JP2002118478A - Channel selection controller for broadcasting receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a channel selection controller for broadcasting receiver which is improved in operating ease by constituting the controller to automatically select a channel in line with the intension of a user provided that when the name of a broadcasting station is inputted by speaking. SOLUTION: When the user speaks the name of a desired broadcasting station, the channel selection controller recognizes the name of the station (S160) and, when the broadcasting service area of the recognized station covers the present location of the user (S190), instructs a television tuner 14 to select the recognized station (S200). When the broadcasting service area of the station does not cover the present location ('NO' in S190), the controller searches such a broadcasting station that belongs to the same broadcasting station system and covers the present location (S220). When the broadcasting station exists ('YES' in S230), the controller instructs the tuner 14 to select the station (S200). Therefore, the user can look and listen to a desired program even when the user goes to another region so long as the user knows the name of the local station the customer is accustomed to have access.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a channel selection control device for transitioning a reception channel in a broadcast reception device for selectively receiving a television broadcast or a radio broadcast corresponding to a designated reception channel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when attempting to operate a television or radio mounted on a vehicle, if the driver himself / herself performs the operation while driving the vehicle, the operation requires attention from a safety point of view. A technology that allows the user to operate the device has been considered. In this case, when the user (for example, a driver) utters the name of the broadcasting station, the voice is recognized, the name of the broadcasting station is grasped, and the tuning means is selected so that the broadcasting signal of the broadcasting frequency corresponding to the name can be received. Is controlled.

[0003] Here, in Japan, for example, the name of a broadcasting station varies depending on the region. In general, a key station based in Tokyo and local stations in each region belonging to the same broadcasting station series as the key station. And have different names. However,
Broadcast contents are often very similar for the same broadcasting station series. And users who operate TV and radio,
This is because the user wants to view the content broadcast on a local station to which he is usually accustomed, and selects another broadcast station as long as the content can be viewed.

[0004]

However, the user only knows the name of the local station to which he or she is usually accustomed, and knows the name of the key station or the name of a broadcasting station belonging to the same broadcasting system in other areas. Often do not know. Of course, there are many cases where only the name of the key station is known and the name of the local station belonging to the same broadcast system in another area is not known. Therefore, if you say the same local station name while you are out of the broadcasting service area covered by the local station that you are usually used to, you can receive a broadcast signal of the broadcast frequency corresponding to that name. The means is controlled and the broadcast signal cannot be actually received here. If the user does not know the name of a broadcasting station belonging to the same broadcasting station whose current position is the broadcasting service area, the user cannot view a desired program. Of course, if the user changes the receiving frequency by manual operation and confirms the broadcast contents that could be received one by one, the user may be able to find the desired program, but the significance of improving the usability by voice recognition has been reduced. I will.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and is to presuppose that a method of inputting the name of a broadcast station by voice is adopted, so that a channel can be automatically selected in accordance with a user's intention. An object of the present invention is to provide a tuning control device with improved usability.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a channel selection control apparatus which, when a user utters a desired broadcast station name, transmits the desired broadcast station name. Recognizing the name, if the broadcast service area of the recognized broadcast station covers the current position, instructs the channel selecting means to select a broadcast signal of a broadcast frequency corresponding to the recognized broadcast station. On the other hand, if the broadcast service area does not cover the current position, a search is made for a broadcast station belonging to the same broadcast station series and having a broadcast service area covering the current position. It instructs the channel selecting means to select a broadcast signal of a broadcast frequency. For example, “□□ TV”, which covers the Nagoya area as a broadcasting service area, is based in Tokyo.
If you belong to "@TV series" with TV as a key station, people living in Nagoya travel to Tokyo and say "□□ TV" to select TV. Also, when traveling to Osaka and saying “□□ TV”, “△△ TV”, which covers the Osaka area as a broadcasting service area in a TV series, is selected. Therefore, if the user only knows the name of the local station that he or she is familiar with, it is possible to view desired program contents even when going to another area, and the usability is improved. Of course, the same is true even if only the name of the key station is known.

