” or “animation” is searched, but other character codes, for example, the character code corresponding to the character string of “horror” are used. You may make it search. Generally, a horror movie is mainly composed of a dark scene. Therefore, when “horror” is searched as a sub-genre and the program being viewed is “horror movie”, the control amount of lighting is set to L4 lower than the control amount L1 when the main genre is “movie”. . In this way, when watching a “horror movie”, the brightness of the illumination can be reduced compared to other movies, and the brightness is easy to see without being disturbed by the ambient light of the image display device 1. You can watch in. When the microcomputer cannot search for any character string “animation”, “animation”, or “horror”, the final control amount L0 is set to the temporarily set control amount L1.

  Further, when the microcomputer detects “animation” as the main genre information, the control amount L2 of the illumination is selected so that it can be viewed in a bright environment as much as possible. Since the animation may include an image whose luminance and color frequently change in a short time, it is preferable to brighten the lighting to suppress visual stimulation.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the main genre information of the program being viewed is detected from the program genre information of the EPG data, and the sub-genre information is detected from the description of the program content of the EPG data. In the first example, “movie” is detected as the main genre information, and “animation” is detected as the sub-genre information, so that it is possible to identify that the currently viewed program is “animation movie”. For this reason, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to grasp the contents of the program being viewed in detail and perform lighting control suitable for it. In addition, when darkening the illumination mentioned above, it goes without saying that the illumination is not extinguished completely and appropriate light control is performed.

  In addition, the external device control unit 7 and the control reception unit 9 may not only transmit information in one direction but also be able to communicate in both directions. In this way, for example, the brightness information of the current illumination is transmitted from the control receiving unit 9 to the external device control unit 7, and the brightness information and the detected genre information are used to brighten the illumination. You can control whether to darken.

  In the above example, the control signal is transmitted wirelessly to the control receiver 9, but may be transmitted by wire as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, control information from the external device control unit 7 is transmitted to the control unit 12 via the terminal 11 to control the lighting device 10. Also with this configuration, it is possible to control the brightness of the lighting device 10 according to the content of the video content. The type of cable is not particularly limited, and may be the same Ethernet (registered trademark) as a personal computer LAN or a unique network. A power supply line may be used. In the present embodiment, it is needless to say that the same effect can be obtained even if the external device control means is not the above-described infrared ray or cable.

  In the above example, the EPG data is transmitted by being superimposed or mixed on the TV signal. However, the EPG data may be transmitted by a channel different from the channel of the TV broadcast signal. It goes without saying that the configuration of the present embodiment can be similarly applied even in such a case. In this embodiment, the input video signal is described as a broadcast TV signal. However, as an input video signal, a signal from a video playback device such as a VTR, DVD, or hard disk recorder may be used.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, the main genre information of the video content is detected from the EPG data, and the sub-genre information is detected by determining the telecine conversion method of the TV signal. In the following description, the configuration for detecting the main genre information is the same as that in the first embodiment described above, and thus the description of the configuration is omitted to avoid duplication.

  In the example of FIG. 5, a terminal 19 is connected to the scan converter 16, and video information is obtained from this terminal 19. In addition, the thing of the same code | symbol as FIG. 4 shall have the same function. That is, the configuration example of FIG. 5 is such that sub-genre information is obtained from the scan converter 16. A specific example of the scan converter 16 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the video input from the terminal 22 is delayed by the field delay circuits 23 and 24 and input to the motion detection circuit 25 and the interpolation processing circuit 27. The interpolation processing circuit 27 converts the interlaced video into a progressive video (sequentially scanned video) based on the motion information detected by the motion detection circuit 25, and after the pixel number conversion processing is performed by the scaling circuit 28, it is output from the output terminal 17. The In the interpolation processing circuit 27, when the input TV signal is a progressive video, the conversion processing is not performed and the output is output as it is. Since there are various known methods for the conversion to progressive conversion in the interpolation processing circuit 27, description thereof is omitted here.

  In the above configuration, the motion detection circuit 25 outputs to the terminal 19 information on whether the video is a video that has been previously pulled down on the broadcast station side based on the motion detection result. The signal output from the terminal 19 is supplied to the microcomputer of the control circuit 6 and used as a signal for detecting sub-genre information.

