JP5944080B1 - Digital broadcast receiving apparatus, broadcast area server, broadcast receiving system, and broadcast area information generation method - Google Patents

Abstract

In a receiving system including a plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses (101), each receiving apparatus (101) generates neighboring broadcast area information, stores it inside, and transmits it to the broadcast area server (201). The broadcast area server (201) generates or updates the entire area broadcast area information using the neighboring area information from the plurality of receiving devices (101). When there is a notification of the current position from each receiving device (101), the current position and the surrounding broadcast area information are extracted from the entire area broadcasting area information and transmitted to the receiving device. In the receiving apparatus, the broadcast area information stored therein is updated using the broadcast area information transmitted from the broadcast area server. Broadcast area information represented by polygon vertex coordinates is used. Broadcast area information can be generated efficiently and with a small network load.

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that receives a digital broadcast. The present invention also relates to a broadcast area server that provides broadcast area information to a digital broadcast receiver. The present invention further relates to a broadcast receiving system including the above-described digital broadcast receiving apparatus and a broadcast area server. The present invention further relates to a broadcast area information generation method implemented in the broadcast receiving system.

  The current position and reception status information of each in-vehicle receiver is transmitted to the server via the network, and the server generates broadcast area information indicating which channel of which broadcast station can be received for each area. A technique for transmitting to a vehicle-mounted receiving device is known (for example, Patent Document 1).

  By performing such processing, it is possible to generate broadcast area information more efficiently than to generate broadcast area information individually in each digital broadcast receiving apparatus.

JP 2013-236312 A (FIG. 1)

  However, in the above-described conventional technology, each receiving device stores the current position information and information on receivable channels or information on channels that cannot be received when channel scanning is completed, channel seek is completed, or reception is disabled. The information collected on the server side is geographically discrete information, and even if it collects received information from a plurality of receiving devices, the server side generates (completes) broadcast area information. It takes time.

  Also, there is an example in which the timing of notifying the reception status information from the receiving device to the server is set as a timing for every elapse of a certain time or a timing for every certain distance traveling, and information can be obtained by shortening this certain time or certain traveling distance. Although the interval between acquisition points can be shortened, there is a problem in that doing so increases the frequency of transmission to the server and increases the network load. On the other hand, there is also a problem that the network load for transmitting the broadcast area information generated to each receiving apparatus is large.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to obtain broadcast area information quickly and efficiently while suppressing a network load.

The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes:
A digital broadcast receiver for receiving digital broadcasts;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring current position information representing the current position;
Based on the reception status of the digital broadcasting in the position indicated by the acquired current position information and the current position information, and detects the reception coverage area, subjected to a treatment to smooth the contours of the receivable area generating A neighboring broadcast area information generating unit that generates vertex coordinates of the polygon as neighboring broadcast area information;
A neighboring broadcast area information storage unit for storing the neighboring broadcast area information;
A local information transmitter for transmitting the current position information to a broadcast area server;
An extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit that acquires broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings as extracted broadcast area information from the broadcast area server;
The neighboring broadcast area information generating unit synthesizes a receivable area from the extracted broadcast area information and the neighboring broadcast area information so as to include a receivable area that is newly detected based on the reception status. The broadcast area information obtained as a result of the above is stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit as new neighborhood broadcast area information .

The digital broadcast receiver according to the second aspect of the present invention is
A digital broadcast receiver for receiving digital broadcasts;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring current position information representing the current position;
A neighboring broadcast area information generating unit that generates information indicating the current position and a receivable area in the vicinity thereof as neighboring broadcast area information based on the reception status of the digital broadcast and the current position information;
A neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit for storing the neighborhood broadcast area information;
The neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit In preparing the neighbor broadcast area information, among the areas which have not been confirmed that it is receivable, surrounded by is determined that receivable area, or pinched Ru area, It is characterized by being treated as a receivable area.

The broadcast area server according to the third aspect of the present invention is
Whether the information indicating the current position of the digital broadcast receiving device from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices that receive the digital broadcast and the surrounding points are within a receivable area where the digital broadcast can be received. A local information acquisition unit for receiving the neighboring broadcast area information shown;
Using a plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, a whole area broadcast area information generating unit that generates or updates whole area broadcast area information;
A global broadcast area information storage unit for storing the global broadcast area information;
When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. A broadcast area information extraction unit for extracting from the entire area broadcast area information;
An extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving device that has notified the current position;
The neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices and the whole area broadcast area information generated by the whole area broadcast area information generation unit represent a receivable area with polygonal vertex coordinates,
The entire area broadcast area information generating unit combines the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices, representing the first and second receivable areas overlapping each other, and results of the combination To generate or update the entire area broadcast area information,
During the synthesis, the first not included in the receivable first vertex and the second receivable area A of the box, said first coverage area, a second adjacent to said first apex Are included in the second receivable area, the second vertex is deleted, and among the vertices of the second receivable area, the first receivable area is not included, and the first receivable area is not included in the first receivable area. A new receivable area is generated in which a third vertex closest to the vertex is connected to the first vertex as one side.
The broadcast area server according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is:
Whether the information indicating the current position of the digital broadcast receiving device from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices that receive the digital broadcast and the surrounding points are within a receivable area where the digital broadcast can be received. A local information acquisition unit for receiving the neighboring broadcast area information shown;
Using a plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, a whole area broadcast area information generating unit that generates or updates whole area broadcast area information;
A global broadcast area information storage unit for storing the global broadcast area information;
When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. A broadcast area information extraction unit for extracting from the entire area broadcast area information;
An extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving device that has notified the current position;
The neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices and the whole area broadcast area information generated by the whole area broadcast area information generation unit represent a receivable area with polygonal vertex coordinates,
The entire area broadcast area information generating unit combines the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices, representing the first and second receivable areas overlapping each other, and results of the combination To generate or update the entire area broadcast area information,
During the combining, the first vertex of the first receivable area is not included in the second receivable area, and the second vertex adjacent to the first vertex of the first receivable area. If a vertex is included in the second receivable area, the second vertex is deleted, and among the vertices of the second receivable area, the first receivable area is not included, and the first receivable area A new reception area surrounded by the intersection of the third vertex closest to the vertex, the first vertex, the straight line connecting the first vertex and the second vertex, and the side of the second receivable area Estimate
It is characterized by that.

The broadcast receiving system according to the fifth aspect of the present invention includes:
A plurality of digital broadcast receivers and a broadcast area server for receiving digital broadcasts;
Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices includes:
A digital broadcast receiver for receiving digital broadcasts;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring current position information representing the current position;
A neighboring broadcast area information generating unit that generates information indicating the current position and a receivable area in the vicinity thereof as neighboring broadcast area information based on the reception status of the digital broadcast and the current position information;
A neighboring broadcast area information storage unit for storing the neighboring broadcast area information;
A local information transmitter that transmits the current location information and the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit to the broadcast area server;
The broadcast area server is
A local information acquisition unit that receives the neighboring broadcast area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices;
Using a plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, a whole area broadcast area information generating unit that generates or updates whole area broadcast area information;
A global broadcast area information storage unit for storing the global broadcast area information;
When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. A broadcast area information extraction unit for extracting from the entire area broadcast area information;
An extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving device that has notified the current position;
Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receivers further includes an extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit that acquires broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings as extracted broadcast area information from the broadcast area server,
The neighboring broadcast area information generation unit of each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices updates the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit based on the extracted broadcast area information,
The neighboring broadcast area information generated by the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit of each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices and the entire broadcasting area information generated by the entire broadcasting area information generating unit of the broadcasting area server are receivable. The area is represented by polygonal vertex coordinates.

The broadcast area information generation method according to the sixth aspect of the present invention includes:
A broadcast area information generation method performed by a plurality of digital broadcast receivers and a broadcast area server that receives digital broadcasts,
Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices,
Receive digital broadcasts,
Get the current position information representing the current position,
Based on the reception status of the digital broadcasting in the position indicated by the acquired current position information and the current position information, and detects the reception coverage area, subjected to a treatment to smooth the contours of the receivable area generating Generated polygon coordinates as neighboring broadcast area information,
The generated neighborhood broadcast area information is stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit,
Transmitting the current location information and the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit to the broadcast area server;
The broadcast area server is
Receiving the neighboring broadcast area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices;
Using the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, to generate or update the entire area broadcast area information,
The generated entire broadcast area information is stored in the entire broadcast area information storage unit,
When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. Extracted from the whole area broadcast area information,
Sending the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiver that has notified the current position,
Each of the digital broadcast receiving devices further includes:
Obtain broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings from the broadcast area server as extracted broadcast area information,
And a pre-Symbol extracted broadcast area information and the neighbor broadcast area information, make a new synthesis of the receivable area including the detected receivable area was based on the reception status, the broadcasting area information obtained as a result of synthesis a new The neighborhood broadcast area information generated by each of the plurality of digital broadcast receivers that stores neighborhood broadcast area information as new neighborhood broadcast area information in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit and the entire area generated by the broadcast area server The broadcast area information is characterized in that the receivable area is expressed in polygonal vertex coordinates.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the neighboring broadcast area information generated by the digital broadcast receiving apparatus and the extracted broadcast area information acquired from the broadcast area server represent the receivable area with polygonal vertex coordinates. Therefore, the data amount of the broadcast area information can be reduced, the transmission load for transmission / reception of the broadcast area information can be reduced, and the storage capacity of the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit for storing the broadcast area information is also increased. Small is good.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, per the generation of the broadcast area information, because dealing with surrounded by is determined that receivable area area as a receivable area, the enclosed or sandwiched Area Information indicating that reception is possible in the enclosed area can be obtained without traveling. In addition, the amount of information indicating the receivable area can be reduced by this process, and the broadcast area information can be processed more quickly.

