JP2007288603A - Broadcasting receiving apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a broadcasting receiving apparatus capable of quickly searching a broadcasting channel even when an application place is changed and having high user's convenience. <P>SOLUTION: A control unit 100 controls a tuner 20, detects one receivable broadcasting station, and specifies an area where the broadcasting receiving apparatus exists at present on the basis of the identification information of the broadcasting station and a station-area conversion table 72. Then the control unit 100 detects physical channels of the receivable broadcasting station in the area on the basis of the specified area and an area-station conversion table 73, verifies whether each physical channel can be practically received or not, records only physical channels which can be practically received in a viewable/audible frequency table 75, and selects a physical channel to be viewed by a user from the physical channels recorded in the table 75. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving apparatus used to receive a broadcast such as a terrestrial digital broadcast.

  As is well known, terrestrial digital broadcasting has started. Conventional broadcast receivers that receive terrestrial digital broadcasts, when operating for the first time or changing the installation location, do not know which broadcast waves exist in which frequency in the installed area. It is necessary to perform a so-called all-station search process in which a frequency with a broadcast wave is stored and searched (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

This all-station search process has a problem that it takes time because the process of confirming the presence or absence of broadcast waves is repeated for all 50 channels. In digital terrestrial broadcasting and the like, since it takes time for signal processing such as decoding of received digital signals, the user spends more time until the processing is completed. In particular, in the terrestrial digital broadcasting for mobile terminals for which services have been recently disclosed, the above problem becomes even more prominent because the mobile terminals are assumed to move.
JP 2001-203947 A.

In a conventional broadcast receiving apparatus, it is necessary to perform an all-station search process to search for a broadcast channel when the place of operation is changed. This takes a lot of time, and there is a problem in user convenience. It was.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and provides a broadcast receiving apparatus that can search for a broadcast channel in a short time even if the place of operation is changed, and has high user convenience. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a receiving means for receiving at least one broadcast channel from a plurality of broadcast channels and receiving a broadcast signal transmitted through the set broadcast channel, and broadcast identification information. And the first storage means for storing the broadcast-region table in which the identification information of the region where the broadcast is performed is associated, the identification information of the region, and the identification information of the broadcast channel broadcast in the region Second storage means for storing the region-broadcast table, and first detection means for setting at least one broadcast identification information on the basis of a signal received by the reception means by setting a broadcast channel in the reception means. And the area identification information associated with the broadcast identification information detected by the first detection means based on the broadcast-area table stored in the first storage means. Second detection means for detecting broadcast channel identification information associated with the area identification information detected by the second detection means based on the area-broadcast table stored in the second storage means. And third storage means for storing the identification information of the broadcast channel detected by the third detection means, and at least one broadcast channel selected from the broadcast channels stored by the third storage means, and set to the reception means. And channel setting means.

  As described above, according to the present invention, at least one recognizable broadcast identification information is detected, and based on the broadcast-region table in which the broadcast identification information is associated with the identification information of the region where the broadcast is performed. The region identification information associated with the detected broadcast identification information is detected, and based on the region-broadcast table in which the region identification information and the broadcast channel identification information broadcast in the region are associated with each other. A broadcast channel that can be received is detected by detecting broadcast channel identification information associated with the detected regional identification information. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to search for a broadcast channel in a short time even if the place of operation is changed, and it is possible to provide a broadcast receiving apparatus with high user convenience.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, a broadcast receiving apparatus that receives terrestrial digital broadcast will be described as an example.

  The broadcast receiving apparatus includes an antenna 10, a tuner unit 20, a stream separation unit 30, a stream analysis unit 40, a user interface (UI) unit 50, a display unit 60, a storage unit 70, and a control unit 100. It has.

  The tuner unit 20 receives a broadcast signal received by the antenna 10, receives a physical channel of a digital broadcast designated from the control unit 100, detects the reception level, and notifies the control unit 100 of it. Further, the tuner unit 20 demodulates the received signal of the physical channel designated by the control unit 100 in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 100 to obtain a transport stream (TS).

  The stream separation unit 30 separates video data, audio data, and control information from the transport stream. Of these, video data and audio data are decoded by a decoding unit (not shown) and output as a video signal and an audio signal, respectively. The control information is output to the stream analysis unit 40. This control information is information relating to the transport stream, such as NIT (Network Information Table) or PMT (Program Map Table).

  The stream analysis unit 40 analyzes the control information and notifies the control unit 100 of identification information of a broadcasting station that is a transmission source of the transport stream. Further, the stream analysis unit 40 analyzes the control information output from the stream separation unit 30 for a certain period of time, and monitors whether or not PMT is included in the control information. When the PMT can be received, the stream analysis unit 40 notifies the control unit 100 that the broadcast is being performed. On the other hand, when the PMT cannot be received, the stream analysis unit 40 notifies the control unit 100 that the broadcast is being suspended. Notice.

