JP3824954B2 - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiver suitable for application to a mobile digital television broadcast receiver such as an in-vehicle television or a portable television.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In terrestrial digital broadcasting, which will start test broadcasting in Japan in 2003, an OFDM modulation scheme that assumes reception while moving is adopted, and it is expected that highly mobile receivers and receiving terminals will appear. In mobile reception such as in-car TV and portable TV, even if a specific channel (broadcasting station) is preset in advance, it cannot be received if the region changes, even if the same region Even within, the broadcast stations that can be received may vary due to the influence of mountains, buildings, and the like.
[0003]
There are in-vehicle TVs and portable TVs equipped with frequency tuning and voltage synthesizer auto-tuning systems. However, if you only need to display the channel number when selecting a channel, you can go to an area you do not know when traveling or traveling. The number of TV stations in that area, how many channels are there, and which TV stations are in a network relationship with TV stations in your area, There is a problem that it takes a lot of time and labor to find a desired channel. As means for solving this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-77779 discloses a method for setting a channel by using a monitor screen to present a receivable channel, reception state information, and the like.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As a method for supporting channel settings in mobile television receivers that can be moved and carried like in-vehicle TVs and portable TVs, and as a method for providing information to users, the monitor displays the receivable channels and reception status. The method is taken. In these methods, the channel setting screen and the reception status screen must be called up and operated, and viewing must be interrupted in order to perform these operations. Even if the receivable channel and the reception status are displayed on the television image, part of the screen is hidden. This is inconvenient for the user.
[0005]
Also, if you find a receivable channel, you will get information to confirm that it is a TV broadcast station that has a network relationship with the TV broadcast station in your area, and try to register the channel of that broadcast station. If this is done, it requires many more operations and is inconvenient for the user.
[0006]
An object of the present invention is to notify the user of such information in a simple and easy-to-understand manner, without disturbing viewing, and to always provide reception state information.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present invention detects a reception state from a search means for detecting a receivable channel from a television wave on which a plurality of video / audio signals are superimposed for each frequency band, and detects a reception state. Receiving state detection means, storage means for storing the receivable channel obtained by the search means and the reception state detected by the reception state detection means, and each frequency band section including the receivable channel stored by the storage means In order to display each reception state, a plurality of reception state display means arranged outside the display screen of the monitor, and each frequency band section within a monitor display area at a position corresponding to each reception state display means Means for grouping the receivable channels included in each of the frequency band sections and displaying them.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0014]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 101 is a channel selection / decoding unit, 102 is a reception state detection unit, 103 is a control unit, 104 is a reception information recording unit, 105 is an area-specific reception information holding unit, 106 is an external display unit, and 107 is an image generator. , 108 is a video signal generation unit, 109 is a monitor, and 110 is an interface unit.
[0015]
The channel selection / decoder unit 101 performs channel search and reports a receivable channel to the control unit 103, receives a broadcast signal, and performs channel selection and demodulation to video and audio. When the channel selection is possible as a result of the channel search in the channel selection / decoder unit 101, the reception state detection unit 102 detects the signal strength, and reports the detection result to the control unit 103.
[0016]
The control unit 103 performs various controls on each unit of the apparatus. The control unit 103 receives information on received signal strength from the reception state detection unit 102 and information on receivable channels from the channel selection / decoder unit 101. The received information is stored in the received information recording unit 104, and the external display unit 106 is controlled based on the information extracted from the received information recording unit 104 to reflect the signal strength information of each channel. Details of the signal strength information are sent to the generation unit 107, and control is performed so as to create an image of the signal strength data to be displayed on the screen.
[0017]
The reception information recording unit 104 holds the receivable channel information and the signal intensity information thereof under the control of the control unit 103. The reception information holding unit 105 for each area holds combination information of reception channels, display channels, and broadcasting station names that are given in advance.
[0018]
The external display unit 106 is disposed near the outside of the display screen of the monitor 109 (for example, near the top of the display screen). Here, the external display unit 106 includes a plurality of LEDs and is controlled by the control unit 103. The way of lighting is changed. In addition, each LED (LED unit) provided corresponding to each channel is composed of a pair of a green light emitting diode element and a red light emitting diode element, so that green, red, and orange can be lit. Yes. In this embodiment, a channel selection button is provided as an interface for channel selection in the form of including or including the LED (in FIGS. 3 and 4 to be described later, a channel selection with an LED is provided). An example of a button).