According to the third aspect and the fourth aspect of the present invention, the neighboring broadcast area information received by the broadcast area server and the entire broadcast area information generated by the broadcast area server represent the receivable area with polygonal vertex coordinates. Therefore, the data amount of the broadcast area information can be reduced, the transmission load for transmission and reception of the broadcast area information can be reduced, and the storage capacity of the entire broadcast area information storage unit for storing the broadcast area information Can be small.

  According to the fifth aspect and the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the entire broadcast area information and the neighboring broadcast area information of each receiver are generated by the receiver and the broadcast area server, the generation of these information is efficient. And can be done quickly. In addition, since the broadcast area information generated by the digital broadcast receiving device and the broadcast area server is a receivable area represented by polygonal vertex coordinates, the data amount of the broadcast area information can be reduced. The transmission load for transmitting and receiving information can be reduced, and the storage capacity of the broadcast area information storage unit for storing broadcast area information may be small.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the broadcast receiving system of Embodiment 1 of this invention. (A) is a figure which shows the relationship between the mesh area formed by dividing | segmenting an observation object area | region into a grid | lattice form, and a block, (b) is a figure which shows the block containing a present position, and its surrounding block. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of mesh data generated by the digital broadcast receiving device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of neighborhood broadcast area information generation in the receiver of FIG. (A)-(f) is a figure which shows the operation | movement of neighborhood broadcast area information generation in the receiver of FIG. (A) And (b) is a figure which shows the example from which the mesh group which receives the prediction process by the expansion | extension of FIG.5 (b) and (c) differs. (A) And (b) is a figure which shows an example of the broadcast area information about one channel produced | generated with the digital broadcast receiver of Embodiment 1. FIG. (A)-(d) is a figure which shows the method of synthesize | combining two receivable areas which mutually overlap. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital broadcast receiver which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the broadcast area server which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital broadcast receiver which concerns on Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital broadcast receiver which concerns on Embodiment 5 of this invention.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a broadcast receiving system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The illustrated broadcast receiving system includes a plurality of digital broadcast receiving apparatuses 101 (only one is shown in FIG. 1) and a broadcast area server 201, which are connected via a network 301. The digital broadcast receiving apparatus 101 is an in-vehicle digital broadcast receiving apparatus, for example. As the network 301, for example, a 3G network of a mobile phone or an LTE network is used.

  A digital broadcast receiving device (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a “receiving device”) 101 includes a digital broadcast receiving unit 103, a video / audio output unit 104, a position information acquisition unit 105, a neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106, A neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107, a local information transmission unit 108, an extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109, a channel selection control unit 110, and a service list display unit 111 are provided.

  The digital broadcast receiving unit 103 is connected to the antenna 102, receives a broadcast wave received by the antenna 102, decodes video and audio compression streams, and acquires service list data, EPG data, and the like from the broadcast wave.

  The video / audio output unit 104 displays the video decoded by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 and outputs the audio. Note that the description has been made assuming that the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 receives a television broadcast. However, if the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 receives only a radio broadcast, video output is not necessary, and the video / audio is not necessary. An audio output unit is used instead of the output unit 104.

  The position information acquisition unit 105 includes, for example, a GPS module, and includes information (current position information) that represents the current position of the receiving device 101 that includes the position information acquisition unit 105, and thus the vehicle on which the receiving device 101 is mounted. The acquired current position information is transmitted to the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106, the local information transmission unit 108, the channel selection control unit 110, and the service list display unit 111.

The neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 receives the current position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 105 at each time point and the reception status of each channel by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 at each time point (each broadcast station broadcasts on each channel). Broadcast area information indicating the reception status of each channel at each position (current position at each point in time). Generate. This broadcast area information is generated for each of a plurality of channels. Is the broadcast area information for each channel capable of receiving the channel at the current position and a plurality of points in the vicinity at each time point? In other words, it is information indicating whether each point is located in the receivable area of the channel, and thus information indicating the current position and the receivable area of the channel in the vicinity thereof. Yes, it is called neighborhood broadcast area information.
An area other than the receivable area is referred to as an unreceivable area, and the unreceivable area includes an area where it is detected that reception is impossible and an area where it is not confirmed that reception is possible.

The neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 stores the broadcast area information of a plurality of channels generated by the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106.
As will be described in detail later, the broadcast area information stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 includes the neighborhood broadcast area information generated by the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106 and an extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 described later. It is updated with the extracted broadcast area information acquired in (1). On the other hand, the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106 refers to the broadcast area information stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 when generating the neighborhood broadcast area information.

  When the stored broadcast area information exceeds the storage capacity range, the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 deletes the broadcast area information about the position farthest from the current position, and broadcasts about the current position and its surroundings. Area information can be prevented from being erased.

  The local information transmission unit 108 transmits the current position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 105 and the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 to the broadcast area server 201. The local information transmission unit 108 notifies the current position by transmitting the current position information to the broadcast area server 201. The current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information may be transmitted at the same time or may be transmitted separately.

  The extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 acquires the extracted broadcast area information transmitted from the broadcast area server 201 via the network 301. This extracted broadcast area information is broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings notified to the broadcast area server 201 by the local information transmitter 108.

  When the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106 enters a new area (for example, a mesh area described later) in which the vehicle on which the receiving device 101 is mounted is not yet traveling, and detects a receivable channel in the new area. Alternatively, when a new receivable channel is detected in the traveled area, or a channel that is indicated as being receivable by the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 is received. When it is detected that it is impossible, the neighboring broadcast area information of the channel is generated or regenerated (regenerated), and the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 is updated. .

Here, “a new area that has not traveled” means an area other than the area in which the broadcast area information is stored in the nearby broadcast area information storage unit 107, and the “runned area” means a nearby broadcast. This means an area in which the neighborhood broadcast area information is stored in the area information storage unit 107.
The same applies to “mesh area that has not traveled”, “mesh area that has traveled”, “block that has not traveled”, and “block that has traveled”, which will be described later.

  In the state in which the neighborhood broadcast area information is not stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 at the time of factory shipment of the receiving device, the local information transmission unit 108 notifies the broadcast area server 201 of the current position and broadcasts. When the area server 201 transmits the current position and the neighboring broadcast area information around it, the information is stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107, and the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 responds to the reception status by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103. Thus, the information stored in the nearby broadcast area information storage unit 107 may be updated. If the nearby broadcast area information cannot be obtained from the broadcast area server 201, the nearby broadcast area information generation unit 106 Information indicating the current position information by the position information acquisition unit 105 and the reception status by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 at each time point Collected and may be generating a neighbor broadcast area information.

  As described above, the receiving apparatus 101 and the broadcast area server 201 are connected via a 3G network of a mobile phone, an LTE network, or the like. For this connection, the local information transmission unit 108 and the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 are connected to a mobile phone via a cable or close proximity wireless communication, and the mobile phone is connected to the network 301. The illustration is omitted.

  The broadcast area server 201 includes a local information acquisition unit 202, an entire broadcast area information generation unit 203, an entire broadcast area information storage unit 204, a broadcast area information extraction unit 205, and an extracted broadcast area information transmission unit 206.

  The local information acquisition unit 202 receives the current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information from the receiving device 101, sends the current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information to the entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203, and sends the current position information. Also sent to the broadcast area information extraction unit 205.

The entire broadcast area information generation unit 203 generates broadcast area information (entire broadcast area information) for the entire observation target area using a plurality of neighboring broadcast area information acquired from a plurality of receiving apparatuses 101 connected to the network 301. Or update.
The entire broadcast area information of each channel is generated or updated using the neighboring broadcast area information of the same channel.

  The entire broadcast area information storage unit 204 stores the entire broadcast area information generated and updated by the entire broadcast area information generation unit 203.

  The entire area broadcast area information generated by the entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203 can also be called a broadcast area map. Information indicating the receivable area of each channel in the observation target area, that is, at each point in the observation target area. It indicates whether or not the broadcast of each channel is receivable, in other words, indicates whether or not each point is located within the receivable area of the broadcast of each channel, and is a neighboring broadcast area that is sequentially transmitted from a plurality of receiving devices 101 The information is gradually built by accumulating the information in the entire area broadcast area information storage unit 204 and further updated with new neighboring broadcast area information. The observation target area may be, for example, only a part of one country, the whole of one country, or straddling a plurality of countries.

  The content stored in the entire area broadcast area information storage unit 204 is confirmed to be unreceivable (it is detected that reception is not possible or is receivable) in the entire observation target area at the beginning (when the operation of the broadcast area server 201 starts). May indicate a result of prediction based on known information, for example, may indicate reception within a range where radio waves from a transmitting station are expected to reach.

