MXPA96005551A - System that provides freezing details cerr - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to television apparatus that receives an input signal that includes video information, audio information associated with the video information and data representing the audio information, the television apparatus comprising: control means for processing the data included in the input signal to produce a first video signal component representing a visible representation of the audio information associated with the video information, and a signal processor for processing the video information included in the signal input to produce a second video signal component and to combine the first and second video signal components to produce an output video signal that includes the first and second video signal components; is suitable for coupling to a deployment device to produce a deployed image having a first region which displays the visible representation of the audio information associated with the video information and which has a second region that displays the video information included in the input signal, the visible representation of the audio information that is updated in response to the data during a first mode of operation of the television set, the control means responding to an order code provided by a user to selectively activate a second mode of operation of the television set during which the output video signal includes the first and second video signal components for producing the first and second regions of the image, and during which the updating of the visible representation of the audio information associated with the video information in response to the information is avoided; wherein the control means comprises a decoder for extracting the data from the input signal, and a The second signal processor receives the data extracted from the input signal during the first mode of operation to modify the first video signal component in response to the data received from the decoder to update the visible representation of the portion of the audio; the control means responsive to the order code to prevent the second signal processor from modifying the first video signal component during the second mode of operation of the television set;

Description

SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES FREEZING CLOSED SUBTITULATION DATA The present invention relates to systems for processing auxiliary information, such as closed subtitling data, which are included in a television signal. In addition to the portions of the video and audio program of a television program, the television signals include auxiliary information. An analog television signal as a television signal of the NTSC standard includes auxiliary data during horizontal line intervals within the unfilled vertical range. An example is closed captioning data that is included in line 21 of field 1. Digital television signals typically include packets, or groups, of data words. Each packet represents a particular type of information such as audio video and auxiliary information. An example of a digital television system that processes a digital television signal in a package is the DSS ™ (Digital Satellite System) manufactured by Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana. Either the analog or digital system, a video receiver processes both the video information and the auxiliary information in an input signal to produce an output signal that is suitable for coupling to a visual display device such as a kinescope. Enabling a visual display feature of auxiliary information, such as closed captioning, causes a television receiver to produce an output video signal that includes a signal component representing video information and another signal component representing the information assistant. An exhibited image produced in response to the output video signal includes a main image region representing the video information component of the output signal and a smaller image region that is placed inside the main region of the visual display . In the case of closed captioning, a legend displayed in the small region provides a visible representation of the audio information, such as voice, which is included in the audio portion of the program of a television program. In addition to processing auxiliary information, television systems may also include an image feature in the image that, when enabled, displays a small image (pix) representing a first video signal simultaneously with a second large video signal. , or main. The small image typically changes as video information in the first changes of the video signal, but certain systems include a freeze feature that prevents the small image image from changing. The non-video portions of the television signal such as the audio program and the closed captioning information are processed separately from the video and are not affected by the activation of a small image freezing feature. One aspect of the present invention involves recognizing that it may be desirable to prevent visual display of auxiliary information, such as closed captioning, from being modified in response to auxiliary information in the television input signal. For example, a subtitle may include a telephone number and a user may wish to prevent the subtitling from changing while copying the telephone number. Another aspect of the invention involves providing a system for solving the described problem. The system responds to an input signal that includes video information, audio information, and data that represents a portion of the audio information to generate a convenient output signal to be coupled to a display device to produce an image having * first and second regions. The second region occurs in response to the data included in the input signal to provide a visible representation of the portion of the audio information represented by the data included in the input signal. The system responds to a command code provided by a user to avoid updating the visible representation as a response to the data. Another aspect of the invention involves a system that provides selection among a plurality of modes of operation of the system. Each mode of operation involves processing an input signal having a plurality of signal components to provide a convenient output signal to produce an image having a plurality of regions. The image in each region is updated in response to the respective plurality of signal components. Each mode of operation prevents the updating of at least one of the regions. The invention can be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a television system embodying principles of the invention: Figure 2 illustrates a television display displaying an aspect of the invention . Figure 3 shows, in block diagram form, a more detailed representation of a portion of the television system shown in Figure 1; Figure 4 shows a flow diagram illustrating modes of operation of the system shown in Figure 1;; and Figure 5 shows, in the form of a block diagram, a modality of another system incorporating principles of the invention.

