JP2008301293A - Broadcasting receiver and broadcasting receiving method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a broadcasting receiver which eliminates the needs for user's setting operations and switching operations, and can select digital broadcasting automatically for viewing and hearing. <P>SOLUTION: The broadcasting receiver has: a tuner 11 for receiving both digital broadcasting and analog broadcasting; a tune-in memory 20 for storing channel information for each channel position; and a control part 21 for controlling a broadcaster which provides two kinds of broadcastings so that the channel information of digital broadcasting is written in response to the channel position of analog broadcasting in the tune-in memory 20, and for controlling a broadcaster which airs only analog broadcasting so that the channel information of analog broadcasting is written in response to the channel position of analog broadcasting in the tune-in memory 20, to select either of two kinds of broadcastings by the tuner 11 based on the information stored in the tune-in memory 20, for reception. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving apparatus, and more particularly to a broadcast receiving apparatus and a broadcast receiving method capable of receiving two broadcast forms of digital broadcast and analog broadcast.

  In recent years, terrestrial digital broadcasting has been started. Currently, in terrestrial television broadcasting, simultaneous broadcasting in which terrestrial digital broadcasting and terrestrial analog broadcasting provide programs having the same content is being implemented. Therefore, broadcast receivers having a function capable of receiving both terrestrial digital broadcasts and terrestrial analog broadcasts are widely used as current broadcast receivers. For example, in terrestrial television broadcasting, when a user wants to view a certain channel, the user first selects either terrestrial digital broadcasting or terrestrial analog broadcasting with a remote controller (hereinafter referred to as remote control), and then An operation to select a channel by pressing the direct channel selection button is required. When both broadcasts can be received, the user generally selects and watches a terrestrial digital broadcast with good image quality.

  However, in some regions, not all broadcasters have started terrestrial digital broadcasting that supports terrestrial analog broadcasting. In this case, the user needs to switch to a terrestrial analog broadcast reception state for a channel without terrestrial digital broadcast, and then press the direct channel selection button to select a channel. Furthermore, since there are cases where the channel assignments of the terrestrial digital broadcast and the terrestrial analog broadcast provided by the same broadcaster are different, the operation is complicated, and there is a tendency that only the analog broadcast that is used to the user is seen after all.

  In order to solve such a problem, a broadcast receiving apparatus that associates one broadcast provider with one direct channel selection button has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1). However, when the channel assignment of terrestrial digital broadcast and terrestrial analog broadcast provided by the same broadcaster is different, it is not possible to automatically assign a broadcaster to one direct channel selection button. In this case, it is necessary for the user to manually assign broadcasters, and the operation is complicated.

  Also, a broadcast receiving apparatus has been proposed that can prompt the user to watch a digital terrestrial broadcast program as much as possible when the same program as the received terrestrial analog broadcast program is broadcast on the digital terrestrial broadcast. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).

  According to this proposal, when there is a terrestrial digital broadcast of the same program while viewing a terrestrial analog broadcast program, the broadcast receiving device informs the user that there is a terrestrial digital broadcast of the same program, and the user provides the remote control with the terrestrial digital broadcast. It is switched to terrestrial digital broadcasting by operating the given button. Alternatively, when the user operates a predetermined button provided on the remote controller, the broadcast receiving apparatus determines whether there is a digital terrestrial broadcast of the same program as the terrestrial analog broadcast program being viewed. If terrestrial digital broadcasting exists, switch to terrestrial digital broadcasting.

However, even in this proposal, the user needs to perform switching operation between analog broadcasting and digital broadcasting, which is not convenient.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-158956 JP 2004-179718 A

  As described above, conventionally, in an environment where digital broadcasting and analog broadcasting are mixed, there is a problem that the user may need a complicated setting operation or switching operation.

  The present invention automatically selects and views digital broadcasts without the need for user setting operations or switching operations even when the same operator is performing both digital broadcasts and analog broadcasts. An object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiving apparatus and a broadcast receiving method that can be enabled.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a receiving unit capable of receiving television broadcasts of two broadcasting forms, digital broadcasting and analog broadcasting, and information on the channel of the television broadcasting received by the receiving unit for each channel position. For the broadcaster that broadcasts in the two broadcast forms of the received information storage unit and the digital broadcast and the analog broadcast, corresponding to the channel position of the analog broadcast in the received information storage unit, For broadcasters who write digital broadcast channel information and broadcast in the form of analog broadcast only, the analog broadcast channel corresponds to the analog broadcast channel position in the reception information storage unit. The information stored in the storage unit information management unit and the received information storage unit And a control unit that controls the reception unit to select one of the two broadcast forms of the digital broadcast and the analog broadcast based on the received information and to receive the television broadcast. Can be provided.

