JP3275956B2 - Automatic display language setting device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an audiovisual apparatus such as a television receiver and a television integrated video tape recorder (TVCR).
The present invention relates to a device, and more particularly to an automatic display language setting device that can automatically set a display language when a user performs an arbitrary adjustment operation on a menu screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a country that uses multiple languages, for example, the United States and the like, there are areas where there are more residents who speak Spanish than English as their main language. When the item is displayed in characters, a situation occurs in which a person who does not understand English cannot adjust the image quality, volume, and the like. For this reason, in an area where a television program is broadcast in a plurality of languages, it is necessary to display characters on the menu screen in a language that can be understood by the user. Therefore, when presetting a receivable channel at the start of use of the television receiver, a language to be used in the area is set based on channel plan data stored in a memory in advance. The channel plan data is obtained by setting frequency data of a plurality of broadcasting stations different for each channel in order from a low frequency to a high frequency. When the user starts presetting by operating a remote controller or the like, a channel to be input to the tuner is searched in order from a low frequency to a high frequency, and frequency data of a reception channel is stored in a memory.

After all the channels are preset in this way, the user sets his or her understandable language on the menu screen with reference to the broadcast station of the receivable channel. After this, the characters are displayed in the set language, so when selecting or adjusting various functions, the menu can be displayed by the remote control operation, and then the input operation can be performed while looking at the displayed characters . When the user selects, for example, English, as shown in FIG.
At the same time as “MENU”, “PICTURE” for image quality adjustment, “VORUME” for volume adjustment and the like are displayed. When Spanish is selected, English “P” is selected as shown in FIG.
“Pintura” or “VO” corresponding to “ICTURE”
"Volume" or the like corresponding to "RUME" is displayed, so that the user can make desired selection settings and fine adjustments without any trouble in everyday language.

A screen display device is known as a display character setting device of this kind (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-309879). This includes control means for reading out display data by operating key input means, switch means for switching a language display mode for selectively reading and outputting one display data from a plurality of display data, A character generating means for generating a character signal for screen display corresponding to the display data selected by the switch means and outputting the signal to the display means. According to this screen display device, 1
Specific display characters displayed on the screen for one purpose can be selected from a plurality of language display modes and displayed in a language desired by the user. Therefore, when the adjustment state such as the brightness is displayed on the screen by the television receiver, it is possible to set the display state to a mode most user-friendly.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned conventional screen display device requires a user to display a menu on the screen and to display items such as brightness and volume in a language that the user can understand. Any one based on the preset reception channel as in
Had to set one. Such a language setting operation is extremely troublesome, and it is not preferable to force the user to operate the television receiver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has an automatic display language setting device which can automatically set characters to be displayed on a screen at the time of presetting, thereby eliminating the need for a complicated language setting operation by a user. It is intended to provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to the first aspect has a display means such as a CRT or an LCD, and an on-screen display function for displaying data on the display means by characters. And an electronic device having a channel auto-preset function, a memory storing a plurality of channel plan data and character display data in a plurality of languages for an on-screen display corresponding to the plurality of channel plan data. And channel plan data selecting means for selecting one suitable channel plan data from the plurality of channel plan data from receivable frequency data at the time of automatic presetting of channels, and Depending on one corresponding language And a character display data extraction means for extracting the character display data, is characterized in that the character displayed on the display means by the extracted character display data. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first memory storing a plurality of channel plan data and a plurality of character display data corresponding to the plurality of channel plan data, and storing reception channel data of a reception channel. A second memory, a character generating means for generating and outputting a character signal for screen display for displaying a specific display content on a screen of the display means in a plurality of languages, and the plurality of channel plan data. A comparing unit that compares the received channel data with character display data corresponding to channel plan data that matches the received channel data; and generating the character based on the character display data extracted from the comparing unit. And control means for setting the language of the means. Also,
According to a third aspect of the present invention, every time a reception channel is detected at the time of presetting, the reception channel data is stored in the second memory, and the comparison between the reception channel data and the channel plan data is performed by the comparing means. Then, unmatched channel plan data is deleted, and the language of the character generation means is set based on character display data corresponding to the last remaining channel plan data.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram illustrating an apparatus for automatically setting a display language according to the present invention. This display language automatic setting device is applied to a television receiver, and has a remote control (remote control) 5 for inputting various functions, a control unit 7 including a microcomputer, and a signal for display characters on a CRT 4 screen. When an arbitrary input operation is performed while looking at the menu screen by operating the remote controller 5, the selected item is displayed in a language that can be understood by the user. The remote control 5
Is provided with a power key, a channel key, a volume control key, an image quality control key, an up / down key, a menu selection key, and other function keys provided in a general television receiver. These keys are displayed with pictograms based on international standards so that their functions and contents can be understood so as not to hinder the input operation in a multilingual country. In addition, some remote controls 5 display functions in English in a unified manner.

