JP2009016955A - Channel selection apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely reduce user's loads concerned with the setting registration of a broadcasting station. <P>SOLUTION: The channel selection apparatus is provided with a storage part 23 for storing a channel selection table including setting information set for a plurality of broadcasting stations, an operation part 26 for inputting various data including channel selection operation, a tuner part 25 for selecting the setting information according to the channel selection operation of the operation part from the channel selection table stored in the storage part 23 and demodulating a radio wave received from a broadcasting station specified by the setting information, a communication control part 21 for communicating with external equipment connected through an HDMI cable, and a command processing part 22 for detecting the establishment of a communication link with the external equipment and processing a command transmitted/received by the communication control part 21. The command processing part 22 is configured so as to confirm the establishment of the communication link with the external equipment in an absent state of the channel selection table stored in the storage part 23, request the channel selection table to the external equipment, and when a response to the request is received, acquire the channel selection table from the external equipment and store the channel selection table in the storage part 23. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention generally relates to a video recorder that records broadcast video from various broadcasting stations, and more particularly to a channel selection device provided in a video recorder that can be connected to a television with a High-Definition multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable.

  In recent years, the technology of AV equipment has remarkably developed, and video recorders that record broadcast video on a built-in hard disk have also appeared. In addition, the video recorder and the television can be connected with one HDMI cable. This cable is a bundle of a plurality of signal lines, and it is rapidly spreading because it can transmit signals of a consumer electronic control (CEC) function unique to a vendor in addition to video and audio.

  In general, a video recorder includes a channel selection device for selectively receiving and demodulating radio waves transmitted from various broadcast stations, and selects a broadcast station according to an operation performed on the channel selection device. Since the channel selection device needs to know in advance the broadcast stations that can be received at the installation location of the video recorder, the user is required to register the setting of the broadcast station with the channel selection device after the video recorder is installed. . The channel selection device holds a channel selection table created as a result of this setting registration, and refers to this channel selection table when a broadcast station is selected.

Conventionally, when there is an environment in which an AV device such as a television or a video recorder is connected via a home AV network, the result of setting registration performed on the television is transferred to another AV device, saving the user's trouble. Has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2007-6245 A

However, home AV networks are not as popular as the interconnection of AV devices using HDMI cables. In a situation where this network environment is not in place, the technique of Patent Document 1 cannot be used, and the user has to perform setting registration of the broadcasting station for the channel selection device of the video recorder separately from the television.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a channel selection device that can more reliably reduce the burden on the user related to setting registration of a broadcasting station.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a storage unit that holds a channel selection table including setting information set for a plurality of broadcasting stations, an operation unit that performs various inputs including a channel selection operation, and a storage unit An external unit connected by an HDMI cable and a tuner unit that demodulates radio waves received from a broadcast station specified by the setting information by selecting setting information from the held channel selection table according to the channel selection operation of the operation unit A communication control unit that communicates with a device, and a command processing unit that detects establishment of a communication link with an external device and processes a command transmitted and received by the communication control unit. The command processing unit is a communication link with an external device. Requesting the tuning table from the external device after confirming that it has been established without the tuning table held in the storage unit, and obtaining the tuning table from the external device when there is a response to this request Channel selection apparatus characterized by being configured to store in the storage unit.

  According to two aspects of the present invention, a storage unit that holds a tuning table including setting information set for a plurality of broadcasting stations, an operation unit that performs various inputs including a tuning operation, and a storage unit With the connection of an HDMI cable and a tuner unit that demodulates radio waves received from a broadcasting station specified by the setting information from the held tuning table according to the channel selection operation of the operation unit A communication control unit that communicates with an external television, and a command processing unit that detects establishment of a communication link with the television and processes a command transmitted and received by the communication control unit. The command processing unit is a communication link with the television. Confirms that there is no channel selection table held in the storage unit and requests the TV for a channel selection table, and if there is a response to this request, obtains the channel selection table from the TV The communication link with the external device other than the already-connected television that is configured to be stored in the storage unit and additionally connected with the HDMI cable is established with the channel selection table held in the storage unit. It is configured to check and request the tuning setting of the tuning table from the external device, and to read the tuning table from the storage unit and transfer it to the external device when there is a response to accept the tuning table setting in response to this request. A channel selection apparatus is provided.

  In these channel selection apparatuses, the command processing unit confirms that a communication link with an external device such as a television has been established without the channel selection table held in the storage unit, and requests the channel selection table from the external device. When there is a response to this request, the channel selection table is acquired from the external device and stored in the storage unit. If the broadcasting station settings are registered for the external device, the external device holds the tuning table created as a result of this setting registration. It is also stored in the storage unit. Also, since HDMI cables are rapidly spreading, there are more opportunities to be used for device connection than home AV networks. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform setting registration of the broadcasting station with respect to the channel selection device, and the burden on the user related to setting registration of the broadcasting station can be more reliably reduced.