[0019]
The image generation unit 107 generates an image for displaying details of the reception state in response to a command from the control unit 103, an image for other OSD (on-screen display), and the like. The video signal generation unit 108 receives the reception status display image created by the image generation unit 107 when the control unit 103 instructs the video signal of the video / audio signal generated by the channel selection / decoder unit 101. And so on. The monitor 109 displays the video signal from the video signal generation unit 108 and outputs the audio signal generated by the channel selection / decoder unit 101 and processed by the video signal generation unit 108. The interface unit 110 transmits a user instruction received from the remote controller or an instruction received from the user via the main body button to the control unit 103.
[0020]
Next, the operation procedure of the digital broadcast receiving apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus of this embodiment.
[0021]
In response to a user instruction or an initial setting operation, the control unit 103 issues a reception state confirmation instruction (step S201).
[0022]
Receiving this instruction, the channel selection / decoding unit 101 searches for a receivable channel from the TV radio wave from the antenna by auto-tuning, and determines that there is a channel of a certain frequency that can be received (YES in step S202). ), The detected receivable channel is reported to the control unit 103, and the reception state detection unit 102 detects reception signal strength information (reception signal level information), and the signal strength information is also sent to the control unit 103. This is reported (step S203). And the control part 103 memorize | stores the information of the obtained receivable channel and the information of the signal strength in the reception information storage part 104 (step S204). In the next step S205, it is determined whether or not all the selectable bands have been scanned. If all the bands have been scanned, the process proceeds to step S206. If all the bands have not been scanned, the process returns to step S202.
[0023]
In step S <b> 206, the control unit 103 receives information on reception channels for each region that is stored in advance in the reception information storage unit 105 for each region (for example, reception for each region as illustrated as part of the region in FIG. 3). Channel information) and the current receivable channel information held in the reception information recording unit 104 are compared to determine the current reception area. Based on the reception area information, the combinations of the channel information and the reception state stored in the reception information storage unit 104 are sorted into positions 1 to 12.
[0024]
In step S207 following step S206, the control unit 103 controls a plurality of LEDs arranged as the external display unit 106 near the outside of the display screen of the monitor as follows. That is, for the LEDs in the positional relationship corresponding to the positions 1 to 12, lighting control is performed according to the sorted reception state information. For example, if the reception state is good, green, and if the reception state is normal The control is orange, red if the reception state is bad, and not lighting if reception is impossible. FIG. 4 shows a display example of the reception state by the external display unit 106 (12 LED units) based on the processing in step S206. In addition to this, the display state of the reception state of the external display unit 106 including a plurality of LEDs may be, for example, one that indicates the strength of the received signal by the lighting intensity of the LED or the blinking interval time. .
[0025]
In step S208 following step S207, it is determined whether or not an instruction to display reception information (detailed reception information) on the display screen of the monitor is received from the user through the interface unit 110. The process proceeds to step S209, and if there is no instruction from the user, the process jumps to step S210.
[0026]
In step S209, based on the command of the control unit 103, the image generation unit 107, based on the retained receivable channel information, signal strength information, and broadcast station name information, an image representing these, that is, Then, a character image of the broadcasting station name, a level meter image or a numerical image corresponding to the reception state, and the like are transmitted to the video signal generation unit 108. On the other hand, the TV radio wave input from the antenna is separated by the channel selection / decoding unit 101 into a transport stream, multiplexed and de-scrambled, video / audio signal separation operation by MPEG decoding, Demodulation processing is performed, and the result is input to the video signal generation unit 108 as a video / audio signal. Then, the video signal generation unit 108 synthesizes the two images of the image generated by the image generation unit 107 and the video signal from the channel selection / decoding unit 101, and outputs them to the monitor 109. FIG. 5 shows a display example of the reception state on the display screen of the monitor based on the processing in step S209. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the name of a receivable broadcasting station and a bar-shaped level meter indicating the reception intensity in length and color are shown as detailed information on the reception state on the display screen of the monitor. Each reception state detailed information in which the broadcast station name and the level meter are paired corresponds to a receivable channel in the external display unit 106 (in this case, an LED that is lit in any color) Are displayed in the corresponding positions). In addition, numbers corresponding to the LEDs (display channel / position number corresponding to receivable channels) are also displayed on the display screen of the monitor. The received signal strength may be expressed by a numerical value or may be expressed by characters such as “very good”, “good”, “normal”, and the like.