  The broadcast area information extraction unit 205 is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit 204 when the current position is notified from the receiving device 101 (when the current position information is received via the local information acquisition unit 202). Among the broadcast area information, the broadcast area information about the current position where the notification is made and the surrounding area is extracted and output as the extracted broadcast area information.

  The extracted broadcast area information transmission unit 206 transmits the extracted broadcast area information output from the broadcast area information extraction unit 205 to the receiving device 101 (the receiving device that has been notified of the current position).

As described above, when the local information transmitting unit 108 of the receiving device 101 mounted on each vehicle transmits the current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information to the broadcast area server 201, the broadcast area server 201 receives the information. The broadcast area information is updated using the broadcast area information that has been updated, and from the updated broadcast area information, the broadcast area information about the current position indicated by the current position information and the surrounding area is extracted and extracted. Send as area information.
The extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 acquires the extracted broadcast area information transmitted from the broadcast area server 201 and sends it to the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106.

The broadcast area information in the broadcast area server 201 is also updated when the neighboring broadcast area information is transmitted from the receiving device 101 mounted on another vehicle.
The receiving device 101 of each vehicle notifies the current position at a fixed period or when moving to a new area, etc., and stores the latest information stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit 204 of the broadcast area server 201 ( The broadcast area server 201 is caused to transmit the broadcast area information of the current position of the vehicle and the surrounding area from the entire area broadcast area information (updated) as extracted broadcast area information.

  As described above, in the receiving device 101 of each vehicle, when the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit 106 generates new neighboring broadcast area information from the reception status by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103, the neighboring broadcast area information is transmitted using the new neighboring broadcast area information. The neighboring broadcast area information stored in the area information storage unit 107 is rewritten.

When the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 receives new extracted broadcast area information, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 reads out and reads out the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107. The neighboring broadcast area information storage unit performs synthesis of the neighboring broadcast area information and the extracted broadcast area information acquired by the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109, and uses the broadcast area information obtained as a result of the synthesis as new neighboring broadcast area information. It stores in 107.
In this manner, the neighboring broadcast area information in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 is updated.

  It should be noted that the neighboring broadcast area information and the extracted broadcast area information may not be combined, and the extracted broadcast area information may be stored (overwritten) in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 as new neighboring broadcast area information. This is because the extracted broadcast area information transmitted from the broadcast area server 201 is updated using the neighboring broadcast information transmitted from the receiving apparatus 101 immediately before that. Note that the above-described combining or overwriting is also performed separately for each channel, and the selection of combining or overwriting may be performed separately for each channel.

  As broadcast area information generated and transmitted / received by the receiving apparatus 101 and the broadcast area server 201, the receivable area of each channel is expressed as a polygon vertex coordinate set of polygonal vertex coordinates, that is, a receivable area. Is represented by a polygon, and a data set representing the coordinates of the vertex of the polygon is used. As the coordinates of the vertices, those expressed in the coordinate system of longitude and latitude are used. Hereinafter, such a set of polygon vertex coordinates may be simply referred to as polygon vertex data.

  In order to generate broadcast area information representing a polygonal receivable area, the receiving device 101 and the broadcast area server 201 indicate that the observation target area represented by the longitude / latitude coordinate system is a line parallel to the meridian and a line parallel to the parallel. The reception status information is acquired in units of mesh areas formed by dividing into grids, and data indicating the reception status of each channel in each mesh area is managed as mesh data.

  For example, each mesh area is specified by a mesh area number, and the position of the mesh area is represented by the coordinates of the upper left (northwest) vertex. Each mesh area has, for example, a square shape with vertical and horizontal dimensions (dimension in the meridian direction and dimension in the parallel direction) of 1 km. An area composed of a plurality of mesh areas MA is called a block BL. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, each block BL includes an area in which four mesh areas are arranged in the vertical direction and four mesh areas are arranged in the horizontal direction, and thus a square area having a side of 4 km.

  FIG. 2B shows a plurality of blocks BL each formed as described above. Since the mesh area MA is formed by dividing the observation target region into a lattice shape, it can be said that the block is also formed by dividing the observation target region into a lattice shape. The position of each block is also expressed by, for example, the coordinates of the upper left (northwest) vertex.

  The information indicating the mesh area forming method, the mesh number and the position, the block forming method, and the information indicating the position of each block are shared by the broadcast area server 201 and the plurality of receiving apparatuses 101.

  For example, when it is determined from the result of reception by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 that reception is possible at any point in each mesh area, the entire mesh area is processed as being receivable. Conversely, if it is detected that reception is not possible at any point in the mesh area recorded as receivable, the recording may be immediately changed to indicate that reception is not possible in the entire mesh area. The recording may be changed so that reception is impossible in the entire mesh area on the condition that it is detected that reception is not possible at the above points.

  The mesh data for each mesh area has a structure as shown in FIG. 3, for example. In the example shown in FIG. 3, a unique mesh number is given to each mesh area, and the longitude and latitude, the receivable channel number and its broadcast station name, and the presence / absence of broadcast of the same program are used for each mesh number. The affiliated station ID information is held as main data.

  As information representing the longitude and latitude, the coordinates of the upper left (northwest) vertex of the mesh area are used as described above.

  The affiliated station ID is used to indicate that the broadcasting station is affiliated with the affiliated station. Each ID is defined in the broadcasting standard. If this ID has the same value, the same program is broadcast. Judgment can be made. In addition, although it described as affiliated station ID here, ID of the other name which has the same role by the broadcasting standard different for every country or every area may be defined, In that case, this ID is It is good also as recording as affiliated station ID of the mesh data of FIG.

  The neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 of each receiving apparatus 101 stores, as neighboring broadcast area information, broadcast area information about a block to which the current position belongs and its neighboring blocks. Therefore, the storage capacity required for storing the nearby broadcast area information by the nearby broadcast area information storage unit 107 is sufficient to store the broadcast area information of the block to which the current position belongs and the surrounding blocks. Here, the peripheral blocks mean blocks within a predetermined range from the block to which the current position belongs. As peripheral blocks, for example, blocks adjacent to the block to which the current position belongs are used. Here, the adjacent blocks mean blocks adjacent in the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, or the oblique direction. In FIG. 2B, among the plurality of blocks BL, a block including the current position is indicated by a symbol BL-c, and a block adjacent to the block BL-c is indicated by a symbol BL-n.

  When the vehicle on which each receiving device 101 is mounted moves and moves to a new block BL, the local information transmission unit 108 transmits the current position information to the broadcast area server 201.

  When broadcast area information (extracted broadcast area information) about a new block to which the current position belongs and surrounding blocks is transmitted from the broadcast area server 201, the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 acquires the broadcast area information and extracts the neighboring broadcast. The area information generating unit 106 combines the broadcast area information stored in the broadcast area information storage unit 107 with the broadcast area information obtained as a result of the synthesis, and stores the broadcast area information as new broadcast area information. Write to part 107. That is, the neighboring broadcast area information is updated.

Next, the operation of generating the neighboring broadcast area information by the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5A to 5F.
The neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 first determines whether or not mesh data needs to be updated in step ST11. In particular,
(A) Entering into a new mesh area that has not traveled until then and detecting that a new broadcast wave (broadcast wave of a specific channel of a specific broadcast station) can be received or received, or (b When it is detected that a new broadcast wave (broadcast wave of a specific channel of a specific broadcast station) can be received within the traveled mesh area, it is determined that mesh data needs to be updated, and the process proceeds to step ST12.

  In step ST12, the mesh data is updated. In this update process, for example, as shown in FIG. 5A, a broadcast of a channel (for example, 24 channels) of a new broadcast station (for example, broadcast station A) can be received at a certain position (current position). If this is detected, the mesh data (FIG. 3) of the mesh area MAi including the current position is updated. That is, information that the reception channel number is 24 channels, the broadcast station name is broadcast station A, and the affiliated station ID of broadcast station A in the mesh area MAi is added or overwritten.

Subsequent to step ST12, processing (ST13 to ST16) for updating broadcast area information for a channel that is newly detected as being receivable is performed.
First, in step ST13, a process (grouping process) for specifying receivable mesh area clusters (groups) adjacent to each other is performed. Specifically, in FIG. 5B, for each mesh area, it is checked whether the broadcast of the same channel (same channel of the same broadcast station) can be received even in the adjacent mesh area. Record the mesh area.

As a result of this grouping process, distinction of enclave areas is performed. In general, a receivable area of a certain channel is rarely composed of one continuous area, and is actually composed of a plurality of areas separated from each other. Such areas separated from each other are called enclave areas.
FIG. 5B shows an example of the result of the above grouping process. In the example shown in the figure, there are two areas (mesh groups) where a broadcast of a specific channel can be received.

  Next, the process which estimates a receivable area is performed by step ST14. The process to be predicted here is a process of estimating or predicting that an isolated unreceivable area (area treated as unreceivable) can be received, and is also referred to as a “filling process”. In this process, the determination or treatment of “reception impossible” for the area is changed to the determination or treatment of “reception possible”. In this prediction process, first, the receivable area shown in FIG. 5B is expanded by the number of meshes on the outside, so that the surrounding mesh area is changed from “unreceivable” to “receivable”. For example, assuming that the number of meshes to be expanded is 1, as shown in FIG. 6A, the mesh areas Ma to Mw adjacent to the original receivable areas Aa and Ab are changed to “receivable”.

