JPH09312812A - Television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To assist channel selection by selecting channels making a broadcast program belonging to a desired genre among all broadcast channels, reducing the video images of the channels and displaying the reduced video image on a television screen together with the channel numbers. SOLUTION: The television receiver inserts a genre signal to an analog television video signal or inserts a genre signal to a digital television video signal or uses a genre exclusive channel and inserts a genre signal to the channel. A genre signal detection section 6 detects the genre signal so as to select channels coincident with a desired genre inputted from a genre entry section 12. Furthermore, a menu obtained by synthesizing a channel indication generated from a character generator 9 onto a television image of the selected channel is generated in an image memory 8 and displayed on a TV screen 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a television receiver, and more particularly to a television receiver that displays receivable channels by genre.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in CATV broadcasting, as a menu screen for a viewer to select a channel, the images of all receivable channels are reduced and divided into a television receiver together with each channel number. Some are displayed. The viewer decides the viewing channel by looking at the menu screen, selecting the broadcast channel he wants to watch, and inputting the channel number. However, this method treats all receivable channels equally. Therefore, assuming that a video of several tens of channels is displayed by dividing the screen into, for example, 16 screens, the viewer checks the video of several screens, and
You have to choose a station. Even now, the number of broadcast channels may be 10 to 20, and it is extremely complicated to check the broadcast contents of all channels.

Therefore, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-49340 has been proposed as an aid in channel selection. In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-49340, receivable channels are divided into several genres, and the reception display device can display the genre contents of the groups and the channel numbers of all the channels belonging to the groups. Therefore, when the viewer selects one channel, the reception display device displays the genre contents of the group to which the selected channel belongs and all channel numbers in the group. The viewer can know the genre content of the selected channel and the other channel numbers of the same genre as the selected channel by looking at the reception / display device, which facilitates the selective reception of the desired program.

[0004]

However, the CAT
Currently, dozens of channels of V broadcasting are already on air, and the number is increasing in the future. When several hundred channels will be broadcast in the future, it is impossible to reduce all the images to one television screen and broadcast them. As a measure, all channels are displayed on several screens,
You can think of a way to look at them in order. However, even in such a case, it is extremely complicated to view all channels, and it becomes more difficult to select one channel from them. In particular, when the menu screen is displayed, when the commercial is just in progress, the contents of the program being broadcast are not known, so it is troublesome to watch it again later, which is even more complicated.

Further, as proposed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-49340, it is necessary to divide all channels into groups by genre, for example, for channels for which the genre is fixed, such as dedicated music channels. It is valid. However, generally, in television broadcasting, programs of different genres are broadcast one after another on one channel. In this case, it is meaningless to set a fixed genre for the channel, and even if the program you want to watch is being broadcast, it was set to a different genre, so it will not be a candidate for selection. It can be an obstacle.

Further, in any of the above-mentioned methods, a channel for which broadcasting has been completed and no video has been sent is similarly selected. This only increases the range of meaningless selections. Also, it is very difficult for viewers to check hundreds of stations even if they look at the program table, and if the program is affected by the weather such as sports broadcasting or changed to a temporary program, it will be confirmed whether it is actually being broadcast. If you don't check it on TV, you won't know it on the program guide. Therefore, when the viewer selects a desired program, even if the number of channels is huge, it is possible to select the channel that is broadcasting the desired program more easily and quickly, and make a meaningless selection. There was a need for a method that would aid in channel selection so that the channel selection would not have to be repeated several times.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and selects, from all channels currently being broadcast, channels which are broadcasting in a desired genre and are selected. By reducing the image and displaying it along with the channel number on the TV screen, it is intended to assist in channel selection.