[0007] It should be noted that if a broadcast station series has a broadcast service area in any region, the corresponding broadcast station can always be searched for.
It is also conceivable that there is no corresponding broadcast station. In such a case, the user may be notified of the absence (claim 2). As a result, it is possible to prevent the cause of the reception failure from being mistaken for the failure of the apparatus itself. Further, since it is possible to confirm that the corresponding broadcasting station does not exist, it is possible to immediately determine that the broadcasting station is to be changed to another broadcasting station.

Various configurations can be adopted as the current position acquisition means. However, when the broadcast receiving device is provided on a moving object (for example, a vehicle) and a navigation device is mounted on the same moving object, the device is used. For example, a current position detection function employing GPS or the like may be used (claim 3). This is because it is not necessary to separately provide the dedicated channel selection control device. Further, the current position may be obtained from a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone (claim 4).

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It is needless to say that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the following examples, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a broadcast receiving apparatus 1 according to an embodiment. The broadcast receiving apparatus 1 is mounted on a vehicle as a moving body, and includes a speaker 11, a display 12, a voice recognition device 13, a television tuner 14 as a channel selection unit, a control device 16, a memory device 17 , A communication device 18 and a navigation device 19.

The television tuner 14 has a receiving antenna 14
This is a mobile station selection device for selecting a signal corresponding to a specified reception channel from the television broadcast signals received at a. Then, of the broadcast signals selected by the TV tuner 14, the audio signal is output from the speaker 11 and the video signal is output from the display 12.

The voice recognition device 13 recognizes a keyword as a word spoken by a user (hereinafter, also referred to as a spoken keyword) from a voice signal input through a microphone (hereinafter abbreviated as a microphone) 20. I do. The voice recognition unit includes a voice input unit, a collation unit, and a recognition dictionary unit (not shown). The recognition dictionary unit includes a plurality of keywords (recognition target vocabulary) that are assumed to be uttered by the user and are to be recognized by the control device 16. Is stored.
Then, the matching unit performs matching (recognition) using the input voice data and dictionary data of the recognition dictionary unit, and outputs a keyword having the highest likelihood of recognition to the control device 16 as a recognition result.

In this embodiment, the user inputs a voice through the microphone 20 while pressing the talk switch 21. Specifically, the voice input unit in the voice recognition device 13 monitors the timing at which the talk switch 21 is pressed and the timing at which the talk switch 21 is returned, and when the talk switch 21 is pressed, the voice input from the microphone 20 Based on the data, it is determined whether it is a voice section or a noise section, and data of the voice section is extracted and output to the voice recognition unit. On the other hand, when the talk switch 21 is not pressed, the processing (extraction of data of the voice section and output to the voice recognition unit) is not executed. Therefore, only the voice data input via the microphone 20 while the talk switch 21 is being pressed becomes a target of the recognition processing.

The communication device 18 sends and receives calls via a wireless telephone line using, for example, an automobile telephone or a portable telephone. The communication device 18 is connected to an external information network such as the Internet or various information centers, and is connected to the Internet line or other lines. The connection is made possible by using. Then, the broadcast station selection table transmitted from the external information network can be received via the communication device 18, and the received broadcast station selection table can be stored in the memory device 17. In addition,
Regarding the broadcast station selection table, for example, a broadcast station selection table in which data determined at the time of manufacture of the broadcast receiving device 1 is collected is stored in the memory device 17, and thereafter,
When the data is updated, for example, the latest data may be obtained from the information center, and the broadcast station selection table in the memory device 17 may be updated.

