WO2006008993A1

WO2006008993A1 - Digital tv broadcast viewing system incorporated into computer

Info

Publication number: WO2006008993A1
Application number: PCT/JP2005/012741
Authority: WO
Inventors: Masaru Yamanaka
Original assignee: Zentek Technology Japan, Inc.
Priority date: 2004-07-20
Filing date: 2005-07-11
Publication date: 2006-01-26
Also published as: JP2006033608A

Abstract

A computer provides a high quality display of digital TV broadcast programs, complying with regulations of copyright protection. A digital TV broadcast viewing system comprises a tuner board which is inserted into a PCI bus expansion slot and which includes station selecting means, decompressing means and a terminal uncompressed digital program video data received from the decompressing means; a graphic board which is inserted into an AGP bus expansion slot and which includes a program video data input terminal, means for converting video data of digital format to digital display data of a predetermined standard, and a terminal for externally outputting the digital display data; a cable for connecting the program video data input and output terminals; and control means for controlling the tuner board via the PCI bus and further controlling the graphic board via the AGP bus to perform a station selection control, a decompression control, a video combination control and a video output control.

Description

Specification

Digital TV broadcast viewing system on computer

Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a digital TV broadcast viewing system mounted on a computer equipped with an AGP bus and a PCI bus, and more specifically, after satisfying the copyright protection regulations of broadcast programs.

The present invention relates to a digital TV broadcast viewing system mounted on a computer that displays digital TV broadcast program video with high image quality.

Background art

[0002] Digital TV broadcasting systems can broadcast programs with much higher image quality than conventional analog TV broadcasting systems by using highly efficient data compression technology. In addition, if the digital data (program data) that is the origin of the video and audio of the program is recorded as it is, recording without image quality deterioration can be performed. For this reason, provisions for protecting the copyrights of program providers and producers by preventing illegal copying and illegal distribution via the network are stipulated by the Radio Industry Association Standards “ARIB TR-B14 Volume 2”, “ ARIB TR-B15 Volume 2 ”,“ ARIB TR-B14 Volume 8 ”, etc. (hereinafter referred to as“ ARIB specification ”in this specification).

Disclosure of the invention

[0003] The computer is equipped with a user access bus (AGP, PCI, IDE, SCSI, etc .: hereinafter referred to as a general-purpose bus) from which digital data can be directly extracted, and the digital TV broadcast program data and the program are provided on the general-purpose bus. If digital data originating from the data is sent out, high-quality TV programs can be copied without deterioration. Data related to the high-quality program can be transferred to other computers via the network. In particular, handling of data related to programs containing high-resolution video called HD content is strictly regulated by the above ARIB specifications.

[0004] For digital TV broadcast programs, including HD content, the conditions for copying such as “Can be copied unconditionally”, “Can be copied only once”, “Cannot copy”, etc. It is possible to set by the intention of For terrestrial digital TV broadcasts, some copy restrictions have been set for all programs since April 2004. Data related to copy restrictions (copy control information) is multiplexed and broadcast in the data.

[0005] According to the ARIB specification described above, when sending digital data, which is the origin of program video, such as program data, to a general-purpose bus, the program data is encrypted using an encryption specific to each computer. (Local encryption) is specified. The same applies to the case where a TV program is viewed in real time without recording a digital TV broadcast program. Moreover, when outputting HD content video as an analog signal, the number of pixels is less than 520,000 pixels, and there are stricter restrictions than home appliances such as digital TV broadcast receivers. Therefore, at present, it is extremely difficult to install a system for viewing digital TV broadcast programs with high image quality on a computer, even if they are not recorded or distributed for the purpose of viewing in real time.

[0006] In recent years, there are TV receivers that can browse home pages and send and receive e-mails, and the boundaries between home appliances that can watch and record digital broadcasts and computers have become ambiguous. Some people do not have a TV receiver or video recorder, and instead use a personal computer with a TV broadcast reception function or recording function on a daily basis. Nonetheless, while protecting copyright, if you want to watch digital TV broadcasts with a personal computer, you have incorporated expensive encryption functions and reduced resolution. As a result, the end-user viewers suffer the most inconveniences, such as the computer itself becoming expensive and the power to view high-definition HD content with high image quality. . In the future, it is expected that computers will be replaced by some home appliances. Unless digital TV broadcasts can be viewed at low cost and high image quality with computers, the industry itself related to digital TV broadcasts will be sound. The development will not be expected.

