JP2013038527A - Radio broadcast receiver and broadcast station list display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio broadcast receiver and a broadcast station list display method which enables a user to rapidly select a desired broadcast station.SOLUTION: A radio broadcast receiver receives broadcast radio waves from analog radio broadcasting stations and HD radio broadcasting stations. The receiver is configured to search for receivable radio broadcast stations and be able to display a list of the receivable radio broadcasting stations by classifying them into analog radio broadcasting stations and HD radio broadcasting stations.

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio broadcast receiver for receiving an analog radio broadcast and an HD radio broadcast using the IBOC method and displaying a list of receivable broadcast stations, and a list display method for the broadcast stations.

  In recent years, HD radio (Hybrid Digital Radio), which is a radio broadcast using the IBOC (In-Band On-Channel) system handled by iBiquity, has been put into practical use. HD radio performs digital broadcasting simultaneously with analog broadcasting using the frequency of existing AM / FM analog radio. As with conventional radio receivers, the HD radio receiver is configured to display a list of broadcast stations with strong electric field strength in order of frequency, and to select a broadcast station selected by the user from the displayed list. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-011147 A

However, the list of broadcast stations generated by the HD radio receiver is a list in which analog radio broadcasts and digital radio broadcasts using the frequency of the analog radio broadcasts are mixed. Therefore, when selecting a broadcast station, the user needs to determine whether the broadcast station in the displayed list is an analog radio broadcast or a digital radio broadcast, and select a desired broadcast station quickly. I couldn't tune in.
An object of the present invention is to provide a radio broadcast receiver and a broadcast station list display method capable of solving the above-described problems of the conventional techniques and allowing a user to quickly select a desired broadcast station. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a radio broadcast receiver that receives broadcast radio waves from an analog radio broadcast station and an HD radio broadcast station. Among the stations, analog radio broadcasting stations can be displayed in a list separately from HD radio broadcasting stations.

  The present invention also provides station list creation means for searching and listing receivable broadcast stations, and broadcast station determination means for determining whether the broadcast station is an analog radio broadcast station or an HD radio broadcast station. The list of analog radio broadcast stations and the list of HD radio broadcast stations can be distinguished and displayed as a list.

  In addition, the present invention is characterized in that a receivable broadcast station is searched based on the electrolytic strength of the received radio wave.

  Further, according to the present invention, the station list creation means searches for a broadcast station having a strong received electric field strength between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency of radio broadcast in order of frequency, and lists the analog radio broadcast station or HD radio station. It is characterized by creating a list of broadcasting stations.

  Further, in the present invention, the broadcast station determining means determines whether the broadcast station is an HD radio broadcast station based on a transmission method, an encoding method, or presence / absence of data broadcasting of a reception signal from the broadcast station. It is characterized by doing.

  The present invention also provides a broadcast station list display method for a radio broadcast receiver that receives broadcast radio waves from an analog radio broadcast station and an HD radio broadcast station, and searches for a receivable broadcast station to perform the broadcast. Among the stations, analog radio broadcasting stations can be displayed in a list separately from HD radio broadcasting stations.

  According to the present invention, among the receivable broadcast stations, the analog radio broadcast station can be displayed separately from the HD radio broadcast station, so that the list of broadcast stations performing only analog broadcast can be displayed simultaneously with the analog broadcast. The hybrid stations that perform broadcasting in parallel are not mixed, and the user can quickly select a desired broadcast station by looking at the displayed list of broadcast stations.

It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the radio broadcast receiver which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of a radio broadcast receiver. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a radio broadcast receiver. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a radio broadcast receiver. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of a broadcast station list.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a radio broadcast receiver 1 according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. The radio broadcast receiver 1 is mounted on a vehicle, and a radio broadcast station uses an existing AM / FM analog radio frequency to simultaneously perform analog broadcast and digital broadcast in parallel with terrestrial digital radio broadcast (HD-Radio). Is a device for receiving and outputting the received radio broadcast. HD-Radio uses digital radio broadcasting by encoding audio to be broadcast based on a predetermined transmission coding system (IBOC system) using an existing analog broadcasting frequency band to which radio broadcasting stations have already been allocated. This is a radio broadcast that generates and transmits a broadcast signal according to.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the radio broadcast receiver 1 includes a system master 10, an input unit 11, a display unit 12, a tuner unit 13, and an audio hub unit (AHU) 14. As an example of the present embodiment, a radio broadcast receiver 1 includes an in-vehicle audio system or car navigation system including a system master 10, an input unit 11, and a display unit 12, and a tuner unit 13 connected by an audio hub unit 14. It may be configured.

