JP2012100097A - Broadcasting receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a broadcasting receiver suitable for causing a user to view and read character information broadcasted in a program other than a program under listening.SOLUTION: The broadcasting receiver comprises: at least two tuners of first and second tuners which receive and decode a digital audio program in which the character information is multiplexed; character information retrieval means which retrieves the character information satisfying prescribed conditions from the decoding result of the digital audio program receivable by the first tuner; and display means which displays the retrieved character information on a display screen during acoustic reproduction of the digital audio program decoded by the second tuner.

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver, and more particularly to a broadcast receiver suitable for receiving a digital audio broadcast signal in which character information is multiplexed.

  In recent years, digital encoding processing of audio and video has become common in audio equipment and video equipment. The trend of digital encoding of audio and video in such audio equipment has spread to the field of radio broadcasting, and several types of digital radio broadcasting have been standardized and put into practical use. For example, DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) is known. DAB is a digital audio broadcasting standard standardized in the project 147 of EUREKA (European Research Coordination Agency), which is broadcast practically or experimentally broadcast around the world. DAB employs OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) as a transmission method, and employs MPEG Audio Layer 2 for audio coding. For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses DAB specifications.

  In the DAB transmission format, a plurality of services (programs) are multiplexed in one channel (ensemble) of about 1.5 MHz band. In addition to the audio data of each program, for example, PAD (Program Associated Data) associated with the audio data of each program is multiplexed in the DAB transmission frame. For example, DL (Dynamic Label) is multiplexed in X-PAD (eXtended Program Associated Data) of a DAB transmission frame. DL is one of the functions of DAB that provides a program to which a text message (DL message) is added. A DL message is a text of up to 128 characters associated with a program. Examples of the configuration of a broadcast receiver capable of displaying a DL message on a screen are described in Patent Documents 1 to 5, for example.

DL Plus (hereinafter referred to as “DL ⁺ ” for convenience of explanation) has been established as an extension of DL. In DL ⁺ , a total of 64 content types including “ITEM.TITLE”, “ITEM.ARTIST”, “INFO.NEWS”, etc. are defined. DL ⁺ extracts a character string of the content type specified by the DL ⁺ tag from the DL message, and generates a DL ⁺ object including the specified content type and the extracted character string. DL ⁺ Unlike DL, for example, one program item in broadcast (one song, time slices for the first corner or the like as one unit), the user can continue to display the screen information to be Mi読. Details of DL ⁺ are described in the specification cited as Non-Patent Document 2.

JP-A-10-150377 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-257609 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-335173 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-344337 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-48389

ETSIEN 300 401 V1.4.1 (2006-06), "Radio Broadcasting Systems; Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) to mobile, portable and fixed receivers", [October 18, 2010 search], Internet <URL: http: / /www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/300400_300499/300401/01.04.01_40/en_300401v010401o.pdf> ETSI TS 102 980 V1.1.1 (2008-09), "Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB); Dynamic Label Plus (DLPlus); Application specification", [October 18, 2010 search], Internet <URL: http: / /www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/102900_102999/102980/01.01.01_60/ts_102980v010101p.pdf>

By the way, DL and DL ⁺ are multiplexed only in related programs, and are provided independently for each program by a broadcaster. Therefore, while listening to one program, it is not possible to decode DL and DL ⁺ multiplexed in another program. Accordingly, only DL messages and information related to the program being listened to can be displayed on the screen. It is pointed out that when it is desired to view information broadcast by another program, listening must be interrupted and the program must be switched.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast receiver suitable for allowing a user to read text information broadcast by a program different from the program being listened to. Is to provide.

  A broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention that solves the above-described problems is provided by first and second at least two tuners that receive and decode a digital audio program in which character information is multiplexed, and the first tuner. Character information search means for searching for character information satisfying a predetermined condition from the decoding result of a receivable digital audio program, and a screen for displaying the searched character information while the digital audio program decoded by the second tuner is being played back. And a display means for displaying.

