JPH10164445A - Television signal receiver and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow the user to watch a normal television screen even during the time until an image of a home page is obtained. SOLUTION: In a state in which a television screen received by a tuner 12 is outputted to a video monitor 19 via a display source changeover circuit 17 and displayed thereon, when an input section 14 is operated and access to a home page is commanded, a control circuit 13 controls a graphics circuit 18 for generating an access menu for accessing the home page, and the access menu is displayed on a video monitor 19. When entry of a uniform resource locator(URL) is completed and start of access is commanded, a home page access circuit 15 starts accessing. At this time, the control circuit 13 controls a display source changeover circuit 17 until the access is finished to select an output of the tuner 12 and displays it on the video monitor 19. When the access is completed, the control circuit 13 controls the display source changeover circuit 17 to select the data of the home page received by the home page access circuit 15 and to display the data on the video monitor 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for receiving a television signal, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for receiving a television signal in which a waiting time is effectively used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, not only a television receiver can receive a television signal and display the image, but also can access a predetermined homepage via the Internet and display the image. Has been commercialized. In such a television receiver, not only programs being broadcast on television but also a homepage can be accessed, so that a wider range of enjoyment can be achieved.

[0003]

However, in such a television receiver, for example, during reception of a predetermined television broadcast,
When a predetermined homepage is accessed, information such that information on the program can be obtained may be broadcast. In such a case, even if the user accesses the homepage immediately, there are many viewers, so the telephone line is congested and it may be difficult to access the homepage. In such a case, there is a problem that the viewer cannot view the image of the television broadcast until the access ends after the access starts.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and it is an object of the present invention to be able to view a television broadcast program while waiting for access to a homepage.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television signal receiving apparatus, comprising: receiving means for receiving a television signal; and accessing a homepage via a network to receive transmitted homepage data. Accessing means, generating means for generating data of an access screen for accessing a home page, television signal received by the receiving means, home page data received by the accessing means, or data of the access screen Selecting means for selecting and outputting, and detecting means for detecting access to the homepage,
After controlling the selection method and starting to access the homepage,
And control means for selecting a television signal until access to the homepage is completed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a television signal receiving method, comprising: a receiving step of receiving a television signal; an accessing step of accessing a homepage via a network and receiving transmitted homepage data; A generating step of generating data of an access screen for accessing the Internet, a television signal received in the receiving step, accessing the data of the homepage or the data of the access screen accessed by the accessing step, and outputting the selected data. A selection step, a detection step of detecting access to the homepage, and a control step of controlling selection in the selection step, and selecting a television signal during a period from the start of access to the homepage to the end of access to the homepage. To It is characterized by having.

[0007] In the television signal receiving apparatus according to the first aspect and the television signal receiving method according to the fifth aspect, the television signal is received during a period from the start of the access to the homepage to the end of the access to the homepage. Is selected. Therefore, the period during which a television program cannot be watched can be reduced.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In order to clarify the correspondence between each means of the invention described in the claims and the following embodiments, each means is described. When the features of the present invention are described by adding the corresponding embodiment (however, an example) in parentheses after the parentheses, the result is as follows. However, of course, this description does not mean that each means is limited to those described.

[0009] The television signal receiving apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is a receiving means for receiving a television signal (for example,
A tuner 12 in FIG. 1, an access unit (for example, a homepage access circuit 15 in FIG. 1) for accessing a homepage via a network and receiving transmitted homepage data, and an access unit for accessing the homepage. Generating means (for example, the graphics circuit 18 in FIG. 1) for generating data of the access screen, a television signal received by the receiving means, accessing by the access means, and selecting data of the received home page or data of the access screen; And output means (for example, the display source switching circuit 17 in FIG. 1) and detection means for detecting access to the homepage (for example,
The homepage access circuit 15) of FIG. 1 for executing the access status output processing of FIG. 2 and the selection means are controlled, and the television signal is selected during the period from the start of access to the homepage to the end of access to the homepage. And a control unit (for example, the control circuit 13 in FIG. 1) for performing the control.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the television signal receiving apparatus, the control means causes the selecting means to select a television signal when the access to the homepage is started, and the access to the homepage is started. After
Switching means (for example, the input unit 14 in FIG. 1) for switching between a mode in which a television signal is selected when a predetermined time has elapsed is further provided.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a television receiver to which the television signal receiving device of the present invention is applied. The tuner 12 demodulates a television signal received via the antenna 11 or a television signal externally input from the terminal 21 and outputs a demodulated video signal to the display source switching circuit 17. The homepage access circuit 15 accesses various homepages connected to a network such as the Internet via the terminal 22, receives data of the homepage, and outputs the received data to the video signal converter (scan converter) 16. doing. The video signal converter 16 converts the input homepage data into a video signal in the same format as the video signal output from the tuner 12 (for example, an NTSC video signal), and outputs it to the display source switching circuit 17. I have.