  According to the broadcast receiving apparatus of the present invention, even when the same operator performs both digital broadcasting and analog broadcasting, digital broadcasting is automatically performed without requiring user setting operation or switching operation. You can tune in and watch.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, a broadcast receiving apparatus 1 according to this embodiment includes a tuner 11, a switch 12, a terrestrial analog broadcast demodulator 13, an analog-digital (hereinafter referred to as AD) converter 14, a terrestrial A demodulator 15 for digital broadcasting, a decoder 16, a video / audio signal processing unit 17 for outputting video and audio signals, a regional memory 18, a channel memory 19, a channel selection memory 20, and a control unit 21 are provided. It is prepared for.

  An antenna 31 is connected to the broadcast receiving apparatus 1. The antenna 31 receives a terrestrial broadcast signal and supplies the received signal to the tuner 11.

  Furthermore, the broadcast receiving apparatus 1 can receive an operation signal from the remote controller 32. The remote controller 32 has various keys for changing the setting of the broadcast receiving apparatus 1. When the user operates a predetermined key, the remote controller 32 transmits a signal corresponding to the operation of the key to the control unit 21.

  Furthermore, a monitor 33 and a speaker 34 are connected to the broadcast receiving apparatus 1. The monitor 33 displays video based on the video signal output from the video / audio signal processing unit 17. The speaker 34 reproduces audio based on the audio signal output from the video / audio signal processing unit 17.

  The tuner 11 selects a broadcast signal of a desired channel from a terrestrial broadcast signal input via the antenna 31 and outputs it to the input terminal of the switch 12. The channel selection of the broadcast signal is performed based on the channel selection signal from the control unit 21 described later.

  The switch 12 selectively switches between terrestrial digital broadcasting and terrestrial analog broadcasting based on a switching control signal from the control unit 21 described later. When the terrestrial analog broadcast is selected, the switch 12 outputs the input broadcast signal from one of the two output terminals to the demodulator 13 for terrestrial analog broadcast. When digital terrestrial broadcasting is selected, the switch 12 outputs the input broadcast signal to the AD converter 14 from the other of the two output terminals.

  The demodulator 13 for analog terrestrial broadcasting demodulates the input broadcast signal, further separates the demodulated broadcast signal into a video signal and an audio signal, and separates the separated video signal and audio signal into video / audio signals. Output to the audio signal processing unit 17.

  The AD converter 14 converts the input broadcast signal into a digital signal, and outputs the converted digital signal to the demodulator 15 for terrestrial digital broadcasting.

  The demodulator 15 for digital terrestrial broadcasting demodulates the input digital signal into an MPEG2 (Moving Picture Experts Group 2) transport stream (hereinafter referred to as TS), and outputs the demodulated MPEG2 TS to the decoder 16.

  The decoder 16 separates the input MPEG2 TS into a video signal, an audio signal, SI (Service Information), and the like. In addition, the decoder 16 outputs the video signal and the audio signal to the video / audio signal processing unit 17, and outputs the SI including the broadcaster, the direct channel selection key assignment identifier, the channel information, and the like to the control unit 21. Hereinafter, the direct channel selection number assigned by the broadcasting station is referred to as a channel position number.

  The video / audio signal processing unit 17 performs predetermined processing on the video signal and audio signal input from the demodulator 13 or the decoder 16. In addition, the video / audio signal processing unit 17 outputs the video signal and the audio signal that have undergone predetermined processing to the monitor 33 and the speaker 34, respectively.

  The broadcast receiver 1 is assigned a channel position corresponding to each channel in order to select a specific channel from a plurality of channels. In general, each channel position is assigned a channel position number having the same number.

  The area memory 18 stores information in which channel position numbers and channel information are associated with each other for channels that can be received in each area.

  The channel memory 19 serving as a broadcast information storage unit stores terrestrial analog channel information and terrestrial digital channel information. The terrestrial analog channel information and the terrestrial digital channel information include a channel position number, a broadcaster, channel information, and the like for each broadcast signal that can be received in the area where the broadcast receiving apparatus 1 is installed. Further, the terrestrial analog channel information and the terrestrial digital channel information are stored in the channel memory 19 in a table format as shown in FIGS.

  In the present embodiment, a channel selection memory 20 is provided as a reception information storage unit. The channel selection memory 20 stores information used when the tuner 11 selects a channel. As will be described later, the information stored in the channel selection memory 20 is generated by the control unit 21 based on the information in the channel memory 19 and the output of the decoder 16.

