JP4119130B2 - External input terminal detection method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an external input terminal detection method for detecting what an external source (a source connected to an external input terminal such as a BS tuner, a video tape recorder, or an electronic game machine) that is actually viewed on a television receiver is. Relates to the device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the era when television receivers (hereinafter referred to simply as “TVs”) were generally used alone, in order to measure the audience rating, the TV was turned on and off, It was sufficient to collect the channel selection channel number of the VHF / UHF tuner in association with the time data. However, with the widespread use of AV televisions that have a plurality of external input terminals and can be used as monitors for AV devices such as video tape recorders, it is necessary to detect external sources that are actually viewed on the televisions. I came.
[0003]
In view of such a situation, the present applicant has already proposed an invention titled “AV terminal detection method” in Japanese Patent No. 1627852 (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-69841) (hereinafter referred to as “prior art”). In this conventional technique, a signal obtained by mixing an audio signal given from an AV device to a television and an identification signal in a non-audible range is sequentially connected to a plurality of AV terminals (external input terminals for connecting audio and video signals). It is checked whether or not the identification signal is included in the audio signal collected by the microphone from the speaker, and when the identification signal is determined to be included, the AV terminal in which the identification signal is mixed is viewed for viewing This is specified as the selected AV terminal. If it is determined that the terminal is not any AV terminal, if the television is on and the channel can be specified, the broadcast wave is received and viewed by the tuner in the television.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described prior art, the identification signal in the non-audible range is superimposed on the audio signal given from the AV device to the television. Therefore, even if the identification signal itself is output from the television speaker, it is almost recognized by humans. There is nothing. However, a beat signal is actually generated when the identification signal is mixed with the audio signal, and this beat signal may be output to the outside as an audible sound from the speaker. Such unnecessary sound can be an obstacle when requesting the sample audience for the audience rating survey, so it is desirable to remove it as much as possible.
[0005]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an external input terminal detection method and apparatus capable of detecting what external sources are actually viewed on a television without causing viewers to recognize unnecessary sounds such as beat sounds. There is to do.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The external input terminal detection method of the present invention is an external input terminal detection apparatus connected to a television receiver for audience rating measurement, and is a silence applied to each of a plurality of external input terminals of the television receiver. A plurality of audio watermark insertion means for adding different audio watermark signals to audio signals other than the period; an audio watermark detection means for detecting an audio watermark signal from an audio signal reproduced by a speaker of the television receiver; and the detection External input terminal detection comprising: a determination means for determining an external source being viewed by determining which external audio input signal matches the audio watermark signal added to the audio signal applied to which external input terminal An external input terminal detection method in an apparatus,
a) the determination means determining whether an audio watermark signal is detected by the audio watermark detection means;
b) When the determination means determines that the audio watermark signal is detected in the step a, the timer is stopped and an external source corresponding to the detected audio watermark signal is determined as the viewing source and the step returning the processing to a,
c) When the determination means determines that an audio watermark signal has not been detected in step a, it determines whether or not the timer is activated, and activates the timer if the timer is not activated. Then, the process returns to step a. If the timer is running, the timer counts a predetermined time to determine whether the time has expired, and if not, the process proceeds to step a. If the time is up, the step of determining the internal source of the television receiver as the viewing source and returning the process to step a.
including.
[0007]
The external input terminal detection apparatus of the present invention is an external input terminal detection apparatus connected to a television receiver for audience rating measurement, and is provided to each of the plurality of external input terminals of the television receiver. A plurality of audio watermark insertion means for adding different audio watermark signals to audio signals other than the silent period; an audio watermark detection means for detecting an audio watermark signal from an audio signal reproduced by a speaker of the television receiver; A determination means for determining an external source being viewed by determining whether the detected audio watermark signal matches an audio watermark signal added to an audio signal applied to which external input terminal, The detection means determines whether or not the audio watermark signal is detected, and determines that the audio watermark signal is detected by the determination processing. When the timer is stopped and the external source corresponding to the detected audio watermark signal is determined as the source being viewed, the determination process is executed again, and the determination process determines that no audio watermark signal is detected. Determines whether or not the timer is activated, and if the timer is not activated, activates the timer and executes the determination process again. If the timer is activated, the timer is determined in advance. If the time is not up, the determination process is executed again. If the time is up, the internal source of the television receiver is determined as the viewing source. And determination means for executing the determination process again.
[0008]
[Action]
The audio watermarking technology can embed some additional data in the audio signal by extracting a change that is difficult for human hearing to recognize the audio signal, and can extract this additional data as necessary. Technology. In other words, with the audio watermark technology, even if audio in the audible range is inserted as a watermark signal, it is difficult for human hearing to recognize. Therefore, it is possible to detect an external source that is actually viewed on the television without causing the viewer to recognize unnecessary sounds such as beat sounds.