  The system master 10 centrally controls each part of the radio broadcast receiver 1 and is nonvolatile in a computer-readable form of a CPU as a calculation execution unit and a basic control program executed by the CPU. It includes a ROM that stores data, a program that is executed by the CPU, a RAM that temporarily stores data related to the program, and other peripheral knitting circuits. Also, the system master 10 is an analog radio broadcast station that receives only analog broadcasts as received radio broadcasts, or HD radio broadcasts that simultaneously perform digital broadcasts simultaneously with analog broadcasts by transmitting digital signals simultaneously with analog broadcasts. A broadcast station determination unit (broadcast station determination means) 29 is provided for determining whether the station is a station.

  The input unit 11 includes various input switches 21 provided in the radio broadcast receiver 1 and a touch panel 22 disposed on a display panel 23 of the display unit 12 to be described later. Alternatively, a user's touch operation on the touch panel 22 is detected and output to the system master 10 as an operation signal. The user can select whether to receive a digital radio broadcast or an analog radio broadcast by operating the input switch 21 or the touch panel 22, and the radio broadcast channel to be received. Can be selected.

  The display unit 12 includes a display panel 23 such as a liquid crystal display panel, and displays various information such as a character image and an operation menu on the display panel 23 under the control of the system master 10. The display panel 23 displays a list of receivable radio broadcasts. Here, the receivable radio broadcast is a radio broadcast in which the reception intensity of the radio broadcast exceeds a predetermined threshold. The display panel 23 also displays information indicating which radio broadcast of digital radio broadcast or analog radio broadcast is being received, and information indicating the currently selected channel.

The tuner unit 13 performs various processes related to reception of the received radio broadcast, and is received via a tuning circuit that tunes to the frequency of digital radio broadcast or analog broadcast and receives a broadcast signal, and the antenna 24. A demodulation circuit for demodulating the broadcast signal into an audio signal. Although not shown, the tuner unit 13 includes a digital tuner and an analog tuner. In HD-Radio, since a transmission signal is encoded in digital radio broadcasting, when the channel selected by the user is a digital broadcasting channel, the tuner unit 13 controls the digital tuner to select the selected channel. The digital radio broadcast signal is decoded, received and demodulated, converted to analog, and output to the signal processing unit 15.
A signal processing unit 15 is connected to the tuner unit 13. The signal processing unit 15 adjusts the output level of the audio signal input from the tuner unit 13, adjusts the frequency characteristics, and amplifies it, and outputs the result to the speaker 16. The sound signal input to the speaker 16 is converted into sound and output into the vehicle.

  The audio hub unit 14 has a function of connecting an in-vehicle audio system / car navigation system including a system master 10, an input unit 11, and a display unit 12 to a tuner unit 13 that receives, demodulates and outputs a broadcast signal of HD-Radio broadcasting. Is provided. The audio hub unit 14 is used as a slave of the system master 10 in the radio broadcast receiver 1 and controls the tuner unit 13 based on a control signal input from the system master 10.

Data transmission between the audio hub unit 14 and the system master 10 is performed using CAN (Controller Area Network) communication. Data transmission between the audio hub unit 14 and the tuner unit 13 is performed using I ² C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) communication. The audio hub unit 14 receives a control signal of the tuner unit 13 connected to the audio hub unit 14 from the system master 10 through CAN communication, and controls the tuner unit 13 based on the control signal, and controls the input unit 11. The tuner unit 13 receives a radio broadcast of a frequency corresponding to the radio broadcast channel selected by the user.

  The radio broadcast receiver 1 has a station list function for searching and listing receivable radio broadcasts. The station list function is executed by the system master 10. That is, the system master 10 serves as a station list creation unit (station list creation means). When the station list function is executed by the user via the input unit 11, the radio broadcast receiver 1 Broadcast that can be received by searching for AM analog broadcast, FM analog broadcast, AM digital broadcast, or a broadcast station with strong electric field strength between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency of FM digital broadcast in order of frequency according to user operation Create a station list, which is a list of stations. The created station list is displayed on the display panel 23 of the display unit 12.

  When the user performs an operation to execute the station list function via the input unit 11, a selection menu is displayed on the display panel 23 as shown in FIG. The display panel 23 displays icons 25, 26, 27, and 28 corresponding to lists that can be created by the station list function. The radio broadcast receiver 1 creates an AM analog list, an FM analog list, an AM digital list, or an FM digital list based on the position where the user touches the touch panel 22 and displays it on the display panel 23. To do.

Next, the operation of the radio broadcast receiver 1 when the user executes the station list function will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the radio broadcast receiver 1 when the user performs an operation for creating an analog station list of either AM or FM. The system master 10 first determines whether or not the analog station list has been selected (step S1). If it is determined that the analog station list has been selected (step S1: YES), then the AM or The search for a broadcasting station having a strong electric field strength between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency of the radio broadcast selected from either FM or FM is started in order from the lower limit frequency (step S11).