  Hereinafter, a channel selection apparatus for a video recorder according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration of the channel selection device. This channel selection device is incorporated in, for example, a hard disk (HDD) video recorder 20 that displays recorded video on the television 10. The television 10 and the HDD video recorder 20 are configured to be connected to each other via an HDMI cable 30.

  First, the channel selection device on the television 10 side will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the channel selection device on the television 10 side includes a channel selection table setting unit 11, a channel selection table storage unit 12, a vendor command processing unit 13, a CEC communication control unit 14, and a tuner unit 15. The channel selection table setting unit 11 is provided to register setting information for a plurality of broadcast stations that can be received at the installation location of the television 10 and to set a channel selection table including these setting information. The channel selection table storage unit 12 stores the channel selection table obtained by the channel selection table setting unit 11. The tuner unit 15 demodulates radio waves received from broadcast stations specified by each of the channel selection tables held in the channel selection table storage unit 12. The CEC communication control unit 14 communicates with the HDD video recorder 20 connected by the HDMI cable 30. The vendor command processing unit 13 detects establishment of a communication link with the HDD video recorder 20 and processes a vendor command transmitted / received by the CEC communication control unit 14. For example, in response to a vendor command from the HDD video recorder 20 that requests a tuning table, the vendor command processing unit 13 reads the tuning table held in the tuning table storage unit 12 and sends it to the HDD video recorder 20 side. Is possible.

  On the other hand, the channel selection device on the HDD video recorder 20 side includes a CEC communication control unit 21, a vendor command processing unit 22, a channel selection table storage unit 23, a control signal generation unit 24, and a tuner unit 25. The CEC communication control unit 21 communicates with the television 10 connected by the HDMI cable 30. The vendor command processing unit 22 detects establishment of a communication link with the television 10 and processes a vendor command transmitted / received by the CEC communication control unit 21. For example, a tuning table is requested by a vendor command to the television 10, and a tuning table transmitted by the vendor command from the television 10 in response to this request is acquired and stored in the tuning table storage unit 23. The tuner unit 25 demodulates the radio wave received from the broadcasting station specified by the setting information of the channel selection table held in the channel selection table storage unit 23. The control signal generator 24 is connected to an operation unit 26 attached to the HDD video recorder 20 for performing various inputs including a channel selection operation. The control signal generation unit 24 controls the tuner unit 25 to select setting information from the channel selection table in the channel selection table storage unit 23 according to the channel selection operation of the operation unit 26, and according to the channel selection operation of the operation unit 26. Control for causing the vendor command processing unit 23 to correct the channel selection table in the channel selection table storage unit 23, control for reading the channel selection table in the selection table storage unit 23, and displaying it on the display unit DP provided in the operation unit 26. Do.

The CEC communication control units 14 and 21 transmit and receive a vendor command via the CEC signal line 30A of the HDMI cable.

  FIG. 2 shows a tuning table transferred from the tuning table storage unit 12 to the tuning table storage unit 23. This channel selection table includes, for example, channel selection positions of 12 broadcast stations corresponding to, for example, 12 channel selection buttons provided in the operation unit 26, and setting information set and registered for these broadcast stations. Each setting information includes items such as category, network ID, service ID, channel number, skip, display channel, and physical channel as shown in FIG. For example, in the category item, any one of terrestrial analog, BS analog, BS digital, CS, and terrestrial digital is set. An ID code is set for each of the network ID and the service ID. The channel number and the display channel are set in the range of 0 to 999, respectively. In skipping, the presence / absence of skipping of setting information to be performed when broadcasting stations are sequentially changed is set. One of VHF: 1 to 12, UHF: 13 to 62, and BS: 1 to 15 is set in the physical channel.

  FIG. 3 shows an HDMI connection process performed by the channel selection device of the video recorder 20. This HDMI connection process is performed when the establishment of a communication link with an external device such as the television 10 connected by an HDMI cable is detected. Different devices corresponding to the HDMI connection are assigned device numbers that can confirm detailed types such as a television, a tuner, and a recorder. Thereby, the video recorder 20 can be connected not only to the television 10 but also to other external devices in an inline manner. When the HDMI connection process starts, all of the connection destination devices are confirmed by inquiring the above device numbers in step ST1. In subsequent step ST2, whether the channel selection table has been set in the channel selection table storage unit 23 is checked. If it is confirmed that there is no channel selection table held in the channel selection table storage unit 23, the channel selection table is requested by specifying a connection destination device such as the television 10 in step ST3. In step ST4, it is checked whether or not there is a response indicating that the channel selection table has been set. If the television 10 is in a state where it can hold the channel selection table in the channel selection table storage unit 23 and transfer it, it responds to the request for the channel selection table. When this response is received, the channel selection table is acquired from the channel selection table storage unit 13 of the television 20 in step ST5 and stored in the channel selection table storage unit 23. The contents of the channel selection table are displayed on the display device DP in step ST6, and it is checked in step ST7 whether the contents of the channel selection table are approved by the operation of the operation unit 26. If there is approval here, the channel selection table in the channel selection table storage unit 23 becomes valid in step ST8. If there is no approval in step ST7, the contents of the channel selection table are corrected using the operation unit 26 in step ST9. This correction result is confirmed by executing step ST6 again. If the correction result is approved in step ST7, the channel selection table of the correction result is validated in step ST8, and the HDMI connection process ends. Steps ST7 and ST9 may be omitted in order not to place an extra burden on the user.