FIG. 3 shows a broadcast station selection table.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this table, for each broadcast station, its name (broadcast station name), broadcast frequency, broadcast service area, and broadcast station series to which it belongs are associated with each other. Of these, for the broadcast service area, “prefecture code” indicating the corresponding prefecture (in FIG. 3, Hokkaido is “0”)
1 "and Miyagi prefecture are" 04 ". ), The name of the place where the broadcasting station is present, the longitude and latitude indicating the place where the broadcast station is located, and the data of the radius (km) of the area covered.
As can be seen from the example shown in FIG. 3, even in the same series and the same broadcasting station name (for example, ○○○ Sapporo), the locations where the broadcasting signals are emitted are different in Sapporo, Otaru and Iwanai, respectively.
Broadcast frequencies are also different. In addition, ○○○ Sapporo ・ ○○○
In the case of the broadcasting station series exemplified as Sendai, the name of ○ is the same, and the subsequent name is, for example, the name of the location of the prefectural government in each prefecture.

In addition to such a case, in the case of "@TV series", since the headquarters is in Tokyo, "@TV" which is a key station in the Tokyo area is covered as a broadcasting service area. The name itself varies from region to region, such as “□□ TV” covering the Nagoya area with the same affiliate, “◇◇ TV” covering the Osaka area, and so on. Although only a part is illustrated in FIG. 3, data corresponding to all broadcasting stations nationwide are set. As can be seen from these, the same broadcast frequency may be used in different broadcast service areas. Therefore, a broadcast station cannot be specified only by the broadcast frequency. For example, in the Nagoya area, if the frequency corresponding to the A-series A broadcast station is F, the frequency of the B-series B broadcast in another area is also F, and the frequency of the C-series C broadcast in another area is also F. This is because it is conceivable that the frequency is also F.

The navigation device 19 includes a position detector (not shown), a map data input device, and a navigation ECU connected thereto. Each of the position detectors includes a well-known gyroscope, a distance sensor, and a GPS receiver that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from satellites. The map data input device is a so-called map matching data for improving the accuracy of position detection,
It is a device for inputting various data including map data and landmark data. As a medium, C
Generally, a D-ROM or DVD is used.

In this embodiment, the control device 16
Only needs to be able to acquire information on the current location from the navigation device 19. However, actually, the navigation image from the navigation device 19 is output to the display 12, so that the vehicle current position mark input from the position detector, the map data input from the map data input device, and the map data The guidance data displayed above and additional data such as a mark of a set point described later are displayed in a superimposed manner. Further, by outputting the navigation voice to the speaker 11, the traveling guidance is notified by voice.

Here, the correspondence between the embodiment and the claims will be briefly described. The “tuning means” in the claims corresponds to the TV tuner 14,
The control device 16 corresponds to the “current position acquisition unit”. Further, as the “voice recognition means”, the voice recognition device 13 is used.
And the memory device 1 is used as the "table storage means".
7 corresponds.

The configuration has been described above. Next, an operation performed by the broadcast receiving apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by the voice recognition device 13 and the control device 16 to recognize a broadcast station name uttered by the user and perform appropriate channel selection control.

S110 to S160 are processes executed by the voice recognition device 13. First, in S110, it is determined whether or not the talk switch 21 is turned on (pressed), and if the talk switch 21 is turned on. (S11
0: YES), and proceeds to S120 to determine whether there is a voice input. If there is a voice input (S1
20: YES), the start of voice section detection is notified to the matching unit,
A voice is extracted (S130). In the voice extraction, the voice input unit determines whether the voice section is a voice section or a noise section based on voice data input through the microphone 20, extracts data of the voice section, and outputs the data to the voice recognition unit. This is the processing to be performed.