  Next, the non-receivable area Ac that has become smaller as a result of the above process is expanded outward by the same number of meshes as described above, so that the surrounding mesh area is returned from “receivable” to “receivable impossible”. However, when the non-receivable area disappears in the process of expanding the previous receivable area, the non-receivable area cannot be expanded, and “receivable” cannot be returned to “receivable impossible”. That is, the mesh areas Ma to Mm and Mr to Mw return to “reception not possible” as originally, but the mesh areas Mn to Mq do not return to “reception impossible” but become “receivable”.

FIG. 5C shows a receivable area after such processing is performed. As illustrated, before this process is executed, the unreceivable mesh areas Mn to Mq surrounded by the receivable mesh area are changed to the receivable mesh area by the prediction and filled.
Even if the four sides are not surrounded by the receivable area, for example, as shown in FIG. 6B, the non-receivable area Ac includes the portion Ad sandwiched between the two receivable areas Aa and Ab. In some cases, the unreceivable mesh areas Na to Nf adjacent to the two receivable areas Aa and Ab are reclaimed, and the two receivable areas Aa and Ab are connected to each other to form one receivable area.

  In the above example, the number of meshes to be expanded is set to 1. However, in order to fill a larger unreceivable area surrounded by or sandwiched between receivable areas, the number of meshes to be expanded may be increased. Further, the number of meshes to be enlarged and the number of meshes to be reduced may be different values so that the number of meshes to be expanded is 5 and the number of meshes to be reduced is 2. For example, by making the number of enlarged meshes larger than the number of reduced meshes, the effect of generating a wider receivable area can be obtained. Furthermore, the reduction process may be performed first and the enlargement process may be performed later. This can be applied when it is desired to remove a small coverage area on the jump.

Next, in step ST15, vertex extraction processing of a receivable area (mesh group) is performed. Vertex extraction is performed for each mesh group obtained as a result of grouping and expansion.
For example, the vertex is extracted while tracing the contour line counterclockwise. That is, the contour line (boundary line) of the mesh group shown in FIG. 5C is traced counterclockwise, and a point where the direction of the contour line changes is extracted as a vertex. In FIG. 5D, the extracted vertices are indicated by black circles.
Information about the extracted vertices is recorded in order for each mesh group.

  FIG. 7A shows a receivable area having a shape different from that in FIG. 5D, and FIG. 7B shows a data structure of information about the receivable area in FIG. 7A. In the example shown in the figure, the broadcast station name, reception channel number, affiliated station ID, and number of vertices are recorded, and then in the order of vertices A, B, C, D, and E, that is, counterclockwise along the contour line. In order, the coordinates and type of each vertex are recorded. As the type of vertex, it is recorded whether it is a convex vertex or a concave vertex. Here, the convex vertex is a vertex whose inner angle is smaller than 180 degrees, and the concave vertex is a vertex whose inner angle is larger than 180 degrees.

  If the internal non-receivable area is larger than the number of meshes expanded in step ST14, the determination may not be changed to the internal non-receivable area as a receivable area. Even in such a case, if the periphery is surrounded by a contour line by the processing of step ST15 shown in FIG. 5D, and therefore the periphery is surrounded by the receivable area, the internal non-receivable area is moved to the receivable area. And the judgment is changed.

  Next, the smoothing process in step ST16 of FIG. 4 is performed. This smoothing process is a process for smoothing the outline of a receivable area, and in the example described below, the outline is smoothed and the process for extending the receivable area (area determined to be receivable). It is.

The smoothing process will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 (d) and 5 (e). In FIG. 5D, first, the types of vertices are discriminated in order in the counterclockwise direction along the contour line, and when the places where the vertices appear in the order of “convex vertex-concave vertex-convex vertex” are detected, the concave vertex is sandwiched 2 Find the distance between two convex vertices. For example, the distance PR between the convex vertices P and R sandwiching the concave vertex Q is obtained. Here, as the distance PR, for example, a Manhattan distance is obtained. In that case, in the example of FIG. 5D, the sum of the distance PQ and the distance QR becomes the distance PR. When the distance PR is larger than a certain threshold value, the concave vertex Q between the two convex vertices P and R is stored as a vertex. If the distance PR is equal to or smaller than a certain threshold value, the concave vertex Q is deleted from the vertex, and the vertex next to the vertex P is the vertex R. As a result, the side PR is generated. In this way, the polygon is smoothed. The result is shown in FIG.
In the above processing, the Euclidean distance may be used as the distance PR instead of the Manhattan distance.

  A set of coordinates of the vertices of the polygon (FIG. 5 (f)) obtained as a result of the smoothing is stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 in a polygon vertex data format, for example, as shown in FIG. 7 (b). The

  As described above, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 detects the receivable area based on the reception status of the broadcast on a specific channel, for example, 24 channel by a specific broadcast station, for example, the broadcast station A, and the detected area is determined. The process of storing in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 in the polygon vertex data format has been described. The neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 similarly generates polygon vertex data representing the receivable areas of other channels of the same broadcast station A and receivable areas of different channels of different broadcast stations. And stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107.

  As described above, when the neighboring broadcast area information of the specific channel of the specific broadcasting station in the neighboring broadcasting area information storage unit 107 is updated, the neighboring broadcasting area information of the updated channel is transmitted from the local information transmitting unit 108 to the broadcasting area server 201. Are transmitted in the polygon vertex data format of FIG.

  In order to reduce the communication load on the network 301, when the polygon vertex data is transmitted from the local information transmitting unit 108 to the broadcast area server 201, it is transmitted from the broadcast area server 201 before (immediately), Only the difference with respect to the polygon vertex data received by the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109, that is, the change may be transmitted.

Next, the operation of the entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203 in the broadcast area server 201 will be described.
The entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203 acquires the adjacent broadcast area information in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. 7B from each receiving apparatus 101 connected to the network 301 via the local information acquisition unit 202 and acquires the information. New broadcast area information for the same area as the neighboring broadcast area information is generated and stored in the entire broadcast area information storage unit 204. Broadcast area information generated from the acquired neighboring broadcast area information corresponds to a part of the entire area broadcast area information, and the generated broadcast area information is used for updating the above-mentioned part of the entire area broadcast area information.

As part of such processing, the entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203 combines the broadcast area information transmitted from a plurality of receiving apparatuses, for example, the overlapping receivable areas represented by the broadcast area information. Process.
8 (a) to 8 (d) show two identical channels (the same broadcast) represented by the broadcast area information transmitted from the two receiving devices performed by the entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203. It shows the composition or integration of receivable areas (with station attributes).
The illustrated example assumes a case where two receivable areas for the same channel in two receiving apparatuses each form one lump, and the receivable areas partially overlap each other. By combining these two receivable areas, a new receivable area forming one lump is generated. When the receivable areas are combined, broadcast area information indicating a new receivable area obtained as a result of combining is generated.

  The polygon ABCDE in FIG. 8A indicates the receivable area A1 of a certain channel A indicated by the broadcast area information generated by one receiving apparatus 101-1, and the polygon LMNOP is generated by another receiving apparatus 101-2. The receivable area A2 of the same channel A indicated by the broadcast area information is shown.

  In order to synthesize these two receivable areas and generate a new receivable area (new receivable area), first, the starting point of the polygon constituting one receivable area (first receivable area) A-1 That is, the vertexes B, C, D,... In the order recorded, that is, counterclockwise along the contour line, starting from the vertex A in the polygon represented by the polygon vertex data in FIG. And the evaluation and processing described below are performed with the selected vertex as the target vertex.

  Whether the vertex of interest in the first receivable area A-1 is included in the other receivable area (second receivable area) A-2 (is located in the second receivable area)? Determine whether or not.

If the target vertex is not included in the second receivable area A-2, the vertex is determined as the vertex of the new receivable area, and the next vertex is evaluated.
In the example of FIG. 8B, since the vertices A, B, C, and D are not included in the second receivable area A2, none of the vertices A, B, C, and D are used as vertices of the new receivable area. Record in order.

When the target vertex is included in the second receivable area A-2, the vertex is not a vertex of the new receivable area. In the example of FIG. 8B, since the vertex E is included in the second receivable area A2, this vertex is deleted and does not become the vertex of the new receivable area.
The deleted vertex E immediately before the deleted vertex E (vertex previously evaluated and processed) D is included in the first receivable area A1 among the vertices of the second receivable area A2. The vertex having the shortest distance from the vertex D is obtained. In the example of FIG. 8B, the vertex N satisfies this condition. Therefore, this vertex N is recorded as the vertex next to the vertex D of the new receivable area. Thereby, a straight line DN connecting the vertex D and the vertex N is generated as a side of the new receivable area.

Next, a plurality of vertices in the second receivable area A2 having the vertex N as one vertex are selected in order counterclockwise along the contour line from the vertex N as a starting point, and evaluated as a target vertex. . In the illustrated example, the evaluation is performed in the order of vertices O, P, L, and M. First, evaluation is performed for the vertex O next to the vertex N. That is, it is determined whether or not the vertex O is included in the first receivable area A1.
In the example shown in FIG. 8C, since the vertex O is not included in the first receivable area A1, the vertex O is recorded as the vertex next to the vertex N as the vertex of the new receivable area. Similarly, vertices P and L are recorded in order as vertices of the new receivable area.