  The system master 10 calculates the electric field strength of the currently tuned frequency based on the output voltage of the antenna 24 input from the tuner unit 13 via the audio hub unit 14, and this electric field strength is predetermined. It is determined whether the value is greater than or equal to the value (step S12). When the electric field strength is not greater than or equal to the predetermined value (step S12: No), the system master 10 determines whether or not the reception frequency is the upper limit frequency (step S15). In step S15, when it is determined that the reception frequency is not the upper limit frequency (step S15: No), the system master 10 controls the tuner unit 13 through the audio hub unit 14 and performs one step from the previous reception frequency. (For example, in the case of FM broadcasting, 0.1 MHz) An increased reception frequency is set (step S17), and it is determined again whether the electric field strength of the reception frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined value (step S12). ).

When it is determined that the electric field strength of the reception frequency is equal to or higher than the predetermined value (step S12: Yes), the frequency is a station, and the system master 10 subsequently continues based on information acquired from the tuner unit 13. In the broadcasting station determination unit 29, the receiving station determines whether or not it is an HD radio broadcasting station (step S13). The broadcast station determination unit 29 determines whether or not the reception station is an HD radio broadcast station, for example, from information such as the reception signal transmission method, encoding method, and presence / absence of data broadcasting.
When the broadcast station determination unit 29 determines that the reception station is an HD radio broadcast station (step S13: Yes), the system master 10 subsequently determines whether or not the reception frequency is the upper limit frequency. (Step S15).

  If the system master 10 determines in step S13 that the receiving station is not an HD radio broadcasting station (step S13: No), the receiving frequency is added to the analog station list (step S14), and then the receiving frequency is limited to the upper limit. It is determined whether it is a frequency (step S15). In step S15, when it is determined that the reception frequency is not the upper limit frequency (step S15: No), the system master 10 controls the tuner unit 13 through the audio hub unit 14 and performs one step from the previous reception frequency. (For example, in the case of FM broadcasting, 0.1 MHz) An increased reception frequency is set (step S17), and it is determined again whether the electric field strength of the reception frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined value (step S12). ).

  In this way, when the user performs an operation of creating an analog station list of either AM or FM, the system master 10 performs radio broadcasting of either AM or FM selected. Broadcast stations with strong electric field strength between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency are searched in order from the lower limit frequency, and the frequencies of analog radio broadcast stations that only perform analog broadcasting are added to the analog station list. When it is determined that the reception frequency is the upper limit frequency (step S15: Yes), the system master outputs the analog station list to the display unit 12 and displays it on the display panel 23 (step S16).

  According to this configuration, HD radio broadcast stations (hybrid stations) that simultaneously perform digital broadcasts simultaneously with analog broadcasts are not searched for the analog station list. When searching for a station list of analog radio broadcast stations, The frequencies of broadcast stations that are only performing analog broadcasting are listed and displayed. As a result, the analog radio broadcasting station that performs only analog broadcasting and the hybrid station that simultaneously performs analog broadcasting and digital broadcasting can be distinguished and displayed in a list. By looking at the list, the user can quickly select a desired broadcast station, and the usability of the radio broadcast receiver 1 is improved.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that the analog station list has not been selected (step S1: No), the system master 10 starts from the lower limit frequency of the radio broadcast that is selected from either AM or FM. A search for a broadcasting station having a strong electric field strength up to the upper limit frequency is started in order from the lower limit frequency, and the frequencies of the digital broadcasting stations are listed (step S20).
Next, the operation of the radio broadcast receiver 1 when the analog station list is not selected in step S1 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  If it is determined in step S1 that the analog station list has not been selected (step S1: No), the system master 10 determines from the lower limit frequency of the radio broadcast to which one of AM or FM is selected to the upper limit frequency. A search for a broadcasting station with a strong electric field strength is started in order from the lower limit frequency (step S21).

  The system master 10 calculates the electric field strength of the currently tuned frequency based on the output voltage of the antenna 24 input from the tuner unit 13 via the audio hub unit 14, and this electric field strength is predetermined. It is determined whether the value is greater than or equal to the value (step S22). When the electric field strength is not equal to or higher than the predetermined value (step S22: No), the system master 10 determines whether or not the reception frequency is the upper limit frequency (step S25). If it is determined in step S25 that the reception frequency is not the upper limit frequency (step S25: No), the system master 10 controls the tuner unit 13 via the audio hub unit 14 and performs one step from the previous reception frequency. (For example, in the case of FM broadcasting, 0.1 MHz) An increased reception frequency is set (step S27), and it is determined again whether the electric field strength of the reception frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined value (step S22). ).