[0007] In view of the above problems, the present invention has been created. An object of the present invention is to provide an image display that is standardly installed in a computer without a high-level processing function such as a succinct cipher in a computer equipped with a general-purpose bus from which digital data can be easily extracted, such as a personal computer. Providing a digital TV broadcast viewing system that can display programs with high image quality while satisfying copyright protection regulations for digital TV broadcasts while diverting functions. There is.

One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is a digital TV broadcast viewing system mounted on a computer having an AGP bus and a PCI bus, which includes a tuner board, a graphic board, a data transfer cable, The tuner board is installed in the expansion slot of the PCI bus, and the antenna power is also input. Channel selection means for selecting a specified channel from a broadcast radio signal and broadcasting on the selected channel Decompression means for decompressing program data obtained by compressing and encoding the video and audio of the program and outputting program video data that becomes uncompressed digital data of the program video; and a program video data output terminal for outputting the program video data; With

The graphic board is installed in the expansion slot of the AGP bus, and the program video data input terminal for inputting the program video data, and the digital video data is processed into a digital display data in a format suitable for a predetermined standard display. A graphics processing means for converting and a display output terminal for outputting digital display data externally;

The program video data transfer cable has a wired connection between the program video data output terminal and the program video data input terminal.

The control means controls the tuner board via the PCI bus and the graphic board via the AGP bus by executing a program installed in the computer, and selects the tuning control process, the expansion control process, and the video composition control. Processing and video output control processing,

The tuning control process allows the channel specified by the user input to be tuned by the tuning means on the tuner board,

In the program video data output control process, the program data being broadcast on the channel selected by the decompression means is output from the program video data output terminal.

The frame image generation process generates frame image data that is the origin of the generation of the image that will be the frame of the TV program screen, sends it to the AGP bus,

In the video composition control process, the program video data from the program video data input terminal and the frame image data are supplied to the graphics processing means and converted into digital display data of the video in which the program video is inserted into the frame. Brief Description of Drawings

[0009] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a digital TV broadcast viewing system in an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

[0010] 1 Digital TV broadcast viewing system (no-ware), 2 CPU,

5 AGP bus, 6 PCI bus, 9 user interface,

10 tuner board, 11 antenna terminal, 12 tuning function block,

13 Decompression function block, 14 Program video data output terminal,

20 graphics boards, 21 graphics processing functional blocks,

22 video program data input terminal, 23 display output terminal,

30 transfer cable, 40 digital display, 100 computers

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a functional block configuration of a digital TV viewing system (hereinafter, viewing system) in an embodiment of the present invention. Viewing system 1 is installed in a general desktop personal computer (PC) 100 equipped with AGP bus 5 and PCI bus 6. Viewing system 1 as hardware is installed in the expansion slot of AGP bus 5. Program board data to be connected between the graphic board 20 and the tuner board 10 installed in the expansion slot of the PCI bus 6 and the connectors 14 and 22 arranged on the two boards 10 and 20, respectively. Data transfer cable (transfer cable) 30. Of course, for the connection between the two boards 10 and 20, the connectors 14 and 22 are not used, only the terminals are arranged on the boards 10 and 20, and the connection between the terminals is directly connected with the transfer cable. Also good. Software (TV viewing program) for controlling the two expansion boards is installed on the PC100.

[0012] When an instruction to start a TV viewing program is given via the user interface 9 attached to the PC 100, such as a mouse or a keyboard, the CPU 2 loads the program into the main memory 3 such as DRAM and loads the program. By executing, various data is written to the main memory 3, and data read from the main memory 3 is sent to the buses 5 and 6 via the CPU bridge 4, etc. 20 To control. As a result, the PC 100 functions as a viewing system.