[0008]

In order to achieve this object, the television receiver of the present invention receives two or more video signals,
A television receiver for displaying an image corresponding to a designated channel on a television screen, the television receiver displaying two or more simultaneously received video signals as a menu on the television screen together with each channel display. To a predetermined genre, a genre input means for inputting one of the genres, and a genre input by the genre input means with two or more video signals classified by the genre determination means. It has a menu display means for displaying together with the display of each channel. Furthermore, the television receiver of the present invention, as a genre,
It may include at least one of sports, foreign movies, Japanese movies, news, weather forecast, traffic information, plays, and dramas.

Furthermore, the television receiver of the present invention is characterized in that the television video signal includes a genre signal indicating the type of the video signal currently being received. Further, in the television receiver of the present invention, when the television video signal is an analog signal, the genre signal may be included in the vertical blanking period. Further, in the television receiver of the present invention, when the television video signal is a digital signal, it is preferable that the genre signal is inserted in each digital video / audio signal. Alternatively, in the television receiver of the present invention, when the television video signal is an analog or digital signal, the genre signal may be included in a menu channel different from the video channel.

With the above structure, in this television receiver, the genre discriminating means extracts and discriminates the genre signal included in the television video signal. When the television signal is analog broadcasting, the genre signal is a marginal part of the vertical blanking period, and is inserted in a part currently used for teletext broadcasting or the like. In the case of digital broadcasting, it may be inserted in each video signal or one channel may be reserved exclusively for the genre signal. The user uses the genre input means to select and input a genre desired to be viewed. The menu display means selects a channel that is broadcasting a program corresponding to the desired genre input by the genre input means, and displays the video of the selected channel and the channel number display together on the television screen.

For example, suppose that a sports program is scheduled to be broadcast on a dozen or more stations during a certain time period. However, in some cases it may be canceled due to bad weather. In that case, another program will be broadcast, but the program that is actually broadcast cannot be known unless you turn on the TV. Also, in sports programs, there are many cases where you want to know more about the type of sport or the name of the team you are playing against. It seems to be detailed in the program guide, but it takes a lot of time and effort to select a channel that currently broadcasts sports from all the channels and investigate the details. Therefore, the user first selects and inputs a sport from the genre input means. Then, the menu display means selects all the channels currently broadcasting the sports program, and displays a list of the images and channel numbers on the menu screen. The user can obtain necessary information such as the type of sport and the name of the competition team by looking at the video. In this case, even children who cannot read can understand at a glance. In this way, the user can easily select the desired program by selecting the desired program for viewing from the menu screen and inputting the channel number displayed together with the video.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the present embodiment. The television receiver of this embodiment is mainly composed of a CPU 1, and is composed of two tuners, that is, a tuner 2 and a tuner 3, a demodulator 4 and a demodulator 5 for demodulating a video signal from each tuner, and a genre signal. A genre signal detection unit 6 for detecting a menu, an A / D converter 7 for creating a menu screen, an image memory 8, a character generator 9, an NTSC encoder 10, a channel input unit 11 for various inputs, and a genre input unit. 12, a TV screen 13 for displaying an image, and a switch 20 for switching between a television broadcast and a menu screen.

The CPU 1 has a program R (not shown).
The operation of the entire television receiver is controlled according to the program in the OM. Tuner 2 and tuner 3 are CP
According to U1, a 1-channel video signal is extracted from the multi-channel video signals, and the demodulator 4 and the demodulator 5 are respectively extracted.
Send to The demodulator 4 and the demodulator 5 are the tuner 2 and
The demodulator 4 demodulates the video signal extracted, the demodulator 4 to the TV screen 13 via the switch 20, and the demodulator 5 to A / D.
A signal is sent to the converter 7 and the genre signal detection unit 6.

