JP5002546B2 - Television receiver - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a television receiver, and more particularly to a technique effective when applied to a television receiver having an energy saving mode.

According to a study by the present inventor, for a television receiver (hereinafter referred to as a television) having an energy saving mode (hereinafter referred to as an energy saving mode), for example, a technique described in Patent Document 1 is described. and so on. In this patent document 1, when a human sensor is attached to the front surface of a television and the absence of a viewer is detected, a technique is provided with a power saving mode in which video output is stopped first and audio output is also stopped after a predetermined time. Is described.
JP 2006-253981 A

  By the way, in the technique of the said patent document 1, since it detects whether there is a person in front of a television with a human sensitive sensor, when the person in front of the television fell asleep, it is judged that there is a person. And the TV stays on. This is a waste of energy in terms of energy saving.

  In addition, if the TV set with a sleep timer is set in the menu settings, if you are waking up even if the timer setting time comes, you need to turn on the power again and set the timer. is there. On the other hand, if the timer is set for a long time and goes to sleep before that time, the television will remain on for a while, which is a waste of energy.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a television which can obtain a further power saving effect by adding a face recognition function and a wrinkle opening / closing detection function.

  The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  That is, a typical outline is that a television is provided with a camera that captures the viewer and a processor that processes the video captured by the camera and detects the viewer's face and eyelid opening / closing. The face of the person who is watching is detected, and it is detected whether the person's eyelid is closed or open. Video output and audio output are stopped after a certain period of time during which no human face can be detected. Even when a human face is detected, the video output and audio output are stopped when the eyelid is opened / closed and the eyelid is closed for a certain period of time. Thus, the energy saving mode is realized by stopping the video output and audio output of the television and setting the television power supply to the standby state.

  Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, effects obtained by typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  In other words, the effect obtained by a typical one is that a power saving effect can be obtained by automatically stopping the video output and audio output of the TV when the viewer leaves the TV and goes to sleep. it can. Furthermore, the viewer does not have to spend time setting operations such as a rest timer.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a use state of a television which is an embodiment of the present invention.

  The television 1 has a thin panel-shaped main body 11, and a stand 12 is attached to the lower side of the main body 11. A display 13 composed of a liquid crystal display or a plasma display for outputting an image is attached to the front surface of the main body 11. Furthermore, a speaker 14 that outputs sound is attached below the display 13 on the front surface of the main body 11. A camera 15 that captures the viewer is attached above the display 13.

  In the use state of the television 1, the viewer 3 is located in front of the television and can hear the sound uttered from the speaker 14 while watching the video displayed on the display 13.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a functional block configuration of a television which is an embodiment of the present invention.

  The TV 1 includes, as functional blocks, from the main control unit 16, the power supply circuit 17, the tuner unit 18, the video processing circuit 19, the display 13, the audio processing circuit 20, the speaker 14, the camera 15, and the face recognition / wrinkle opening / closing detection processing processor 21. The camera unit 22 is configured.

  The main control unit 16 is made up of an MPU (microprocessing unit) and is a part that controls the entire television. The main control unit 16 is connected to a power source circuit 17, a tuner unit 18, a video processing circuit 19, an audio processing circuit 20, and a face recognition / eyelid open / close detection processing processor 21 of the camera unit 22.

  The power supply circuit 17 is a circuit that generates power necessary for each functional block from power supplied from the outside. In the power source generated by the power source circuit 17, for example, in the energy saving mode, power is supplied only to the main control unit 16, and only the main control unit 16 becomes operable. This state is a standby state in which video output and audio output are stopped.

  The tuner unit 18 is connected to an antenna (not shown) and is a part for tuning a signal received from the outside through this antenna.

  The video processing circuit 19 is a circuit that processes a signal tuned by the tuner unit 18 and generates a video signal. The video processing circuit 19 is connected to a display 13 attached to the front surface of the main body 11, and the generated video signal is sent to the display 13. The display 13 that has received this video signal displays a video based on the video signal.

  The audio processing circuit 20 is a circuit that processes a signal tuned by the tuner unit 18 and generates an audio signal. The audio processing circuit 20 is connected to the speaker 14 attached to the front surface of the main body 11, and the generated audio signal is sent to the speaker 14. The speaker 14 that has received the audio signal utters audio based on the audio signal.

  The camera unit 22 includes a camera 15 attached to the front surface of the main body 11 and a face recognition / eyelid opening / closing detection processing processor 21 connected to the camera 15. The face recognition / eyelid opening / closing detection processing processor 21 is a main control. Connected to the unit 16 and the like. The camera 15 is means for imaging the person 3 who is watching the television 1. The face recognition / wrinkle opening / closing detection processing processor 21 is a processing means for processing an image picked up by the camera 15, detecting opening / closing of the eyelid together with the position of the viewer's face, and outputting this detection signal.

  The detection signal of the camera unit 22 is sent to the main control unit 16. The main control unit 16 controls the function of controlling at least one of video output and audio output based on the detection signal sent from the face recognition / eyelid open / close detection processing processor 21, that is, the power on / off of each functional block. It has a function to control off.

  Next, the flow from imaging by the camera 15 to video processing by the face recognition / wrinkle opening / closing detection processing processor 21, video output and audio output stop control by the main control unit 16 will be described.

  First, the camera 15 images a person 3 who is a viewer in front of the television 1. This captured image is sent to the face recognition / wrinkle opening / closing detection processing processor 21.

  Further, the face recognition / wrinkle open / close detection processing processor 21 processes the image sent from the camera 15 to detect the position of the face of the person 3 and to detect the face of the person 3 by the following procedure. It detects whether it is closed or open and generates a detection signal.

  (1) It is determined whether or not the face of the person 3 has been detected.