  Further, when it is confirmed in step ST2 that there is a channel selection table held in the channel selection table storage unit 23, steps ST10 to ST12 are executed. However, if there is no device other than the television 10 as the connection destination, the HDMI connection process ends without doing anything in steps ST10 to ST12. When an external device other than the television 10 exists as a connection destination device, a channel selection table setting request is made by designating this connection destination device in step ST10. Subsequently, in step ST11, it is checked whether there is a response for accepting this setting in response to the channel selection table setting request. If there is a response for accepting this request, since the connection destination device does not hold the channel selection table, the channel selection table is read from the channel selection table storage unit 23 in step ST12, and the response for accepting the channel selection table setting is received. The transfer destination device is specified and transferred. That is, the channel selection table of the video recorder 20 is distributed to other external devices. The other external device is, for example, a television that displays the playback video of the video recorder 20 or a second video recorder that plays back the recorded video to be displayed on the television 10.

  In the above-described embodiment, the vendor command processing unit 22 confirms that the communication link with the external device such as the television 10 has been established without the channel selection table held in the channel selection table storage unit 23, and the external device When a response to this request is received, the channel selection table is acquired from the external device and stored in the channel selection table storage unit 23. If the broadcasting station settings are registered for the external device, the external device holds the tuning table created as a result of this setting registration. It is also stored in the tuning table storage unit 23. Also, since HDMI cables are rapidly spreading, there are more opportunities to be used for device connection than home AV networks. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform setting registration of the broadcasting station with respect to the channel selection device, and the burden on the user related to setting registration of the broadcasting station can be more reliably reduced.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, It can deform | transform variously in the range which does not deviate from the summary.

It is a figure which shows the circuit structure of the channel selection apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the channel selection table transferred to the video recorder side channel selection table memory | storage part from the television side channel selection table memory | storage part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the HDMI connection process performed with the channel selection apparatus of the video recorder shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Television, 20 ... HDD video recorder, 21 ... CEC communication control part, 21 ... Vendor command processing part, 23 ... Tuning table memory | storage part, 24 ... Control signal generation part, 25 ... Tuner part, 26 ... Operation part, 30 ... HDMI cable, 30A ... CEC signal line.

Claims (8)

  A storage unit that holds a tuning table including setting information set for a plurality of broadcasting stations, an operation unit that performs various inputs including a tuning operation, and the tuning table that is held in the storage unit Communication control that selects setting information according to the channel selection operation of the operation unit, and that communicates with a tuner unit that demodulates radio waves received from a broadcasting station specified by the setting information, and an external device connected by an HDMI cable And a command processing unit that detects establishment of a communication link with the external device and processes a command transmitted / received by the communication control unit, and the command processing unit stores a communication link with the external device as the memory Confirm that it is established without the channel selection table held in the unit, request the channel selection table to the external device, and when there is a response to the request from the external device Channel selection apparatus characterized by being configured to store in the storage unit and acquires the station table.   2. The channel selection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the channel selection apparatus is incorporated in a video recorder that records broadcast video obtained by demodulation of the tuner unit.   4. The channel selection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the external device is a television that displays a recorded video reproduced by the video recorder.   The command processing unit confirms that a communication link with the external device has been established in the state of the channel selection table held in the storage unit, and requests the external device to set the channel selection table. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the channel selection table is read from the storage unit and transferred to the external device when there is a response to accept the setting of the channel selection table in response to the request. Tuning device.   A storage unit that holds a tuning table including setting information set for a plurality of broadcasting stations, an operation unit that performs various inputs including a tuning operation, and the tuning table that is held in the storage unit Selects setting information according to the channel selection operation of the operation unit, and communicates with a tuner unit that demodulates radio waves received from a broadcasting station specified by the setting information, and an external television when the HDMI cable is connected A communication control unit; and a command processing unit that detects establishment of a communication link with the television and processes a command transmitted and received by the communication control unit, wherein the command processing unit stores a communication link with the television Confirming that the channel selection table is established without the channel selection table held in the unit and requesting the channel selection table from the television set. A table is acquired and stored in the storage unit, and a communication link with an external device other than the television additionally connected by the HDMI cable is stored in the storage unit. The channel selection table is requested from the external device when the channel selection table setting is requested to the external device and the request for the channel selection table setting is received in response to this request. A channel selection device configured to read and transfer to the external device.   6. The channel selection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the channel selection apparatus is incorporated in a video recorder that records broadcast video obtained by demodulation of the tuner unit.   The channel selecting device according to claim 6, wherein the external device is a second television that displays a recorded video reproduced by the video recorder.   The channel selecting device according to claim 6, wherein the external device is a second video recorder that reproduces a recorded video to be displayed on the television.

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