  The user interface unit 50 is an interface that receives an instruction from the user, and includes a plurality of keys to which a physical channel that the user desires to view is allocated, keys for performing various settings, and the like. The display unit 60 visually displays various types of information such as the operational status (physical channel being received) of the broadcast receiving apparatus, and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like is used, for example.

  The storage unit 70 stores the control program and control data of the control unit 100, and includes a physical channel table 71, a station-region conversion table 72, a region-station conversion table 73, a receivable frequency table 74, and a viewable frequency. A table 75 and the like are stored.

  The physical channel table 71 is a table in which channel information (frequency, etc.) for receiving physical channels that can be received by the broadcast receiving apparatus is collected. Here, since terrestrial digital broadcasting is taken as an example, information for receiving channels 13 to 62 of the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) band is collected in a table.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the station-area conversion table 72 is a table in which identification information of a broadcasting station is associated with an area name where the broadcasting station is located. The area name is a broadcasting area divided in advance, and one area is a group of a plurality of prefectures or a single prefecture.

  In contrast to the station-region conversion table 72, the region-station conversion table 73 is a table in which identification information of broadcast stations that can be received in the region is associated with the region name, as shown in FIG. Usually, identification information of a plurality of broadcasting stations is associated with one area name.

The receivable frequency table 74 is a table in which identification information of broadcast stations narrowed down by the control unit 100 based on the station-region conversion table 72 and the region-station conversion table 73 in order to create the viewable frequency table 75. It is.
The viewable frequency table 75 is a table in which identification information of broadcast stations that can be received at a location where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located is compiled, and is generated by the control unit 100.

  The control unit 100 controls the respective units of the broadcast receiving apparatus in an integrated manner. For example, the control unit 100 receives broadcast stations included in the viewable frequency table 75 in accordance with an instruction from the user through the user interface unit 50. Next, the tuner unit 20 is controlled. In addition, the control unit 100 performs channel setting processing for setting a broadcast station that can be viewed based on information notified from each unit and information stored in the storage unit 70.

  Next, the operation of the broadcast receiving apparatus having the above configuration will be described. First, the operation when the channel setting process is performed will be described. This processing is performed at the time of the initial operation of the broadcast receiving apparatus or when the operation location is changed, and is performed by the control unit 100 executing a flowchart as shown in FIG. The channel setting process shown in this flowchart is started when the user requests execution of the above process through the user interface unit 50.

  First, in step 4a, the control unit 100 refers to the physical channel table 71, selects one of the 13 to 62 channels, which is a small number physical channel, designates the physical channel to the tuner unit 20, and instructs reception. Then, the process proceeds to step 4b. On the other hand, the tuner unit 20 receives the physical channel of the digital broadcast designated from the control unit 100, detects the reception level, and notifies the control unit 100 of it. When step 4a is performed again, the physical channel table 71 is referred to, and a physical channel obtained by adding 1 to the value of the physical channel selected last time is selected.

  In step 4b, the control unit 100 determines whether the reception level notified from the tuner unit 20 is equal to or higher than a preset threshold value. If the reception level is equal to or higher than a preset threshold value, the process proceeds to step 4c. On the other hand, if the reception level is less than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step 4a to select another physical channel.

  In step 4c, the control unit 100 instructs the tuner unit 20 to receive and demodulate the physical channel specified in step 4a, and proceeds to step 4d. Thereby, the tuner unit 20 demodulates the received signal of the physical channel to obtain a transport stream.

  Accordingly, the stream separation unit 30 separates video data, audio data, and control information from the transport stream. Among these, video data and audio data are output to a decoding unit (not shown). Control information such as NIT and PMT is output to the stream analysis unit 40.

  Then, the stream analysis unit 40 analyzes the control information and obtains NIT. Further, the NIT is analyzed, the network_id field in the NIT is extracted, and this is notified to the control unit 100 as the identification information of the broadcast station that is the transmission source of the transport stream. In addition, the stream analysis unit 40 monitors whether or not the PMT is included in the control information for a certain period of time, and when the PMT is received, notifies the control unit 100 that the PMT is being broadcast, When the PMT cannot be received, the control unit 100 is notified that the broadcast is suspended.

  In step 4d, the control unit 100 acquires from the stream analysis unit 40 analysis results such as the identification information of the broadcast station that is the transmission source of the transport stream and the determination result of the broadcast status based on the PMT, and then proceeds to step 4e. To do.

  In step 4e, the control unit 100 determines whether broadcasting is being performed from the determination result of the broadcast status based on the PMT. If it is determined that the broadcast is paused, the process proceeds to step 4a to select another physical channel. On the other hand, if it is determined that the broadcast is being performed, the process proceeds to step 4f. .

