JP2015226148A - Broadcast receiver and list updating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a broadcast receiver capable of improving a real-time property and search accuracy of a list of receivable broadcast stations, and a list updating method.SOLUTION: The broadcast receiver includes: tuners 3a-3d capable of receiving broadcast waves; a tuner control microcomputer 4 which controls the tuner 3d as a tuner for search among the tuners 3a-3d, makes the tuner 3d search for a receivable broadcast station by means of frequency scan, controls the tuner 3c as a tuner for data reception and makes the tuner 3c receive data added to the broadcast waves; and a main microcomputer 5 which updates a station list of receivable broadcast stations on the basis of list candidates of broadcast stations obtained by the search performed by the tuner 3d and the data received by the tuner 3c.

Description

  The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver for receiving a broadcast signal such as a radio broadcast and a list updating method.

  Some in-vehicle radio broadcast receivers have a so-called station list function that automatically searches for broadcast stations that can be received without user operation and presents the results as a list (station list). is there. Unlike the seek function, which is manually operated by the user, the station list function needs to automatically display a list of broadcast stations that can always be received. For this reason, follow-up performance (real-time performance) with respect to the current situation, such as whether the broadcast stations displayed in the list can be received in the current reception state, and search accuracy, such as whether the broadcast stations with good reception conditions are correctly displayed in the list. Is required.

  Further, in many countries including Europe, a radio data system-traffic message channel (RDS-TMC) that provides traffic information and the like using FM broadcasting is widespread. RDS is a digital data multiplexing system standardized by the European Broadcasting Union, and data such as program-related information and traffic information is added to FM broadcast waves.

Furthermore, terrestrial digital radio broadcasts that transmit digital signals simultaneously with analog broadcasts using the existing AM or FM analog broadcast frequency bands have become widespread.
For example, in North America, in-band on channel (IBOC) hybrid broadcasting has started. In this hybrid broadcast, an existing broadcast can be received by a conventional analog radio receiver, and a digital radio broadcast can also be received by a hybrid digital (HD) radio receiver compatible with digital broadcast.

  In a conventional radio receiver, in addition to a tuner that receives a program to be viewed, another tuner that operates in the background updates the station list and performs data reception processing (TMC for RDS-TMC broadcasting). Data and HD radio broadcast data). That is, the data reception processing is performed between the frequency scans for updating the station list by one tuner.

Patent Document 1 discloses a radio reception in which a main program and a sub-tuner receive a desired program broadcast by phase diversity, and an RDS-TMC tuner updates a station list and receives TMC data (traffic information). A machine is disclosed.
However, in this radio receiver, the station list is updated when the screen information of the vehicle-mounted device is the radio operation screen, and the TMC data is received when the screen information is other than the radio operation screen.

JP 2011-19041 A

However, in regions where there are broadcasting services in a plurality of countries, such as Europe, several tens of broadcasting stations (40 to 50 stations) may be targeted for search. Further, in order to receive RDS data of RDS-TMC broadcasting, a time of several seconds (3 to 5 seconds) is required.
Therefore, as in the prior art including Patent Document 1, when a frequency scan and data reception processing are sequentially executed by a single tuner, all broadcast stations are searched to extract list candidates and further receive data. It always takes time to reflect the processing results in the list.
For this reason, there is a problem that the real-time property in the list of receivable broadcasting stations deteriorates. For example, there is a possibility that a broadcast station with a good reception state cannot be listed, or a broadcast station with a poor reception state may be listed.

Further, in order to ensure the real-time property of the list while performing data reception processing between frequency scans, it is necessary to limit the time and number of times of data reception processing to a minimum.
For this reason, if the reception state is temporarily deteriorated during data reception processing and data cannot be received correctly, the station list is updated next, and the data reception processing is performed on the broadcast station searched at this time. Data cannot be used or reflected in the list.
For example, if the broadcast station name data cannot be received, the broadcast station name cannot be displayed in the station list. If the TMC data cannot be received, the TMC data cannot be used for the subsequent operation.

  In addition, although patent document 1 has changed the timing of the update of a station list | wrist and a data reception process based on the screen information of onboard equipment, respectively, the screen information of onboard equipment will not necessarily become a reference | standard which gives an appropriate timing. I don't get it.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a broadcast receiver and a list update method capable of improving the real-time property and search accuracy of a list of receivable broadcast stations. And

