JPH10191164A - Broadcast aid system and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To progress the framework even when a video effect is operated by a person in a system where the control of news transmission is automatically executed by using an electronic cue sheet. SOLUTION: A framework A of a succeeding framework is set to a NEXT column in an S1 and when a current framework Z is changed into the framework A, an effect is set to an on-air column. When a TAKE button is depressed in an S2, the effect is started in an S3. The end of the effect is detected by checking a status of a switcher in an S4 and an S5. In this case, the end of effect is detected by a change of a tarry signal outputted from the switcher. For example, the inversion of a cross point between the frameworks Z, A in the NEXT column and the on-air column is detected when the effect is finished. When the effect is finished, the contents of the NEXT column are copied to the on-air column in a step S6 and a succeeding framework is set to the NEXT column in a step S7. Since the end of the effect is, detected by using the tarry signal the framework is progressed even when the operation of the video effect is executed by a person.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a broadcasting station and the like.
For example, the present invention relates to a broadcast support system and method capable of simultaneously performing real-time control by human operation when transmitting news based on contents set in advance by an electronic cue sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, broadcasting of a news program at a broadcasting station has been carried out by a plurality of engineers working together, mainly by a director. For example, for a program whose broadcast time is relatively short, a document is created in which the switching of screens, various video effects, and the timings at which the sound effects are entered are simply described for the announcer's original. Then, based on this document, a signal is issued from the director to the engineer in accordance with the reading of the announcer, and an operation for performing the effect described in the document is performed.

[0003] In this operation, since various types of equipment such as a video camera, a VTR, and a switcher for switching effects for a large number of input / output systems and images are performed in a studio in parallel, a director and an engineer operate between the director and the engineer. I needed to breathe. This method has an advantage that a subtle effect can be obtained because the operation is performed manually, but requires a large number of skilled engineers.

[0004] On the other hand, there is also a transmission system in which all operations are performed by a single director due to a demand for reduction of the number of engineers. In this case, the necessary equipment in the studio is controlled, for example, by a transmission control computer. This control is performed based on an electronic cue sheet, which is a computerized cue sheet indicating the control of transmission which has been used conventionally.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the electronic cue sheet. In this figure, a program name display area 1
10, a broadcast date and time display area 111 is arranged, a scheduled start time display area 112 for each item is arranged below the area, and a breakdown display area 113 for displaying a breakdown of each program item is arranged below the area. Is done. The breakdown of each program item is displayed in the order of the items registered in the item table indicating the configuration of the entire program.

More specifically, an item time display area 114 of each item is arranged at the top of the breakdown display area 113, and an item name display area 115 is arranged at the bottom of the area.
The item number display area 116 is arranged at the bottom. Then, the item name display area 115 and the item number display area 1
A display area for a large number of items related to a frame constituting each item is arranged between the display areas. Items related to the time frame are:
A background video type, an effect type, a title of a character superimposition, and three types of audio. At the right end of the cue sheet, there is arranged an area 117 in which items related to the items constituting the program, for example, item numbers, item names, and item times are displayed as a list.

[0007] The electronic cue sheet is read by the transmission control computer. This sending control computer has
A button called “TAKE button” is connected together with other devices. When the TAKE button is pressed by the director or the like, the item of the electronic cue sheet is advanced by one. For example, in FIG. 13, when the TAKE button is pressed at the end of the transmission of the content indicated by the item number 3, it is transmitted to the transmission control computer to that effect. Then, the sending control computer advances the item number from No. 3 to No. 4, and sends a control signal based on the cue sheet to each device. By this control signal, for example, the switching of screens, the video effect and the sound effect at the time of switching, and the setting of the material to be transmitted next are performed in each device.

Thus, by using the electronic cue sheet, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, a point at which the "reading" of the announcer is divided, a point at which the scheduled time of the VTR image ends, and CG (computer graphic)
The TAKE button is pressed at the point where the "reading" in accordance with is finished, whereby the configuration is automatically advanced and the transmission is controlled.

[0009]

The above-mentioned T
The operation by the AKE button is performed separately from the operation of switching the image and the effect by the switcher, the operation of the audio mixer, and the like. These operations are automatically controlled with the operation of the TAKE button according to the conditions set by the electronic cue sheet, as described above. For example, VTR
When the transition from video to CG is set to apply a video effect such as mix or wipe, when the TAKE button is pressed, the switcher is automatically set so that this effect ends in a preset time. Controlled.