The graphics circuit 18 includes, for example, a CP
U and the like, a predetermined graphics image (for example, VGA (Vid
eo Graphics Array) is generated and output to the video signal converter 16. Video signal converter 16
Converts the graphics image into an NTSC video signal and outputs it to the display source switching circuit 17.

The homepage access circuit 15 detects an access state to the homepage, and outputs an access status signal indicating the access state to the homepage to the display source switching circuit 17 and the control circuit 13. The display source switching circuit 17 selects a video signal input from the tuner 12 or the video signal conversion device 16, outputs the video signal to the video monitor 19, and displays the video signal.

The input unit 14 includes various keys, switches, buttons, a remote commander, and the like.
A signal corresponding to a user operation is output to the control circuit 13.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the access status output processing performed by the homepage access circuit 15 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S21, the homepage access circuit 15 initializes the access status to "not in access". For example, the access status is set to logic 0. Next, the process proceeds to step S22, and waits until an instruction to access the homepage is issued from the control circuit 13. When the instruction to access the homepage is issued, the operation of accessing the homepage is started in response to the instruction. , The access status is set to “accessing”. For example, the access status is set to logic 1.

Next, the process proceeds to step S24, in which it is determined whether or not the home page is still being accessed. When the access to the home page is completed, the process returns to step S21. ,
The access status is set to logic 0 again, and in step S22, the process waits until a command to access the home page is input.

The access status generated as described above is stored in the control circuit 13 and the display source switching circuit 17.
Is output to Therefore, the control circuit 13 and the display source switching circuit 17 can determine from the access status signal whether the homepage access circuit 15 is currently accessing the homepage.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The display source switching process will be described.

First, in step S31, the control circuit 13 determines whether or not a setting of a mode for inputting an address for accessing a home page, that is, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) has been instructed from the input unit 14. . That is, when accessing a predetermined homepage, the user operates a predetermined key of the input unit 14 and instructs the control circuit 13 to that effect. Control circuit 13
When this command is not input, step S32
The tuner 12 controls the display source switching circuit 17 so that the tuner 12 selects the video signal received and output at that time, and outputs the video signal to the video monitor 19 for display.

On the other hand, when access to the homepage is instructed from the input unit 14, the process proceeds from step S31 to step S33, where the control circuit 13 controls the graphics circuit 18 to access a predetermined homepage. Generate access screen data. The data of the access screen generated by the graphics circuit 18 is
After being input to the video signal converter 16 and converted into a video signal, it is input to the display source switching circuit 17.
At this time, the control circuit 13 controls the display source switching circuit 17 to select an access screen signal input from the video signal conversion device 16 and
9 for display. The user operates the input unit 14 while looking at the access screen, and inputs the address (URL) of the homepage to be accessed.

When the input of the address is completed,
The user operates a predetermined key of the input unit 14 to instruct start of access to the homepage. Control circuit 13
Transmits the input URL to the homepage access circuit 15 when the access start signal is input, and instructs access to the URL. The homepage access circuit 15 starts an access operation to the input URL in response to the command. When the operation of accessing the homepage is started, the access status signal is changed to logic 1 in step S23 as described with reference to FIG.

In step S34, the display source switching circuit 17 (or the control circuit 13) waits until the access status signal becomes logic 1, and when the access status signal becomes logic 1, the process proceeds to step S35, where the video signal converter 16
Instead of the output of the tuner 12, the output of the tuner 12 is selected, output to the video monitor 19, and displayed. As described above, when the user instructs access to the homepage, the access screen is displayed. When the access is started, the screen of the video monitor 19 is again displayed on the screen of the television signal received by the tuner 12. Is returned to. Therefore, until the access to the home page is completed, the access screen is kept displayed, thereby preventing the image of the television program from being unable to be viewed.

