JP2001136089A - Broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that a conventional broadcast receiver has had difficulty in channel selection because many channels are required for multi-channel digital broadcast programs or the like whereas especially, an on-vehicle broadcast receiver has a requirement of ease of selection of a desired channel from the standpoint of safety. SOLUTION: The head of each program often has a broadcast of a specific theme song or an effective sound to impress each program, that is, an index sound. A broadcast receiver is provided with an index sound memory 12 inside and a recording timer 11 or the like is used to record an index sound of a desired program on this memory. When an operation key section 2 selects a channel and an index sound broadcast at that time in a memory is in existence in a corresponding channel, it is read, a changeover switch SW 7 is switched and a loudspeaker 10 sounds this index sound. Thus, a viewer can easily recognize a program selected at present without the need for viewing a display section or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a broadcast receiver for receiving a multi-channel broadcast, in which a desired channel and program can be easily selected without looking at a display unit. About the machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional broadcast receiver, when a program is selected, a selection operation is performed based on a broadcast station name or a program name displayed on a display unit or a monitor display of the broadcast receiver, or from a frequency. An operation of selecting a desired broadcast station is being performed. In addition, by registering a broadcasting station in a preset switch or the like or directly registering some programs, it is possible to directly select a broadcasting station from this switch and directly select a desired program. Some have made it possible.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned broadcast receiver, since the number of channels is not so large in the conventional AM broadcast and FM broadcast, even if the user does not look at the channel display or the program display, the broadcast receiver can be used. If you watch for a while on each channel, you can determine whether the channel or program you are currently watching is the channel or program you want, so if you follow the channels in order, you will end up with trial and error A desired channel or program can be selected.

However, in multi-channel digital broadcasting, which is expected to spread in the future, especially in digital music broadcasting, the number of channels is expected to increase to 100 or more. It is expected that this method will be very difficult for users to use, because the number of times of selecting the parts will increase and the method of selecting by trial and error will be extremely difficult. In particular, in the case of an on-vehicle broadcast receiver, the driver often selects a channel. When selecting a desired channel from such a large number of receivable channels while driving, the driver performs a selection operation while looking at the display unit. Is extremely dangerous. Also, one channel for one switch,
Alternatively, in the method of allocating one program, it is almost impossible to allocate to all channels or programs, and it becomes difficult to view programs that cannot be allocated, so that the abundant selection range of multi-channel broadcasting cannot be fully utilized. Is expected.

Accordingly, the present invention enables easy selection of channels and programs even in multi-channel broadcasting such as multi-channel digital broadcasting, and in particular, enables safe selection of channels as a vehicle-mounted broadcast receiver. It is an object of the present invention to provide a broadcast receiver having the above configuration.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a broadcast receiving section, a channel selecting section, and an index sound characterizing a program is recorded for each program. A broadcast receiver comprising storage means, and index sound output means for reading out and outputting an index sound of a program currently being broadcast on a channel selected by the channel selection means from the storage means; It is.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast receiver in which the broadcast receiver according to the first aspect is mounted on a vehicle. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast receiver for recording from a broadcast receiver by using a timer, wherein an index flag in a broadcast signal is detected and an index of an index flag added portion is detected. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the broadcast receiver according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, which records a sound by taking in a sound. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the broadcast receiver according to the fifth aspect, wherein the storage means for the index sound has an external memo provided outside the broadcast receiver. It is obtained by the claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the broadcast receiver is.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The multi-channel digital broadcast receiver used in the present invention includes, for example, a display unit 21 as shown in FIG.
And a jog dial 22 and an up / down switch 23. The jog dial 22 is provided with a setting switch 25 at the center, and a finger-holding recess 24 is formed at the periphery. On the front panel 27 of the broadcast receiver 26, various switches provided as needed, such as a timer reservation switch 28, are arranged. The display unit 21 includes a channel display unit 30 and a program display unit 31
It has. In addition, a remote controller 32 for operating an audio device such as a broadcast receiver, as shown in FIG.
A jog dial 33 similar to that of the broadcast receiver 26 is provided, a setting switch 35 is provided at the center thereof, and various switches such as an up / down switch 34 are provided.

A circuit provided in the broadcast receiver 26 as described above is shown in a functional block diagram of FIG. Here, since the present invention is mainly suitable for receiving digital broadcasting, a functional block diagram at the time of receiving digital broadcasting is shown. However, similar functional blocks are used for various types of broadcasting such as AM broadcasting, FM broadcasting, and general television broadcasting. Can be similarly applied to the reception of a broadcast of the present invention, and can be similarly applied to a broadcast receiver that receives a plurality of these broadcasts.