[0027]
In step S210, it is determined whether or not a channel selection button disposed in the vicinity of the LED for displaying the reception state or including the LED is operated by the user, and the channel selection button is operated by the user. The process proceeds to step S211, and if not, the process proceeds to a step of waiting for an appropriate instruction from the user (not shown). In step S211, the control unit 103 analyzes a user instruction received from the interface unit 110, and outputs a channel selection instruction to the channel selection / decoding unit 101 to perform channel selection and video / audio decoding operations. .
[0028]
As described above, in this embodiment, by displaying the reception state by the external display unit 106 (a plurality of LEDs) as shown in FIG. It is possible to always present the degree of signal strength with good visibility, and the visual recognition of the received video on the monitor is not impaired. Further, by displaying the reception state on the external display unit 106 and the display screen of the monitor 109 as shown in FIG. 5, detailed information (channel name) on the channel that can be received at the current position is shown to the user. ) And details of the received intensity can be presented with good visibility. Therefore, the user can, for example, immediately select a channel having a good reception state or a normal channel by using a channel selection button arranged in the vicinity of the LED indicating the reception state or including the LED. Thus, it is convenient for the user.
[0029]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a reception state in a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
[0030]
In digital broadcasting, a plurality of video / audio signals are superimposed for each frequency band. Therefore, the display state on the display screen of the monitor is displayed by displaying the reception state for each frequency band by the LED and displaying the receivable channels included in each frequency band in the display region of the monitor corresponding to each LED. It is possible to reduce the size and save the number of LEDs.
[0031]
The example shown in FIG. 6 shows a case where the frequency band exists between “1” to “9”, and the external display unit 106 disposed near the outside of the display screen of the monitor has nine LEDs “1”. ”To“ 9 ”, and each of the LEDs“ 1 ”to“ 9 ”displays the reception state of each frequency band (each frequency band in the“ 1 ”to“ 9 ”section). In addition, reception channel display areas “101” to “904” in the display screen of the monitor corresponding to the LEDs “1” to “9” respectively indicate receivable channels included in each frequency band. Therefore, the receivable channels included in the frequency band “1” are 101, 102, and 103, and the reception status is displayed by the LED “1”.
[0032]
As described above, in FIG. 6, the receivable channels are 101, 102, 103, 201, 301, 302, 401, 402, 403, 404, 901, 902, and 904, and the channel that has a good reception state is 101. , 102, 103, 901, 902, 904, the channel whose reception state is normal is 201, and the channel whose reception state is bad is 301, 302, 401, 402, 403, 404.
[0033]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the reception state for each frequency band section is displayed by, for example, LEDs as reception state display means arranged outside the display screen of the monitor, and each frequency band section is displayed in the display area of the monitor corresponding to each LED. By displaying the channels that can be received, the display area on the monitor display screen can be reduced and the number of LEDs can be saved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process flow in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a combination of reception channel for each reception area, display channel, broadcasting station name, and position used in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a reception state by a plurality of LEDs as an external display unit in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a reception state by an external display unit (plural LEDs) and a monitor display screen in the digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a reception state by an external display unit (multiple LEDs) and a monitor display screen in a digital broadcast receiver according to another embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Channel selection / decoding part 102 Reception state detection part 103 Control part 104 Reception information recording part 105 Reception information holding part 106 according to area External display part 107 Image generation part 108 Video signal generation part 109 Monitor 110 Interface part

Claims (1)

Search means for detecting a receivable channel from a television wave on which a plurality of video / audio signals are superimposed for each frequency band, a reception state detection means for detecting a reception state, a receivable channel obtained by the search means and reception A storage unit for storing the reception state detected by the state detection unit and a reception state for each frequency band section including the receivable channels stored by the storage unit are arranged outside the display screen of the monitor. A plurality of reception status display means, and in the monitor display area at a position corresponding to each reception status display means, the receivable channels included in each frequency band section are grouped and displayed for each frequency band section. A digital broadcast receiving apparatus.

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