An exemplary television receiver shown in Figure 1 includes an input terminal 100 that receives radio frequency (RF) television signals, for example, from an antenna or cable, and applies them to a tuner assembly 105. The tuner assembly 105 selects and amplifies a particular radio frequency signal in response to controller control signals 110. As used herein, the terms "controller", "control processor", "microprocessor" (or μP), and "microcomputer" (or μC) are equivalent and refer to devices, whether in the form of an integrated circuit (IC) or not, which provide a control function. In Figure 1, the controller 110 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 111, a read-only memory ROM 114 and a random access memory RAM 116 interconnected via bus 111 and operating in a manner typical of microcomputers such as integrated circuit ST9 manufactured by SGS Thomson, Inc. The central processing unit 112 in the microcomputer 110 generates control signals for the system in response to software instructions stored in the read-only memory 114 and the electrically erasable programmable and read-only memory EEPROM 127 and in response to command codes provided by the user that are generated by the activation of "local" keypad keys 120, for example, mounted on the front panel of the television receiver, and of the infrared (IR) remote control 125. The controller 110 receives command codes of the infrared remote control 125 via infrared receiver 122. Control signals generated by controller 110 are communicated to other devices in the system as a tuner 105, via a control busbar represented by the path labeled CTRL_BUS in Figure 1. A Typical implementation of the busbar shown in Figure 1 is a two-wire serial bus based on the Inter-Integrated Circuit busbar protocol (IIC or I2C) supported by Philips. When a user chooses a particular television channel by activating either the keypad 120 or the remote control 125, the controller 110 produces a control signal in the busbar CTRL_BUS which causes the tuner 105 to tune the radio frequency signal of the selected channel. The tuner 105 produces an intermediate frequency (IF) signal corresponding to the tuned channel. The intermediate frequency processor 130 includes circuits such as an intermediate frequency video amplification stage (VIF), an AFT circuit, a video detector, and an intermediate frequency sound amplification (SIF) stage for processing the signal of intermediate frequency to produce the VIDEO baseband composite video signal and the AUDIO sound carrier signal. The audio signal processor 135 includes an audio detector and a stereo decoder that processes the AUDIO signal to produce a first baseband audio signal convenient for driving the speaker unit 136. The AUDIO IN signal represents a second audio signal. baseband audio supplied by an external source, for example, a video cassette recorder (VCR) that is coupled to the audio processor 135 through the AUDIO IN 101 terminal. Also included in the audio processor 135 is a switch (not shown in Figure 1) that couples one of the first and second baseband audio signals to the loudspeaker unit 136 under the control of the controller 110. The exemplary television receiver shown in Figure 1 includes image processing capability (pix in pix or PIP) to display a small image (small pix) representing a video signal in a portion of a larger image or main (large pix) that represents a second video signal. More specifically, the system shown in Figure 1 includes image processing features in the image comprising the video switch 140, the image processor in the image 141 and the random access memory 145. The composite video VIDEO signal of baseband is applied from the intermediate frequency processor 130 to an input of the video switch 140. A second signal of video composed of a VIDEO IN baseband from an external source such as a video cassette recorder is coupled to a second input of the switch 140 via the terminal 102. In response to the control signals received from the controller 110 via the bar CTRL_BUS collector, switch 140 couples one of the VIDEO and VIDEO IN baseband signals to the path labeled LPV (large pix image video) and the other baseband signal to the path labeled SPV (small pix image video) ). When the image feature is activated in the image, for example, a user presses the "image in image" key on a remote control 125, the image processor in image 141 combines the large image video signals with image video. small so that the PVID signal produced by the processor 141 represents the small image video signal during intervals when the small image is to be displayed and represents the large image video signal at other times, i.e., when the large image it will be displayed visually. The large image video signal is coupled with the PVID signal continuously * when the image processing in the image is disabled. The image processor in the image 141 includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) and filters that converted small image video signal to digital data representing the small image. The data is stored in the random access memory 145. When the small image is to be displayed, the stored data is read from the random access memory 145, converted to a small analog image signal via a digital-to-analog converter ( DAC) included in the image processor in image 141 and inserted in the PVID signal. The synchronization circuits in the image processor in the image 141 synchronize the insertion of the small image signal in the PVID signal with the large image signal so as to include the small image in the appropriate portion of a large image display. The synchronization circuits operate in response to a synchronization signal SYNC of the synchronization