JP4528172B2 - Television receiver and power supply control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a television receiver capable of certainly conducting off-control for power supply when broadcasting is completed at a selected channel in order to reduce wasteful power consumption. <P>SOLUTION: The television receiver receives television broadcasting signals, and displays program video images of a desired channel. It comprises an acquisition means 6 for acquiring electronic program guide (EPG) information from the television broadcasting signals, a detection means 8 for detecting a broadcasting finish time concerning to a selected channel based on the electronic program guide information, and a power supply control means 11 for conducting shut-off control for the power supply based on the broadcasting finish time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&amp;NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a television receiver that receives a television broadcast signal and displays a program of a desired channel, and more particularly to a television receiver capable of detecting a state of being left on and automatically turning off the power. It is about.

  Conventionally, in order to prevent wasteful power consumption in a so-called “free-standing” television receiver in which the user is not viewing the display image, the television receiver is automatically detected by detecting the “left-out” state. Various proposals have been made that can turn off the power automatically.

  For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 59-171271, 5-93134, 7-29966, and 9-312783 disclose video signals and synchronization signals included in television broadcast signals. When the presence / absence is detected, and the absence of these is detected, it has been proposed that the power source is turned off by determining that it is left in spite of the end of the television broadcast to save energy.

  Also, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-78246, when a user leaves his / her seat without turning off the power while watching TV, this is detected by a sensor, and when a certain time has passed after detection, the power is automatically turned on. It is disclosed to prevent unnecessary power consumption by controlling and switching to an operation standby mode.

Further, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-152124, the end of a currently viewed program is determined by an EPG (Electronic Program Guide), the end of the program is notified to the viewer, and the viewing for this notification is performed. Decide whether to continue watching the next program based on whether there is a response from the viewer, and if there is no response, warn the viewer based on whether there is a call setting or turn off the television receiver Discloses a power saving device for a television receiver.
JP 59-171271 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-93134 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-29966 JP-A-9-312783 JP-A-6-78246 JP 2000-152124 A

  However, as described in Patent Documents 1 to 4, in the case where the power is turned off by detecting the presence or absence of a video signal or a synchronization signal included in a television broadcast signal, broadcasting from other stations or others When the radio wave is mixed, there is a possibility that the automatic power-off control cannot be correctly performed even after the broadcast ends.

  In addition, as described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 5, when the absence of the viewer is detected, a sensor (infrared sensor) for detecting the viewer is necessary in the case of controlling the power off. There is a problem that the configuration is complicated and the cost is increased.

  Further, as described in Patent Document 6, when the end of a program being viewed is determined based on EPG data and the end of the program is notified to the viewer, the viewer turns the program off when the power is turned off. Since it is necessary to always make a response as to whether or not to continue watching the next program every time it ends, there is a problem that the operation is troublesome and the merchantability is remarkably impaired. For example, in general, the viewer often turns on the power before the start time of the program he / she wants to watch. In such a case, at the end of the program broadcast before the desired program, the viewer It is necessary to perform a response operation to continue viewing, which imposes an extra burden on the viewer.

  Here, in the case where the power-off control is performed in units of programs as in the cited document 6, since it is troublesome for the viewer to perform the confirmation response operation for continuing the power-on for each program, the automatic power supply of the television receiver The off function setting is likely to be canceled, and as a result, if the viewer goes to sleep or goes out with the television receiver turned on, the broadcast will end. Regardless, the power-on state of the television receiver may continue, leading to unnecessary power consumption.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, it based on the end time of your Keru final broadcast program channel during channel selection, reliably and off control of the power supply, to reduce wasteful power consumption It is an object of the present invention to provide a television receiver that can be used.

1st invention of this application is a television receiver which receives a television broadcast signal and displays the program video of a desired channel, Comprising: The electronic program guide information containing the start end time of each program from the said television broadcast signal If it is detected based on the electronic program guide information that there is no next program scheduled to be broadcast continuously, the end time of the program being viewed is detected. And a power supply control means for controlling the power supply to be cut off.