[0009]
First Embodiment of the Invention
Referring to FIG. 1, the first embodiment of the present invention relates to a television 1 owned by a survey subject, VTR 2, VCD 3, DVD 4 and TV game machine 5 that are external sources, and for audience rating measurement. And an installed meter 6. In addition, the external source connected to the television 1 shows an example, and is not limited to this.
[0010]
The television 1 has a built-in tuner 100 such as a VHF / UHF tuner as an internal source, and a plurality of external input terminals AV00 to AV11 for connecting an external source. Each of the external input terminals AV00 to AV11 includes a video input terminal V and left and right channel audio input terminals R and L. Furthermore, it has a speaker output terminal Aout for taking out the sound of a speaker (not shown) to the outside.
[0011]
VTR2 is connected to external input terminal AV00, VCD3 is connected to external input terminal AV01, DVD4 is connected to external input terminal AV10, and TV game machine 5 is connected to external input terminal AV11. Here, each video signal and right channel audio signal are directly connected to an external input terminal by a signal cable, but the left channel audio signal passes through audio watermark insertion units 600 to 603 provided in the meter 6. Connected with.
[0012]
The audio watermark insertion units 600 to 603 are circuits for inserting different audio watermark signals. Now, audio watermark signals inserted by the audio watermark insertion units 600 to 603 are denoted as W600 to W603. The audio watermark signals W600 to W603 to be inserted are signals in the audible range, but since they are watermarks, it is difficult to recognize them by human hearing. The audio watermark insertion unit 600 receives the left channel audio signal output from the VTR 2 and outputs a signal obtained by inserting the audio watermark signal W 600 to the left channel audio input terminal L of the external input terminal AV 00. Similarly, the audio watermark insertion units 601, 602, and 603 receive the left channel audio signal output from the VCD 3, DVD 4, and TV game machine 5, and externally input signals into which the audio watermark signals W 601, W 602, and W 603 are inserted. Output to the audio input terminal L of the left channel of the terminals AV01, AV10 and AV11.
[0013]
The meter 6 includes an audio watermark detection unit 604, a determination unit 605, and a display unit 606. The audio watermark detection unit 604 receives an audio signal output from the speaker output terminal Aout through a signal cable, detects an audio watermark signal added to the input audio signal, and outputs the audio watermark signal to the determination unit 605. The determination unit 605 receives the detection signal from the audio watermark detection unit 604, and determines whether the audio watermark signal is detected and whether the detected audio watermark signal is W600 to W603. A viewing source determination signal 607 indicating whether the source currently being viewed is an external source of VTR2, VCD3, DVD4, or TV game machine 5, or whether the internal tuner 100 is viewed instead of the external source is output. To do. If it is determined that the external source is being viewed, a display for identifying the external source being viewed is displayed on the display unit 606. When there are four external sources as shown in FIG. 1, the display unit 606 can be configured with a 2-bit display element. This display unit 606 is for confirming the operation when the meter 6 is installed. Further, when it is determined that the built-in tuner 100 is being viewed, the meter 6 determines the viewing channel in a known manner.
[0014]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the viewing source determination process performed by the determination unit 605. Such processing is realized by a program operating on a microprocessor constituting the determination unit 605. When starting the operation, the determination unit 605 determines whether or not the audio watermark signal is detected by the audio watermark detection unit 604 (step S101). If the audio watermark signal is detected (YES in step S101), After stopping the internal timer (step S102), the external source corresponding to the detected audio watermark signal is determined as the viewing source (step S103). Specifically, if the audio watermark signal W600 is detected, it is determined that the VTR2 is being viewed, and if the audio watermark signal W601 is detected, it is determined that the VCD3 is being viewed, and the audio watermark signal W602 is detected. If the audio watermark signal W603 is detected, it is determined that the TV game machine 5 is being viewed.
[0015]
On the other hand, if the audio watermark signal is not detected by the audio watermark detection unit 604 (NO in step S101), it is determined whether or not the internal timer is activated (step S104). If not activated, the internal timer is activated. (Step S105), the process returns to step S101 to continue monitoring. If the internal timer is already running (YES in step S104), it is determined whether the internal timer has timed up by measuring a predetermined time (step S106), and if the time is not up (step S106). (NO in S106), the process returns to step S101 to continue monitoring. If the time is up (YES in step S106), it is determined that the internal source (internal tuner 100) is being viewed (step S107). And it returns to step S101 and continues monitoring.