separator 160 which indicates when horizontal visual display intervals are present in the large image video signal. The PVID signal of the image processor within the image 141 is processed by the video signal processor 155 to produce output signals of red, green and blue (R, G and B) which are convenient for coupling to a deployment device of image. The processing in the processor 155 includes features of chrominance control and automatic luminance and user-controlled features such as contrast and brightness control. The red, green and blue signals produced by the processor 155 are amplified to appropriate high voltage voltages by kinescope actuator amplifiers 156 before being coupled to the kinescope 158 to display the desired image. The visual display in the kinescope 158 is controlled by the vertical and horizontal deflection signals VR and HR, respectively, which are coupled to the kinescope coils 158. The deviation unit 170 produces HR and VR signals in response to the horizontal synchronization signals. and vertical HS and VS, respectively, which are separated from the synchronization component of the large image video signal composed by the synchronization separator 160. The parts of the system in Figure 1 that have been described thus are known, for example of the CTC-176 color television chassis manufactured by Thomson consumer Electronics, Indianapolis, Indiana. The system shown in Figure 1 also includes ability to display closed captioning according to principles of the invention. More specifically, in addition to producing a closed captioning display, the system provides for "freezing" the closed subtitling display, that is, preventing the display from changing, in response to an order from a user. Figure 2 illustrates a situation in which it might be desirable to freeze a closed caption display. In Figure 2, the television receiver 210 includes a visual display device 220 that reduces a closed subtitle display 240 in one region of the image and a video display 230 in another region of the image. The information included in the closed captioning display 220 comprises a telephone number that a user may wish to save. However, a closed subtitle display changes as the audio portion of a television program changes and the telephone number may disappear before a user can register the number. By activating the freezing feature of the subtitle, for example, by pressing a key on the remote control 125, a user can keep the subtitle display unchanged until the telephone number has been registered. As explained in detail below, the modality shown in Figure 1 provides the closed caption freeze function described via the features of the microcomputer 110 including the closed captioning processor 115, the on-screen display processor (OSD) 117 and the central processing unit 112. The following explanation also refers to Figure 3 which shows portions of the microcomputer 110 in more detail. The same designators in both figures 1 and 3 indicate the same or similar characteristics. The closed captioning data needed to produce a closed caption display is extracted from the large image video signal in Figure 1 by the closed captioning processor 115. The closed captioning processor 115 extracts two bytes of closed subtitling data during the last half of each occurrence of line 21 of field 1, that is, the closed caption data interval. Each data byte represents either an ASCII character to be included in the display or a control code defining attributes of the closed caption display as the place in the image where the subtitle is to be placed. As can be seen in Figure 3, the closed captioning processor 115 includes the data splitter 351, two eight-bit registers 352 and 353 and the control unit 354. A convenient data separator design for implementing the data splitter 351 is described in detail in International Patent Application No. PCT / US 93/07163 (published March 31, 1994 under International Publication No. WO 94/07334) filed July 29, 1993 in the name of Juri Tults. When closed captioning is enabled, the central processing unit 112 - writes control data for a register in the control unit 354 which enables the data separator 351. The synchronization circuit in the data divider 351 responds to the synchronization signals HPLS, VPLS and the synchronization signal component of the large video image signal to determine when the closed captioning interval occurs. During the closed captioning interval, the data splitter 351 produces a series of 16 closed caption data bits from the large video image signal. Each bit is serially changed in the registers 352 and 353 and is produced by the data separator 351. At the end of the closed captioning interval, each of the registers 352 and 353 contains a closed subtitle data byte, when the 16 closed caption data bits have been loaded into the registers 352 and 353, an interrupt flag is placed in the control unit 354 causing the central processing unit 112 to read the bytes of the data from the registers via the busbar 111. The bytes representing characters to be included in the closed caption display are stored in a portion of the random access memory 116 designated CC DATA 316 in Figure 3. The bits representing subtitle control information closed are processed by the central processing unit 112 to provide the information necessary to properly display the closed caption data. After all the characters necessary to form a complete row of the closed captioning display have been received and stored in the random access memory 116, the central processing unit 112 transfers the data from the random access memory 116 to the memory of the random access memory 116. random access 119 in the display display processor 117 via bus 111.