The second invention of the present application is further provided with OSD means for performing on-screen display for notifying the power-off in a predetermined time before the end time of the program being viewed .
The power control means controls the power supply to be cut off after the on-screen display is performed for a predetermined time.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is further provided OSD means for performing on-screen display for notifying power-off after the end time of the program being viewed. After that, the power supply is controlled to be cut off.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a step of acquiring electronic program guide information including start / end times of individual programs from a television broadcast signal, and a program being viewed is continuously broadcast based on the electronic program guide information. A step of controlling the power supply to be cut off based on the end time of the program being viewed when it is detected that there is no next scheduled program.

According to the television receiver of the present invention, since the end time of the last broadcast program in the channel being selected is detected based on the electronic program guide (EPG) information and the power is turned off, there is no burden on the user. It is possible to reliably reduce wasteful power consumption without forcing the power.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a television receiver according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, for example, a digital broadcast receiver. Here, FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the main part of the television receiver of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an automatic power-off control operation in the television receiver of the present embodiment, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of an alerting | reporting display screen before the automatic power-off in the television receiver of embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, 1 is a tuner, 2 is a demodulator that performs digital demodulation and outputs a TS (Transport Stream) as digital data, 3 is a packet separator (DEMUX) that separates each data packet from the TS, and 4 is a video Video decoding unit that decodes data, 5 is an audio decoding unit that decodes audio data, 6 is an EPG processing unit that performs processing to construct an EPG display screen from data information, and 7 is an OSD processing unit that generates an on-screen display signal , 8 is a control CPU.

  9 is a synthesis unit that synthesizes a video signal, an audio signal, an EPG display screen, and an on-screen display signal based on the control data from the control CPU 8, 10 is a display device using LCD, CRT, etc., 11 is It is a system power supply control unit of the television receiver. The blocks 1 to 7, 9, and 11 are connected to the control CPU 8. The control CPU 8 determines control data based on data from each block, and receives digital data, displays images, and turns the power on / off. Etc. are controlled.

  Next, the operation of the above digital broadcast receiver will be described. A broadcast signal received by a receiving antenna (not shown) is input to the tuner 1, and the tuner 1 receives control data indicating a selected channel from the control CPU 8 and selects (selects) a channel. The channel-selected received signal is sent to the demodulator 2 where digital demodulation is performed. For example, a TS (Transport Stream) including the selected program is selected according to control data from the control CPU 8, and the TS is digitally converted. Output as data.

  The packet separation unit 3 separates and extracts the packet of the selected program from the input TS, and outputs video data and audio data of the program. The packet separation unit 3 further separates and extracts program arrangement information (Service Information) simultaneously transmitted in the TS, and outputs it to the EPG processing unit 6.

  Further, the packet separation unit 3 extracts transmission control signals (PSI: Program Specific Information), time information, and the like transmitted by the TS, and these are sent as control information to the control CPU 8 for control based on this. Control data for controlling packet separation is sent from the CPU 8.

  The video data output from the packet separator 3 is encoded by MPEG-2, and the video decoder 4 decodes the video data and outputs a video signal. In the video decoding unit 4, the decoding operation is performed based on the control data from the control CPU 8, and at the time of decoding, data such as a sequence header and a sequence end code in the video data is identified, and the image size, aspect Data indicating the video format by the ratio, scanning method and frame frequency, start of sequence, detection of sequence end code (sequence end code), etc. is sent from the video decoding unit 4 to the control CPU 8.

  The audio data output from the packet separation unit 3 is also encoded, and the audio decoding unit 5 decodes the audio data and outputs an audio signal. In the audio decoding unit 5, as in the video decoding unit 4, the decoding operation is performed based on the control data from the control CPU 8, and data such as a header in the audio data is identified at the time of decoding, and sampling is performed. Data indicating the audio format and the like is sent from the audio decoding unit 5 to the control CPU 8 according to the frequency, the number of audio channels, and the like. Both the video signal and the audio signal that are output from the video decoding unit 4 and the audio decoding unit 5 are sent to the synthesis unit 9.