  When evaluation is performed for the vertex M next to the vertex L of the second receivable area A2, since the vertex M is included in the area of the first receivable area A1, the vertex M is the vertex of the new receivable area. Not. For the vertex L immediately before the vertex M, the vertex that is not included in the second receivable area A2 and has the shortest distance from the vertex L among the vertices of the first receivable area A1 is obtained. In the example of FIG. 8C, the vertex A satisfies this condition. Therefore, this vertex A is recorded as the vertex of the new receivable area as the vertex next to the vertex L. Thereby, a straight line LA connecting the vertex L and the vertex A is generated as a side of the new receivable area.

  Since vertex A is the starting point of the vertex of the new receivable area, generation of polygon vertex data representing the new receivable area is completed. As described above, the processes shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D sequentially evaluate the vertices of the two areas A1 and A2, and start the vertices of the newly receivable areas (FIGS. 8A to 8D). Then, when the vertex A) is reached, the process is completed.

As a result of the above processing, the two receivable areas A1 and A2 of the same channel represented by the broadcast area information from the two receiving apparatuses 101-1 and 101-2 are combined, and the polygon ABCDNOPLA in FIG. A new receivable area A3 is generated and stored in the entire area broadcast area information storage unit 204 in the polygon vertex data format shown in FIG. The new receivable area A3 includes a portion Aw where the two receivable areas A1 and A2 overlap each other, a portion A1v and A2v belonging to only one of the two receivable areas A1 and A2, and two receivable areas A1 and A2. Including triangular areas Aea and Aeb which do not belong to any of the above.
The triangular areas Aea and Aeb are adjacent to the original areas A1 and A2, and one of the vertices thereof coincides with one of the vertices of the overlapping portion Aw, and the sides facing the vertices are areas A1 and A2. This corresponds to the sides DN and LA generated by the synthesis.
Since the areas Aea and Aeb do not belong to the original areas A1 and A2, it can be said that the areas are expanded by prediction.

  As described above, the processes illustrated in FIGS. 8A to 8D are performed by the first and second broadcast area information generation units 203 overlapping each other among the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of reception apparatuses 101. This is a process of combining those representing the second receivable areas A1, A2. In this process, the first vertex (D) of the first receivable area A1 is not included in the second receivable area A2. The second vertex (E) adjacent to the first vertex (D) (located at the opposite end of the same side) of the first coverage area A1 is included in the second coverage area A2. The second vertex (E) is deleted, and among the vertices of the second receivable area A2, the third vertex that is not included in the first receivable area A1 and is closest to the first vertex (D) (N), that is, the second not included in the first coverage area A1 Of the vertices of the coverage area A2, the vertex (N) closest to the first vertex (D) is connected to the first vertex (D), and one of the new coverage areas A3 obtained as a result of the synthesis Two sides (DN) are formed.

  In the processing shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D, the inside / outside determination is performed as to whether or not a certain vertex (target vertex) in one receivable area is included in another receivable area. In the process, when a half line is drawn from the target vertex in an arbitrary direction, for example, in the horizontal direction and intersects an odd number of times with a side or outline of the other receivable area, it is determined as the other receivable area, and even If the number of crossings has occurred, it is determined that it is outside the other receivable area. Note that this inside / outside determination method can be applied to cases other than the above, for example, in the case of performing processing to determine whether the current position is included in any of the receivable areas.

  As described above, the broadcast area server 201 generates new broadcast area information obtained by combining broadcast area information from a plurality of receiving apparatuses, and updates the entire area broadcast area information using the generated broadcast area information. For example, the generated broadcast area information and the corresponding part of the entire area broadcast area information (the part for the same channel and the same point) are combined, and the broadcast area information obtained as a result of the combination is Overwrite "corresponding part".

  When there is a notification of the current position from any of the receiving apparatuses 101, the current position is transmitted from the local information acquisition unit 202 to the broadcast area information extraction unit 205, and the broadcast area information extraction unit 205 includes a block including the current position, Broadcast area information (polygonal vertex data shown in FIG. 7B) indicating a receivable area in the surrounding block is extracted, and the broadcast area information is transmitted from the extracted broadcast area information transmission unit 206 to the receiving apparatus 101. Send. As the “receivable area in the block including the current position and the surrounding blocks”, for example, the receivable area in which any vertex is located in the block including the current position or the surrounding blocks is extracted. It ’s fine.

  The extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 of the receiving apparatus 101 acquires the extracted broadcast area information transmitted from the broadcast area server 201 via the network 301 and passes it to the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106. In the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106, a synthesis process is performed on the neighborhood broadcast area information stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 and the extracted broadcast area information acquired from the broadcast area server 201, and the result is obtained as a result of synthesis. The new broadcast area information is stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 as new neighboring broadcast area information. Here, the synthesizing process in the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106 may be performed in the same manner as shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D, and the neighborhood broadcast stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107. The area information may be overwritten with the extracted broadcast area information acquired from the broadcast area server 201.

  The service list display unit 111 displays a service list indicating channels that can be received at the current position and / or broadcasting stations that are broadcasting on the channel. (The channel number to be displayed is not necessarily the same as the channel number (physical channel number) included in the broadcast area information. For example, the corresponding display channel number is displayed.) At that time, first, the position information acquisition unit Information indicating current location information from 105 and a channel that can be received at the current location and / or a broadcast station that is broadcasting on the channel from the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 To create a service list. In determining whether the current position is a receivable channel, it is necessary to determine whether the current position is included in the receivable area of the channel. This determination can be performed in the same manner as the above-described inside / outside determination processing for each vertex. In other words, when a half line is drawn in an arbitrary direction from the current position, for example, in the horizontal direction, and the side or contour of each receivable area intersects an odd number of times, it is determined that the area is within the receivable area. It is determined that it is outside the receivable area. Then, the channel determined to be within the receivable area is extracted and included in the service list.

When the user selects a channel (display channel) displayed on the service list display unit 111, the channel selection control unit 110 selects the channel (corresponding physical channel).
In addition, when the reception status of the channel being viewed deteriorates, for example, when the index indicating the reception status is worse than a certain threshold, the current location information is acquired from the location information acquisition unit 105, and the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107, referring to the broadcast area information about other channels stored in 107, extracts the channels that can be received at the current position, and searches for channels having the same value as the affiliated station ID that has been viewed so far. To do. When a channel having the same affiliated station ID is detected, the detected channel is selected. By performing such automatic switching, viewing of the same program can be continued.

  As described above, in the above embodiment, the broadcast area information is generated and updated in cooperation with the receiving device and the broadcast area server, so that the broadcast area information can be generated quickly and efficiently. Can do. In addition, since polygon vertex data is generated and transmitted as broadcast area information, the communication load on the network 301 can be reduced.

  Although the case where the digital broadcast receiving apparatus is for receiving a television broadcast has been described above, the features of the above-described embodiment are that the digital broadcast receiving apparatus for receiving a radio broadcast, the reception of digital data broadcast such as traffic information, etc. Therefore, the present invention can also be applied to a receiving device for broadcasting, and a broadcast area server connected thereto.

The advantages of the above embodiment will be described below.
In the case of digital television broadcasting, the DVB-T system is operated in Europe, Africa, Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and Australia.
The ATSC system is operated in North America and South Korea, the DTMB system and the CMMB system are operated in China, the DMB system is operated in Korea and Europe, and the ISDB system is operated in Japan and South America.
Also, DAB, which is a digital radio broadcast, is operating in Europe and Korea, HD-Radio is operating in North America, and ISDB-TSB is operating in Japan.
In the case of a vehicle-mounted receiving device, it is necessary to receive such broadcasting systems from around the world, but it is extremely difficult to generate such a wide range of broadcast area information by a single receiving device.

  As in the present embodiment, the reception status is detected by each of the plurality of reception devices, the neighboring broadcast area information is generated based on the detection result, transmitted to the broadcast area server, and the reception is performed by the broadcast area server. When the neighboring broadcast area information from the device is collected and the entire broadcast area information is generated, and the broadcast area information about the current position of each receiving device and its surroundings is extracted and transmitted to the receiving device. In each receiver, it is possible to efficiently acquire broadcast area information about an untraveled area.

As another method, as broadcast area information prepared by the broadcast area server, it is conceivable to travel all over the world in advance and investigate broadcast reception status and create broadcast area information, but this method creates broadcast area information To do this, a large amount of development costs are required.
As another method, it is conceivable that broadcast area information around the world is accumulated on websites, broadcasting stations, etc. on the Internet, and each receiving device collects them by inquiring to the websites, broadcasting stations, etc. There are countries, regions, etc. where the broadcast area information is not disclosed, so this case cannot be applied.

As in this embodiment, each in-vehicle receiving device generates broadcast area information and sends it to the broadcast area server, and the broadcast area server collects and accumulates the broadcast area information transmitted from each receiving device. Broadcast area information can be efficiently generated at low cost.
In addition, if the coverage area changes due to increase or decrease in transmission power from the transmitting station, or addition or change of channels, it is not necessary to make new development to cope with this, and flexibly respond to changes in the broadcasting environment can do.