  The broadcast receiver according to the present invention is a broadcast that can be received by frequency scanning by controlling three or more tuners capable of receiving broadcast waves and at least one of the three or more tuners as a search tuner. A tuner control unit that searches for a station and controls at least one remaining tuner as a data receiving tuner to receive data added to the broadcast wave; and a broadcasting station acquired by a search by the search tuner. A main controller that updates a list of broadcast stations that can be received based on the list candidates and data received by the data reception tuner.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the real-time property and search accuracy of a list of receivable broadcasting stations.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the broadcast receiver which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the broadcast receiver according to the first embodiment.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a broadcast receiver according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a broadcast receiver 1 is a broadcast receiver that is mounted on or brought into a moving body such as a vehicle and receives radio broadcast waves, and includes antennas 2a and 2b, tuners 3a to 3d, a tuner control microcomputer 4 and a main microcomputer. 5 is provided.
The tuners 3a to 3d are tuners capable of receiving FM radio broadcast waves a and b and AM radio broadcast waves c via antennas 2a and 2b. In the example of FIG. 1, the case where the four tuners 3 a to 3 d are provided is shown, but in the present invention, three or more tuners are sufficient.

The broadcast receiver 1 includes a search tuner that sequentially searches for broadcast stations that can be received in the background of reception processing by the viewing tuner, in addition to a viewing tuner that receives a radio broadcast wave to be viewed, and a search A data receiving tuner is provided for receiving data added to the broadcast wave of the broadcasting station searched by the tuner.
The tuner 3a can receive the FM radio broadcast wave a via the antenna 2a, while the tuner 3b can receive the FM radio broadcast wave b of a channel different from the FM radio broadcast wave a via the antenna 2b. is there.
However, in order to ensure the sound quality of the broadcasting station that the user is currently viewing, the tuner control microcomputer 4 controls the tuner 3a and the tuner 3b surrounded by the symbol A as viewing tuners, and the broadcast wave to be viewed. Receive phase diversity.

The tuner 3d functions as a search tuner that implements a station list function, and the tuner 3c functions as a data reception tuner.
For example, the tuner 3c receives TMC data multiplexed in FM broadcast by RDS or radio broadcast data system (RBDS), and receives HD (Digital) data added to HD radio broadcast.
Although the tuner 3c is a data reception tuner and the tuner 3d is a search tuner, the tuner 3c may be a search tuner and the tuner 3d may be a data reception tuner.

  The tuner 3b and the tuner 3c have a buffer function for outputting the received broadcast wave RF signal as it is. For example, when the broadcast receiver 1 according to the present invention is connected to a vehicle having only two antennas, the RF signal is buffered by the tuner 3b and the tuner 3c, thereby degrading the signal quality of each of the tuners 3a to 3d. An RF signal can be supplied without causing the above.

The tuner control microcomputer 4 is a tuner control unit that controls each operation mode and channel selection processing of the tuners 3a to 3d, and is configured by, for example, a digital signal processor (DSP).
In the present invention, the tuner control microcomputer 4 controls the tuner 3d among the tuners 3a to 3d to search for a broadcast station that can be received by frequency scanning, and controls the tuner 3c to control the data added to the broadcast wave. Perform reception processing.

  The main microcomputer 5 is a microcomputer connected to the tuner control microcomputer 4 via the control bus. The broadcast station list candidate and the data reception tuner obtained from the tuner control microcomputer 4 by the search by the search tuner (tuner 3d). The data received by (tuner 3c) is input. The main microcomputer 5 is a main control unit that updates the list of receivable broadcast stations (station list) based on the list of broadcast station candidates and the data added to the broadcast wave.

  The navigation system 6 is connected to the main microcomputer 5 and acquires TMC data received by the broadcast receiver 1 via the main microcomputer 5. In addition, the navigation system 6 performs navigation processing of a mobile body in which the broadcast receiver 1 is mounted or carried based on the TMC data, the current position, and the map data received by the broadcast receiver 1.

Next, the operation will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the broadcast receiver according to the first embodiment, and shows the flow of station list update processing by the broadcast receiver 1.
First, the tuner control microcomputer 4 confirms whether or not the navigation system 6 is activated (step ST1). When the navigation system 6 is not activated or the navigation system 6 is not mounted on the mobile body (step ST1; NO), the tuner control microcomputer 4 performs FM broadcasting (FM band) and AM broadcasting (AM band). Among these, the reception band currently selected by the tuners 3a and 3b is specified. Then, the tuner control microcomputer 4 requests a frequency scan from the tuner 3d for all broadcasting stations in the specified band (step ST2).

In RDS, TMC data is added (multiplexed) to FM broadcast and broadcast.
Therefore, when the navigation system 6 is activated (step ST1; YES), the tuner control microcomputer 4 gives priority to the FM band and requests a frequency scan from the tuner 3d for all broadcasting stations in the FM band (step ST3). ).
In this way, the TMC data extracted from the FM broadcast by the tuner 3c can be notified to the navigation system 6 as appropriate.
The processing contents thereafter are basically the same between the FM band and the AM band, but since there are not many broadcasting stations that perform data broadcasting in the AM band, the processing time is shorter in the AM band.