When it is determined that the electric field strength of the reception frequency is equal to or higher than the predetermined value (step S22: Yes), the frequency is a station, and the system master 10 subsequently continues based on information acquired from the tuner unit 13. In the broadcasting station determination unit 29, the receiving station determines whether or not it is a digital broadcasting station (HD station) (step S23). The broadcasting station determination unit 29 determines whether or not the receiving station is a digital broadcasting station, for example, from information such as a received signal transmission method, an encoding method, and presence / absence of data broadcasting.
When the broadcast station determination unit 29 determines that the receiving station is not an HD radio broadcast station (step S23: No), the system master 10 subsequently determines whether or not the reception frequency is the upper limit frequency. (Step S25).

  When the system master 10 determines in step S23 that the receiving station is a digital broadcasting station (step S23: Yes), the receiving frequency is added to the digital station list (step S24), and then the receiving frequency is the upper limit frequency. It is determined whether or not there is (step S25). If it is determined in step S25 that the reception frequency is not the upper limit frequency (step S25: No), the system master 10 controls the tuner unit 13 via the audio hub unit 14 and performs one step from the previous reception frequency. (For example, in the case of FM broadcasting, 0.1 MHz) An increased reception frequency is set (step S27), and it is determined again whether the electric field strength of the reception frequency is equal to or higher than a predetermined value (step S22). ).

  In this way, when the user performs an operation of creating a digital station list of either AM or FM, the system master 10 performs radio broadcasting of either AM or FM selected. Broadcast stations with strong electric field strength between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency are searched in order from the lower limit frequency, and the frequency of the broadcast station that is performing digital broadcasting is added to the digital station list. When it is determined that the reception frequency is the upper limit frequency (step S25: Yes), the system master outputs the digital station list to the display unit 12 and displays it on the display panel 23 (step S26).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a station list displayed on the radio broadcast receiver 1. FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a broadcasting station having a high reception intensity that exists between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency. In this way, when there are a plurality of hybrid stations that perform digital broadcasting concurrently with analog broadcasting between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency, or when there are a plurality of broadcasting stations that perform only analog broadcasting, the user selects the digital station list. As shown in FIG. 5B, the display panel 23 displays a list of frequencies of hybrid stations that perform digital broadcasting in parallel with analog broadcasting. On the other hand, when the user selects an analog station list, the display panel 23 displays a list of frequencies of broadcasting stations that are only performing analog broadcasting, as shown in FIG. As a result, the analog station list is not mixed with the frequency of the hybrid station, and the analog radio broadcast station and the digital broadcast station can be distinguished and displayed, so the user can display the displayed list of broadcast stations. As a result, it becomes possible to quickly select a desired broadcast station, and the usability of the radio broadcast receiver 1 is improved.

1 Radio broadcast receiver 10 System master (station list creation means)
12 Display unit 13 Tuner unit 29 Broadcast station determination unit

Claims (6)

A radio broadcast receiver for receiving broadcast radio waves from an analog radio broadcast station and an HD radio broadcast station,
A radio broadcast receiver characterized in that a list of receivable broadcast stations is searched, and among the broadcast stations, an analog radio broadcast station can be distinguished from an HD radio broadcast station and displayed in a list. The radio broadcast receiver according to claim 1,
Station list creation means for searching and listing receivable broadcast stations,
Broadcast station determination means for determining whether the broadcast station is an analog radio broadcast station or an HD radio broadcast station,
A radio broadcast receiver characterized in that a list of analog radio broadcast stations and a list of HD radio broadcast stations can be distinguished and displayed. The radio broadcast receiver according to claim 1 or 2,
A radio broadcast receiver characterized by searching for a receivable broadcast station based on the electrolytic strength of received radio waves. The radio broadcast receiver according to claim 2 or 3,
The station list creation means creates a list of analog radio broadcast stations or a list of HD radio broadcast stations by searching for broadcast stations with strong reception electric field strength between the lower limit frequency and the upper limit frequency of radio broadcasts in order of frequency. A radio broadcast receiver characterized by: A radio broadcast receiver according to any one of claims 2 to 4,
The broadcast station determining means determines whether or not the broadcast station is an HD radio broadcast station based on the transmission method, encoding method, or presence / absence of data broadcast of a received signal from the broadcast station. Radio broadcast receiver. A broadcast station list display method of a radio broadcast receiver that receives broadcast radio waves from an analog radio broadcast station and an HD radio broadcast station,
A broadcast station list display method for a radio broadcast receiver, wherein a list of receivable broadcast stations is searched and an analog radio broadcast station among the broadcast stations can be distinguished from an HD radio broadcast station and displayed in a list.

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