Further, in the ordinary transmission system, in addition to the setting and control of the switcher and the mixer for the configuration currently in progress, the preparation for the switcher and the mixer of the configuration to be transmitted next is performed in parallel. Done.

In the method using the electronic cue sheet,
By pressing the TAKE button, the transmission equipment is automatically controlled. For example, it is possible for only one director to transmit news, which is very reasonable in terms of labor saving. However, with this method, the end of the effect is set by time,
For example, there is a problem that it is difficult to perform a process of manually operating an image effect portion according to an emotion at that time in order to express an emotional image.

Further, a conventional system that supports only the control of the preparation of the device for the next transmission item, while valuing the "breathing" of the human beings, that is, the timing of the people operating the device, etc. When trying to provide, there was a problem that it was difficult to operate the TAKE button.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a broadcast support system and a broadcast support system which can automatically advance the news transmission using an electronic cue sheet, so that the configuration can be advanced even if a person operates a video effect. It is to provide a method.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a broadcast support system which supports the transmission of programs such as news by automatically controlling each transmission device using an electronic cue sheet. An electronic cue sheet composed of configuration assembly information representing the assembly of a program configuration and setting information necessary for executing the configuration assembly, and a difference for detecting a difference between configuration settings before and after a transition point of the configuration being assembled. Detecting means, a signal detecting means for detecting a signal indicating whether a predetermined material is used in the configuration, a configuration end detecting means for detecting the end of the configuration from the output of the difference detecting means and the output of the signal detecting means, And a preparation for the next configuration is performed based on the detection result of the configuration end detection means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast support method for supporting transmission of a program such as news by automatically controlling each transmission device using an electronic cue sheet. An electronic cue sheet including configuration assembly information representing the assembly of the configuration and setting information necessary for performing the configuration assembly, and a difference detection step of detecting a difference between configuration settings before and after a transition point of the configuration during the configuration assembly. A signal detection step of detecting a signal indicating whether a predetermined material is used in the configuration;
A configuration end detection step of detecting the end of the configuration from the output of the difference detection step and the output of the signal detection step, and preparing for the next configuration based on the detection result of the configuration end detection step. This is a feature of the broadcasting support method.

As described above, according to the present invention, the end of the configuration is detected based on the difference between the configuration settings before and after the transition point of the configuration and the signal indicating whether a predetermined material is used for the configuration. Therefore, even in the case where the end of the configuration is determined based on a human operation without depending on the electronic cue sheet, the next configuration can be prepared, and the configuration can be advanced.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, an outline of a news production system to which the present invention can be applied will be described with reference to FIG. For example, a news gathering management terminal 2 that manages information related to news gathering for a network 1 that is a LAN (Local Area Network) using Ethernet, and an audio / video (A / V) server that manages an A / V on-air server 13 described below. Terminal 3, cue sheet terminal for creating cue sheet 4,
Various terminal devices such as a transmission control terminal 5, which controls a transmission control device such as a switcher 14, which will be described later, and a desk terminal 6, which generates an item configuration table and a program item table, are connected. Each of these various terminal devices 2 to 6 is composed of, for example, a personal computer, and a plurality of terminal devices are installed as necessary.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a configuration common to the various terminal devices 2 to 6. The CPU 21 and the RA
M22 and ROM 30 are connected. These may be connected, for example, via a predetermined bridge circuit (not shown). A hard disk (HDD) 23 and a monitor 24 are connected to the bus 20 via respective predetermined interfaces. Keyboard 27, mouse 28, or floppy disk drive (FD
D) Data input / output means such as 29 is connected to the bus 20 via the input / output controller 26. In addition, bus 20
Is connected to an external network or the like via a predetermined interface 25.

The keyboard 27, mouse 28, or F
Data is input from the DD 29 by the user.
The input data is temporarily stored in, for example, the RAM 22, and the stored data is read out by the CPU 21 and processed according to the program. The processing result is displayed on the monitor 24, for example, and is stored in the HDD 23 or the RAM 22. Also, the interface 25
By transmitting data to an external network using a predetermined protocol via the Internet, it is possible to control external devices and the like. Further, data transmitted from outside via the interface 25 can be received.

The network 1 is connected to a database server 7 for storing information relating to the entire system, for example, a personal computer, and a non-linear editing machine 8 for non-linearly editing A / V materials stored on a hard disk or the like. Is done. Further, the network 1 is connected via a gateway 9 to a location different from the network 1, for example, another network 10 constructed in another company, a CG center 11 for creating computer graphics (CG), and the like.