The tuner 3d performs frequency scans of all broadcast stations in the FM band in accordance with a request from the tuner control microcomputer 4 (step ST4).
For example, if the received power at each reception frequency is equal to or greater than a predetermined allowable threshold, it is determined that the broadcast station is receivable.
When the frequency scan of all the broadcasting stations is completed (step ST5), the tuner 3d notifies the tuner control microcomputer 4 of a list of receivable broadcasting station lists.
The tuner control microcomputer 4 lists a list of broadcast stations with good reception conditions (receivable broadcast stations) (step ST6).

Next, the tuner control microcomputer 4 requests the tuner 3c to receive data added to the broadcast wave of the broadcast station listed in step ST6 (step ST7).
The tuner 3c confirms whether or not the listed broadcast station (hereinafter referred to as a stop station) is an HD station (step ST8).
If the stop station is not an HD radio broadcast station (step ST8; NO), the tuner 3c determines that the stop station is RDS and receives TMC data (step ST9).
If the stop station is an HD radio broadcast station (step ST8; YES), the tuner 3c receives HD radio broadcast data (step ST10).

After requesting data reception in step ST7, the tuner control microcomputer 4 requests the tuner 3d again for frequency scanning of all broadcasting stations in the FM band (step ST11). The tuner 3d performs frequency scans of all broadcast stations in the FM band in accordance with a request from the tuner control microcomputer 4 (step ST12).
When the frequency scan of all the broadcasting stations is completed (step ST13), the tuner 3d notifies the tuner control microcomputer 4 of a list of receivable broadcasting station lists.
The tuner control microcomputer 4 updates the list of stop stations based on the result notified from the tuner 3d (step ST14). At this time, if there is a broadcast station newly added as a stop station, the tuner control microcomputer 4 adds it to the end of the list (step ST15). Thereafter, the process returns to step ST7.

A series of processing from step ST7, step ST11 to step ST15, which is shown surrounded by a frame with a symbol B, is repeatedly executed without waiting for subsequent processing while processing the FM band. As a result, the tuner 3d immediately repeats the next search after updating the list of receivable broadcasting stations and updates the list contents.
In the present invention, the search tuner and the data reception tuner are realized by different tuners and operate independently of each other. Therefore, the search process can be repeatedly executed regardless of the data reception process. This makes it possible to update the stop station according to the current reception status. In addition, since the data reception process can be performed regardless of the search process, it is possible to spend more time than before. Thereby, a broadcast station name (PS-name) and TMC data can be acquired with high accuracy.

Each time the list is updated in step ST14, the tuner control microcomputer 4 checks whether or not the broadcasting station that has received data in step ST9 or step ST10 is in the updated list (step ST16).
When the list is not collated (step ST17; NO), that is, when the broadcasting station that has received data in step ST9 or step ST10 is not in the updated list, the tuner control microcomputer 4 receives the data in step ST9 or step ST10. Are excluded from the list candidate stations (step ST18).
As described above, when a broadcast station searched for receivable in the previous frequency scan is not searched in the current frequency scan, the broadcast station searched in the previous frequency scan is excluded from the current list candidate. This makes it possible to accurately exclude broadcast stations that have become unreceivable in the current reception status from the list candidates.

When the list is collated (step ST17; YES), the tuner control microcomputer 4 confirms whether or not the broadcast station data is received in step ST9 or step ST10 (step ST19). Here, when the data of the broadcasting station cannot be received (step ST19; NO), the tuner control microcomputer 4 requests the tuner 3c to receive data for the broadcasting station (step ST20).
The tuner 3c confirms whether or not the broadcast station (stop station) is an HD station (step ST21). If it is not an HD radio broadcast station (step ST21; NO), the tuner 3c determines that the stop station is RDS and receives TMC data (step ST22). If the radio station is an HD radio broadcast station (step ST21; YES), the tuner 3c receives HD radio broadcast data (step ST23).

  The tuner control microcomputer 4 determines whether or not the data added to the broadcast wave of the broadcast station has been successfully received based on the result of the data reception process in step ST22 or step ST23 (step ST24). Here, when the data reception is not successful (step ST24; NO), the tuner control microcomputer 4 indicates that the broadcast station is a broadcast station that does not add data to the broadcast wave, that is, “a broadcast station without data”. (Step ST25).

When the data reception is successful (step ST24; YES), the tuner control microcomputer 4 receives the broadcast station list candidates (station list candidate stations) obtained in the above processing and the data reception in step ST22 or step ST23. The result of processing (including the case of no data) is notified to the main microcomputer 5 (step ST26).
The main microcomputer 5 updates the receivable station list (FM station list) based on the list of broadcast station candidates notified from the tuner control microcomputer 4 and the result of the data reception process (step ST27).