  In addition, broadcast area information may be disclosed on websites on the Internet. However, since this broadcast area information is generally intended for home-use fixed receivers, the fixed receiver is an antenna installation condition. However, this is not suitable for a vehicle-mounted receiving device. In particular, when the in-vehicle receiving device receives a radio wave with a plurality of antennas and performs diversity reception processing, the receivable area is significantly different from that of the fixed receiving device.

  In this embodiment, broadcast area information is generated based on the reception status when a vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle receiving device actually travels, and the actual receiving status information from each in-vehicle receiving device is collected. Since the broadcast area information is generated, the broadcast area information suitable for the in-vehicle receiving device can be generated.

  In addition, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 of each receiving device can receive a determination on a mesh area surrounded or sandwiched between receivable areas by the filling process shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C. Change and expand the area that is judged or estimated to be receivable, so you can get information that you can receive without actually traveling in the area, you can actually travel and receive Can be saved, and broadcast area information can be generated efficiently in terms of time.

Also, as shown in FIGS. 5D and 5E, the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106
By connecting two convex vertices sandwiching the concave vertices to each other in the outline of the receivable area, it becomes possible to receive a judgment on the part adjacent to the receivable area in the non-receivable mesh area. Change and expand the area that is judged or estimated to be receivable, so you can get information that you can receive without actually traveling in the area, you can actually travel and receive Can be saved, and broadcast area information can be generated efficiently in terms of time.

Furthermore, since the broadcast area server 201 collects and synthesizes the broadcast area information generated by each receiving apparatus as described above and generates new broadcast area information, the broadcast area information can be efficiently generated. It can be performed.
Further, when combining a plurality of receivable areas, as shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D, an area that is close to the plurality of receivable areas and is not confirmed as receivable is predicted as a receivable area. In addition, it is possible to obtain information that reception is possible without actually traveling in the area, and to save time for confirming that it can actually be received after traveling. Broadcast area information can be generated efficiently in terms of time.

As broadcast area information, instead of polygon vertex data, it is collected from the receiving device in the mesh data format as shown in FIG. 3, and the collected broadcast area information is held in the mesh data format in the server. Alternatively, transmission to the receiving apparatus in the form of a service list is also conceivable. The problem in this case is that data indicating broadcast reception status is collected from a large number of in-vehicle receivers existing in a wide range, for example, all over the world, and this is held by a server, and a large number of in-vehicle in a wide range The data needs to be transmitted to the receiving device individually and whenever the in-vehicle receiving device moves, and the amount of data transmitted and received on the network 301 is extremely large.
In recent years, mobile network environments such as 3G networks and LTE networks have become capable of large-capacity communication. However, when communication of broadcast area information with vehicles in a wide range, for example, the world around the world, is constantly occurring. A large network load will occur. Therefore, it is important to suppress the network load.

  In this embodiment, the broadcast area information collected by the broadcast area server from the receiving device, the broadcast area information generated by the server, and the broadcast area information distributed to the receiving device are all polygon vertices shown in FIG. Since the number of vertices is reduced by expanding, smoothing, and combining data, and the broadcast area information stored in the receiving device is only the current position and surrounding broadcast area information, the amount of data handled is greatly increased. This is effective in reducing the communication load on the network 301 and reducing the memory capacity required for the receiving apparatus.

  Specifically, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 represents the receivable area as a polygon as shown in FIG. 5 (f), and converts the polygon vertex data shown in FIG. 7 (b) to the subsequent processing. Therefore, the amount of information of the broadcast area information can be reduced as compared with the case where the processing is performed in the mesh data format as shown in FIG. 3, for example, and the memory necessary for the receiving device 101 and the broadcast area server 201 The storage capacity is greatly reduced.

  Further, the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106 extracts the coordinates of the vertices of the polygons constituting the area in FIG. 5D with respect to the receivable area expressed in mesh as shown in FIG. In addition, since the number of vertices of the polygon is reduced and the information amount of the broadcast area information is reduced by the process of smoothing the polygon outline in FIG. 5 (e), the information amount of the broadcast area information is further increased. The storage capacity of the memory required by the receiving apparatus 101 and the broadcast area server 201 can be further reduced.

  Further, the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106 extracts the coordinates of the vertexes of the polygons constituting the area for the receivable area expressed in mesh as shown in FIG. Since the polygon vertex data shown in b) is transmitted from the local information transmitting unit 108 to the network 301, the network data is compared with the case where the data is transmitted to the network in the mesh data format as shown in FIG. The transmission load can be greatly reduced.

  Further, the entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203 synthesizes the broadcast area information shown in FIG. 7B by the processing shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D, and generates new broadcast area information generated by the synthesis. The entire broadcast area information is updated using the extracted broadcast area information transmission unit 206 via the network 301 in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. Since the data is transmitted to the receiving apparatus 101, the data transmission load on the network can be significantly reduced as compared with the case where data is transmitted in a mesh data format as shown in FIG. 3, for example.

  In addition, the receivable areas are synthesized by the entire broadcast area information generation unit 203 and the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 using a set of polygonal vertex coordinates as shown in FIGS. Therefore, the processing load on the receiving apparatus 101 and the broadcast area server 201 can be greatly reduced as compared with the case where a large amount of mesh data as shown in FIG. Can be configured with an inexpensive embedded processor.

  Also, the broadcast area information managed by the receiving apparatus 101 is only information about the block BL-c to which the current position belongs and the neighboring blocks such as the adjacent block BL-n as shown in FIG. The area information storage unit 107 requires only a small amount of data to be held, and can be realized with a memory having a small storage capacity.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 2B, the broadcast area information managed by the receiving apparatus 101 is only information on the block BL-c to which the current position belongs and the neighboring blocks such as the adjacent block BL-n. The work area required to generate broadcast area information by the broadcast area information generation unit 106 can be reduced, the amount of calculation can be reduced, and the receiving apparatus can be configured with an inexpensive embedded processor. .

  Also, the broadcast area information extraction unit 205 extracts the broadcast area information from the entire area broadcast area information storage unit 204 only for the block BL-c to which the current position of each receiving apparatus 101 belongs and the neighboring blocks BL-n, for example, adjacent blocks BL-n. Since the extracted broadcast area information transmission unit 206 transmits data to each receiving device, the transmission data amount can be greatly reduced and the network load can be greatly reduced compared to the case where all the broadcast area information is transmitted. can do.

  Note that the broadcast area information generated by the receiving device 101 and the broadcast area server 201 is respectively processed by the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 and the entire area broadcast area information generation unit 203 by the filling process shown in FIGS. Since the smoothing process and the synthesis process shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D are generated through the process of setting a non-receivable point surrounded or sandwiched by the receivable area as the receivable area, The reliability of information on whether or not reception is possible at a point surrounded or sandwiched is lower than when the receivable area is managed in the mesh data format as shown in FIG. There may be concern. Below, it demonstrates that the influence of said misjudgment is slight.

  If a program that is currently being viewed cannot be received, and there is an unreceivable area that is surrounded by or sandwiched between the receivable areas of the affiliated stations / relay stations that are candidates for switching, this point cannot be received. In spite of this, it is conceivable that the area is erroneously determined to be a receivable area by the processes of FIGS. 5A to 5F and FIGS. 8A to 8D. However, the number of receivable areas of affiliated stations and relay stations that broadcast the same program that overlap each other is often about two. For example, refer to the broadcast area information obtained by the processes of FIGS. 5A to 5F and FIGS. 8A to 8D in order to switch to affiliated stations / relay stations when reception becomes impossible. Then, although it is not actually received, it is erroneously determined as a receivable area, so that the channel selection to this affiliated station / relay station is performed. As a result, since it cannot actually be received, an extra channel selection operation is performed once. On the other hand, when data is managed in mesh format, the information obtained from the actual reception status is stored for each mesh area, so the reliability is high, and there are no affiliated / relay stations that can be received at this point. Therefore, the channel that has been viewed up to then is maintained without selecting the affiliated station / relay station, and the reception disabled state continues. For the user, both in the case of the broadcast area information obtained by the processes of FIGS. 5A to 5F and FIGS. 8A to 8D, and when the data is managed in mesh format, However, the program is in a state where it cannot be received and there is no significant difference.

Next, at a point where the three affiliated station / relay station areas overlap, in the case where one broadcast wave of the program being viewed and the two switching destination candidates cannot be received, FIGS. If the broadcast area information obtained by the processes of FIGS. 8A to 8D is used, it may be erroneously determined that the affiliated station / relay station cannot be received but can be received. However, at the worst, the time required to switch to the affiliated station / relay station with only one extra channel selection, that is, an extra time is required for about 2 to 3 seconds. Since there are few overlapping points, the influence of the low reliability of the broadcast area information obtained by the processes of FIGS. 5A to 5F and FIGS. 8A to 8D is small.
In addition, since it is not necessary to manage broadcast area information without traveling through the entire observation target area, and it is not necessary to manage a large amount of data such as mesh data, the memory of the receiving device and the broadcast area server is stored. Large effects such as the effect of reducing the capacity, the advantage of being able to realize the receiving device and the broadcast area server with a cheaper embedded processor because the amount of data can be reduced because the amount of data is small, and the advantage of greatly reducing the network communication load can get.