As can be seen in Figure 3, the random access memory 118 is divided into two sections, namely random access memory 371 and random access memory 372. Each section will store a complete row of closed caption character data. The data that is transferred to the random access memory by the central processing unit 112 is written to a section of the random access memory 119, for example, the random access memory 371, which serves as a buffer area while the data is being read from the other section of random access memory 119, for example, direct access memory 372 to display a subtitle row. At the time when all the data in the visual display section of random access memory 119 has been read and displayed, the buffer zone section has been filled with new data. The buffer and visual display zone functions of the sections of the random access memory 119 are exchanged and the next subtitle row is displayed. For example, Figure 3 shows data from the bus bar 111 being written to the random access memory 371 via the node Bl on the "B" side of the switch 373. Thus, the random access memory 371 functions as a buffer zone while that the random access memory 372 is display memory. When the display of a subtitle row is complete, the functions of the random access memory 371 and the random access memory 372 are exchanged by changing the random access memory 371 to the read mode and the random access memory 372 to the write mode . The exchange of the functions of the random access memory is carried out by switching the switch 373 to couple the data of the bus bar 111 to the buffer zone of the random access memory 372 via the node A2 of the switch 373 while data from the random access memory 371 is read for deployment via the node B2. The switch 373 is controlled by the control unit 379 in the display display processor 117. The closed caption character data that is read from the random access memory 371 or the random access memory 372 for display is first coupled to read-only memory 375 which contains a look-up table that provides the display pixel values needed to produce the particular character that is being read from the random access memory. The pixel values are processed by the pixel logic unit 376 to produce digital representations of red, green and blue signals that will produce the required pixel values. The red, green and blue digital signals are converted into red, green and blue analog signals through digital-to-analog converters (DACs) that are included in the on-screen display processor 117. The red, green and blue signals are produced from the microcomputer 110 and coupled to the video signal processor 141 via the path labeled OSD_RGB in Figures 1 and 3. In addition to the red, green and blue analog signals, the display display processor 117 generates a signal control SW_CTRL indicating the intervals during which the screen display processor data will be displayed. A fast switch 1551 in the video signal processor 155 responds to the signal SW_CTRL to couple the red, green and blue output signals of the on-screen display processor to the video processing circuits in the processor 155 during the display intervals of the on-screen display processor. The video processing circuits produce the RGBOUT signals which are coupled to the display device 158 to produce the desired screen display. Other times, for example, during the display intervals of the main image, the switch 1551 decouples the OSD_RGB signals from the RBGOUT path and couples the red, green and blue signals in the PVID path to the RGBOUT signals via the processing circuits Of video. An image representing the video information in the PVID signal is produced as a result. In accordance with principles of the invention, a closed caption display produced by the system in Figures 1 and 3 can be frozen, that is, the closed caption data display continues and does not change in response to new closed captioning data in the large image video signal. The freezing of the closed captioning display is initiated by a user selecting a "closed captioning" mode of operation by, for example, pressing a particular button on the remote control 125. The microcomputer 110 receives the code of the captioned caption order. and the central processing unit 112 responds by executing a "closed captioning" software routine that continues to produce a closed captioning display and sets a bit in an interrupt control register within the central processing unit 112 to mask the signal from interruption of "available data" of the closed captioning processor 115. As a result, the central processing unit 112 ignores closed captioning processor interruptions 115 which indicate that new closed captioning data is available and neither removes closed captioning data nor transfers new subtitle characters tion closed to the random access memories 116 and 119. The exchange of the random access memories 371 and 372 by the action of the switch 373 continues during the freezing mode, but because no new data is written to any access memory At random, closed captioning display does not change during frozen captioning mode, that is, the display is frozen. An alternate approach to freezing the closed captioning display involves preventing the data from changing in the area 316 of the random access memory 116 (see Figure 3) during the frozen caption operation mode. More specifically, the user activation of the frozen subtitling operation mode prevents the central processing unit 112 from transferring new data bytes from the closed captioning processor 115 to the section 316 of the random access memory 116. Thus, the data in Section 316 does not change. The central processing unit 112 continues to transfer