  The channel selection memory 20 stores information including a broadcaster corresponding to each channel position number, channel information, and broadcast form in a table format as shown in FIG. The broadcast form is information including allocation of terrestrial analog broadcast and terrestrial digital broadcast.

  A control unit 21 as a storage unit information management unit and a digital broadcast information update control unit controls the entire broadcast receiving apparatus 1. In particular, in the present embodiment, the control unit 21 reads information from the regional memory 18, reads information from the channel memory 19 and the channel selection memory 20, and writes information to the channel memory 19 and the channel selection memory 20. Process. Further, when a signal for instructing channel change is input from the remote controller 32, the control unit 21 refers to the channel selection memory 20, and selects a tuning signal and a switching control signal for changing to the designated channel, respectively. 11 and the switch 12.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.
(Initial setting)
First, the initial setting will be described. For terrestrial analog broadcasting, the correspondence between the broadcast channel and the channel position number is initially set based on the regional memory 18 and information on the residential area set by the user. When the user sets the residence area, the control unit 21 reads channel information corresponding to the set residence area from the area memory 18. Next, the control unit 21 sequentially scans, for example, a UHF (Ultra High Frequency) band in which the terrestrial analog broadcast is transmitted to the tuner 11 and detects a receivable terrestrial analog broadcast signal. Further, the control unit 21 associates the channel position number, the broadcaster, and the channel information from the receivable terrestrial analog broadcast signal and the channel information corresponding to the residential area read from the regional memory 18. A terrestrial analog channel information table 19A is generated, and the terrestrial analog channel information is stored in the channel memory 19 in a table format. FIG. 2 shows an example of a table of terrestrial analog channel information stored in the channel memory 19.

  On the other hand, for terrestrial digital broadcasting, the correspondence between the broadcast channel and the channel position number is set by the control unit 21 after the user registers the residential area. The control unit 21 causes the tuner 11 to sequentially scan the UHF band in which the terrestrial digital broadcast is transmitted, and detects a receivable terrestrial digital broadcast signal. Receivable terrestrial digital broadcast signals are input to the decoder 16 via the switch 12, the AD converter 14, and the terrestrial digital broadcast demodulator 15. In the decoder 16, SI including the broadcaster, channel position number, channel information, etc. is separated from the MPEG2 TS and output to the control unit 21.

  The control unit 21 generates a terrestrial digital channel information table 19B in which the channel position number, broadcaster and channel information are associated with each other from the SI, and stores the terrestrial digital channel information in the channel memory 19 in a table format. FIG. 3 shows an example of a table of terrestrial digital channel information stored in the channel memory 19.

  When the terrestrial digital channel information table and the terrestrial analog channel information table are stored in the channel memory 19, the control unit 21 determines the channel position number corresponding to each channel position, the broadcaster, the terrestrial, based on these tables. A channel selection table 20A including an analog broadcast channel or a terrestrial digital broadcast channel and broadcast format information is generated, and the generated channel selection table 20A is stored in the channel selection memory 20 in a table format.

  Broadcasters corresponding to each channel position are assigned with reference to a table 19A of terrestrial analog channel information stored in the channel memory 19.

  In addition, regarding the channel allocation corresponding to each channel position, when the same broadcaster performs both terrestrial digital broadcasting and terrestrial analog broadcasting, channels are allocated so that terrestrial digital broadcasting can be selected. When terrestrial digital broadcasting is not performed, channels are assigned so as to select terrestrial analog broadcasting. FIG. 4 shows an example of the channel selection table stored in the channel selection memory 20.

  Next, the above-described initial setting flow will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an initial setting flow. The following processing is executed by the control unit 21.

  When the user sets the residential area (step S1), the digital terrestrial broadcast channel scan is executed (step S2). For the terrestrial digital broadcast that can be received, the channel position number, broadcaster and channel information are obtained. A table 19B of the corresponding terrestrial digital channel information is generated, and the generated table 19B is stored in the channel memory 19 (step S3).

  Next, a channel scan of terrestrial analog broadcasting is executed (step S4), and a terrestrial analog channel information table 19A in which channel position numbers, broadcasters, and channel information are associated with each other is generated for receivable terrestrial analog broadcasts. Then, the generated table 19A is stored in the channel memory 19 (step S5).

  Then, based on the terrestrial digital channel information table 19B and the terrestrial analog channel information table 19A, a broadcaster corresponding to each channel position number, a terrestrial analog broadcast channel or a terrestrial digital broadcast channel are allocated and broadcast form information Is selected, and the generated tuning table 20A is stored in the tuning memory 20 (step S6).

  Next, generation of the channel selection table 20A stored in the channel selection memory 20 in step S6 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a flow of generating the channel selection table 20A.