[0013] The tuner board 10 has an antenna terminal 11, a channel selection function 12 for inputting a radio signal transmitted from the antenna terminal 11 by the digital TV broadcasting system, and selecting a specified channel from the radio signal, and a channel selection function 12. A decompression function 13 that decompresses program data that is compression-encoded video and audio of a program being broadcast on a station channel and outputs program video data that is uncompressed digital data, and a program that outputs program video data The video data output terminal 14 and other functional configurations are provided. Dedicated operation of IC card interface 16 and tuner board 10 for reading and writing encryption keys for descrambling known scrambled broadcasts such as B-CAS (registered trademark) cards to and from IC card 17. Also included in the tuner board 10 are a remote control device 18 for receiving and a function 15 for receiving a radio signal by infrared rays or radio waves transmitted from the remote control device 18.

[0014] The graphic board 20 is an expansion board compliant with the well-known APG standard. The main function of the graphic board 20 is that when the data that is the origin of computer image generation is transferred via the AGP bus 5, the bitmap corresponding to the computer image is expanded into the internal video RAM, and the bitmap data Is a function (graphics processing function) 21 that converts the video signal (display output data) into a format suitable for an externally connected display. In the graphics processing function 21 in this embodiment, DVI-D standard RGB data suitable for the digital display 40 is used as display output data. The Draft Board 20 is equipped with only the connector (display output terminal) 23 in the form and terminal layout conforming to the DVI-D standard as the display output data output system, and the display output data in the digital RGB format is displayed and output. Output from terminal 23.

Hereinafter, specific functions and operations of the viewing system in PC 100 will be described. An intermediate frequency (IF) signal that has been Z-converted and received by a parabolic antenna 50 or the like is input to the tuner board 10 via the antenna terminal 11. User power When a specified channel is selected through the PC user interface 9 or the remote control device 18, control information for the channel selection is sent via the PCI bus 6 or directly to the tuner board 10. Receive function 15 gives it to channel selection function 12 of tuner board 10. Tuning function 12 synchronizes with the IF signal of the selected channel and sets the origin of the video and audio of the program being broadcast on that channel. Thus, the program data compressed and encoded in a predetermined format such as the MPEG2 standard is extracted. Then, the decompression function 13 decodes the program data video and audio. Further, the decompression function 13 decompresses program data that is scrambled and broadcasted using the descrambling information decrypted by the IC card via the IC card interface 16 as necessary.

[0016] When decompressing the program data, if the video is decoded to an analog signal in the PC 100, the ARIB specification stipulates that the HD content be converted to a resolution of 520,000 pixels or less. Therefore, in this embodiment, the program video is decoded into non-compressed digital color difference (Y, Cr, Cb, or Y, Pr, Pb) data (program video data) that is the origin of the data encoded by compression. . Digital color difference data is converted into digital RGB data consisting of gradation information and luminance information for the three primary colors of RGB, and this RGB data is also used as program video data.

[0017] Note that the decompression function 13 decodes the audio of the program into PCM data. The PC M data is DZA converted into an analog audio signal by the audio processing function 7 of the PC 100 and then output to an external sound output device 60 such as a speaker or an amplifier. In this example, a well-known PCI connection type sound board is used as the audio processing function 7. Of course, there are also cases where the voice processing function is standard on the mother board of the PC.

[0018] According to the ARIB specification, program video data is sent to a general-purpose bus such as PCI bus 6 by using the encryption key unique to the tuner board and encrypted using the DTCP method. A processing function is required. Therefore, in this embodiment, the program video data is not transmitted to the PCI bus 6 but is output from the dedicated terminal (program video data output terminal) 14. As a result, the program data is prevented from being illegally copied or distributed by, for example, a recording function or a network communication function installed in the PC 100.