Next, proceeding to step S36, the display source switching circuit 17 (or the control circuit 13) waits until the access to the home page is completed. That is,
The logic of the access status signal corresponds to step S2 in FIG.
Wait until it returns to logic 0 at 1. Then, when the access status signal is returned to logic 0 (when the access to the homepage is completed), step S37 is performed.
The display source switching circuit 17 selects a video signal output from the video signal converter 16 instead of the output of the tuner 12 up to that point. Now, the video signal converter 16 converts the data of the homepage received by the homepage access circuit 15 into a video signal and outputs it, so that the image of the homepage is eventually displayed on the video monitor 19.

The term "end of access to the homepage" as used herein means that at least one page of the homepage image has been received in such a manner that it can display a complete image in a complete state. Therefore, an image of an incomplete homepage is displayed on the video monitor 19, and as the image data is sequentially transmitted, a state in which a complete image is displayed does not occur. Is displayed. In other words, the television image output from the tuner 12 is displayed until the image of the home page in such a complete state can be displayed.

As described above, the television image is displayed until the image of the homepage can be received. Therefore, even if the access time is long, the image of the television broadcast being broadcast during that time is displayed. Is prevented from being overlooked.

However, when the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is executed, for example, if the access time is relatively short, the access screen is switched to the television screen and then immediately to the image of the homepage. However, the image is rather difficult to see. Thus, in the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, it is prevented that such a screen becomes difficult to see.

That is, in the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, in steps S41 to S44, steps S31 to S34 in FIG.
As in the case of the above, the output of the tuner 12 is selectively displayed until the access to the home page is instructed. When the access to the home page is instructed, the access screen is displayed, and the input of the address is completed. Wait until the start of access to the command is instructed.

If it is determined in step S44 that the start of access to the home page has been instructed, the process proceeds to step S45, where the control circuit 13 resets the timer for measuring the access time and immediately starts the timer. Then, the process proceeds to step S46, and it is determined whether or not the access to the homepage has been completed. That is, the access status signal output from the homepage access circuit 15 is monitored, and it is determined whether or not the logic has become 0. If it is determined that the access to the homepage has not been completed yet, the process proceeds to step S47, and the control circuit 13 determines whether or not the time counted by the timer started in step S45 has reached a predetermined time set in advance. judge. If the predetermined time has not yet been counted, the process returns to step S46, and steps S46 and S4 are performed until the predetermined time has elapsed.
7 is repeatedly executed.

When the timer started in step S45 is
When it is determined in step S47 that the predetermined time has been measured, the process proceeds to step S48, where the control circuit 13 controls the display source switching circuit 17 so that the tuner 12 receives and outputs Switch to the television screen. This allows, for example,
When the access time is longer than 10 seconds, the access screen is switched to the television screen. However, in this case, the control circuit 13 controls the graphics circuit 18 to generate, for example, a text “Now being accessed” and output it to the video signal converter 16.
This is converted into a video signal. Then, the display source switching circuit 17 is controlled so that the image of this message is superimposed on the image output from the tuner 12 and output to the video monitor 19. Thereby, even if the image is switched to the television screen, the user can know that the access is currently being performed, so that it is possible to prevent the erroneous recognition that the access operation has been interrupted.

If it is determined in step S46 that the access to the homepage has been completed, that is, if at least one page of image data of the homepage has been received, the logic of the access status is returned to 0. The control circuit 13 proceeds to step S49 to control the display source switching circuit 17 to select an image of the homepage and display it on the video monitor 19.
That is, the homepage data output from the homepage access circuit 15 is supplied to the video signal conversion device 16, converted into a video signal, and displayed on the video monitor 19 via the display source switching circuit 17.

As described above, according to the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, when the access to the homepage is completed before, for example, 10 seconds have elapsed, the access screen is immediately switched to the homepage screen. On the other hand, if it takes 10 seconds or more to complete the access, the access screen is temporarily switched to the television screen, and when the access is completed, the screen is switched to the home page screen. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the screen from becoming difficult to see.

According to the processing of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the image of the homepage is displayed until the access to the homepage is completed (until at least one page of complete homepage data is received). Never. However, some users want to see the homepage screen as soon as possible, even in an incomplete state. Therefore, FIG.
In the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, even such an incomplete homepage can be viewed.