data from the random access memory 116 to the random access memory in the on-screen display processor 117 during the freeze mode to provide the data for each row of subtitle closed characters in the display. , however, because the data in the random access memory 316 does not change, the data written in the random access memories 371 and 372 do not change, thereby preventing changes in the closed caption display. In addition to producing closed caption display signals, the display display processor 117 will have signals to display graphics as on-screen menus. Due to the memory capacity 119 in the display display processor 117 is limited, a television receiver like the one shown in Figure 1 does not display both graphics and closed captioning simultaneously. For example, if a closed captioning display is being generated and a user activates a feature that requires displaying a menu, the subtitle display will be disabled while the random access memory 119 is used to generate the menu display. If the caption freeze mode is active when a menu display is activated, there are two options for handling the data corresponding to the frozen subtitle image. First, if the frozen subtitling is generated by preventing the data in the memory 119 from changing as described above, the contents of the memory 119 can be discarded by replacing the closed caption data with menu display data when the menu is activated. When the menu display mode ends, subtitling reappears if subtitling is still enabled (a user may disable subtitling or freezing of captioning while the menu is displayed by selecting an appropriate menu entry). Because the data for the previous subtitling was discarded, the subtitle display contains new closed subtitling data that changes in response to data in the input signal if the caption freeze mode is disabled or freezes if the mode is enabled of freezing. Second, the closed caption data can be transferred from the memory 119 to the random access memory 116 when the menu display is activated, temporarily stored in the random access memory 116 while the menu is displayed and returned to the access memory Random 119 when the menu display finishes. In this way, the frozen subtitling that existed before the menu display started can be restored when the menu is finished. - If subtitling is disabled during the menu display interval, subtitling does not occur when the menu is finished. If freezing of closed captioning is disabled during the menu interval but closed captioning is enabled, the caption display reappears and changes in response to the input signal when the menu interval ends. In addition to freezing closed captioning, a television receiver constructed in accordance with another aspect of the invention provides for selecting one of a plurality of image freezing operation modes. For example, during a first mode of operation, a closed subtitle display is frozen as described above while the main image, for example, a closed caption display freezes as described above while the main image, for example, a television program display continues to be updated in response to the input signal. A second mode of operation involves freezing the main image while the closed subtitling display continues to change. An exemplary approach to freeze the main image is described below, the main image and the subtitle are frozen simultaneously during a third mode of operation. Each freezing operation mode involves preventing one or more regions of a multi-region display from being updated in response to one or more respective signal components of an input signal. Figure 4 shows a flow chart illustrating an approach form to select the options described. The control features shown in Figure 4 can be implemented in software that is executed by the controller 110 in Figure 1 or by a control processor of a digital television receiver. The routine in Figure 4 begins at step 410 where a user selects a freezing operation mode, i.e., only freezing of subtitling, only video freezing, or freezing of video and subtitling, for the system. The selection mode can be carried out by providing the various freeze modes as eligible options in a menu that is displayed in a display apparatus 158 in Figure 1. The menu display and the selection of a desired freeze mode option in the menu can be carried out by activating a key, or keys, in the remote control 125 in Figure 1. The selection of a freezing mode produces a corresponding order code that is processed by a control processor 110 for set freeze mode bit values that indicate the selected mode. A user activates the selected freezing mode by providing a code-of particular order, for example, by pressing a freeze key on the remote control 125 in Figure 1. The order code for freezing activation is detected by the controller 110 in step 412 in the procedure in Figure 4. The system responds to the order code by tipping the freeze state in step 415 which means that video freezing and / or subtitling ceases if it has been active or starts if it has inactive state. Swing of the freeze state can be carried out, for example, when the control processor changes the state of a freeze state bit in response to the code of the freeze order. In step 420, the system determines whether or not the freezing mode is enabled by checking the freeze state, for example, by testing a freeze status flag bit. If freezing is disabled ("NO" in step 420), the normal video and subtitling display is restored in step 480 and the routine is abandoned in step 490. If freezing is enabled ("YES" in step 420), the controller determines the freeze mode selected in step 410 by testing the freeze mode bit values in steps 430 to 440. Step 