Radio waves such as multi-channel digital broadcasts received from the antenna (ANT) 1 are transmitted to the jog dial 22 and the up / down switch 23 of the broadcast receiver shown in FIG. Operation key unit 2 such as 34
Is transmitted to the digital broadcast RF unit 4 via the control unit 3, and is tuned to a predetermined channel in the digital broadcast and received. Further, it outputs necessary signals to the control unit 3 among the received signals of the received channels. The received signal from the digital broadcast RF unit 4 is decoded by a digital broadcast decoding unit 5, and when character information such as program contents is present, it is input to the control unit 3, and the broadcast receiver of FIG. As shown in the example, the program information is displayed together with the reception channel. At the time of receiving a normal digital broadcast, the decoded broadcast signal is selected by a changeover switch 7, and thereafter, from a speaker (SP) 10 via a digital / analog converter (D / A) 8 and an amplifier (AMP) 9. Output.

On the other hand, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a recording timer 11 controlled by the control unit 3 is provided, so that when a digital broadcast is received, the recording timer 11 is played at the beginning of a program decoded by the code unit 5. A program-specific index sound is recorded in the index sound memory 12 for each program. The recorded music or the like in the index sound memory 12 is stored in the memory when the index sound corresponding to the program currently being broadcast on the selected channel exists in the memory when the reception channel is selected by the operation key unit 2. This is read out from the memory and switched to this output by the changeover switch 7, and the index sound is output from the speaker 10.

The above operation is performed according to the flow charts shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, when timer recording an index sound, pressing the timer reservation switch 28 causes the broadcast receiver to enter the timer reservation mode (step S1). Thereafter, similarly to the timer reservation of a conventional video tape recorder or the like, the jog dial 22 of the broadcast receiver main body or the jog dial 32 of the remote control 32 is rotated to select a reception channel, or the up / down switch 23 of the broadcast receiver main body or the like is selected. A desired channel is selected by instructing a reception channel by the up / down switch 34 of the remote controller 32 in descending order or ascending order (step S2). The selected channel at this time is displayed on the channel display unit 30 of the display unit 21 of the broadcast receiver main body, or on a separate display or the like.

Next, the user inputs the day of the week on which the program to be recorded is broadcast and the time at which the broadcast of the desired program starts with reference to a broadcast program table or the like (step S3). In addition,
The reason for inputting the day of the week at this time is that in a normal broadcast, the same program is set in units of one week, and when the day of the week and the time are input, a specific program can be received unless the program is changed.
Next, a time at which the program ends is input as data for identifying a time zone during which the program is broadcast later (step S4). Thereafter, the setting confirmation switches such as the push switches 25 or 35 of the jog dial 22 or 33 are turned on, and these inputs are confirmed (step 5). The display of the date and time in these selection operations can be displayed on the program display unit 31 of the broadcast receiver or the like, and when a separate display is present, it can be displayed on that part. Operations can be performed.

When the predetermined reservation operation is completed, the set contents such as the channel on which the timer reservation is set, the day of the week, and the start and end times are stored (step S6). Further, it is determined whether or not there is a program for which timer reservation of the index sound exists, that is, whether or not the timer reservation setting operation has been completed by inputting a reservation operation end signal such as pressing the timer reservation switch 28 again (step S7). If not, it is determined whether or not there is free space in the memory (step S8). If there is still free space, the same operation is repeated again from selection of a new channel (step S2). Further, when the timer reservation setting operation is completed in step 7 and when the free space of the memory is exhausted in step 8, the timer recording setting operation is ended (step S9).

After the timer reservation for recording the index sound is made in this way, the recording is performed according to the flow shown in FIG. 4 by the index sound recording function of the recording timer unit 11 in the broadcast receiver. That is, at all times, the current time and the time at which the timer is reserved are compared at regular time intervals, and it is monitored whether or not any of the reserved programs has reached the index sound recording start time. If it does not exist, this step is repeated (step S11).
If there is any that has reached the index sound recording start time, the channel stored in the memory area of the recording reservation that has arrived is read, and the channel for which recording reservation has been set is received (step S12). What is recorded at this time is music or sound effects that symbolize the first program played in a normal broadcast, and is called an index sound. Further, an area of the recording memory for storing the received index sound is selected from the free memory area (step S13). At this time, the selected memory stores the receiving channel input when the timer recording reservation operation was performed first, the start time and end time of the program, and additional information as necessary.