  In addition, a configuration may be considered in which a service list indicating channels that can be received at the current position is not passed to the receiving device, but in that case, the receiving device communicates with the server every time it moves to obtain the service list. If you cannot communicate, or if you do not bring your mobile phone into the car, you will not be able to switch to the affiliate / relay station in a short time. The problem of not being able to occur. According to the configuration of this embodiment, the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 holds the broadcast area information of the block including the current position and the surrounding blocks, so that communication is not possible or the mobile phone is placed in the car. Even if it is not brought in, it will not be affected at all by the amount of movement in the block it holds.

  The receiving device of the above embodiment stores the broadcast area information generated in the receiving device and the broadcast area information from the broadcast area server 201 in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107, and stores the stored broadcast area information. Since it is used for switching between affiliated stations / relay stations and creating a service list, it is not necessary to provide a reception tuner dedicated to channel scanning for generating a service list, and the tuner hardware can be reduced.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 9 shows a broadcast receiving system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
The receiving apparatus 101 in FIG. 1 can be used in combination with a device other than the broadcast area server 201 in FIG. That is, if the receiving apparatus 101 has the configuration described in the first embodiment and the broadcast area information exchanged on the network 301 is in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. The configuration is not limited to that described in Embodiment 1.
FIG. 9 shows a broadcast area server 201b instead of the broadcast area server 201 of FIG. FIG. 9 does not show the internal configuration of the broadcast area server 201b. This is to indicate that the receiving apparatus 101 does not depend on the internal configuration of the broadcast area server, that is, the internal configuration of the broadcast area server is not limited.

  Whatever the internal configuration of the broadcast area server 201b, if the broadcast area information exchanged on the network 301 is in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. In particular, the generation of the neighboring broadcast area information by the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106, the transmission of the neighboring broadcast area information by the local information transmission unit 108, and the acquisition of the extracted broadcast area information by the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 are time-efficiently performed. The effect that it can be performed, the effect that the transmission load of the network 301 can be reduced, and the effect that the storage capacity of the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 can be reduced are obtained.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 10 shows a broadcast receiving system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
The broadcast area server 201 in FIG. 1 can be used in combination with a device other than the receiving device 101 in FIG. That is, if the broadcast area server 201 has the configuration described in the first embodiment and the broadcast area information exchanged on the network 301 is in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. The configuration is not limited to that described in Embodiment 1.
FIG. 10 shows a receiving apparatus 101c instead of the receiving apparatus 101 in FIG. FIG. 10 does not show the internal configuration of the receiving apparatus 101c. This is to show that the broadcast area server 201 does not depend on the internal configuration of the receiving device, that is, the internal configuration of the receiving device is not limited.

  Whatever the internal configuration of the receiving apparatus 101c, if the broadcast area information exchanged on the network 301 is in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. Acquisition of neighboring broadcast area information by the local information acquisition unit 202, generation of broadcast area information by the broadcast area information generation unit 203, extraction of broadcast area information by the broadcast area information extraction unit 205, and extraction broadcast area information transmission unit 206 The effect that the extraction broadcast area information can be transmitted efficiently in time, the effect that the transmission load of the network 301 can be reduced, and the effect that the storage capacity of the entire area broadcast area information storage unit 204 can be reduced are obtained. It is done.

  In addition, in preparation for the case where the broadcast area information handled by the receiving device 101c is not the broadcasting area information in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. 7B, the broadcasting area server 201 sets the type of the receiving device, that is, the polygonal vertex data format. It is also possible to grasp whether the information can be processed and transmit data in a format corresponding to the grasped type. As data other than the polygon vertex data shown in FIG. 7B, the receivable broadcast area information for each mesh shown in FIG. 3 and the service list indicating the channels that can be received at the current position of the receiving apparatus can be considered.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
In the first embodiment, the receiving apparatus transmits the current position information and the neighboring broadcast area information to the broadcast area server 201. However, only the current position information may be transmitted. A configuration example in this case is shown in FIG.
A receiving apparatus 101d in FIG. 11 is generally the same as the receiving apparatus 101 in FIG. 1, but includes a local information transmitting unit 113 instead of the local information transmitting unit 108 in FIG.

  The local information transmission unit 113 does not transmit the neighboring broadcast area information, but transmits the current position information to the broadcast area server 201. When receiving the current position information from the receiving device 101d, the broadcast area server 201 transmits the broadcast area information about the block to which the current position indicated by the current position information belongs and the blocks around it, for example, adjacent blocks.

  In the receiving device 101d, the internal neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit 106 generates neighborhood broadcast area information based on the reception status information by the digital broadcast reception unit 103 and the current location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 105, and Based on the extracted broadcast area information transmitted from the broadcast area server 201, the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107 updates the neighboring broadcast area information in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit 107.

  Also in the configuration of FIG. 11, the receiving apparatus 101 d acquires broadcast area information from the broadcast area server 201 in the polygon vertex data format shown in FIG. 7B, and the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 updates the new broadcast area information. Therefore, the broadcast area information in the receiving apparatus 101d can be processed efficiently, and the transmission load and storage capacity can be reduced.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
The present invention can also be applied to a configuration in which the receiving device is not connected to the broadcast area server.
An example of a receiving device not connected to the broadcast area server is shown in FIG. The illustrated receiving apparatus 101e is generally the same as the receiving apparatus 101 in FIG. However, the local information transmission unit 108 and the extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit 109 of FIG. 1 are not provided.
In addition, even when the receiving device is configured as shown in FIG. 1, when a mobile phone for communication with the broadcast area server is not brought into the vehicle, or when the mobile phone cannot be connected Alternatively, some of the components of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 may not be operated, and may be operated in a configuration substantially similar to that in FIG.

  In the case of the receiving device 101e in FIG. 12, information from the broadcast area server cannot be obtained, but each receiving device 101e collects the broadcast reception status by the digital broadcast receiving unit 103 as the vehicle on which the receiving device is mounted travels. Then, the neighboring broadcast area information generation unit 106 performs processing shown in FIGS. 5A to 5F on the collected broadcast reception status, thereby generating neighboring broadcast area information. By doing so, it is possible to expand the receivable area by predicting it as a receivable area even if the vehicle is not actually traveling, and efficiently convert the broadcast area information in the polygonal vertex data format shown in FIG. Can be generated.

  Also in the case of the configuration of FIG. 12, the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 holds only the broadcast area information about the block to which the current position belongs and its neighboring blocks, for example, adjacent blocks. Therefore, after the storage data amount in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit 107 becomes full, the broadcast area information for the block farthest from the block to which the current position belongs may be deleted, and the vehicle may be a new block. The broadcast area information for the current position and its neighboring blocks, for example, blocks other than the adjacent blocks, may be always deleted each time the user moves to the next position.

  As shown in FIG. 12, when the receiving device independently generates the broadcast area information, there is a problem that the service list cannot be displayed unless the channel scan is executed when moving to the first traveling area,・ It takes time to search for a relay station, which causes a problem that continuity of program viewing cannot be maintained.

  On the other hand, in the configurations of FIGS. 1, 9, 10, and 11, since the receiving apparatus 101 is connected to the network 301 and the broadcast area information of the current position can be obtained from the broadcast area server at any time, each receiving apparatus can quickly In addition, the neighboring broadcast area information can be acquired efficiently and even when the vehicle has moved to an area where the vehicle has never traveled, the receivable channel can be grasped at that point. Therefore, the service list can be displayed, and when switching to an affiliated station / relay station, the switching destination can be ascertained simply by referring to the broadcast area information without performing a channel search. There is an advantage that can be done.

  Although the present invention has been described as the receiving device, the broadcast area server, and the broadcast receiving system, the broadcast area information generation method implemented by these also forms part of the present invention. Furthermore, some or all of the components of the receiving device, the broadcast area server, and the broadcast receiving system, and some or all of the processing of the broadcast area information generation method can be realized by software, that is, a programmed computer. Accordingly, a program for causing a computer to execute the above-described components or processes and a computer-readable recording medium on which the program is recorded also form a part of the present invention.

  As described above, according to the present invention, broadcast area information can be generated quickly and efficiently.

101, 101c, 101d, 101e Digital broadcast receiver, 102 Antenna, 103 Digital broadcast receiver, 104 Video / audio output unit, 105 Location information acquisition unit, 106 Neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit, 107 Neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit, 108 Local information transmission unit, 109 extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit, 110 channel selection control unit, 111 service list display unit, 113 local information transmission unit, 201, 201b broadcast area server, 202 local information acquisition unit, 203 global broadcast area information generation Part,
204 broadcast area information storage section, 205 broadcast area information extraction section, 206 extracted broadcast area information transmission section, ST11 mesh data update necessity determination process, ST12 mesh data update process, ST13 grouping process, ST14 receivable area prediction process, ST15 Vertex extraction process, ST16 Smoothing process.