The tuner 1 of the television receiver transmits an intermediate frequency signal of a carrier transmitted from an antenna to a filter (not shown). This filter removes unnecessary components of the frequency signal transmitted from the tuner 1 and
Send to IC2. The IF / IC 2 has a built-in chroma circuit and an AFT coil, receives an intermediate frequency signal, and sends out an audio signal to the audio signal processing unit 3, and outputs a video signal extracted by the chroma circuit to the video signal processing unit 3. To send to. Further, the IF IC 2 sends reception channel data having different frequency signals to the CPU 10 side of the control unit 7. The video signal processing unit 3 sends out the three primary color signals of R, G, and B to the cathode of the CRT 4, and sends out the horizontal drive signal and the vertical drive signal via the deflection circuit.

The control unit 7 includes a ROM 8, a RAM 9 and a C
PU10, and the CPU 10 is connected to the IF / IC
2 and ROM 8
And a comparison unit 10a for comparing with channel plan data stored in advance in the storage unit 10a. In addition, the CPU 10
While the output of the receiving unit 6 that receives the transmission signal from the remote controller 5 is introduced, the output is connected to the tuner 1 and a character generation unit 11 described later. The ROM
Reference numeral 8 stores a plurality of channel plan data and character display data in a plurality of languages for an on-screen display (OSD) corresponding to the plurality of channel plan data. In addition, the channel plan data covers channels broadcast in countries and regions where the television receiver is used, and sets frequency data of a plurality of broadcasting stations different for each channel in order from a low frequency to a high frequency. Things.

FIG. 2 is an example of a channel plan data table stored in the ROM 8 of a television receiver manufactured for a multilingual country. This data table corresponds to the O
There are three types of languages for SD, A, B, and C. For each language, the frequencies of all channels from the lowest frequency (MHz) channel (Ch) 1 to the highest frequency are stored in advance as digital data. is there. For example,
When used in some parts of the United States, the main language A is English, the language B is Spanish, and the language C is Portuguese. In some European countries, the main language A is German and the language B is French. The language C is English. In such a multilingual country, frequencies having slightly different or almost equal frequencies may be assigned even if the channel numbers are the same. The RAM 9 sequentially stores reception channel data of reception channels transmitted at the time of presetting.

The control unit 7 configured as described above sets tuning data for tuning selection in a built-in tuning counter in advance, and performs an auto tuning process in accordance with a tuning signal transmitted from the remote controller 5. I do. When a power-on signal is transmitted from the remote controller 5 at the start of use of the television receiver, a preset operation for searching for a channel frequency of a broadcast station received by the tuner is started. At the time of this presetting, the comparing unit 10a of the CPU 10 compares the plurality of channel plan data with the receiving channel data obtained by digitally converting the frequency of the receiving channel, and outputs a character corresponding to the channel plan data matching the receiving channel data. Display data is extracted, and a CRT is extracted based on the extracted character display data.
4. Set the language of the characters to be displayed on the screen. In this example, every time a reception channel is detected, the reception channel data is stored in the RAM 9, and the comparison unit 10 a compares the reception channel data with the channel plan data, and deletes the unmatched channel plan data. Control is performed to set the language of the character generator 11 based on the character display data corresponding to the last remaining channel plan data. After the language setting, when various settings and adjustment signals are transmitted following the menu selection signal from the remote controller 5, a display command corresponding to the content is transmitted to the character generation unit 11.

The character generation unit 11 is a conventionally known display character generation means, and includes a character generator controller 12, a font ROM 13, and a video RAM 14.
And the like, and transmits a character display signal to the video signal processing unit 3 in accordance with a command signal from the control unit 7. Character generator controller 12
Is the position, size,
In addition to controlling color and the like, character data is transferred from the font ROM 13 to the video RAM 14 and output to the CRT 4 as a character signal. When displaying characters on the screen of the CRT 4, the CPU 10 of the control unit 7 transfers display data for adjustment from the ROM 8 to the RAM 9.
The data of AM9 is output to the character generator controller 12 of the character generator 11. The character generator controller 12 receives the data from the RAM 9, transfers the character font from the font ROM 13 to the video RAM 14, and sends the data in the video RAM 14 to the video signal processing unit 3 as a display signal.
The video signal processing unit 3 receives a display signal and
4 is to display characters in the selected language.

Next, the operation of the television set provided with the automatic display language setting device will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the user sets the television receiver and starts use, when the user turns on the power key of the remote controller 5, the control unit 7 executes a preset operation. In this preset, a search is started for the frequency signal of the reception channel guided to the tuner 1 via the antenna (step S11). At this time, the control unit 7 sequentially sends the frequency data of each channel from the low frequency to the high frequency to the input port from the IF / IC 2 (step S12), and determines whether the tuner 1 has received the frequency of each channel. (Step S1)
3). At this time, if the frequency of the channel is not received, it is determined whether or not it is the last channel (step S1).
8), and if not the last channel, step S
Returning to step 11, it is checked whether or not the frequency of the channel has been received. Here, when the frequency of the channel is received, the frequency data is stored in the RAM 9 (step S13).