  First, since the broadcasters corresponding to each channel position are assigned based on the terrestrial analog channel information table 19A stored in the channel memory 19, the channel position number of the terrestrial analog channel information table 19A is set. The business operators corresponding to the channel position numbers are extracted in ascending order (step S10).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the same operator as the extracted operator is registered in the terrestrial digital channel information table 19B (step S11).

  If there is a same business as the extracted business, YES is obtained in step S11, and the broadcast channel of the business is acquired from the terrestrial digital channel information table 19B. And about the channel position number, the channel of a terrestrial digital broadcast is set with respect to the provider corresponding to an analog channel position number (step S12), and a broadcast form is set to digital (step S13).

  In other words, when terrestrial digital broadcasting is being performed, the digital broadcast channel of the operator is automatically set to the corresponding channel position for the combination of the channel position number and the operator of terrestrial analog broadcasting. become.

  If there is no same business operator as the extracted business operator, NO is determined in step S11, the channel position number in the extracted table 19A of the terrestrial analog channel information, the business operator corresponding to the channel position number, and the terrestrial analog The channel position corresponding to the broadcast channel is set (step S14), and the broadcast mode is set to analog (step S15).

  Then, it is determined whether all channel position numbers have been checked (step S16). If all channel position numbers have not been checked, NO is returned in step S16, the process returns to step S10, and the above-described processing is repeated thereafter. If all channel position numbers are checked, YES is obtained in step S16, and the generation of the channel selection table 20A is completed.

(Channel setting scan mode)
Next, the channel setting scan mode will be described. This channel setting scan mode is executed by the controller 21 every time the power is turned on after the initial setting.

  First, when the power is turned on, the control unit 21 automatically causes the tuner 11 to sequentially scan bands in which terrestrial digital broadcasting and terrestrial analog broadcasting are performed, and can receive broadcast signals of terrestrial digital broadcasting and terrestrial analog broadcasting. Is detected. When there is a terrestrial digital broadcast that can be newly received, the control unit 21 uses the terrestrial digital channel information table 19 </ b> B of the terrestrial digital channel information corresponding to the channel position number, the broadcaster, and the channel information. And the terrestrial digital channel information table 19B is updated.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the terrestrial digital channel information table 19C stored in the channel memory 19 when the terrestrial digital channel information is updated. In FIG. 7, the operator C is added to the channel position number 3 with respect to the table 19B of the initial digital terrestrial channel information.

  When the terrestrial digital channel information in the channel memory 19 is updated, the control unit 21 updates the channel selection table 20A in the channel selection memory 20 based on the updated contents. That is, the analog channel position number 3 is set for the channel position 4 before the update. After the update, the control unit 21 updates the channel position 4 of the operator C to the digital channel 102 of the operator C.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the channel selection table 20B that is generated and stored in the channel selection memory 20 when the table 19B of the channel memory 19 is updated as shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 8, the channel of the terrestrial analog broadcast of the operator C assigned to the channel position 4 is changed to the channel of the terrestrial digital broadcast with respect to the initially selected channel selection table 20A shown in FIG. It has been changed to digital.

  Next, the flow of operation in the above-described channel setting scan mode will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of operations in the channel setting scan mode.

  When the power is turned on after the initial setting, channel scanning of terrestrial digital broadcasting and terrestrial analog broadcasting is executed (step S20), and it is determined whether or not there is a terrestrial digital broadcasting channel that can be newly received. (Step S21).

  If a new channel is added, YES is determined in step S21, and the terrestrial digital channel information in the channel memory 19 is updated (step S22). If no new channel is added, NO is determined in step S21, and the channel setting scan mode is terminated.

  When the terrestrial digital channel information table 19B in the channel memory 19 is updated, the channel selection table 20A in the channel selection memory 20 is updated (step S23), and the channel setting scan mode ends.

  After the power is turned on and the channel setting scan mode is executed as described above, when the user instructs to change the channel position, the control unit 21 reads the channel selection table 20B of the channel selection memory 20 from the channel selection table 20B. The channel and broadcast form corresponding to the channel position are read out. Then, the control unit 21 outputs a channel selection signal corresponding to the read channel to the tuner 11, and outputs a switching control signal corresponding to the read broadcast form to the switch 12.