On the other hand, the received index sound is stored in a memory area to which the above various information has been input (step S14). As the memory format at this time, various voice recording formats such as the voice data as it is or a predetermined compression format can be adopted. Thereafter, the recording is continued until a predetermined time such as 5 seconds or 10 seconds elapses (step 15), and the recording is stopped when the predetermined time elapses (step S1).
6). Thereafter, the switch of the broadcast receiver which has been receiving the index sound is turned off.

It should be noted that a multi-channel digital broadcast receiver cannot receive a single channel in principle and can receive a plurality of channels at the same time. However, in recent years, a receiver having a function of receiving a plurality of channels has been developed. Yes,
In a device having such a function, the index sound can be separately recorded during normal use of the broadcast receiver. In this case, at the end of the recording of the index sound, the switch of the broadcast receiver body is turned off.
No F.

When a multi-channel digital broadcast is received by the broadcast receiver with many index sounds registered in the index sound memory as described above, the flow shown in FIG. 5 is performed. That is, the switch of the broadcast receiver is turned on (step S2).
1) In order to select a channel to be viewed, the user rotates the jog dial 22 of the broadcast receiver main body or the jog dial 32 of the remote controller 32 to select a reception channel or broadcast reception in the same manner as in the timer recording operation of the index sound. The receiving channel is designated by the up / down switch 23 of the machine body or the up / down switch 34 of the remote controller 32 in descending or ascending order, and a desired channel is selected (S22).

At this time, it is determined whether or not an index sound has been registered for the program currently being broadcast on the selected channel (step S23). In that case, when registering the index sound,
Since the start time and end time of the day of the week when the program is broadcast in addition to the channel are stored, it is determined whether or not the program is currently being broadcast by referring to the current day and time.
If the result of the determination indicates that a sound index has been recorded for the program of the currently selected channel, the index sound is read from the memory and reproduced and output.
When the index sound is reproduced in this manner, as described above, the switch 7 in FIG.
This is output from the speaker 10. Thus, the person who has selected the channel can listen to the characteristic music and sound effects at the beginning of the program, and can easily know the program currently selected. At this time, the channel of the received program is displayed on the channel display section of the broadcast receiver (step S25). When character information is included in a received signal by text multiplex broadcasting or the like and there is program information that can be displayed, this is displayed on the program display unit 31 of the broadcast receiver as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when it is determined whether or not the index sound is registered in the program currently being broadcast on the channel selected as described above, if the registration does not exist, the received broadcast is output as it is (step S28). Also, information on the selected channel and the like is displayed on the display screen in the same manner as described above (step S25).

When a desired channel is selected by the above-described reception channel selection operation, a setting confirmation switch such as the push switch 25 or 35 at the center of the jog dial is turned on to confirm the selection. It is determined whether or not the receiving channel has been determined based on whether or not the setting confirmation switch has been operated as described above (step S26). If the receiving channel has not been determined, the process waits for further selection of the receiving channel (step S22). Hereinafter, the same operation is repeated. When the reception channel is determined, the reception of the selected channel is started, or when the broadcast is directly received and output because the index sound is not registered in the selected channel, the reception is continued ( Step S27).

In the above embodiment, many programs are configured as described above on the premise that a theme song or sound effect that impresses the viewer on the program is played for a few seconds at the beginning of the program. However, recently, in order to attract the viewer's attention, a method of broadcasting the actual contents from the beginning of the program and then playing the theme song of the program is sometimes adopted. Assuming that such a broadcasting form exists, in order to record the index sounds of all programs, a broadcasting signal is output in advance by providing an index flag before and after a part that characterizes the program in a broadcasting station. However, the broadcast receiver can record music data in the memory while the index flag is set. Recording based on such an index flag is performed, for example, as shown in FIG.
Is provided with an index flag detection unit 14 in place of the recording timer 11 in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 to detect an index flag from a signal taken into the control unit 3 and store broadcast data in an index memory upon detection. it can. With this configuration, the music serving as the recorded index can be reproduced when the receiving channel is selected, as in the above-described embodiment.