A news gathering plan table is sent out from the in-company network 10 and supplied to the news gathering management terminal 2. This report schedule table can also be created directly on the report management terminal 2. Further, it is also possible to obtain it by extracting it from the database server 7. The news gathering management terminal 2 browses the news gathering plan table, and creates, for example, a news gathering schedule for the day.

At the desk terminal 6, an item configuration table and a program item table are created. These tables can be created by referring to existing data stored in the database server 7. The created item configuration table and program item table are supplied to the cue sheet terminal 4 via the network 1. The cue sheet terminal 4 creates a cue sheet based on these supplied tables. Part of the creation of the cue sheet can be performed automatically. The created cue sheet is supplied to the transmission control terminal 5 via the network 1. In the transmission control terminal 5, based on the supplied cue sheet, the switcher 14
For example, a play list for controlling a transmission control device such as a transmission control device is created.

For the transmission control terminal 5, for example, RS-4
The switcher 14, other sending devices (not shown), and a TAKE button (not shown) to be described later are connected by a serial interface such as 22. These connected devices are controlled based on a control signal from the transmission control terminal 5.

The A / V material used for transmission is, for example, a video tape 12 collected externally by a VTR.
Recorded and supplied. The supplied A / V material is A / V
It is stored in the A / V on-air server 13 managed by the V server management terminal 3. Also, this A / V on-air server 1
The A / V material stored in 3 is taken out as needed and supplied to the nonlinear editing machine 8. Then, the edited A / V material is supplied to the A / V on-air server 13 and stored therein.

The supply of the A / V material can be performed by, for example, temporarily storing the material sent by a video tape or via a predetermined line in an input server (not shown). As for the A / V material in the input server, it is possible to extract a desired A / V material with reference to a coverage schedule created by the coverage management terminal 2. The extracted A / V material is
For example, it is edited by the non-linear editing machine 8 and stored in the A / V on-air server 13. In addition, for example, linear editing is performed with a tape-to-tape, and the edited video tape material is stored in the A / V on-air server 13.

The A / V material to be transmitted is switched or combined by the switcher 14. The switcher 14 has, for example, an A / V server 15 having a relatively small size, and the A / V on-air server 13 and the CG center 1.
1 supplies A / V material and image data. And
The supplied A / V material and image data are subjected to predetermined effect processing, switching operation, or combination processing, and are transmitted to, for example, LOCAL or NET in the figure. Here, for example, LOCAL indicates transmission to the transmission equipment of the own station, and NET indicates transmission to another station via the master room (both are not shown).

The network printer 16 prints out the printout output from each of the terminal devices 2 to 6 described above. Thereby, for example, a report schedule table, a program item table, an item configuration table, and a program configuration table described later are printed.

In the present invention, automatic control of each sending device is performed based on the control of the switcher 14. Thus, for example, when news is transmitted, even one person in charge of the operation of the switcher 14 can control each transmission device.

As schematically shown in FIG. 3, based on the setting information of the switcher 14 in each of the configuration n currently being transmitted and the configuration n + 1 to be transmitted next, a material which is in the configuration n but not in the configuration n + 1 is extracted. locate. With it
By detecting a change in the tally signal output from the switcher 14, the end of the operation of the switcher 14 is detected.
Based on this detection result, it is determined that this operation is an operation that crosses the configuration, that is, an operation that advances the program item by one in the electronic cue sheet, and the setting of the configuration to be transmitted next is subsequently executed.

FIG. 4 shows schematically the main parts of the system according to the invention. As can be seen, this consists of the transmission control terminal 5 in FIG. 1 described above and a transmission device connected to this terminal. That is, the TAKE button 35, the switcher (and the mixer) 14, and the other sending device 36 are connected to the sending control terminal 5 by, for example, a serial interface.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the main operation unit of the switcher 14. The switcher 14 has a plurality of input / output channels for video materials, and is configured such that an input channel can be selected for each of the output channels by a switch operation. At this time, two input channels can be selected for one output channel, and a video effect between these two input channels can be applied with a video effect such as mix, wipe, and fade-in / fade-out. The control such as selection and image effect in the switcher 14 is automatically performed by the transmission control terminal 5 based on, for example, a playlist (cue sheet). At the same time, the selection and control of the video effect can be performed manually.