[0019] The PC 100 controls the graphic board 20 in parallel with controlling the tuner board 10 by executing the TV viewing program, and frame image data serving as the source of the frame image into which the video of the TV program is inserted. Generation. The frame image data is given to the graphic board 20 via the APG bus 5, and corresponds to, for example, a window frame indicating a display area for each application provided by the Windows (registered trademark) GUI. The inside of the frame is specific such as magenta One color is designated, and an image different from the frame image is inserted and displayed on the graphic board 20 in this specific color portion by a known overlay.

[0020] The graphic board 20 is provided with a program video data input terminal 22 on the board for dedicated input of program video data from the program video data output terminal 14 of the tuner board 10, and these program video data. Input / output terminals 14 and 22 are connected by transfer cable 30. By configuring the program video data to be transferred by the transfer cable 30, it is possible to transfer the program video data from the tuner board 10 to the graphic board 20 responsible for the overall image rendering processing in the computer 100 without going through the general-purpose bus. Become. In addition, it is possible to secure a high transfer rate without being bound by the PCI standard, and it is possible to transfer data that requires an extremely large transfer rate, such as program video data for HD content, in real time with sufficient margin.

[0021] The PCI standard has an extended standard called "PCI Express" having a higher transfer speed. The “PCI” in the present invention naturally includes its extended standard. Of course, the viewing system of the present invention can transfer program video data at high speed without depending on the PCI standard of the computer on which the viewing system is installed.

[0022] Based on the frame image data transferred via the AGP bus 5 and the control information, the graphic board 20 sequentially maps an image in which a TV image is inserted into the window frame in a TV broadcast frame period. expand. The ARIB specification stipulates that it is desirable to send digital video signals in order to implement HDCP specification copyright protection technology. For this purpose, the graphic board 20 has a DVI-D standard display output terminal 23 There is only. According to the rules cited above, it is also possible to adopt a configuration that outputs a display output terminal of the HDMI standard and video display data compliant with the standard. If a circuit configuration or control method that outputs only digital format video display data for digital TV broadcast program video is adopted, the graphic board 20 can be connected to a VGA analog RG B terminal, DVI-I terminal, etc. In addition, a configuration in which a terminal for outputting an analog video signal is also conceivable.

[0023] “As a variation of the present invention based on the idea of“ viewing a program on a computer with high image quality without sacrificing resolution even if it is HD content while satisfying the provisions of the ARIB specification ”. The AGP bus or PCI bus expansion slot may be connected to an additional board equipped with a digital TV broadcast channel selection / decompression function (tuner function). The control data for the power supply and tuner function is given to the additional board via the graphic board, and the program video data output by the tuner function is not sent on a general-purpose bus such as AGP or PCI. Give directly from the board to the graphics board. In such a configuration, an add-on board equipped with a tuner function is attached to a graphic board having a program video data input terminal similar to the above-described embodiment in “retrofitting”, and the program video data output terminal on the additional board is connected to the graphic board. A form of connecting the program video data input terminal of the board with a transfer cable can be considered.

[0024] As another modification, hardware is configured by the graphic board of the above embodiment and a separate device having a tuner function, and the separate device is provided with a program video data output terminal, A configuration that connects to the program video data input terminal of the graphic board is conceivable.

Industrial applicability

[0025] According to the viewing system of the present invention, with the functional configuration and operation described in the above embodiments, high definition image quality can be achieved without sacrificing resolution even for HD content while satisfying the provisions of the ARIB specification. You can watch the program at

Claims

The scope of the claims

A digital TV broadcast viewing system mounted on a computer equipped with an AGP bus and a PCI bus,

It consists of a tuner board, graphic board, program video data transfer cable, and control means.

The tuner board is installed in the expansion slot of the PCI bus, and the antenna power is also input. Channel selection means for selecting a specified channel from the broadcast radio signal, and the video and audio of the program being broadcast on the selected channel are compressed and encoded. A program video data output terminal for outputting program video data, and a decompression means for decompressing the program data and outputting program video data as uncompressed digital data of the program video,

The program video data transfer cable is a wired connection between the program video data output terminal and the program video data input terminal.

In the video composition control process, the program video data from the program video data input terminal and the frame image data are given to the graphics processing means and the program video is inserted into the frame. To digital display data.