As described above, the broadcasting station that failed to acquire data in step ST9 or step ST10 preferentially performs the data reception process in step ST22 or step ST23 before starting the data reception process for the next list by the tuner 3c. Do.
Here, of the broadcasting stations whose data could not be acquired again, the broadcasting station that matched the list collation twice is determined as a station that is not broadcasting data and set as a list candidate.
In this way, even when the reception state temporarily deteriorates during the data reception process and data cannot be received, the data can be accurately acquired by the second data reception process.
In FIG. 2, one loop is taken until the data reception processing of all the stop stations listed first is executed by the tuner 3c, and the data reception processing is performed in two loops in the priority band. The

As described above, according to the first embodiment, among the tuners 3a to 3d capable of receiving broadcast waves and the tuners 3a to 3d, the tuner 3d is controlled to search for broadcast stations that can be received by frequency scanning. Based on the tuner control microcomputer 4 that controls the tuner 3c to receive data added to the broadcast wave, the list of broadcast station candidates obtained by the search by the tuner 3d, and the data received by the tuner 3c. And a main microcomputer 5 for updating the station list of the receivable broadcasting stations.
With this configuration, the tuner 3c and the tuner 3d can perform processing independently of each other. For this reason, the update interval of the station list is shortened, and it is possible to take time for the data reception process, and the real-time property and the search accuracy of the list of receivable broadcasting stations can be improved.

  Further, according to the first embodiment, the tuner control microcomputer 4 controls the tuners 3a and 3b to receive the broadcast wave to be viewed for phase diversity. In this way, it is possible to ensure the sound quality of the broadcasting station currently being viewed.

  Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, the tuner control microcomputer 4 controls the tuner 3d and repeats a series of processes for searching for broadcast stations that can be received by frequency scanning, and searches for reception by the previous frequency scanning. If the broadcast station searched is not searched in the current frequency scan, the broadcast station searched in the previous frequency scan is excluded from the current list candidate. By doing in this way, the broadcasting station which became unreceivable by the present receiving condition can be excluded from a list candidate exactly.

  Further, according to the first embodiment, the tuner control microcomputer 4 searches for the broadcast station searched for receivable in the previous frequency scan in the current frequency scan. If the data cannot be received, the tuner 3c is controlled, and the reception process of the data added to the broadcast wave of this broadcast station is performed again. In this way, even when the reception state temporarily deteriorates during the data reception process and data cannot be received, the data can be accurately acquired by the second data reception process. If data cannot be acquired even in the second data reception process, it can be determined that the broadcasting station originally does not transmit data.

  In the present invention, any component of the embodiment can be modified or any component of the embodiment can be omitted within the scope of the invention.

  1 broadcast receiver, 2a, 2b antenna, 3a-3d tuner, 4 tuner control microcomputer, 5 main microcomputer, 6 navigation system.

Claims (5)

Three or more tuners that can receive broadcast waves,
Controlling at least one tuner among the three or more tuners as a search tuner, searching for a broadcast station that can be received by frequency scanning, and controlling at least one remaining tuner as a data receiving tuner; A tuner control unit that performs reception processing of data added to the broadcast wave;
A broadcast receiver comprising: a broadcast station list candidate acquired by a search by the search tuner and a main control unit that updates a list of receivable broadcast stations based on data received by the data reception tuner. With four or more tuners,
The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the tuner control unit controls at least two of the four or more tuners as viewing tuners, and receives a broadcast wave to be viewed as diversity. .   The tuner control unit repeats a series of processes for controlling the search tuner and searching for a broadcast station that can be received by frequency scanning, so that the broadcast station searched for being receivable by the previous frequency scan becomes the current frequency scan. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, if not searched, the broadcast station searched in the previous frequency scan is excluded from the current list candidate.   The tuner control unit searches for a broadcast station that has been searched for receivable in the previous frequency scan as being receivable in the current frequency scan, but if the data cannot be received from the broadcast wave of this broadcast station, the data 4. The broadcast receiver according to claim 3, wherein a reception tuner is controlled to receive again the data added to the broadcast wave of the broadcast station. A method of updating a list of broadcast receivers having three or more tuners capable of receiving broadcast waves,
A tuner control unit controls at least one of the three or more tuners as a search tuner, searches for a broadcast station that can be received by frequency scanning, and uses at least one remaining tuner as a data reception tuner. And control the reception of the data added to the broadcast wave,
A list updating method in which a main control unit updates a list of broadcast stations that can be received based on broadcast station list candidates acquired by a search by the search tuner and data received by the data reception tuner.

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