In the example shown in FIG.
Has 16 channels for the input system and 3 channels for the output system. The output channels are, from the top, an M / E1 column for selecting the next transmission content (referred to as a NEXT column) and a current transmission content (on-air column). M / E2 to select
Column and a P / P column for selecting a transmission system. Each of these M / E1 column, M / E2 column, and P / P column has two input systems, BKGD-A which is a column for sending out, and BKGD-B which is a column for the next image. A predetermined video effect can be applied between them. The control of the video effect is performed by operating levers called faders provided in fader units 40, 41, and 42 provided on the right side of the switches. The settings such as the type of the video effect are also set in the faders 40, 41, and 42.

Each input channel and each output channel cross each other to form a cross point. In each row, a switch for selecting the cross point is provided corresponding to the channel. That is, by selecting a certain cross point, a predetermined input channel and a predetermined output channel are connected.

When a certain cross point is selected in the switcher 14, for example, the corresponding switch is turned on, and the selected position is displayed. At this time, for example, when the video is actually transmitted to the selected channel, the video is lit brightly. When the video is not transmitted, the video is lit darkly, so that the states of the two can be determined. Also, a signal (referred to as a tally signal) from the switcher 14 indicating whether the input video is used in the output video.
Is output. The tally signal is usually sent to each device such as a video camera corresponding to an input channel, for example, to notify that the video signal output from the device is currently being used. The tally signal is ORed with respect to the vertical direction of each cross point, that is, output in correspondence with each input channel, and is turned ON when the video input to the channel is used.

In the switcher 14, each of these columns can select another output system as an input channel. In this example, another output system can be selected by the two rightmost switches in each column.

Hereinafter, the transmission control of, for example, a news program in the system according to the present invention will be described. Here, it is assumed that the configuration A is transmitted next to the configuration Z, and the configuration B is transmitted next to the configuration Z. Also, the configuration Z
When a transition is made to the configuration A, a predetermined video effect, for example, a mix process is performed. FIG. 6 shows the transition of each column based on the cue sheet when performing such transmission control. In this figure, the time elapses to the right. Each of the configurations A, B, and Z corresponds to an image input to a predetermined input channel of the switcher 14.

In the M / E2 row which is an on-air row, the configuration Z is selected up to the point C which is the in point of the configuration A, and the configuration A is selected from the point D. In addition, during the transition from the point C to the point D, a predetermined effect is applied to the configuration Z, and the conversion to the configuration A is gradually performed. On the other hand, M / E1 which is a NEXT sequence
In the row, the next configuration in the M / E2 row is selected, and at point B where the configuration Z is selected in the on-air row, the next configuration, configuration A, is selected. Similarly, at point E, the next configuration, configuration B, is selected. P / P which is switcher output
In the row, the M / E2 row is selected, but between the points C and D, the M / E1 row and the M / E2 row are mixed and selected by a predetermined effect, for example, a wipe effect.

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart when such control and operation are performed, and FIGS. 8 to 12 show an example of a change in the state of the switcher 14 accompanying this flow chart. In FIGS. 8 to 12, a switch filled in black indicates that the image is on air, and a switch indicated by diagonal lines indicates that the image is selected but the image is not used. . The operation of the switcher 14 is performed, for example, using the director as an operator.

First, in step S1, the configuration A is M / E1
Set to column. Also, if the effect is added,
The effect is set in the M / E section of the M / E2 column. That is, the effect is set in the fader section 41 and the M / E
Two rows of M / E sections are selected. This step S1 corresponds to the above-mentioned point B in FIG. FIG. 8 shows the state of the switcher 14 at this time. BKGD of M / E1 row
In -A, the cross point corresponding to the configuration A is selected. In row M / E2, BKGD-A has configuration Z
Is selected and turned on. Further, the M / E1 column is selected as the BKGD-B column. In the BKGD-A of the P / P column, the M / E2 column is selected, and the video of this column is output.

In the next step S2, the TAKE button 20 is pressed to advance the configuration (point C in FIG. 6). Alternatively, the fader is manually operated. T
When the AKE button 20 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S3, where the image effect set in step S1 is activated, and the image in the M / E1 row is turned on for the image effect. When an operator operates a corresponding fader, a video effect is similarly activated. FIG.
Indicates a state in which the image in the M / E1 column is on air, and the image effect is activated.