Since this channel reception check is performed stepwise for the frequency corresponding to the channel plan data, the presence or absence of the frequency data is sequentially determined in the RAM 9.
, The data storage of the receiving channel is represented as an example in FIG. 3). Thereafter, the control unit 7
The comparison unit 10a compares the received channel data with the channel plan data, and immediately deletes the unmatched channel plan data. Therefore, regions that do not match the channel plan data for each region are omitted (step S14). During this comparison and data erasure, it is also determined whether or not the number of regions that match the channel plan data becomes one (step S15). If they do not match, the process proceeds to step S18. Here, when there is only one area that matches the channel plan data, the area is determined and the language is displayed for that area (step S1).
6).

In the example of FIG. 3, although the frequencies of the languages A and B are received by searching for the channel "1", the language C is not received, so that the data of the language C is not stored. Also, when searching for channel "2", since the frequencies of languages A, B and C have been received, all data are stored. At this point, the language of the region that does not match the channel plan data is C, and the matching language is A,
Because it is B, the area is narrowed down to two. Further, when searching for channel "3", the frequency of language A is received and language B is received.
Since the frequencies of C and C were not received, the only language that matches the channel plan data is A, and the area is narrowed to one. Here, the control unit 7 extracts the character display data, and based on the extracted character display data, the CRT 4.
Is set to A for the language of the characters to be displayed on the screen. Then, the subsequent search operation is performed based on the channel plan data of the determined area (step S17), and when the last channel ends, the channel search operation ends.
As a result, the determination of the area is determined at an early stage of the channel search, and after setting the language of the display characters, the channel search is continued only in the determined area, so that the preset process is short.

Thereafter, when the user adjusts the volume by operating the remote controller 5, if the display characters are automatically set to English, "VORUME" is displayed on the screen of the CRT 4, and "volumen" is displayed for Spanish. Is displayed. Also, when adjusting image quality, use the English term “PIC
TURE ”and“ pintura ”are displayed in Spanish (see FIGS. 5 and 6).
At the time of presetting, the area is automatically determined at an early stage of the channel search, and characters are displayed in the main language used in the area, so that complicated setting operations by the user are not required. However, as described above, even after the language of the characters displayed on the screen of the CRT 4 is automatically set, if the user wants to change the language to another language, the user operates the remote controller 5 to display the menu and then sets the desired language. Can be selected and set, so that there is no hindrance when viewing in a language other than the main language. In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a television receiver for a multilingual country has been described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to various AV devices such as a television integrated VTR.

[0018]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, one suitable channel plan is selected from a plurality of channel plan data from receivable frequency data at the time of automatic presetting of a channel. Select data, extract character display data in one language corresponding to the selected channel plan data,
Since the extracted character display data is used to display characters on a display means such as a CRT or an LCD, the broadcast language of the receiving channel is automatically set together with the auto preset, so that the user can select a language when using the electronic device. This eliminates the need to perform such operations, and thus has the effect of eliminating the need for complicated operations. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means automatically sets the language of the character generation means based on the character display data from the comparison means for extracting the character display data, and displays the character signal for screen display on the display means. Is output, when the user selects or adjusts various functions, characters are displayed on the screen in the main language used in the area, and the user's convenience is greatly improved. Further, according to the present invention, the received channel data and the channel plan data are compared at the time of presetting, the unmatched channel plan data is deleted, and the character display data corresponding to the last remaining channel plan data is deleted. Since the language of the character generation means is set based on the area, the area is determined at an early stage of the channel search, and the channel search is continued only in the determined area.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electrical block diagram showing an automatic display language setting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data table of a channel plan stored in a memory.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a memory showing a result of storing data of a reception channel;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a television receiver having the automatic display language setting device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing English menu items displayed on a screen.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing Spanish menu items displayed on a screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 display means 7 channel plan data selection means 8 memory 11 character display data extraction means

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic apparatus having a display means such as a CRT or an LCD, an on-screen display function for displaying data in characters on the display means, and an auto-preset function of channels. A memory storing data and character display data in a plurality of languages for an on-screen display corresponding to the plurality of channel plan data; and Channel plan data selecting means for selecting one suitable channel plan data from the plan data, and character display data extracting means for extracting character display data in a certain language corresponding to the selected channel plan data. , This extraction Character display data by the automatic setting device for a display language, characterized in that the character displayed on the display means. 2. A first memory for storing a plurality of channel plan data and a plurality of character display data corresponding to the plurality of channel plan data, a second memory for storing reception channel data of a reception channel, A character generating means for generating and outputting a screen display character signal for displaying a specific display content in a plurality of languages on a screen of a display means, and comparing the plurality of channel plan data with the reception channel data Comparing means for extracting character display data corresponding to the channel plan data that matches the received channel data; and control for setting the language of the character generating means based on the character display data extracted from the comparing means. Means for automatically setting a display language. 3. Each time a reception channel is detected at the time of presetting, the reception channel data is stored in the second memory, and the comparison means compares the reception channel data with the channel plan data, so that they do not match. 3. The display language automatic setting device according to claim 2, wherein the channel plan data is deleted, and the language of the character generation unit is set based on the character display data corresponding to the last remaining channel plan data. .