  According to the broadcast receiver according to the present invention, the user can listen to one digital audio program and read the text information broadcast by another program. Therefore, it is possible to quickly and easily find another digital audio program to be listened to and related information.

  The display means may also display character information multiplexed on the digital audio program decoded by the second tuner on the display screen.

  The broadcast receiver according to the present invention may switch to a digital audio program in which the character information is multiplexed and reproduce the output when an operation input for selecting the character information searched by the character information search means is detected.

  The broadcast receiver according to the present invention may include a seek unit that seeks a receivable digital audio program, and a program list creation unit that presets the seeked digital audio program and creates a program list. In this case, the character information search means controls the tuning of the first tuner according to the program list.

  The search range of the program by the character information search means may be freely set.

  The broadcast receiver according to the present invention may be an apparatus suitable for receiving a broadcast signal transmitted in a DAB signal format.

The character information is text defined by, for example, DL or DL ⁺ .

  The broadcast receiver according to the present invention may be a device mounted on a moving body such as a general passenger car.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the broadcast receiver suitable for making a user read the character information currently broadcast by the program different from the program in listening is provided.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the broadcast receiver of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the information search process performed in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a list conceptual diagram conceptually showing a program list held in a predetermined storage area in the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of a display device when the information search process of FIG. 2 is performed.

  Hereinafter, a broadcast receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The broadcast receiver of this embodiment is a radio suitable for receiving a digital audio broadcast by the DAB method.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the broadcast receiver 1 of the present embodiment. The broadcast receiver 1 is an in-vehicle broadcast receiver and is installed in a general passenger car or the like. The broadcast receiver 1 is designed in conformity with the DAB digital audio broadcasting, and is configured to receive and process broadcast signals in the signal format of the system.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the configuration of the broadcast receiver 1 is roughly divided into a control block 10, an input / output block 20, a DAB function block 30, and other function blocks 40.

  The control block 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a power supply circuit unit 12, and a memory unit 13. The CPU 11 comprehensively controls the operation of the broadcast receiver 1. The power supply circuit unit 12 boosts a voltage supplied from a battery (not shown) and supplies it to each circuit including the CPU 11. In FIG. 1, the power supply circuit unit 12 is not connected to a circuit other than the CPU 11 for the sake of clarity. The memory unit 13 stores various programs and data for causing the CPU 11 to execute processing described in the present embodiment. Further, the memory unit 13 caches temporarily necessary data during the execution of the processing.

  The input / output block 20 includes an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 21 and a speaker 22. The HMI 21 has a display 21A and a key 21B. As a specific aspect of the HMI 21, hardware, software, or various UIs (User Interfaces) combining them are assumed. This type of UI includes, for example, a remote controller in which a mechanical switch key, a membrane key, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) provided in a touch panel environment, and an operation key are mounted on the front panel of the broadcast receiver 1 main body. Etc.

  Examples of other functional blocks 40 include a car navigation system, an FM / AM broadcast receiving module, a recording media playback system, and the like. The other functional blocks 40 have a well-known configuration and will not be described in detail.

  The DAB function block 30 has two systems of tuners suitable for receiving digital audio broadcasting by the DAB method. Specifically, the DAB function block 30 includes antennas 31A and 31B, filters 32A and 32B, RFIC (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit) 33A and 33B, DAB decoders 34A and 34B, a microcomputer 35, and a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) 36. And an audio circuit 37. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, one tuner (antenna 31A, filter 32A, RFIC 33A, DAB decoder 34A) will be referred to as “tuner A”, and another tuner (antenna 31B, filter 32B, RFIC 33B, DAB decoder 34B). Marked as “Tuner B”.

  The microcomputer 35 operates in conjunction with the CPU 11 to control the components of the DAB function block 30 in an integrated manner. The microcomputer 35 designates an ensemble and a program to be output and reproduced in accordance with a user operation input to the HMI 21.