430 detects whether only the video, ie, the main image, is going to Freeze and, if so, activate the processing of freezing only the video in step 450, followed by the routine that is abandoned in step 490. A negative result in step 430 indicates that only the subtitling should be frozen or that they should be frozen both subtitling and video. Thus, a negative result in step 430 leads to the determination in step 440 of whether only the subtitling will be 'frozen'. If so, the freezing of only subtitling is activated in step 460 followed by the termination of the routine in step 490. If not, step 440 is followed by step 470 where the freezing of both the video and the subtitling before leaving the routine in step 490. Operation modes can be implemented that involve freezing video in the main region of the image including in the system a memory that has sufficient capacity to store digital data representing a video image of full full screen. For example, the capacity of the random access memory 145 in Figure 1 could be such that all the data needed to produce a main image is stored in an area of the read-only memory 145. Other areas of the random access memory 145 store data to produce a closed caption display and to produce a small image when the image in the image is activated. When a user activates freezing of the video by providing the proper command code, the controller 110 sends an order to the processor 141 which prevents it from changing if content of the memory area storing the main image data in response to the video information in the entrance sign. Instead, the stored data is accessed and used repeatedly to produce an image that does not change instead of constantly storing the stored data, and, through this, the image is received as new information, as described above. You can implement freezing of subtitling by avoiding changes in an area of memory that stores data that represents the display of subtitling. Thus, described modes of operation of video freezing can be provided and / or preventing data in one or more areas of the memory from changing in response to the input signal. Although the above discussion has been with respect to systems that process analog television signals, the invention is also applicable to digital television signal processing systems. The system illustrated in Figure 5 represents a portion of a digital signal processing system such as the DSS ™ (digital satellite system) mentioned above that can provide the freeze feature of the video captioning and / or freezing described. In Figure 5, the microcomputer 510 controls the operation of the system in response to command codes provided by the user, for example, via the remote control 515 and the IR receiver 517 in a manner similar to that described above with respect to corresponding characteristics of Figure 1. The digital input signal "DATA IN" includes data representing video and audio information and data as closed caption data representing at least a portion of the audio information. The DATA IN signal is provided by a signal source such as a tuner or video cassette recorder (not shown in Figure 5) and processed by a processor 520, which can be an integrated circuit, stores (writes) data from the DATA IN signal in the static random access memory (SRAM) 540, it accesses (reads) the stored data, and includes the data in the DATA OUT output signal under the control of the controller 510 and the control unit Direct Memory Access (DMA) 524. The DATA IN signal includes "packet" data, that is, the data is accommodated in multi-byte data packets. Each package includes a "header" portion that identifies the contents of the non-header portion, or the "loading" portion of the package. For example, the header may indicate that a packet includes video data to program on channel 5. Other packets include »auxiliary data and audio data such as closed caption data. In Figure 5, the header decoder 522 of the processor 520 decodes the header data to determine how the packet load is processed. For example, header decoder 522 decodes a packet header and determines that a packet includes closed caption data. The header decoder 522 sends a signal to the DMA CTRL 524 unit requesting a closed subtitling data storage operation. The DMA CTRL 524 responds by controlling the multiplexer (MUX) 518 and the bidirectional input-output buffer zone (10) 514 to couple the DATA IN signal with the data entry of the static random access memory 540. The DMA CTRL 524 also provides the address entry to static random access memory 540 via multiplexer 516 for storing closed caption data in an area 541 of static random access memory 540 as shown in Figure 5. Other types of data in the DATA IN signal, as video data, are written to other areas of the random access memory 540 as the area 542. The static random access memory control unit (SRAM CTRL) 512 generates an intermittent read / write signal R / W for the static random access memory 540 to control it when the data is written to the random access memory 540. In addition to storing the received data via the DATA IN signal, the random access memory 540 also stores data generated by the controller 510 for provide on-screen display (OSD) features such as menu and channel number displays. The data stored in the random access memory 540 can be input and output from the processor 520 via the multiplexer 552 and the input buffer zone 554 to produce the DATA OUT signal. A control signal from the DMA CTRL 524 cauthe application control unit 550 to control the multiplexer 552 so that the output of the buffer zone 514 is coupled with the input of the buffer zone 554. The unit 550 it also enables the buffer area 554 to produce