  That is, the user may store only the channel position corresponding to analog broadcasting and perform a channel selection operation corresponding to analog broadcasting. Even in this case, when the digital broadcast by the analog broadcast provider designated by the user can be received, the digital broadcast channel of the provider is automatically selected and received. Therefore, the user does not need to memorize whether or not the digital broadcast can be received in the area, does not need to switch between the digital broadcast and the analog broadcast, and does not need to perform a setting operation. The desired digital broadcast can be viewed automatically by the channel selection operation.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the same operator performs terrestrial digital broadcasting and terrestrial analog broadcasting, a channel for terrestrial digital broadcasting is set in the channel position corresponding to this operator. The When the channel position change is instructed, if the operator corresponding to the channel position is performing terrestrial digital broadcasting, the terrestrial digital broadcasting is automatically selected, and the user gives priority to terrestrial digital broadcasting. Can watch.

  Furthermore, when the channel setting scan mode is executed every time the power is turned on again, a certain carrier starts a new terrestrial digital broadcast, and at the same time, the channel selected by the carrier is changed from the analog terrestrial broadcast channel to the ground. Changed to digital broadcasting channel. Even if the user does not know the start time of the terrestrial digital broadcast of a certain operator, when the terrestrial digital broadcast is started, the terrestrial digital broadcast is automatically selected, and the user can view the terrestrial digital broadcast. it can.

  In the above-described channel setting scan mode, the case where there is a change in the terrestrial digital broadcast has been described, but the case where there is a change in both the terrestrial digital broadcast and the terrestrial analog broadcast can also be handled.

  Therefore, according to the broadcast receiving apparatus of the present embodiment, even when the same business operator performs both digital broadcasting and analog broadcasting, digital broadcasting can be performed without requiring a user setting operation or switching operation. Can be automatically selected to enable viewing.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the broadcast receiver which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. . An example of a table of terrestrial analog channel information stored in the channel memory is shown. . The example of the table of the terrestrial digital channel information stored in a channel memory is shown. An example of a tuning table stored in the tuning memory 20 is shown. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the flow of initial setting. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the flow of a production | generation of a tuning table. An example of a table of terrestrial digital channel information stored in the channel memory when the terrestrial digital channel information is updated is shown. An example of the channel selection table generated and stored in the channel selection memory when the channel memory table is updated as shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the flow of the scan mode for channel settings.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Broadcast receiver, 11 ... Tuner, 12 ... Switch, 13 ... Demodulator, 14 ... AD converter, 15 ... Demodulator, 16 ... Decoder, 17 ... Video / audio signal processing part, 18 ... Regional memory, 19 ... Channel memory, 20 ... channel selection memory, 21 ... control unit.

Claims (4)

A receiving unit capable of receiving two types of broadcasting, digital broadcasting and analog broadcasting;
A reception information storage unit that stores information on the channel of the television broadcast received by the reception unit for each channel position;
For broadcasters that broadcast in the two broadcast forms of the digital broadcast and the analog broadcast, information on the channel of the digital broadcast is written corresponding to the channel position of the analog broadcast in the reception information storage unit. Storage unit information management for writing information on the channel of the analog broadcast corresponding to the channel position of the analog broadcast in the reception information storage unit for a broadcaster that broadcasts only in the form of broadcast of the analog broadcast And
Based on the information stored in the reception information storage unit, control is performed so that the reception unit selects one of the two broadcast forms of the digital broadcast and the analog broadcast and receives the television broadcast. A control unit;
A broadcast receiver characterized by comprising: A broadcast information storage unit that stores channel position numbers, broadcasters, and channel information in each of the analog broadcast and the digital broadcast for each channel position;
A digital broadcast information update control unit that periodically checks for the presence or absence of the digital broadcast and controls the update of the digital broadcast information stored in the broadcast information storage unit;
Have
The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit information management unit writes information of the broadcaster and the channel based on information stored in the broadcast information storage unit. A first demodulator for demodulating the digital broadcast signal;
A second demodulator for demodulating the analog broadcast signal;
A switching unit that inputs a reception signal of the television broadcast received in the reception unit and selectively switches the output signal to one of the first demodulation unit and the second demodulation unit;
Have
The control unit performs control for receiving the selected television broadcast by outputting a tuning signal to the receiving unit and outputting a switching control signal to the switching unit. The broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. A procedure for receiving television broadcasts in two broadcast forms, digital broadcast and analog broadcast;
Storing the information of the channel of the television broadcast for each channel position;
For broadcasters that broadcast in the two broadcast forms of the digital broadcast and the analog broadcast, the digital broadcast channel information is written corresponding to the analog broadcast channel position, and the analog broadcast only For broadcasters that are broadcasting in broadcast form, corresponding to the channel position of the analog broadcast, the procedure for writing the information of the channel of the analog broadcast,
A procedure for controlling to receive the television broadcast by selecting one of the two broadcast forms of the digital broadcast and the analog broadcast based on the information;
A broadcast receiving method comprising:

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