  Next, program arrangement information (SI data) output from the packet separation unit 3 to the EPG processing unit 6 will be described. The EPG processing unit 6 processes the input SI data to form an EPG display screen, and outputs a signal indicating the EPG display screen. As described above, the SI data includes information such as the channel name, the title of each program, the start / end time, and the progress status, and the EPG processing unit 6 performs processing based on these data to display the EPG display screen. Configure. Then, an EPG display screen signal that is an output from the EPG processing unit 6 is sent to the synthesis unit 9.

  Further, the OSD processing unit 7 generates various character signals and character signals based on instructions from the control CPU 8 and outputs them to the combining unit 9. Thus, the video signal from the video decoding unit 4, the audio signal from the audio decoding unit 5, and the EPG display screen signal from the EPG processing unit 6 are sent to the synthesizing unit 9. They are synthesized based on the control data, and the display signal after the synthesis is displayed on the display device 10.

  Here, the synthesis unit 9 receives various control data for performing a display operation from the control CPU 8. The control data is a signal for synthesizing the display signal, and is formed based on data such as a video format and an audio format from each block described above.

  In addition, when a remote control device (remote controller) (not shown) is operated and a viewer operates to select a reception channel, a program, etc., and to display or hide an EPG screen, the operation content is controlled. Control data sent to the CPU 8 is sent from the control CPU 8 to the synthesizing unit 9 in order to select a reception channel, a program, etc., and to display or hide the EPG screen.

  Therefore, normally, based on the control data from the control CPU 8, the video signal and audio signal of the selected program are output as display signals to the display device 10 as they are in the synthesizing unit 9, and the display device 10 uses the input display signals. A certain video signal and audio signal provide program video and audio to the viewer.

  On the other hand, when the viewer performs an operation to instruct display (or non-display) of the EPG on the operation member or the like of the remote controller, the operation content is sent to the control CPU 8, and the control CPU 8 displays (or does not display) the EPG. Is output to the combining unit 9. That is, the control data from the control CPU 8 is sent to the combining unit 9 as control data for instructing display of EPG or as control data for instructing non-display.

  Therefore, when the EPG display screen is not displayed on the display device 10, the combining unit 9 superimposes the EPG display screen signal on the video signal based on the control data instructing the EPG display from the control CPU 8. Then, the display signal combined with the EPG is output to the display device 10. Note that there are methods for combining an EPG display screen with a normal video screen and an EPG display screen superimposed, or by dividing the screen and simultaneously displaying the normal video screen and the EPG display screen. .

  Further, when the viewer performs a power on / off operation using a remote controller or the like, or when the on-timer / off-timer-set time is reached, it is further detected that the broadcast end time described later has been reached. In this case, an on / off control instruction is issued from the control CPU 8 to the system power supply control unit 11 to control the power supply driving of the digital broadcast receiver.

  In the digital broadcast receiver according to the present embodiment, the broadcast end time of the currently selected channel is detected with reference to the EPG, and an on-screen display is provided immediately before the broadcast end time to notify that the power is cut off. After that, the main power supply is controlled to be cut off.

  This will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. In the flowchart of FIG. 2, when power is turned on and reception of a television broadcast signal is started, it is first determined whether or not an energy saving setting (automatic power-off function setting of the present invention) has been made (step 1). The presence or absence of a channel change instruction operation by the user is monitored (step 2). If there is a channel change, based on the program arrangement information (SI data) output from the packet separation unit 3 to the EPG processing unit 6 Then, the presence / absence of the next program scheduled to be broadcast continuously from the current viewing program related to the changed channel is detected (step 3).

  When there is no subsequent program, it is considered that all of the broadcast programs for the current day in the selected channel will end together with the end of the currently viewed program. Therefore, the currently viewed program is set as the broadcast end time of the selected channel. Is acquired from the program arrangement information (SI data) (step 4).