  Signal processing in the tuner A will be described. Broadcast radio waves received by the antenna 31A are input to the RFIC 33A via the filter 32A. The RFIC 33A tunes to the radio wave of the ensemble frequency designated by the microcomputer 35 and outputs the broadcast signal to the DAB decoder 34A. The DAB decoder 34A subjects the input broadcast signal to AD conversion, IQ demodulation, FFT (Fast Fourier Transform), etc., and DQPSK (Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) demodulation to obtain DAB frame data.

  DAB frame data consists of a synchronization channel, FIC (Fast Information Channel), and MSC (Main Service Channel). The DAB decoder 34A performs processing such as Viterbi decoding, BER (Bit Error Rate) calculation, descrambling, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) on the FIC data, and outputs the result to the microcomputer 35. The output data to the microcomputer 35 includes information necessary for the broadcast receiver 1 to select a program, auxiliary information for the program, and the like.

  The MSC data includes data of all programs belonging to the selected ensemble. The DAB decoder 34A separates the data of the program designated by the microcomputer 35 from the MSC data, performs time deinterleaving, Viterbi decoding, BER calculation, descrambling, CRC, etc., and DAB audio frame (DAB audio frame) Get. The DAB decoder 34A decodes the DAB audio frame, outputs the decoded audio data to the DAC 36, and outputs the X-PAD located at the end of the DAB audio frame to the microcomputer 35. The signal processing in tuner B is substantially the same as the signal processing in tuner A. For the sake of avoiding repeated description, description of signal processing in tuner B is omitted.

  The DAC 36 converts the input audio data into an analog audio signal and outputs the analog audio signal to the audio circuit 37. The audio circuit 37 adjusts the gain of the input analog audio signal with an amplification factor corresponding to the volume, and outputs it to the speaker 22. The speaker 22 outputs and reproduces the input analog audio signal.

In X-PAD, DL and DL ⁺ may be multiplexed. Presence / absence of DL, DL ⁺ , update, erase, and the like are detected by toggle bits and commands. The microcomputer 35 decodes DL and DL ⁺ multiplexed on the X-PAD, and outputs the result (information such as artist name, song title, news headline, etc.) to the display 21A for display.

A plurality of types of DL messages may be multiplexed for one program item. The following shows three DL messages 1 to 3 provided by DL multiplexed on one program item. While the program item is being broadcast, DL messages 1 to 3 are updated and displayed in order. Therefore, depending on the timing, there is a possibility that the user may miss a DL message that describes the contents that the user originally wanted to know.
DL message 1
This program is This week's Count Down 10 by Radio 7.
DL message 2
You are listening to "House of the Rising Sun" by Eric Burdon.
DL message 3
Lee Hazlewood, who wrote Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made For Walkin" dies of cancer aged 78.

On the other hand, in DL ⁺ , a character string of a desired content type in the DL message can be continuously displayed on the display 21A. For example, consider a case where two DL ⁺ objects having the following information are generated from DL message 2.
・ DL ⁺ object 1
Content type: Title
Text: House of the Rising Sun
・ DL ⁺ object 2
Content type: Artist
Text: Eric Burdon

In this case, the information (Title “House of the Rising Sun”, Artist “Eric Burdon”) held by DL ⁺ objects 1 and 2 is shown in Non-Patent Document 2, P26, “B.2 Examples for navigation and display use”, Figure. As illustrated in B.2, the DL message 3 is displayed on the display 21A even during display. For convenience of explanation, information held by the DL ⁺ object is referred to as “DL ⁺ notification text”. DL message 3 is updated to the next DL message (for example, DL message 1) at a predetermined timing, whereas the display of DL ⁺ notification text of DL ⁺ objects 1 and 2 continues during the broadcast of the program item. .