data. The DATA OUT signal is used to produce an image in a visual display device such as kinescope 158 in Figure 1. Processor 520 includes a signal component in the DATA OUT signal for each type of data stored in the random access memory 540. A first region of the displayed image is produced in response to the component of the video data signal of the DATA OUT signal. In another region of the image closed captioning is displayed in response to the closed caption signal component of the DATA OUT signal. Modifying data in a particular area of the random access memory 540 affects the corresponding signal component of the DATA OUT signal, thereby modifying the associated region of the display. By preventing the modification of a particular area of the random access memory 540 in response to new input data and at the same time continuing to read and display the data in that area of the memory, it is inhibited to update the corresponding area of the display. Thus, by preventing the modification of the area 541 of the random access memory 540 and at the same time displaying the subtitling, the closed captioning is frozen. Similarly, by preventing the modification of memory area 542, the video image region of the display is frozen. Preventing the modification of regions of the random access memory 540 in response to data in the DATA IN signal is carried out in the mode shown in Figure 5 by the FREEZE control signal (freezing). More specifically, the controller 510 responds to a freeze order code provided by a user, for example, when a freeze button is pressed on the remote control 515, generating the freeze signal indicating that a particular region of the image is going away. to freeze The microinstruction control unit 532, which controls the sequence of operations in the integrated circuit 520, responds to the freezing signal by preventing the direct memory access control unit 524 from initiating a write operation to the corresponding region of the memory random access 540 when a packet is received that includes the particular type of daphi. The reading of data from the random access memory 540 is not affected by the freeze signal allowing the unchanged data in static random access memory 540 to be repeatedly input to produce a frozen image region. Various modifications of the described modalities can be made. For example, the invention may be useful with respect to data such as closed caption data which is included in television signals other than NTSC signals or which are located in horizontal line intervals other than line 21 of field 1 of an NTSC signal. . further, closed captioning processor 115 in Figure 1 is shown included in controller 110 but may be external to controller 110, for example, in a separate integrated circuit or closed subtitling decoder unit. Various functions shown in Figure 1 may also be included as separate blocks in a single integrated television signal processor known as a "platelet". For example, the video signal processor 155, the intermediate frequency processor 130, the synchronization separator 160 and at least a portion of the audio processor 135 may be included in an integrated circuit such as the integrated circuit LA7612 manufactured by Sanyo. Also, selecting an image freezing operation mode as described with respect to Figure 4 can be accomplished by adding one or more freeze mode selection keys to the remote control 125 in Figure 1 instead of selecting a Freeze mode via an expanded menu. Alternatively, each freezing mode could be selected by simultaneously activating a particular combination of keys of the remote control 125. Modifications are also possible in the mode of Figure 5. As an example, the freezing signal, which is shown as a separate signal in the Figure 5, can be communicated from the controller 510 to functions in the processor 520 in a serial control busbar or by the use of mapped memory control techniques. The freeze signal could also be coupled directly to the direct memory access control unit 524 or to the static random access memory control unit 512 to inhibit write operations to the static random access memory 540 instead of the unit control 532 as shown in Figure 5. These and other modifications are intended to be within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (10)

1. A system comprising: elements for processing (105, 110, 130, 140, 141, 155) an input signal (RF_IN) including video information, audio information, and data representing a portion of the audio information for providing a convenient output signal (RGB OUT) for coupling with a visual display device to produce an image having a first region (230) representing a portion of the video information; an element (110) that responds to this data to produce a signal component representing the portion of the audio information, - the input signal processing elements (105, 110, 130, 140, 141, 155) that include the signal component in the output signal (RGB OUT) during a first mode of operation of the system to produce in a second region (240) of the image a visible representation of the portion of the audio information; updating the visible representation in response to said data during the first mode of operation; and characterized in that this system further comprises control elements (112) that respond to an order code provided by a user to activate a second mode of operation of the system during which the output signal includes the component of the signal to produce the second region of the image, and during which the element that produces the component of the signal (110) prevents the updating of the visible representation of the portion of audio information in response to the data.