Claims (14)

A digital broadcast receiver for receiving digital broadcasts;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring current position information representing the current position;
Based on the reception status of the digital broadcasting in the position indicated by the acquired current position information and the current position information, and detects the reception coverage area, subjected to a treatment to smooth the contours of the receivable area generating A neighboring broadcast area information generating unit that generates vertex coordinates of the polygon as neighboring broadcast area information;
A neighboring broadcast area information storage unit for storing the neighboring broadcast area information;
A local information transmitter for transmitting the current position information to a broadcast area server;
An extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit that acquires broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings as extracted broadcast area information from the broadcast area server;
The neighboring broadcast area information generating unit synthesizes a receivable area from the extracted broadcast area information and the neighboring broadcast area information so as to include a receivable area that is newly detected based on the reception status. Broadcast area information obtained as a result of the above is stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit as new neighborhood broadcast area information . The local information transmission unit, in addition to said current position information, wherein the neighbor broadcast area information stored in the neighbor broadcast service area information storing section to claim 1, characterized by transmitting to the broadcast area server Digital broadcast receiver. The neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit In preparing the neighbor broadcast area information, among the areas which have not been confirmed that it is receivable, surrounded by is determined that receivable area, or pinched Ru area, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that treated as a receivable area. When the neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit generates the neighborhood broadcast area information and the distance between two convex vertices sandwiching the concave vertices of the area determined to be receivable is equal to or less than a threshold value, The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein smoothing is performed by connecting vertices to each other. A digital broadcast receiver for receiving digital broadcasts;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring current position information representing the current position;
A neighboring broadcast area information generating unit that generates information indicating the current position and a receivable area in the vicinity thereof as neighboring broadcast area information based on the reception status of the digital broadcast and the current position information;
A neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit for storing the neighborhood broadcast area information;
The neighboring broadcasting area information generating unit In preparing the neighbor broadcast area information, among the areas which have not been confirmed that it is receivable, surrounded by is determined that receivable area, or pinched Ru area, A digital broadcast receiver characterized in that it is treated as a receivable area. The neighboring broadcast area information generation unit is capable of receiving the digital broadcast at any point in each of a plurality of mesh areas formed by dividing the observation target area into a lattice shape. The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1 or 5 , wherein if detected by the broadcast receiving unit, it is determined that the digital broadcast can be received in the entire mesh area. A block is composed of a plurality of mesh areas,
The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the neighboring broadcast area information is broadcast area information of a block to which the current position belongs and a block adjacent thereto.   The neighborhood broadcast area information generation unit creates the neighborhood broadcast area information,
  A mesh area that is located in an area that has not been confirmed to be receivable and that is adjacent to an area that has been confirmed to be receivable is treated as a mesh area that has been confirmed to be receivable. 1 process is performed once or several times,
  After performing the first treatment one or more times,
  A mesh area that is located in an area that has been confirmed to be receivable and is adjacent to an area that has not been confirmed to be receivable is treated as a mesh area that has not been confirmed to be receivable. Perform the second treatment one or more times,
  After performing the second process once or a plurality of times, an area including a mesh area that is confirmed to be receivable is treated as a receivable area.
  The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, Whether the information indicating the current position of the digital broadcast receiving device from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices that receive the digital broadcast and the surrounding points are within a receivable area where the digital broadcast can be received. A local information acquisition unit for receiving the neighboring broadcast area information shown;
Using a plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, a whole area broadcast area information generating unit that generates or updates whole area broadcast area information;
A global broadcast area information storage unit for storing the global broadcast area information;
When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. A broadcast area information extraction unit for extracting from the entire area broadcast area information;
An extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving device that has notified the current position;
The neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices and the whole area broadcast area information generated by the whole area broadcast area information generation unit represent a receivable area with polygonal vertex coordinates,
The entire area broadcast area information generating unit combines the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices, representing the first and second receivable areas overlapping each other, and results of the combination To generate or update the entire area broadcast area information,
During the synthesis, the first not included in the receivable first vertex and the second receivable area A of the box, said first coverage area, a second adjacent to said first apex Are included in the second receivable area, the second vertex is deleted, and among the vertices of the second receivable area, the first receivable area is not included, and the first receivable area is not included in the first receivable area. A broadcast area server characterized in that a new receivable area is generated in which a third vertex closest to the first vertex is a side connecting a line connecting the first vertex.   Whether the information indicating the current position of the digital broadcast receiving device from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices that receive the digital broadcast and the surrounding points are within a receivable area where the digital broadcast can be received. A local information acquisition unit for receiving the neighboring broadcast area information shown;
  Using a plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, a whole area broadcast area information generating unit that generates or updates whole area broadcast area information;
  A global broadcast area information storage unit for storing the global broadcast area information;
  When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. A broadcast area information extraction unit for extracting from the entire area broadcast area information;
  An extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving device that has notified the current position;
  The neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices and the whole area broadcast area information generated by the whole area broadcast area information generation unit represent a receivable area with polygonal vertex coordinates,
  The entire area broadcast area information generating unit combines the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices, representing the first and second receivable areas overlapping each other, and results of the combination To generate or update the entire area broadcast area information,
  During the combining, the first vertex of the first receivable area is not included in the second receivable area, and the second vertex adjacent to the first vertex of the first receivable area. If a vertex is included in the second receivable area, the second vertex is deleted, and among the vertices of the second receivable area, the first receivable area is not included, and the first receivable area A new reception area surrounded by the intersection of the third vertex closest to the vertex, the first vertex, the straight line connecting the first vertex and the second vertex, and the side of the second receivable area Estimate
  A broadcast area server characterized by that. The broadcast area information extraction unit
Of the multiple blocks formed by dividing the observation area into a grid,
The broadcast area server according to claim 9 or 10, wherein broadcast area information about a block to which the current position belongs and a block adjacent thereto is extracted. A plurality of digital broadcast receivers and a broadcast area server for receiving digital broadcasts;
Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices includes:
A digital broadcast receiver for receiving digital broadcasts;
A position information acquisition unit for acquiring current position information representing the current position;
A neighboring broadcast area information generating unit that generates information indicating the current position and a receivable area in the vicinity thereof as neighboring broadcast area information based on the reception status of the digital broadcast and the current position information;
A neighboring broadcast area information storage unit for storing the neighboring broadcast area information;
A local information transmitter that transmits the current location information and the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit to the broadcast area server;
The broadcast area server is
A local information acquisition unit that receives the neighboring broadcast area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices;
Using a plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, a whole area broadcast area information generating unit that generates or updates whole area broadcast area information;
A global broadcast area information storage unit for storing the global broadcast area information;
When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. A broadcast area information extraction unit for extracting from the entire area broadcast area information;
An extracted broadcast area information transmitting unit that transmits the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiving device that has notified the current position;
Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receivers further includes an extracted broadcast area information acquisition unit that acquires broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings as extracted broadcast area information from the broadcast area server,
The neighboring broadcast area information generation unit of each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices updates the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit based on the extracted broadcast area information,
The neighboring broadcast area information generated by the neighboring broadcast area information generating unit of each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices and the entire broadcasting area information generated by the entire broadcasting area information generating unit of the broadcasting area server are receivable. A broadcast receiving system characterized in that an area is represented by polygonal vertex coordinates. The entire area broadcast area information generation unit of the broadcast area server synthesizes the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, representing the first and second receivable areas that overlap each other. And generating or updating the whole area broadcast area information using the result of synthesis,
During the synthesis, the first not included in the receivable first vertex and the second receivable area A of the box, said first coverage area, a second adjacent to said first apex Are included in the second receivable area, the second vertex is deleted, and among the vertices of the second receivable area, the first receivable area is not included, and the first receivable area is not included in the first receivable area. The broadcast receiving system according to claim 12, wherein a new receivable area is generated in which a third vertex closest to the first vertex is a side connecting a line connecting the first vertex. A broadcast area information generation method performed by a plurality of digital broadcast receivers and a broadcast area server that receives digital broadcasts,
Each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices,
Receive digital broadcasts,
Get the current position information representing the current position,
Based on the reception status of the digital broadcasting in the position indicated by the acquired current position information and the current position information, and detects the reception coverage area, subjected to a treatment to smooth the contours of the receivable area generating Generated polygon coordinates as neighboring broadcast area information,
The generated neighborhood broadcast area information is stored in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit,
Transmitting the current location information and the neighboring broadcast area information stored in the neighboring broadcast area information storage unit to the broadcast area server;
The broadcast area server is
Receiving the neighboring broadcast area information from each of the plurality of digital broadcast receiving devices;
Using the plurality of neighboring broadcast area information received from the plurality of digital broadcast receivers, to generate or update the entire area broadcast area information,
The generated entire broadcast area information is stored in the entire broadcast area information storage unit,
When any of the digital broadcast receivers is notified of the current position of the digital broadcast receiver, the broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings is stored in the global broadcast area information storage unit. Extracted from the whole area broadcast area information,
Sending the extracted broadcast area information to the digital broadcast receiver that has notified the current position,
Each of the digital broadcast receiving devices further includes:
Obtain broadcast area information about the current position and its surroundings from the broadcast area server as extracted broadcast area information,
And a pre-Symbol extracted broadcast area information and the neighbor broadcast area information, make a new synthesis of the receivable area including the detected receivable area was based on the reception status, the broadcasting area information obtained as a result of synthesis a new A broadcast area information generation method characterized by storing neighborhood broadcast area information as new neighborhood broadcast area information in the neighborhood broadcast area information storage unit.

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