  However, in the example of Non-Patent Document 2, P26, "B.2 Examples for navigation and display use", Figure B.2, the information that can be simultaneously displayed on the display 21A is limited to the information related to the program item being broadcast. It is done. Therefore, even if a song or information of interest is broadcasted by another program, the user has no reason to know it. In order to eliminate such inconvenience, the broadcast receiver 1 of the present embodiment executes an information search process described below.

  FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the information search process executed in this embodiment. The information retrieval process is executed using the tuner B during playback of the audio program by the tuner A. The information retrieval process is executed using the tuner A if the tuner B is playing the audio program. For convenience of explanation, the processing step is abbreviated as “S” in the description and drawings in this specification.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the process of S <b> 1, the microcomputer 35 designates a content type to be searched according to a user operation input. In the processing of S2 to S5, the microcomputer 35 controls the operation of the tuner B during the reproduction of the audio program by the tuner A. Tuner B selects an ensemble of all receivable frequency bands and decodes a program separately from tuner A. The microcomputer 35 searches the decoding result for a DL ⁺ tag that defines the content type designated in the process of S1 (hereinafter, referred to as “designated DL ⁺ tag” for convenience of explanation).

Specifically, one ensemble is selected in the process of S2. In the process of S3, one program belonging to the selected ensemble is decoded. DL and DL ⁺ are multiplexed on the X-PAD of each DAB audio frame and repeatedly broadcast. The decoding of the program is tried for several seconds to several tens of seconds per program in order to reliably capture the DL and DL ⁺ that are repeatedly broadcast. In the process of S4, the presence / absence of the designated DL ⁺ tag is determined from the decoding result. When the designated DL ⁺ tag is multiplexed in the decoded program (S4: YES), the process proceeds to S6. When the designated DL ⁺ tag is not multiplexed in the program (S4: NO), the following process (1) or (2) is performed.
(1) If an undecoded program remains in the selected ensemble (S5: NO), the process returns to S3, and the remaining program in the ensemble is decoded and the presence / absence of a designated DL ⁺ tag is determined. .
(2) When all programs belonging to the selected ensemble have been decoded (S5: YES), the process returns to S2 to select the next ensemble, and the program is decoded and the presence / absence of the designated DL ⁺ tag is determined. Do.

  The processing of S2 to S5 is performed using, for example, a predetermined program list. FIG. 3 is a list conceptual diagram conceptually showing a program list held in a storage area such as the built-in memory of the microcomputer 35 or the memory unit 13. For example, when all the receivable frequency bands are sought and each ensemble and program are automatically preset, the list is completed. In the example of FIG. 3, the programs belonging to the ensemble (“Ensemble” in the figure) H, J, K, L... N are listed in order. When the program list is prepared in advance, the selection of the search range program is performed smoothly, which is suitable for executing the processes of S2 to S5.

According to the example of FIG. 3, tuner B selects each ensemble in the program list and decodes each program in the order indicated by the arrows in the figure during playback of program k belonging to ensemble K by tuner A. Channel selection of the ensembles H to N and decoding of each program are performed until the designated DL ⁺ tag is searched, until an operation for instructing to stop execution of the information search processing shown in this flowchart is performed, or when the power is turned off. Is repeated until is stopped.

In the process of S6, the microcomputer 35 extracts a character string of the content type (that is, the content type specified by the user) of the searched designated DL ⁺ tag from the DL message and generates a DL ⁺ object. In the process of S7, the microcomputer 35 displays the DL ⁺ notification text of the DL ⁺ object generated in the process of S6 together with the DL message and DL ⁺ notification text of the program decoded by the tuner A on the display 21A.

