JP2009302620A - Local service discrimination device of digital broadcast receiver and local service discrimination method of digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily discriminate local services by using availability information by region of services extracted from a reception signal or availability information by region, and information about the service territory. <P>SOLUTION: In the local service discrimination device, when a user wants to view a local services and performs local priority channel selection operation, a reception control unit 6 temporarily stores in a storage part 4 a service availability descriptor included in NIT (Network Information Table) of PSI/SI (Program Specific Information/Service Information) information. Then, first, the number of viewable cells is counted every service by referring to the service availability descriptor to discriminate a service which has the smallest number of viewable cells. When the services A, B, and C are available and viewable cells of service A are c1 and c2, viewable cells of service B are c1, c2, c3, and c4, and viewable cells of service C are c1, c3, and c5, the number of viewable cells of the services A, B, and C becomes 2, 3, and 4, and the number of services A is the smallest, so that it is discriminated as a local service whose viewable region is limited. The reception control unit 6 controls a digital television broadcast receiving part 2 and makes it receive programs of the service A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a local service discriminating apparatus for a digital broadcast receiver and a local service discriminating method for a digital broadcast receiver, and more particularly to a digital broadcast receiver suitable for receiving a digital broadcast accompanied by service availability information by area. The present invention relates to a local service discrimination device and a local service discrimination method for a digital broadcast receiver.

In recent years, both radio and television broadcasts have been digitized not only in Japan but around the world, providing viewers with high-quality video and audio compared to analog broadcasts, and having a larger amount of information that can be transmitted than analog broadcasts. Therefore, various information such as data broadcasting and electronic programs can be provided to viewers. In addition, with the development of digital broadcasting transmission methods, receiver size and weight reduction, low power consumption, etc., receivers have been incorporated into mobile devices such as mobile phones and in-vehicle navigation systems to provide clear video and audio. It is possible to present it, and the convenience of broadcasting has become very high.
By the way, when a user wants to obtain local information of an area including a broadcast receiving place, it is very troublesome to look for an electronic program guide (EPG) and search for an area-specific local service program. For this reason, Patent Document 1 proposes a receiver having a local service search function. In this receiver with local service search function, for example, the program names of the electronic program guides of a plurality of broadcasting stations sent by SI information are compared, and different programs in the same time zone between broadcasting stations with a high matching rate are A broadcast station that is in a serial relationship is found from information indicating the same affiliated station in the extended broadcaster descriptor in the SI information, and the program names of these broadcast stations are compared for the same time. Programs with different bands are discriminated from local service programs.

  However, the conventional local service search method is often used for comparing the program names of broadcast stations using electronic program guides of a plurality of broadcast stations, or checking SI information to find a station in a series relationship. However, there is a problem that a large memory capacity is required and processing takes time.

JP 2007-129627 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a local service determination device for a digital broadcast receiver and a local service determination method for a digital broadcast receiver that can easily determine the locality of a service. .

In one local service discriminating apparatus for a digital broadcast receiver for receiving digital broadcasts according to the present invention, an extraction means for extracting service availability information for each area from a received signal of the digital broadcast, and for each area of the extracted service And a discriminating means for discriminating the locality of the service based on the number of available areas calculated using the availability information.
In another one of the local service discriminating devices of the digital broadcast receiver for receiving the digital broadcast of the present invention, an extraction means for extracting service area availability information and area range information from the received signal of the digital broadcast, The locality of the service is determined based on the number of service available areas calculated using the extracted service availability information and area coverage information, and the range of the service availability range. It is said.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a digital broadcast receiver local service discriminating apparatus for receiving digital broadcasts extracts extraction means for extracting service area availability information and area range information from a received signal of the digital broadcast. The locality of the service is determined based on the size of the service availability range calculated using the regional availability information of the extracted service and the regional range information.
According to one method of determining a local service of a digital broadcast receiver that receives a digital broadcast according to the present invention, service availability information for each service area is extracted from a received signal of the digital broadcast, and the service availability for each extracted service area is extracted. It is characterized by determining the locality of a service based on the number of available areas calculated using information.