  By the way, in the case of the NTSC system, there are videos originally converting 24 frames of video to 60 frames per second and videos converting 30 frames to 60 frames. At this time, the number of frames is converted periodically by repeating the same frame. In the case of a video of 24 frames per second, for example, the odd-numbered frame is repeated twice and the even-numbered frame is repeated three times to convert it into 60 frames per second. Further, in the case of 30 frames per second, for example, the odd-numbered frames are repeated twice and the even-numbered frames are repeated twice to convert the frames to 60 frames per second. Such a process is called a pull-down process. The former iterative process is called 2-3 pull-down process, and the latter iterative process is called 2-2 pull-down process. When motion detection is performed on the video that has been subjected to pull-down processing in this way, a repeated frame is detected as having no motion amount or as a very small motion. On the other hand, a non-repeated frame is detected as a larger motion in the case of a moving image. When this motion detection result is continuously measured, the presence or absence of motion appears periodically, and it can be determined that the image is a pull-down processed image. Further, it can be determined whether the original video is 24 frames or 30 frames. That is, by detecting the periodicity regarding the presence or absence of motion between fields in the received TV signal, it is possible to determine whether the received TV signal is a signal subjected to pull-down processing, and further whether it is 2-3 pull-down or 2-2 pull-down. it can.

  By the way, in the video content, many movies are produced with 24 frames, and in the case of animation, 30 movies are produced. Although animated movies are movies, they are often produced with 30 frames. Therefore, in this embodiment, as described in the first embodiment, the main genre of the program being viewed is detected from the EPG data, and the sub-genre is detected by detecting the periodicity of the presence or absence of motion between fields. . That is, in this embodiment, the sub-genre is detected based on the type of telecine conversion method, for example, whether the received TV signal is a 2-3 pull-down signal or a 2-2 pull-down signal. For example, if the main genre is “movie” and the original video is determined to be 24 frames (that is, 2-3 pull-down signal), it is determined as a live-action movie and the control amount of illumination is set to L1. On the other hand, if the original video has 30 frames (that is, 2-2 pull-down signal), it is determined as an animation and the control amount of illumination is set higher than L2 or L1. A favorable viewing environment can be realized by controlling the lighting to be bright. According to such a configuration, a process for searching for a character code stored in the memory becomes unnecessary.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, a video feature detection circuit 30 is further provided in the first and second embodiments. That is, in this embodiment, in addition to the detection of main genre information and sub-genre information, video features are further detected, and the brightness of the illumination is controlled using this video feature information.

  In FIG. 7, the feature detection circuit 30 detects the feature of the video input from the terminal 22 and outputs the video feature information to the terminal 31. For example, the feature detection circuit 30 detects and analyzes an average of luminance information for one frame or one field period of the video as a video feature, and outputs the luminance information to the control circuit 6. As a result, the microcomputer in the control circuit 6 performs control so that the illumination is dimmed when the image is entirely dark, for example, and the illumination is brightened when the image is bright. By such control, the ambient brightness can be controlled according to the program genre being watched and the video content, so that an environment (lighting environment) more suitable for viewing can be obtained. Here, the feature detection circuit 30 may detect a luminance distribution (luminance histogram) for one frame or one field period of the video as a video feature. When the appearance frequency of the high brightness area exceeds a predetermined value, it is judged as a bright image as a whole, and the illumination is brightened. Conversely, when the appearance frequency of the low brightness area exceeds a predetermined value, the image is dark overall It may be determined that the lighting may be darkened.

  FIG. 8 shows another example of the third embodiment. This is configured so as to output to the terminal 33 as video information in combination with the detection result of the feature detection circuit 30 and information on whether or not the pull-down processing is detected by the motion detection circuit 25. is there. According to this configuration, for example, even if the video content is a movie, if the video content is bright, it can be controlled so that the illumination is brightened and darkened only when the video content is dark. Can do. That is, in another example of the third embodiment, the motion detection circuit 25 detects the first feature relating to the telecine conversion of the video signal to determine the genre of the video content. That is, as the first feature, when a 2-3 pull-down signal is detected, the genre of the video is determined as a movie, whereas when a 2-2 pull-down signal is detected, the genre of the video is determined as an animation. . Based on this genre determination result, a control amount relating to the brightness of the illumination is provisionally determined. Then, the feature detection circuit 30 detects the second feature (for example, average brightness level, brightness histogram) relating to the brightness of the video signal, and corrects the control amount determined temporarily according to the detection result of the second feature. The final brightness control amount. Thus, for example, if the genre of the displayed video is a movie but the video is bright (the brightness setting value corresponding to “video”), the illumination is brightened, and if the video is dark even in the case of animation (“animation”) Make the light darker (than the brightness setting corresponding to). This makes it possible to obtain an appropriate viewing environment (brightness of illumination) according to the video content and luminance.