  (2) If the face of the person 3 is detected as a result of the determination in (1), it is determined whether or not the eyelid is open.

  (3) If the eyelid is open as a result of the determination in (2), the detection signal remains in the activated state. In this state, it is necessary to continue outputting video output and audio output.

  (4) If the face of the person 3 cannot be detected as a result of the determination in (1), or if the eyelid is not open (when the eyelid is closed) as a result of the determination in (2), a certain time It is determined whether or not it continues (for example, 30 minutes).

  (5) If the result of the determination in (4) does not continue for a certain time, the detection is continued.

  (6) If the determination result of (4) continues for a certain time, the detection signal is inactivated. In this state, it is necessary to stop video output and audio output.

  As described above, the face recognition / wrinkle opening / closing detection processor 21 closes the eyelid even when the time when the face of the person 3 cannot be detected continues for a certain period of time or when the face of the person 3 can be detected. When the time continues for a certain time, the detection signal is deactivated. The inactivated detection signal is sent to the main control unit 16.

  Then, the main control unit 16 stops video output and audio output based on the inactivated detection signal sent from the face recognition / wrinkle opening / closing detection processing processor 21.

  As described above, when the time during which the face of the person 3 cannot be detected continues for a certain period of time, it is determined that the person 3 has moved away from the front of the television 1, and video output and audio output are performed after this period of time has elapsed. To stop. Also, even when the face of the person 3 is detected, it is determined that the user has fallen asleep if the closed state of the heel lasts for a certain period of time by looking at the open / closed state of the heel. Video output and audio output are stopped after a certain period of time.

  Therefore, according to the television 1 of the present embodiment, the camera 15 and the face recognition / eyelid opening / closing detection processor 21 are attached to detect the face position and the eyelid opening / closing of the person 3 who is watching the television 1. Then, after the time when the face of the person 3 cannot be detected continues for a certain period of time, the video output and the sound output are stopped, and even when the face of the person 3 is detected, The energy saving mode can be realized by stopping the video output and the audio output and setting the standby state.

  As a result, a power saving effect can be obtained by automatically stopping video output and audio output when the person 3 leaves the front of the television 1 or goes to sleep. Furthermore, since video output and audio output can be automatically stopped, there is no need for the viewer to perform setting operations such as a sleep timer.

  In the present embodiment, the fixed time for determination when the face of the person 3 cannot be detected and when the eyelid is closed has been described with the example of the same 30 minutes, but at different times, respectively. It is also possible to set.

  For example, the time when the face of the person 3 cannot be detected is set to 30 minutes, and the time when the eyelid is closed at 15 minutes shorter than that can be considered. In this case, when the time when the face of the person 3 cannot be detected continues for 30 minutes or more, the video output and the audio output are stopped. If it continues for more than 15 minutes, video output and audio output can be stopped.

  Further, according to the television 1 of the present embodiment, when video output and audio output are stopped, video output by the display 13 and audio output by the speaker 14 are not stopped simultaneously, but are controlled independently. It is also possible to do.

  For example, when the time for turning off the power is set to 30 minutes, if the time for closing the bag lasts for 5 minutes, only the sound output from the speaker 14 is continued and the video output from the display 13 is stopped. . Since sound can be heard in this time range, it can be heard as a substitute for BGM or the like just before going to bed. Further, even when the user is away from the television 1 and cannot see the video, only the sound can be heard. This state is made possible by stopping the supply of power to the video processing circuit 19 and the display 13 (turning off the power). In addition, the volume of the continuous output sound at this time can be set to be lowered.

  Then, if the bag is closed even after 30 minutes, it can be determined that the user has slept, and the sound output from the speaker 14 is also stopped. This state can be achieved by turning off the audio processing circuit 20 and the speaker 14 in addition to the video processing circuit 19 and the display 13. Finally, a standby state in which only the main control unit 16 can operate is set. In this way, it is possible to control stepwise until the standby state is finally reached, including video output from the display 13 and audio output from the speaker 14.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

  The television of the present invention is effective when applied to a television having an energy saving mode composed of a liquid crystal display or a plasma display, and can also be used for a rear projection television or the like.

It is a figure which shows the use condition of the television which is one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the functional block structure of the television which is one embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... TV, 3 ... people,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Main body, 12 ... Stand, 13 ... Display, 14 ... Speaker, 15 ... Camera, 16 ... Main control part, 17 ... Power supply circuit, 18 ... Tuner part, 19 ... Video processing circuit, 20 ... Audio processing circuit, 21 ... Face recognition / wrinkle opening / closing detection processor, 22... Camera section.

Claims (3)

A display that outputs video,
A speaker that outputs sound;
A camera that captures the viewer,
A processor that processes an image captured by the camera, detects opening / closing of the viewer 's face and the viewer's eyelid, and outputs a detection signal;
A control unit that controls at least one of video output and audio output based on a detection signal from the processor;
Wherein the processor is a first detection signal is output before Symbol controller when time can not be detected the face of the viewer has followed the first time or more, of the viewer within said first time Even when a face can be detected, a second detection signal is output to the control unit when a time during which the state of opening the eyelids cannot be detected continues for a second time shorter than the first time, When the time when the state where the heel is opened cannot be detected continues for the first time or longer, the first detection signal is output to the control unit,
Wherein, based on said first detection signal, the control to stop both of the audio output and the video output based on said second detection signal, so as to stop only the video output television receiver, characterized in that the control to. The television receiver according to claim 1.
The television receiver , wherein the control unit controls the volume of the audio output to be lowered based on the second detection signal . In the television receiver as described in any one of Claim 1 or Claim 2 ,
The television receiver is a liquid crystal display or a plasma display.

Images