FIG. 4 shows a screen display example of the display 21A when the information search process of FIG. 2 is executed. FIG. 4A shows a GUI for designating the content type. The user performs a key operation or touch operation using the HMI 21 and designates a desired content type. In the example of FIG. 4A, content types “NEWS” and “SPORTS” are designated. Here, for example, a case where a designated DL ⁺ tag (content type “SPORTS”) is retrieved from a decoding result by tuner B during playback of program k belonging to ensemble K by tuner A is considered. The microcomputer 35 extracts a character string of the content type “SPORTS” of the designated DL ⁺ tag searched for from the DL message and generates a DL ⁺ object. As shown in FIG. 4B, the microcomputer 35 adds to the information of the program k (Ensemble: K, Service: k) and the DL ⁺ notification text (Artist: XX, Title: □□□). The DL ⁺ object DL ⁺ notification text (Today's Game at Seibu Dome: Lions 2-0 Marines) generated from the decoding result by the tuner B is displayed on the display 21A. In FIG. 4B, DL ⁺ notification text “Today's Game at Seibu Dome: Lions 2-0 Marines” does not fit within the display screen width of the display 21A. Therefore, the DL ⁺ notification text “Today's Game at Seibu Dome: Lions 2-0 Marines” is displayed as a marquee. In addition, the display position of each information shown by FIG.4 (b) is an example. The display position can be freely set by the user.

A user who has read the DL ⁺ notification text “Today's Game at Seibu Dome: Lions 2-0 Marines” may wish to listen to the program. For example, when DL ⁺ notification text “Today's Game at Seibu Dome: Lions 2-0 Marines” is selected by key operation or touch operation by the HMI 21, the microcomputer 35 switches the audio output to the DAC 36 from the tuner A to the tuner B. . As a result, a program that broadcasts the DL ⁺ notification text “Today's Game at Seibu Dome: Lions 2-0 Marines” is output and reproduced from the speaker 22. Alternatively, in order to output and reproduce a program that broadcasts the DL ⁺ notification text “Today's Game at Seibu Dome: Lions 2-0 Marines”, tuning of the ensemble by the tuner A and decoding of the program may be changed.

According to the broadcast receiver 1 of the present embodiment, a user can listen to one audio program and view a DL ⁺ notification text of a desired content type broadcast by another program. Therefore, it is possible to quickly and easily find another audio program to be listened to and related information.

The above is the description of the embodiment of the present invention. The present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the DL ⁺ notification text of one program is processed and displayed on the display 21A independently of the playback processing of one audio program. In another embodiment, by performing the temporary storage or the like of an increase or DL ⁺ notification text of the tuner number, a DL ⁺ display processes the notification text unit 21A of the plurality of independently programmable and reproduction of one audio program You may display simultaneously.

In this embodiment, a designated DL ⁺ tag is searched for a program belonging to an ensemble of all receivable frequency bands. In another embodiment, the search range (designated ensemble, program) of the designated DL ⁺ tag may be limited by a user setting or the like.

1 Broadcast Receiver 10 Control Block 20 Input / Output Block 30 DAB Function Block

Claims (8)

At least two tuners for receiving and decoding a digital audio program in which character information is multiplexed;
Character information search means for searching for character information satisfying a predetermined condition from a decoding result of the digital audio program that can be received by the first tuner,
Display means for displaying the searched character information on a display screen during sound reproduction of the digital audio program decoded by the second tuner;
A broadcast receiver comprising:   2. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the display means also displays character information multiplexed on the digital audio program decoded by the second tuner on the display screen.   3. The broadcast according to claim 1, wherein when an operation input for selecting the searched character information is detected, the broadcast is switched to a digital audio program in which the character information is multiplexed and output and reproduced. Receiving machine. Seek means for seeking the receivable digital audio program;
Program list creation means for presetting the seeked digital audio program to create a program list;
Have
4. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the character information search unit controls channel selection of the first tuner according to the program list. 5.   The broadcast receiver according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a search range of the program by the character information search means is freely settable.   6. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast receiver is suitable for receiving a broadcast signal transmitted in a DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) signal format. The broadcast receiver according to claim 6, wherein the character information is text defined by DL or DL ⁺ .   The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast receiver is mounted on a mobile body.

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