  Then, the program end time being viewed acquired in step 4 is compared with the current time information obtained from the built-in clock to detect whether or not a predetermined time before the end time of the program being viewed has been reached (step 5). ), When it is detected that a predetermined time before the end time of the program being viewed has been reached, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a message such as “The power will be shut down at the end of broadcasting” is displayed on-screen. In addition, an instruction is output to the OSD processing unit 7 (step 6), and the viewer is prompted to confirm whether or not to continue viewing the broadcast program of another channel.

  Here, the presence / absence of an instruction input operation using a remote controller or the like by the viewer is detected (step 7), and if the viewer does not perform an operation such as a channel selection instruction to another channel, the user is willing to continue viewing. If it is determined that the end time of the program being viewed matches the current time (step 8), the system power control unit 11 is instructed to turn off the power. Is output (step 9), and the operation is terminated.

As described above, in the digital broadcast receiver of this embodiment, the end time of the final broadcast program related to the selected channel is detected based on the electronic program guide (EPG) information multiplexed on the TV broadcast signal. Then, when the end time of the final broadcast program is reached, it is determined that the television receiver is in a state of being left on, and control is performed to shut off the main power supply.

  Therefore, the viewer simply sets the automatic power-off function of the present invention in advance, and does not impose any other troublesome operations, and with a very simple configuration, it can broadcast other stations and other radio waves. Without causing a malfunction due to mixing, it is possible to determine the state in which the television receiver is left off after the end of the television broadcast, thereby reliably preventing wasteful power consumption.

  In addition, it is possible to confirm the intention to continue viewing other channel programs, etc. by performing on-screen display for notifying the power-off for a predetermined time before automatically turning off the power. When a person desires to continue watching a TV broadcast program, an instruction to continue watching can be input before the power is turned off, improving usability.

  In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the power-off notice message is configured to be displayed on-screen a predetermined time before the end time of the last broadcast program in the currently selected channel. A power-off notice message may be displayed on-screen for a predetermined time from the end of the last broadcast program on the selected channel to confirm the intention to continue viewing.

  In this case, when it is detected that the end time of the last broadcast program coincides with the current time, instead of the message text shown in FIG. 3, “all program programs of the channel being viewed have ended. If there is no instruction input operation from the viewer within a predetermined time, the main power supply may be shut off.

  The present invention can be applied not only to a television receiver having a built-in television broadcast receiving means, but also to a personal computer or a portable communication terminal that can receive and display a television image.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the principal part schematic structure in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the automatic power-off control operation in one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of an alerting | reporting display screen before automatic power-off in one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Tuner 2 Demodulation Unit 3 Packet Separation Unit 4 Video Decoding Unit 5 Audio Decoding Unit 6 EPG Processing Unit 7 OSD Processing Unit 8 Control CPU
9 Combining Unit 10 Display Device 11 System Power Supply Control Unit

Claims (4)

A television receiver for receiving a television broadcast signal and displaying a program video of a desired channel,
Obtaining means for obtaining electronic program guide information including start and end times of individual programs from the television broadcast signal;
Based on the electronic program guide information, when it is detected that there is no next program scheduled to be broadcast continuously from the program being viewed, the power is shut off based on the end time of the program being viewed A television receiver comprising a power supply control means for controlling. Providing an OSD means for performing on-screen display for notifying that the power is shut off, a predetermined time before the end time of the program being viewed;
2. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the power control unit performs a power-off control after the on-screen display is performed for a predetermined time. An OSD means for performing on-screen display for notifying the power-off after the end time of the program being viewed;
2. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the power control unit performs a power-off control after the on-screen display is performed for a predetermined time. Obtaining electronic program guide information including start and end times of individual programs from a television broadcast signal;
Based on the electronic program guide information, when it is detected that there is no next program scheduled to be broadcast continuously from the program being viewed, the power is shut off based on the end time of the program being viewed And a power control method for the television receiver.

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