The music to be registered as an index does not necessarily have to be music directly recorded by digital broadcasting. For example, it is possible to connect to the Internet using a mobile phone or the like and download the music from a homepage of a broadcasting company. good. At this time, the user who registers the index sound can transmit the ID of the desired program to the provider using the Internet, download the index sound data corresponding to the ID, and store it in a predetermined memory area. As described above, as a means for directly taking in the index sound from the external input means, when the system according to the present invention is widely spread in the future, for example, when a collection of index sounds such as CDs is provided from a broadcasting station or released, Can also be entered using. To record an index sound using the external input means as described above, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, an external input means 15 is connected to an index sound memory, and an Internet connection means 16 such as a mobile phone is connected to the external input means. When an index sound collection such as a CD is provided by connecting and downloading, the sound recording medium 17 can be reproduced and recorded in the index sound memory.

Incidentally, it is conceivable that the number of index sounds to be registered as described above becomes large and a large amount of memory is required.
D, or a DVD / RAM with a large memory capacity which will become popular in the future.

The present invention is suitable mainly for selecting a channel of a multi-channel digital broadcast which is expected to be widely spread in recent years, and is particularly suitable for an on-vehicle broadcast receiver. That is, in the on-vehicle broadcast receiver, it is predicted that music broadcasts will be mainly received rather than video broadcasts due to the nature of the usage form, and that digital music broadcasts will have an extremely large number of broadcast channels exceeding 100 channels. . In the first place, since the operation of selecting a channel itself hinders driving, it is not preferable from the viewpoint of safe driving to perform many operations when selecting a desired channel from an extremely large number of channels. The present invention is an invention born from the viewpoint of improving the operability at the time of selecting a channel in such a broadcast receiver for digital music broadcasting mounted on a vehicle. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to such an in-vehicle broadcast receiver, and may be applied to, for example, a general radio broadcast receiver for receiving AM broadcast, FM broadcast, digital broadcast, or the like, or a general home television broadcast receiver. In this case, the index sound is output when the channel is selected, so that the program of the currently selected broadcast can be easily and reliably recognized as compared with the conventional channel display. Can be.

[0026]

According to the invention of claim 1 of the present application, when selecting a channel, the currently selected channel and program can be confirmed by sound, so that it is not necessary to look at the display of the selected channel and program. Channels and programs can be easily selected even when the number of channels is extremely large as in the case of channel digital broadcasting, and a desired program can be easily selected without recalling the program name.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a broadcast receiver in which the broadcast receiver according to the first aspect is mounted on a vehicle.
Even when a car driver selects a channel and program while driving, the currently selected channel and program can be confirmed by sound, so there is no need to view the display of the selected channel or program and the channel can be safely selected. You can make a selection. In particular, even when the number of channels is extremely large as in the case of multi-channel digital broadcasting, it is possible to safely and easily select channels and programs even while driving a vehicle.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the index sound is recorded from the broadcast receiver by the timer, it is possible to easily record the index sound and the like specific to the program broadcasted at the beginning of the program.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since an index flag in a broadcast signal is detected and an index flag-added portion of an index sound is taken in and recorded, even a program having no index sound at the beginning of the program can be surely recorded. Index sound can be recorded.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, since the broadcast receiver according to the first or second aspect of the present invention is configured to take in an index sound from an external input means and record the same, for example, access a homepage of a broadcasting company using the Internet. Desired data can be downloaded and recorded, and when an index sound collection or the like is provided, it can be directly recorded from them.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, since the storage means for the index sound is an external memory provided outside the broadcast receiver, the broadcast receiver according to the first or second aspect is provided. Even if the data amount increases and the data amount increases, it can be easily handled by using an external memory such as a DVD / RAM.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a broadcast receiver and a remote controller to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart for performing recording setting when timer recording of an index sound is performed according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart at the time of recording an index sound by timer according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart when a channel is selected in the broadcast receiver according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 3 control unit 7 changeover switch 11 recording timer 12 index sound memory 21 display unit 22 jog dial 23 up / down switch 25 setting switch 26 broadcast receiver 28 timer reservation switch 30 channel display unit 31 program display unit 32 remote control 33 jog dial 34 up / down switch 35 Setting switch

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A broadcast receiving unit, a channel selecting unit,
Storage means for recording an index sound characterizing a program for each program; and index sound output means for reading out and outputting from the storage means an index sound of a program currently being broadcast on a channel selected by the channel selection means. A broadcast receiver. 2. A broadcast receiver comprising the broadcast receiver according to claim 1 mounted on a vehicle. 3. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the index sound is recorded from the broadcast receiver by a timer. 4. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein an index flag in the broadcast signal is detected, and recording is performed by taking in an index sound of an index flag added portion. 5. The broadcast receiver according to claim 1, wherein the index sound is taken in from an external input means and recorded. 6. The index sound storage means is an external memory provided outside the receiver.
The broadcast receiver as described.