That is, the processing of steps S61 to S70 in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is basically the same as the processing of steps S41 to S49 in the flowchart of FIG. However, Step S64 (Step S44 in FIG. 4) and Step S66 (Step S4 in FIG. 4)
The point that step S65 is inserted during 5) is different from the case in FIG. That is, in this embodiment, the user operates a predetermined key of the input unit 14 to turn on or off the automatic switching function.
When it is determined in step S64 that access to the homepage has been started, the control circuit 13 proceeds to step S65 and determines whether or not the automatic switching function has been turned on. When it is determined that the automatic switching function is turned on, the processing of steps S66 to S70 is performed. The processing in this case is substantially the same as the processing of steps S46 to S49 in FIG.

On the other hand, in step S65,
When it is determined that the automatic switching function is not turned on (when it is determined that the automatic switching function is turned off), step S70 is performed.
The processing for displaying the home page on the video monitor 19 is performed. That is, when the automatic switching function is not turned on, the control circuit 13 proceeds to step S6.
When it is determined in step 4 that the access to the homepage has been started, the display source switching circuit 17 is controlled to immediately select the homepage data supplied from the video signal conversion device 16, output it to the video monitor 19, and display it. . As a result, when the image data of the homepage is gradually sent, the screen of the incomplete homepage gradually changes to the screen of the full homepage corresponding to the sent state, Can be viewed on the video monitor 19.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a video monitor 19 for displaying an image corresponding to a television signal received by the tuner 12 is basically used as a monitor. It is also possible to use a monitor that displays an image for use. FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of a television receiver in this case. In the figure, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. That is, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, the video signal output from the tuner 12 is input to the graphics circuit 18, converted into VGA data, and then supplied to the display source switching circuit 17.
Since the homepage data output by the homepage access circuit 15 is also VGA data, the display source switching circuit 17 selects one of them and outputs it to the computer monitor 31 for display. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the same processing as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 can be performed.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the case where the present invention is applied to a television receiver, the present invention can also be applied to a television signal receiving apparatus such as a television tuner having a separate monitor. It is.

[0039]

As described above, according to the television signal receiving apparatus according to the first aspect and the television signal receiving method according to the fifth aspect, the access to the homepage ends after the access to the homepage starts. Until
Since the television signal is selected, it is possible to prevent the television program screen from being missed until the homepage screen is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a television receiver to which a television signal receiving device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an access status output process in a homepage access circuit 15 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a display source switching process in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a display source switching process in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a display source switching process in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration example of a television receiver to which the television signal receiving device of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 tuners, 13 control circuits, 14 input units,
15 homepage access circuit, 16 video signal converter, 17 display source switching circuit, 18
Graphics circuit, 19 video monitor, 31
Computer monitor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A receiving means for receiving a television signal, an access means for accessing a homepage via a network and receiving transmitted homepage data, and an access screen for accessing the homepage. Generating means for generating data; a television signal received by the receiving means; selecting means for selecting and outputting homepage data or access screen data accessed and received by the access means; and Detecting means for detecting the access to the homepage, and control means for controlling the selecting means, and for selecting the television signal during a period from the start of the access to the homepage to the end of the access to the homepage. A television signal receiving device. 2. The television signal receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means causes said selecting means to select said television signal when access to said homepage is started. 3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the selection unit to select the television signal when a predetermined time has elapsed after the access to the homepage has been started. The television signal receiving device according to the above. 4. A mode in which the control means causes the selection means to select the television signal when the access to the home page is started, and a predetermined time after the access to the home page is started. 2. The television signal receiving apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a switching unit configured to switch between a mode in which the television signal is selected when the time has elapsed. 5. A receiving step of receiving a television signal, an accessing step of accessing a homepage via a network and receiving transmitted homepage data, and an access screen for accessing the homepage. A generation step of generating data; a television signal received by the reception step; a homepage data received or accessed by the access step; and a selection step of selecting and outputting data of the homepage or the access screen data; and a homepage to the homepage. And a control step of controlling the selection in the selection step, and selecting the television signal during a period from the start of access to the homepage to the end of access to the homepage. Television signal receiving method characterized by.