In order to proceed with the configuration, step S3
It is necessary to detect the end of the video effect started by the. In the present invention, this detection is performed by checking the status of the switcher 14. That is, in the M / E2 column, processing called a flip-flop is performed at the end of the video effect, and at the end of the video effect, the BKGD-A column and the BKGD-B column of the corresponding column are reversed. In this example, as shown in FIG. 10, the configuration Z, which is the previous configuration, is BKGD until the video effect ends.
-A, and the following configuration A is BKGD-B. However, when the video effect ends, these are reversed, configuration Z is BKGD-B, and configuration A is BKGD-B.
A. At this time, the tally information based on the tally signal changes. This tally information is supplied to the transmission control terminal 5.

On the other hand, at the transmission control terminal 5, the material used for the currently transmitted video and the video material used for the next transmission are known. Therefore, the terminal 5
In this case, if there is a change in the tally output of which material, it is possible to determine whether or not the configuration has advanced. More specifically, in the terminal 5, for example, by referring to a cue sheet, material inputs used in the preceding and following configurations are compared, and a material that is in the previous configuration but not in the subsequent configuration is found out. In this case, it is conceivable that a plurality of changes in the material occur simultaneously. Therefore, the terminal 5 monitors the tally information of these materials and turns off all the corresponding tally signals.
, It is determined that the previous configuration has been completed.

It should be noted that some of the video effects are such that only a material not present in the previous configuration is added.
In this case, the movement of the fader for controlling the effect is monitored along with the change of the tally information resulting from the effect. Then, for example, by detecting that the fader has reached either end, the end of the operation for the video effect processing is detected.

Thus, steps S4 and S
When the end of the effect is detected in step 5, it is determined that the configuration has been completed, and the process proceeds to the next step S6, where the configuration is advanced. In this step S6, as shown in FIG.
The contents of the M / E1 column are copied to the M / E2 column, and are used as the current transmission contents. This corresponds to point D in FIG. 6 described above. At this time, the setting contents are automatically copied along with the transition of the processing. Then, E of FIG.
In step S7 corresponding to the point, the next configuration, configuration B
Are set for the M / E1 column, and the next configuration is prepared (FIG. 12).

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, the end of the video effect is detected based on the status information of the switcher obtained by the tally signal.
Even in a system in which a sending device is automatically controlled using an electronic cue sheet, there is an effect that the end of the video effect by a human operation can be detected and the configuration can be advanced automatically.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to apply a video effect according to the operator's emotion at that time.
There is an effect that the effect between the configurations does not become uniform.

Further, according to the present invention, the end of the video effect is detected by using the conventionally used tally signal. There is an effect that can be introduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a news production system to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration common to various terminal devices.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an outline of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a main part of a system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a main operation unit of the switcher.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing transition of each column based on a cue sheet during transmission control.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining processing according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a change in the state of a switcher.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a change in the state of the switcher.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a change in a state of a switcher.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a change in the state of a switcher.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a change in the state of a switcher.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an electronic cue sheet.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of transmission control using a conventional electronic cue sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 ... transmission control terminal, 14 ... switcher, 40,
41, 42 ... fader section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A broadcast support system for supporting the transmission of a program such as news by automatically controlling each transmission device using an electronic cue sheet. In the broadcast support system, configuration assembly information representing the assembly of a program configuration and execution of the configuration assembly An electronic cue sheet including setting information necessary for the configuration, difference detecting means for detecting a difference between configuration settings before and after a transition point of the configuration during the configuration assembling, and whether a predetermined material is used for the configuration. Signal detection means for detecting a signal indicating the following, and configuration end detection means for detecting the end of the configuration from the output of the difference detection means and the output of the signal detection means, and the detection result of the configuration end detection means A broadcast support system for preparing the following configuration based on the following. 2. The broadcast support system according to claim 1, wherein the signal indicating whether the predetermined material is used is a tally signal. 3. The broadcast support system according to claim 1, wherein the configuration end detection means further detects the end of the configuration based on a fader position. 4. A broadcast support method for supporting transmission of a program such as news by automatically controlling each transmission device using an electronic cue sheet, comprising: configuration assembly information representing a configuration of a program configuration; and execution of the configuration assembly. An electronic cue sheet including setting information necessary for the configuration, a difference detection step for detecting a difference between configuration settings before and after a transition point of the configuration during the configuration assembly, and whether a predetermined material is used for the configuration. A signal detection step for detecting a signal indicating whether the configuration has been completed, and a configuration end detection step for detecting the end of the configuration from the output of the difference detection step and the output of the signal detection step. A broadcast support method comprising preparing the following configuration based on a detection result in a detection step.