  FIG. 9 shows still another example of the third embodiment. This is configured to control the illumination using the information of the feature detection circuit 30 and to further control the contrast control circuit 34. According to this configuration, since the display characteristics of the screen can be controlled together with the illumination control, it is possible to control the viewing environment more finely.

  In each of the embodiments described above, the case of receiving by the tuner 2 has been described, but the same effect can be obtained regardless of whether the broadcast received in this case is an analog system or a digital system. Further, it goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained even if the video is not received by the tuner 2 or is an externally input video.

The figure which shows 1st Example of the image display apparatus which concerns on this invention. The figure which shows an example which applied 1st Example to illumination control The figure which shows another example which applied 1st Example to illumination control The figure which shows the example of one example of the audio | voice / video processing circuit 3 The figure which shows 2nd Example based on this invention The figure which shows an example of the scan converter in 2nd Example The figure which shows 3rd Example which concerns on this invention The figure which shows another example of 3rd Example The figure which shows another example of 3rd Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image display apparatus, 2 ... Tuner, 3 ... Audio | voice / image processing circuit, 4 ... Display device, 5 ... Speaker, 6 ... Control circuit, 10 ... External apparatus control means.

Claims (18)

In an image display device,
An information detection unit for detecting information on a main genre and a sub genre of the video content using the input video signal and / or data on the video content;
An external device control unit for controlling an external device based on information on the main genre and sub-genre of the video content detected by the information detection unit;
An image display device comprising:   2. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the external device is a lighting device, and the external device control unit determines brightness of the lighting device based on information on a main genre and a sub-genre of the detected video content. An image display device characterized by controlling the thickness.   2. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the data relating to the video content is data of an electronic program guide.   4. The image display device according to claim 3, wherein the electronic program guide data includes information on a program genre, and the information detection unit detects information on a main genre of the video content from the information on the program genre. An image display device.   5. The image display device according to claim 4, wherein the data of the electronic program guide further includes character data relating to the contents of the program, and the information detection unit detects information relating to a subgenre of the video content from the character data information. An image display device.   5. The image display device according to claim 4, wherein the information detection unit detects information related to a sub-genre of the video content using data related to telecine conversion of the video signal and data of an electronic program guide input thereto. An image display device.   The image display device according to claim 1, further comprising a feature detection unit that detects a feature of the video signal, wherein the external device control unit uses the information detected by the feature detection unit to detect the external device. An image display device characterized by controlling.   8. The image display device according to claim 7, wherein the feature detection unit detects an average luminance of one frame or one field period of the video signal as a feature of the video signal.   The image display device according to claim 7, wherein the feature detection unit detects a luminance distribution of one frame or one field period of the video signal as a feature of the video signal. In a television receiver,
A tuner for receiving data relating to television signals and program information;
An information detection unit for detecting information on a main genre and a sub genre of a displayed program using a television signal received by the tuner unit and / or data on the program information;
An external device control unit for controlling the brightness of an external lighting device based on information on the program main genre and sub-genre detected by the information detection unit;
A television receiver comprising:   11. The television receiver according to claim 10, wherein the external device control unit controls the illumination device wirelessly.   12. The television receiver according to claim 11, wherein the external device control unit controls the illumination device using infrared rays.   11. The television receiver according to claim 10, wherein the external device control unit controls the illumination device by wire. The television receiver according to claim 10, wherein the information detection unit detects information of the main genre using at least program genre information included in data related to the program information,
The external device control unit sets the lighting device to the first brightness when the information detection unit detects a movie as the main genre of the program, and sets the lighting device as the main brightness when the animation is detected as the main genre of the program. A television receiver, wherein the second brightness is higher than the first brightness.   15. The television receiver according to claim 14, wherein when the information detection unit detects a movie as a main genre of the program and an animation as a sub-genre of the program, the external device control unit A television receiver characterized in that an illumination device has the second brightness.   The television receiver according to claim 14, wherein the external device control unit detects the movie as a main genre of the program and the specific genre as a sub-genre of the program when the information detection unit detects the movie as a main genre of the program. A television receiver, wherein the lighting device has a third brightness lower than the first brightness. In an image display device,
Detecting a first feature relating to telecine conversion of the input video signal and detecting a second feature relating to the luminance of the input video signal;
An external device control unit for controlling the external device based on the first feature and the second feature detected by the detection unit;
An image display device comprising:   18. The image display device according to claim 17, wherein the detection unit determines information related to a genre of video content from the detected first feature.

Images