  According to the present invention, the service locality can be determined by using the service availability information extracted from the received signal or the service availability information by area and the service area range information, which is necessary for the determination process. The burden on the memory capacity can be reduced and the processing time can be shortened.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to examples.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a portable digital television broadcast receiver compliant with the European DVB-SH (Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite services to Handheld devices) standard according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an antenna for receiving a digital TV broadcast, and 2 denotes a digital TV broadcast receiving unit, which selects a digital TV broadcast program related to a service of a desired broadcast station according to channel selection control of a reception control unit described later, Video / audio signals are output, and PSI / SI (Program Specific Information / Service Information) information used for channel selection or the like is extracted from received signals. Reference numeral 3 denotes a video / audio output device which inputs a video signal and an audio signal and performs video display and audio output. Reference numeral 4 denotes a storage unit used for temporary storage of PSI / SI information, and 5 denotes an operation unit for a user to perform a normal channel selection operation, a local priority channel selection operation, and the like. Reference numeral 6 denotes a reception control unit. When the user performs a normal channel selection operation, the reception control is performed on the digital television reception unit 2 according to the operation, and a digital television broadcast program related to the service of the user desired broadcast station is output. In addition, when a local priority channel selection operation is performed, a local service is determined from the PSI / SI information, and the digital television broadcast receiving unit 2 is controlled to switch to a local service program.

  In the DVB-SH standard, network availability information (Network Information Table) is a service availability descriptor (service_availavility_descriptor) indicating which cell (cell) a service can be viewed in. NIT). FIG. 2 shows a part of the contents of the service availability descriptor. The service availability descriptor is set for each service. When the availavility_flag bit of a certain service is set to “1”, the service identified in the cell identified by cell_id listed subsequently is Means available. When the availavility_flag bit of a certain service is set to “0”, it means that the service cannot be used in the cell identified by cell_id listed subsequently. This service availability descriptor is intended for handover between cells. Here, this descriptor is used to determine the locality of the service, and the reception control unit 6 uses the service availability descriptor. The smaller the calculated number of viewable cells, the higher the local degree is determined.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, five adjacent cells (cell_id: c1 to c5) are included in all DVB-SH broadcast areas, and service A and service B are included therein, and service A has an availability_flag bit. When cell is set to "1" and only c1 is listed as cell_id, and service B has availavility_flag bit of "0" and cell_id is only listed as c2, the number of cells that service A can view is 1 The number of cells that can be viewed by the service B is 4, and since the service A can be viewed only in a limited area with a smaller number of viewable cells, it is determined as a more local service.
As another example, as shown in FIG. 4, the availability_flag bits of services A and B are both “1”, only c1 is listed as the cell_id of service A, and c1, c2, and c5 are listed as cell_id of service B. When listed, the number of cells that service A can view is 1, the number of cells that service B can view is 3, and service A has fewer viewable cells and is limited to a limited area. Because it can be viewed on, it is determined that the service is more local.

  If there are multiple services with the same number of cells that have the smallest number of cells that can be viewed, services that can be viewed in a narrower range by referring to the cell list descriptor that describes the range covered for each cell. Is determined to be a more local service. FIG. 5 shows a part of the contents of the cell list descriptor. Since the lengths of the latitude and longitude of the rectangular area covering the cell are described as cell_extent_of_latitude and cell_extent_of_longitude, they are converted into distances and multiplied to obtain the width (area) of the range in which the service can be viewed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing local priority channel selection processing by the reception control unit 6, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory diagrams of the most local service determination method. The embodiment described above with reference to these drawings will be described below. The operation of will be described.
As an example, all DVB-SH service areas include cells c1 to c5 that are adjacent to each other, and the portable digital television broadcast receiver has the current location included in cell c1 in advance (see the crosses in FIGS. 7 and 8). ), The program of service B is being received, and information such as the broadcast frequency necessary for channel selection of each service has been stored in the storage unit 4.
The digital television broadcast receiver 2 extracts PSI / SI information included in the received signal and outputs it to the reception controller 6. When the user performs local priority channel selection operation in order to view a local service, the reception control unit 6 temporarily stores the service availability descriptor and the cell list descriptor included in the NIT of the PSI / SI information in the storage unit 4. This is stored (step S10 in FIG. 6). First, the number of cells that can be viewed for each service is calculated with reference to the service availability descriptor, and it is determined that the local level of the service is higher in the order of the smaller number of cells that can be viewed (step S11). Here, as shown in FIG. 7, there are services A, B, and C, the cells that can be viewed by service A are c1 and c2, the cells that can be viewed by service B are c1, c2, c3, and c4, and the viewing of service C. If the possible cells are c1, c3, and c5, the number of cells that can be viewed for services A, B, and C is 2, 4, and 3, and since service A is the fewest, the area that can be viewed is more limited. It is determined that the service has a high degree of locality, the service C is determined to have the next highest local degree, and the service B is determined to have the lowest locality.

Next, the reception control unit 6 determines whether there is a service with the same number of areas that can be viewed (step S12). Since there is no service here, the reception control unit 6 controls the digital television broadcast reception unit 2 to obtain the most local level. A program of high service A is received. Thereby, the user can obtain information specific to the area (step S13).
If the service A program cannot be received at the current location, the reception control unit 6 receives the service C program having the next highest local level (steps S14 and S15). If the service C program cannot be received, the service B program having the next highest local level is received.