The system of claim 1 characterized in that the element (110) for producing the signal component comprises a decoder (115) for extracting the data from the input signal; and a processor (117) that receives the data extracted from the input signal during the first mode of operation to modify the signal component in response to the data received from the decoder to update the visible representation of the portion of the audio information; responding the control elements to the command code to prevent the processor from modifying the signal component during the second mode of operation of the system.

The system of claim 2, characterized in that the control elements prevent the processor from receiving data extracted from the input signal during the second mode of operation of the system.

The system of claim 3 characterized in that the system further comprises a memory (116, 119) for storing the data extracted from the input signal by the decoder; the processor (117) that produces the signal component in response to the data stored in the memory; the control elements responding to the command code to prevent data extracted from the input signal by the decoder from being stored in the memory during the second mode of operation of the system.

The system of claim 4, characterized in that the memory (116, 119) comprises a first memory (116) for storing the data extracted from the input signal by the decoder; and a second memory (119); the control element transferring the data from the first memory to the second memory during the first mode of operation; the processing responding to the data stored in the second memory to produce the signal component; the control means preventing the data extracted from the input signal by the decoder from being stored in the first memory during the second mode of operation of the system.

The system of claim 2 characterized in that the system further comprises a first memory (116) for storing the data extracted from the input signal by the decoder; and a second memory (119); the control elements transferring the data from the first memory to the second memory during the first mode of operation; the processor responding to the data stored in the second memory to produce the signal component; avoiding the control elements that the data stored in the first memory is transferred to the second memory during the second mode of operation of the system.

7. A system for processing an input signal that includes video image information, audio information and data representing a portion of the audio information, the system comprising: a memory (540) for storing representative data of a portion of the video image information in a first area of the memory (542), for storing the representative data of the portion of the audio information in a second memory area (541); a processor (510, 520) for producing an output signal (DATA OUT) having a first component of the signal produced in response to the data stored in the first memory area and having a second signal component produced in response to the data stored in the second memory area; the output signal being suitable for coupling with a visual display device to produce an image having a first (230) and a second (240) regions produced in response to the first and second components of the signal, respectively; the data stored in the first and second memory areas being modified in response to the input signal during a first mode of operation of the system to update the first and second regions of the image; and characterized in that the system further comprises a controller (510) that responds to an order code provided by a user to activate a second mode of operation of the system during which the modification of the data stored in the second area of the memory is avoided. in response to the input signal, thereby preventing the update of the second region of the image during the second mode of operation; the output signal including the first and second components of the signal to produce the first and second regions of the image during the second mode of operation, and the data stored in the first memory area being modified in response to the input signal to update the first region of the image during the second mode of operation.

The system of claim 7 wherein the controller responds to a second command code provided by a user to activate a third mode of operation of the system during which the modification of the data stored in the first and second areas of the system is avoided. memory in response to the input signal, thereby preventing the updating of the first and second regions of the image during the second mode of operation.

9. A closed captioning deployment system comprising: a visual display device (158); a first signal processor (105, 130, 135, 140, 141, 155) for processing an input signal including video information, audio information, and closed subtitling data representing a portion of the audio information to provide an exit sign (RGB OUT) coupled to the display device to produce an image having a first region (230) representing a portion of the video information; a switch (1551) that responds to a switch control signal (SW_CTRL) to include a signal component (OSD_RGB) in the output signal; a second signal processor (110) that responds to the data to produce the signal component so that the image includes a second region that provides a visible representation of the portion of the audio information when the signal component is included - on the output signal; command input elements (120, 125) for generating an order code in response to activation by a user; and characterized in that the system further comprises a controller (112) that responds to the command code to generate the control signal of the switch, causing the switch to include the component of the signal in the output signal, thereby producing the visible representation of the portion of the audio information in the second region of the visual display, and to prevent the second signal processor from updating the visible representation in response to the data. The system of claim 9 characterized * in that the second signal processor comprises: a closed subtitling decoder (115) for extracting the data included in the input signal and for generating a second control signal indicating when a portion of data has been extracted; a memory (116, 119); an on-screen display processor (117) for producing the signal component in response to the data stored in the memory and wherein the controller responds to the second control signal to store that portion of the data in memory, - the The controller responds to the command code to avoid storing the portion of data in memory in response to the second control signal.