  For example, in the area where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located, as shown in FIG. 5, when there is a broadcast status of each physical channel, verification is performed sequentially from the physical channel 13, and the broadcast on the physical channel 14 is paused. Therefore, the process proceeds from step 4e to step 4a. Thereafter, since the physical channels 15 to 19 are not broadcasted, the processes of steps 4a and 4b are repeated, and when the physical channel 20 is received, the process proceeds to step 4f.

  In step 4f, the control unit 100 identifies the area where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located based on the broadcast station identification information acquired in step 4d and the information in the station-area conversion table 72, and determines the area name. Detect and move to step 4g.

  In step 4g, the control unit 100 specifies a broadcast station that can be received in the region where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located based on the region name detected in step 4f and the information in the region-station conversion table 73, and this broadcast is performed. Information necessary for receiving a station (broadcast station identification information, physical channel) is recorded in the receivable frequency table 74, and the process proceeds to step 4h.

  In step 4h, the control unit 100 refers to the receivable frequency table 74, selects one of the physical channels set in this table with a small number, and designates the physical channel as the tuner unit 20. Reception is instructed, and the process proceeds to step 4i. On the other hand, the tuner unit 20 receives the physical channel of the digital broadcast designated from the control unit 100, detects the reception level, and notifies the control unit 100 of it. When step 4h is performed again, the receivable frequency table 74 is referred to and a physical channel different from the previously selected physical channel is selected.

  In step 4i, the control unit 100 determines whether or not the reception level notified from the tuner unit 20 is equal to or higher than a preset threshold value. If the reception level is equal to or higher than a preset threshold value, the process proceeds to step 4j. On the other hand, if the reception level is less than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step 4h to select another physical channel.

  In step 4j, the control unit 100 instructs the tuner unit 20 to receive and demodulate the physical channel specified in step 4h, and proceeds to step 4k. Thereby, the tuner unit 20 demodulates the received signal of the physical channel to obtain a transport stream.

  Accordingly, the stream separation unit 30 separates video data, audio data, and control information from the transport stream. Among these, video data and audio data are output to a decoding unit (not shown). Control information such as NIT and PMT is output to the stream analysis unit 40.

  Then, the stream analysis unit 40 analyzes the control information and obtains NIT. Further, the NIT is analyzed, the network_id field in the NIT is extracted, and this is notified to the control unit 100 as the identification information of the broadcast station that is the transmission source of the transport stream. In addition, the stream analysis unit 40 monitors whether or not the PMT is included in the control information for a certain period of time, and when the PMT is received, notifies the control unit 100 that the PMT is being broadcast, When the PMT cannot be received, the control unit 100 is notified that the broadcast is suspended.

  In step 4k, the control unit 100 acquires from the stream analysis unit 40 the analysis result such as the identification information of the broadcasting station that is the transmission source of the transport stream and the determination result of the broadcast status based on the PMT, and then proceeds to step 4l. To do.

  In step 41, the control unit 100 determines whether broadcasting is being performed from the determination result of the broadcast status based on the PMT. If it is determined that the broadcast is paused, the process proceeds to step 4h to select another physical channel. On the other hand, if it is determined that the broadcast is being performed, the process proceeds to step 4m. .

  In step 4m, the control unit 100 records the physical channel specified in step 4h and the broadcast station identification information acquired in step 4k in the viewable frequency table 75, and proceeds to step 4n.

  In step 4n, the control unit 100 determines whether or not the verification process after step 4i has been performed for all the physical channels recorded in the receivable frequency table 74. Here, if there is a physical channel that has not been verified yet, the process proceeds to step 4h, and one of the remaining physical channels is selected and the verification process after step 4i is performed, and there is no physical channel that has not been verified. In the case, the process is terminated.

  That is, in the area where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, when there is a broadcast situation of each physical channel, the viewable physical channels are shown in FIG. 6 by the processing of steps 4h to 4n. Those physical channels are recorded in the viewable frequency table 75.

  Thereafter, the control unit 100 assigns the physical channel recorded in the viewable frequency table 75 to each key of the user interface unit 50, and when these keys are operated by the user, the physical channel corresponding to the operated key. Are controlled such as the tuner unit 20.

  As described above, in the broadcast receiving apparatus having the above configuration, one receivable broadcast station is detected, and the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located based on the identification information of the broadcast station and the station-region conversion table 72. Identify the region. Then, based on the specified area and the area-station conversion table 73, a physical channel of a broadcasting station that can be received in this area is detected, whether it can be actually received in each physical channel, and can be actually received. Only the physical channel is recorded in the viewable frequency table 75, and the physical channel that the user views is selected from the physical channels recorded in this table.