The genre signal detection unit 6 sends the genre signal detected from the video signal sent from the demodulator 5 to the CPU 1, and the A / D converter 7 digitally outputs the video signal of the program of the genre according to the instruction from the CPU 1. To the image memory 8. Also, the character generator 9
The channel number information from the CPU 1 is converted into character image data and sent to the image memory 8. In the image memory 8, the video data from the A / D converter 7 and the character data from the character generator 9 are combined, and the data of the program of the desired genre is applied to each of the 16 divided screens. The combined image data is N
The video signal is converted by the TSC encoder 10 and sent to the TV screen 13 via the switch 20. Both the channel input unit 11 and the genre input unit 12 are used when the user inputs a desired channel or genre.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a part of an analog broadcast video signal which is a normal television broadcast. Where 10
Reference numerals 1, 102 and 103 denote video signals for one scanning line, and a vertical retrace line period 104 is a period for inputting a vertical synchronizing signal corresponding to a page break in the printer. The vertical blanking period 104 has some margin other than the portion used for the vertical synchronizing signal 105, and is currently used for a test signal, a character multiplex signal, and the like. Therefore, the genre signal 10
6 is inserted in this period. The genre signal 106 is, as shown in FIG. And the contents of each genre correspond. As the genre, No. There are sports, foreign movies, Japanese movies, news, weather forecast, traffic information, drama, and drama in order from 01. This genre No. Is inserted as a genre signal 106 in the vertical blanking period 104 of the television video signal. This genre signal can be detected by the genre signal detection unit 6 in FIG. 1 to know the genre of the program being broadcast. In addition, these genre numbers. The genre content is an example for explanation, and it does not mean to be particular about this. Needless to say, the genre signal of the broadcast program is continuously inserted even during the commercial if it is in the middle of the program.

On the other hand, it is considered that digital broadcasting will be used for television broadcasting in the future. FIG. 4 shows an example of inserting a genre signal in digital broadcasting. FIG. 4 is an example of video and audio information when genre information is inserted in each stream which is video and audio information. In this case, similarly to the case of analog broadcasting, the genre signal is detected for each channel and it is determined whether the genre is the desired genre. Figure 5 shows video channels (Channel B, Channel C)
This is an example in which one channel (channel A) is separately used for genre information. No video signal is transmitted on channel A, and the genre No. And channel No. And send each as a set. In this case, first, the genre information of all the channels from the channel A is detected, the channels of the desired genre are selected, and the menu screen is created.

Next, the T of the present embodiment constructed as described above.
The operation of the V receiver will be described. First, when the user uses the channel input unit 11 to select one channel as a normal channel selection method, the CPU 1 specifies the selected channel in the tuner 2. Tuner 2
Extracts the television signal of the selected channel and sends it to the demodulator 4. Further, the CPU 1 is a connector 2 of the switch 20.
0x is connected to the terminal 20a side. Thereby, the video signal and the audio signal demodulated by the demodulator 4 are displayed on the TV screen 13, and the user can watch the television broadcast of the desired channel.

Next, suppose that the user wants to watch a soccer relay in sports, for example. However, there are cases in which you do not know which channel is being broadcast. At this time, the user looks at the menu screen, and first selects sports in the genre input section 12. Then, the CPU 1 performs the following operation to create the menu screen of the sports program. First, the channel numbers are sequentially sent to the tuner 3, and the tuner 3 selects one channel from the high frequency input according to the CPU 1. 1 selected by tuner 3
The television broadcast wave of one channel is demodulated by the demodulator 5. The genre signal detection unit 6 detects the genre signal 106 from the television broadcast wave demodulated by the demodulator 5. The genre signal 106 is a digital signal inserted in the vertical blanking period 104 as shown in FIG.

The CPU 1 checks the genre signal 106 detected by the genre signal detector 6. Since the genre signal 106 of the sports program is <01>, if the detected genre signal 106 is <01>, the channel is currently broadcasting the sports program. Therefore, if the genre signal 106 is <01>, the CPU 1 selects the channel and instructs the A / D converter 7 to execute it. A /
When instructed to execute, the D converter 7 converts the television video signal from the demodulator 5 of the channel and writes it in the image memory 8. Do not use TV audio signals. At the same time, the character generator 9 creates a character image of the channel number of the selected channel and superimposes it on the television image signal of the image memory 8. On the other hand, the genre signal detection unit 6
If the genre signal 106 detected by is not <01>,
Since the program is not a sport, it is ignored and the genre signal 106 of the next channel is examined. Further, since the genre signal 106 cannot be detected even for a channel which is not currently broadcast, such as when the broadcast ends, it is ignored.