[0016]
Since the present embodiment operates as described above, for example, when the user selects the external input terminal AV00 and views the VTR2, the audio watermark insertion unit 600 adds the audio signal of the left channel reproduced by the VTR2. Since the inserted audio watermark signal W600 appears at the speaker output terminal Aout and is detected by the audio watermark detection unit 604, the determination unit 605 determines that the VTR2 corresponding to the audio watermark signal W600 is a source being viewed. A case where the user selects another external input terminal AV01, AV10, AV11 and uses the VCD3, DVD4, or TV game machine 5 is also detected in the same manner. On the other hand. When the user selects the built-in tuner 100 and receives and reproduces a TV broadcast wave, since the audio watermark signal is not detected from the audio signal output from the speaker output terminal Aout, the determination unit 605 is determined in advance. When it is detected that the audio watermark signal is not detected over a certain period of time (the time from when the internal timer is activated to when the time is up), the built-in tuner 100 is determined as the viewing source. Note that the condition that the audio watermark signal is not detected over a predetermined period of time is that the audio watermark signal is generally not inserted during the silent period. This is to prevent erroneous detection when the audio signal of the external source is silent.
[0035]
Next, the audio watermark technique will be described. The audio watermark technology is described in detail in “Digital Watermark and Content Protection” (February 14, 2001, Ohm Co., Ltd., Chapter 4 {Digital watermark into sound}). As an application example, there is a “telephone, automatic payment processing apparatus, and automatic payment method” described in JP-A-11-353399. This is because, when a voice indicating the contents of a payment procedure such as a transfer is inputted from a telephone transmitter, the data of the payment-related information held in advance is embedded in the voice using a voice watermark, and the public telephone line network Is transmitted to the payment processing apparatus. In the present invention, an audio watermark signal inserted into an external source audio signal may be any number, character, symbol, or the like. As an audio watermarking method, any method can be adopted as long as it is a non-reference method for an original that does not require an original when detecting a watermark. For example, a masking method that uses another auditory masking effect to put another sound as a watermark in an inaudible region, an echo method that uses watermark information by changing the length of the echo according to the embedded information, and converts the original sound to the frequency domain A spread spectrum system that adds a watermark and restores the original by despreading can be used.
[0036]
In the above embodiment, the audio watermark signal is inserted into the audio signal of the left channel of the external source. However, the audio watermark signal may be inserted into the audio signal of the right channel. A signal may be inserted. Further, although the audio signal of the source being viewed on the television 1 is taken out from the speaker output terminal Aout, the sound may be collected by a microphone.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect what external source is actually viewed on a television without causing the viewer to recognize unnecessary sounds such as beat sounds.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example of a determination unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... TV 2 ... VTR
3 ... VCD
4 ... DVD
5 ... TV game machine 6 ... Meter

Claims (2)

An external input terminal detection apparatus connected to a television receiver for audience rating measurement, wherein the audio watermark is different for each audio signal other than a silent period applied to each of the plurality of external input terminals of the television receiver. A plurality of audio watermark inserting means for adding a signal; audio watermark detecting means for detecting an audio watermark signal from an audio signal reproduced by a speaker of the television receiver; and to which external input terminal the detected audio watermark signal is An external input terminal detection method in an external input terminal detection apparatus, comprising: a determination means for determining an external source being viewed by determining whether the audio watermark signal added to a given audio signal matches. ,
a) the determination means determining whether an audio watermark signal is detected by the audio watermark detection means;
b) When the determination means determines that the audio watermark signal is detected in the step a, the timer is stopped and an external source corresponding to the detected audio watermark signal is determined as the viewing source and the step returning the processing to a,
c) When the determination means determines that an audio watermark signal has not been detected in step a, it determines whether or not the timer is activated, and activates the timer if the timer is not activated. Then, the process returns to step a. If the timer is running, the timer counts a predetermined time to determine whether the time has expired, and if not, the process proceeds to step a. If the time is up, the step of determining the internal source of the television receiver as the viewing source and returning the process to step a.
An external input terminal detection method including: An external input terminal detection apparatus connected to a television receiver for audience rating measurement, wherein the audio watermark is different for each audio signal other than a silent period applied to each of the plurality of external input terminals of the television receiver. A plurality of audio watermark inserting means for adding a signal; audio watermark detecting means for detecting an audio watermark signal from an audio signal reproduced by a speaker of the television receiver; and to which external input terminal the detected audio watermark signal is A determination means for determining an external source being viewed by determining whether or not the audio watermark signal added to a given audio signal matches, and whether the audio watermark signal is detected by the audio watermark detection means If it is determined that an audio watermark signal has been detected, the timer is stopped and detected. If the external source corresponding to the audio watermark signal is determined as the source being viewed and the determination process is performed again, and it is determined that the audio watermark signal is not detected in the determination process, whether the timer is active or not If the timer is not activated, the timer is activated and the determination process is executed again. If the timer is activated, the timer times out by measuring a predetermined time. If the time is not up, the determination process is executed again. If the time is up, the internal source of the television receiver is determined as the viewing source and the determination process is executed again. An external input terminal detection device including a determination unit.

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