If there is a service with the same number of cells that can be viewed, the reception control unit 6 determines YES in step S12, and views the services with the same number of cells that can be viewed with reference to the service availability descriptor. It is determined whether the possible cells are a combination of the same cells, and if the services are a combination of the same cells, the local level is determined to be the same (step S16). For services with the same number of cells that can be viewed, services with different combinations of cells that can be viewed further refer to the cell list descriptor to obtain the total area of cells that can be viewed, and the service with a narrower viewable range Is determined to be a service with a higher degree of locality (step S17).
For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the service A viewable cells are c1, c2, the service B viewable cells are c1, c2, c3, c4, and the service C viewable cells are c1, c3. Then, the number of cells that can be viewed for services A, B, and C are 2, 4, and 2. In this case, in step S11, the reception control unit 6 determines that the services A and C have a higher degree of locality than the service B. Next, in step S16, if the combination of cells that can be viewed by services A and C is the same, the local degree is determined to be the same, but here it is different, so the reception control unit 6 proceeds to step S17, Referring to the cell list descriptor, the total area of the viewable cells is obtained for each of services A and C. Then, a service narrower than the viewable range is determined as a service with a higher local level. Here, if the viewable range of service C is narrower than service A, it is determined that service C is a service that is more local than A. As a result, the services C, A, and B are determined in descending order of local degree.
Thereafter, the reception control unit 6 controls the digital television broadcast reception unit 2 to receive the service C program (step S13). As a result, the user can obtain information specific to a narrower region. If the service C cannot be received, the service A program is received, and if the service A cannot be received, the service B program is received (steps S14 and S15).

  According to this embodiment, when a local priority channel selection operation is performed, the reception control unit 6 counts the number of service viewable areas using the service availability descriptor acquired from the received signal, Is determined to be high. Since the service is received preferentially from the service with a high degree of locality, the user can obtain information specific to the area with a simple operation, and the electronic program guides of multiple stations can be compared to compare the local programs. Compared to the determination of a new service, the burden on the memory capacity can be reduced and the processing time can be shortened. If services with the same number of viewable areas have the same viewable area combination, it is determined that the local level is the same, and if the viewable area combinations are different, the cell obtained from the received signal The list descriptor is used to calculate the size of the viewable range, and the narrower one is determined to be more local. As a result, even services with the same number of viewable areas can be discriminated from services with a higher degree of locality.

  In the above-described embodiment, the local level of the service is determined based on the number of areas where the service can be viewed and the range of the viewable range, but unlike this, the service availability descriptor and the cell list Based on the size of the viewable range for each service calculated using the descriptor, it may be determined that the local degree is higher as the range is narrower.

  The present invention can be applied to broadcast receivers for various digital broadcast services such as television, radio, and data.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a portable digital television broadcast receiver according to the present invention (Example 1). FIG. It is explanatory drawing which a part of the content of the service availability descriptor was abbreviate | omitted. It is explanatory drawing of service availability information. It is explanatory drawing of service availability information. It is explanatory drawing of a part of content of a cell list descriptor. It is a flowchart which shows the local priority channel selection process by a reception control part. It is explanatory drawing of the discrimination method of a local service. It is explanatory drawing of the discrimination method of a local service.

Explanation of symbols

2 Digital TV broadcast reception unit 3 Video / audio output device 4 Storage unit 6 Reception control unit c1 to c5 cells

Claims (4)

In the local service discrimination device of the digital broadcast receiver that receives the digital broadcast,
Extraction means for extracting service availability information by region from digital broadcast reception signals;
A discriminating means for discriminating the locality of the service based on the number of available areas calculated using the regional availability information of the extracted service;
An apparatus for discriminating local services of a digital broadcast receiver. In the local service discrimination device of the digital broadcast receiver that receives the digital broadcast,
An extraction means for extracting service availability information by region and range information by region from digital broadcast reception signals;
The locality of the service is determined based on the number of service available areas and the range of available areas calculated using the extracted service availability information and area coverage information.
A local service discrimination device for a digital broadcast receiver. In the local service discrimination device of the digital broadcast receiver that receives the digital broadcast,
An extraction means for extracting service availability information by region and range information by region from digital broadcast reception signals;
The locality of the service is determined based on the area of service availability calculated using the extracted service availability information and area coverage information.
A local service discrimination device for a digital broadcast receiver. In the local service discrimination method of the digital broadcast receiver that receives the digital broadcast,
Extract service availability information by region from digital broadcast reception signals,
Determining the locality of the service based on the number of available areas calculated using the regional availability information of the extracted service;
A local service discrimination method for a digital broadcast receiver.

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