In this way, when all channels being broadcast are checked, only the image of the channel currently broadcasting the sports program is held in the image memory 8 as data.
By combining these data, the screen is divided into 16 parts, and the TV screen of each channel is reduced to create a menu screen to be displayed together with the channel display. Then switch 2
By tilting the connector 20x of 0 to the terminal 20b side, the created menu screen is visualized by the NTSC encoder 10 and displayed on the TV screen 13. FIG. 6 shows an example of the displayed menu screen. This is a diagram for explanation, and the image is simplified. In this way, the TV screen is divided into 16 screens and displayed by setting the video and channel numbers. Looking at this menu screen, the user selects the channel of the desired program, and the channel input section 1
Input from 1. In this case, soccer has channel number <
28>, select and input <28>. After that, the broadcast of the selected channel is broadcast as in the case of normal channel input.

In this example, the number of sports programs is 16
If it is within the program but exceeds 16 programs, the menu screen is switched to multiple screens and switched. If the number of applicable programs is within 4 programs, it is better to adjust the screen so that it is easy to see, such as dividing the screen into four.

As described above, according to the television receiver of the present invention, the genre signal 106 is inserted into the analog television image signal, or the genre signal is inserted into the digital television image signal, or the genre exclusive channel is used. Insert the signal. The genre signal detection unit 6 detects this genre signal and selects a channel that matches the desired genre input from the genre input unit 12. In addition, the character generator 9 is added to the TV image of the selected channel.
A menu screen in which the channel display created in step 1 is combined is created in the image memory 8 and displayed on the TV screen 13. As a result, it is possible to collectively see only the channels that are broadcasting programs of the desired genre, which makes channel selection very easy.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, here, the normal broadcast and the menu screen display are switched, but it is also possible to perform a combined display of half of the screen.

[0024]

According to the television receiver of the present invention, a genre signal is inserted into a television video signal, and the genre discriminating means discriminates the genre signal. Further, the user selects the channel which is broadcasting the program belonging to the desired genre input by the genre input means, and the image selected by the menu display means is displayed together with the channel number. Therefore, of all the channels currently being broadcast, you can see the video of all channels that are broadcasting programs belonging to the desired genre together with the channel number, and you can select the desired channel quickly and easily. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a television receiver of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of an analog television video signal of the present invention.

3] Genre No. And is an example of correspondence between genre contents.

FIG. 4 is an example of a digital television video signal of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of a genre-specific channel signal of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of a menu screen of a sports program.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 6 Genre signal detection unit 8 Image memory 11 Channel input unit 12 Genre input unit 104 Vertical blanking period 106 Genre signal

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A television receiver for receiving two or more video signals and displaying an image corresponding to a designated channel on a television screen, the two or more video signals being simultaneously received together with each channel display. In a television receiver displaying a menu on a television screen, a genre discriminating unit that divides the video signal into predetermined genres, a genre inputting unit that inputs one of the genres, and a genre input by the genre inputting unit And a menu display means for displaying two or more video signals divided by the genre discrimination means together with each channel display. 2. The television receiver according to claim 1, wherein the genre includes at least one of sports, western movies, Japanese movies, news, weather forecast, traffic information, plays and dramas. And a TV receiver. 3. The television receiver according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the television video signal includes a genre signal indicating a type of the video signal currently being received. 4. The television receiver according to claim 3, wherein the television video signal is an analog signal, and the genre signal is included in a vertical blanking period. 5. The television receiver according to claim 3, wherein the television video signal is a digital signal, and the genre signal is inserted in each digital video / audio signal. vessel. 6. The television receiver according to claim 3, wherein the television video signal is an analog or digital signal, and the genre signal is included in a menu channel different from a video channel. Receiver.