  Therefore, according to the broadcast receiving apparatus having the above configuration, it is possible to respond to the region where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located without verifying whether or not reception is possible for all physical channels (channels 13 to 62). Since a physical channel can be set, it is possible to search for a broadcast channel in a short time even if the place of operation is changed, which is convenient for the user.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. Further, for example, a configuration in which some components are deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment is also conceivable. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component described in different embodiment.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the information set in the physical channel table 71, the station-region conversion table 72, and the region-station conversion table 73 has been described as being set in advance. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It is not something. Information set in each table may be updated based on information input from the user interface unit 50 or information received from a broadcasting station. According to this, it is possible to cope with the case where the allocation of the physical channel to the broadcasting station is changed due to the occurrence of frequency repacking or the broadcasting station is newly opened.

  In the above embodiment, the description has been made as if one area was specified in step 4f, but a plurality of areas may be detected. For example, in step 4f, the control unit 100 detects an area to which the broadcasting station detected in step 4d belongs and an area adjacent to the area. In step 4g, the control unit 100 may detect broadcast stations corresponding to the plurality of regions. According to this, when a broadcasting station outside the regional division can be received at a regional boundary or the like, the broadcasting station can be set as a viewable channel.

  In the above embodiment, reception of terrestrial broadcasts in Japan has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to reception from terrestrial broadcast stations. It is also possible to apply to the reception of the terrestrial broadcasting, and to the case where the terrestrial broadcasting station and the broadcasting satellite to be received change with the movement to overseas.

In the above embodiment, at least one receivable physical channel is detected, and the area where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located is specified based on the detected physical channel. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the broadcast receiving apparatus is mounted on a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, position information can be acquired from a base station or a mobile communication network accommodated in the mobile communication network, and a region can be specified from this. Is possible.
In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly implemented even if various modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

The circuit block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of the broadcast receiver concerning this invention. The figure which shows an example of the station-area conversion table memorize | stored in the memory | storage part of the broadcast receiver shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the area-station conversion table memorize | stored in the memory | storage part of the broadcast receiver shown in FIG. The flowchart for demonstrating the channel setting process of the broadcast receiver shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the broadcast station which can be received in the area where the broadcast receiver shown in FIG. 1 is located. The figure for demonstrating the operation | movement which memorize | stores the receivable broadcast station in the viewable frequency table of a memory | storage part among the broadcast stations shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Antenna, 20 ... Tuner part, 30 ... Stream separation part, 40 ... Stream analysis part, 50 ... User interface part, 60 ... Display part, 70 ... Memory | storage part, 71 ... Physical channel table, 72 ... Station-area conversion table 73 ... area-station conversion table, 74 ... receivable frequency table, 75 ... viewable frequency table, 100 ... control unit.

Claims (3)

Receiving means for receiving at least one broadcast channel from a plurality of broadcast channels and receiving a broadcast signal transmitted through the set broadcast channel;
A first storage means for storing a broadcast-region table in which broadcast identification information is associated with identification information of a region where the broadcast is performed;
Second storage means for storing a region-broadcast table in which region identification information is associated with identification information of broadcast channels broadcast in the region;
A first detection unit that sets a broadcast channel in the reception unit and detects at least one receivable broadcast identification information based on a signal received by the reception unit;
Second detection means for detecting area identification information associated with broadcast identification information detected by the first detection means based on a broadcast-area table stored in the first storage means;
Third detection means for detecting broadcast channel identification information associated with the area identification information detected by the second detection means based on the area-broadcast table stored in the second storage means;
Third storage means for storing identification information of the broadcast channel detected by the third detection means;
A broadcast receiving apparatus comprising: channel setting means for selecting at least one broadcast channel from broadcast channels stored in the third storage means and setting the selected channel in the receiving means. Furthermore, the broadcast channel detected by the third receiving means is sequentially set in the receiving means, and a judging means for judging whether or not the reception is actually possible from the received signal is provided,
2. The broadcast according to claim 1, wherein the third storage unit stores only the broadcast channel determined to be receivable by the determination unit among the identification information of the broadcast channel detected by the third detection unit. Receiver device. Receiving means for receiving at least one broadcast channel from a plurality of broadcast channels and receiving a broadcast signal transmitted through the set broadcast channel;
Area detecting means for detecting the area where the broadcast receiving apparatus is currently located;
Channel detection means for detecting a broadcast channel broadcast in the area detected by the area detection means;
Storage means for storing identification information of the broadcast channel detected by the channel detection means;
A broadcast receiving apparatus comprising: channel setting means for selecting at least one broadcast channel from broadcast channels stored in the storage means and setting the selected channel in the receiving means.

Images