After S130, the process returns to S120, and while there is a voice input (S120: YES), the process of S130 is repeated, and when there is no voice input (S120: N).
O) The process proceeds to S140 to determine whether a predetermined time t has elapsed after the end of the voice input. If t seconds have not elapsed (S140: NO), the process returns to S110 and repeats the processing of S110 and subsequent steps.
0: YES), as a result of the voice extraction performed in S130,
It is determined whether there is actually a voice extraction section. And
If there is no voice extraction section (S150: NO), there is no voice recognition target, so the process returns to S110. On the other hand, if there is a voice extraction section (S150: YES), S160
To inform that the detection of the voice section has been completed,
Perform voice recognition. This voice recognition is performed by the voice recognition unit. The voice data extracted in S130 is collated by the verification unit using the dictionary data stored in the recognition dictionary unit. Then, the higher-order comparison target pattern determined by the comparison result is output to the control device 16 as the recognition result. Here, it is assumed that the user utters the name of the broadcast station (for example, in FIG. 3, “「 Sapporo ”or“ △△ TV ”).
The broadcast station name will be recognized.

In the following S170, the navigation device 1
9 to obtain the current position. Then, with reference to the broadcast station selection table shown in FIG. 3, a broadcast station that can be received at the current position is extracted (S180). As described above, since the broadcast service area of each broadcast station can be known by referring to the broadcast station selection table of FIG. 3, all the broadcast stations including the current position within the area are extracted.

Then, it is determined whether or not the extracted broadcasting station (group) includes the broadcasting station whose name has been recognized in S160 (S190). If it is included (S19
0: YES), a transition is made to the corresponding broadcast station, that is, a broadcast station whose name matches (S200). That is, it instructs the television tuner 14 to make a transition to the channel of the corresponding broadcast station. After the processing of S200, the final channel selection control processing ends.

On the other hand, the broadcasting stations (group) extracted in S180
Does not include the broadcast station whose name has been recognized in S160 (S190: NO), obtains the series data of the broadcast station recognized in S160 (S210). That is,
In the example of FIG. 3, if the recognized broadcasting station is “□□ TV”, the series data is “@TV”. Then, from among the broadcasting stations (group) extracted in S180, S1
A broadcast station having the same series data as the broadcast station whose name has been recognized at 60 is searched (S220). If there is one having the same series data (S230: YES), transition to the corresponding broadcasting station is performed (S200). For example, in the example of FIG.
If the broadcast station recognized in step S180 is “□□ TV” and “放送 TV” is included in the broadcast stations extracted in S180, both series data are “△△ TV”.
At 30 an affirmative determination is made and the process moves to S200, in which case the channel is shifted to the "TV" channel.

On the other hand, if there is no one having the same series data (S230: NO), it is notified that there is no corresponding broadcasting station (S240), and the final channel selection control processing is ended. By this notification, the cause of the reception failure is not mistaken for the failure of the device itself. Further, since it is possible to confirm that the corresponding broadcasting station does not exist, it is possible to immediately determine that the broadcasting station is to be changed to another broadcasting station. This notification is output from the speaker 11 and displayed on the display 12 to that effect. Of course, either one of them may be used, but in that case, the output from the speaker 11 is performed.
Since the name of the broadcasting station can be input by voice,
This is because it is preferable that the notification is also made by voice and that the communication between the user and the device be made by voice.

If the broadcast service area exists in the overlapping area, the determination in S190 or the determination in S190
In the search at 220, a case where a plurality of broadcast stations are applicable is also assumed. In this case, for example, the location of the broadcasting station is automatically selected to be closer to the current location, or the user is notified by voice that there are a plurality of candidate stations, and a guide to select one of them is provided. And so on.

As described above, according to the broadcast receiving apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, when the user utters a desired broadcast station name, the broadcast station name is recognized (S160), and the broadcast service of the recognized broadcast station is recognized. If the area covers the current position (S190), the TV tuner 14 is instructed to select the recognized broadcast station (S200). On the other hand, if the broadcast service area does not cover the current position (S
190: NO), a search is made for a broadcast station belonging to the same broadcast station series and having a broadcast service area covering the current position (S220).
S), and instructs the TV tuner 14 to select the broadcasting station (S200). Therefore, in the example of FIG.
Since the broadcasting service area of “□□ TV” is in the Nagoya area, people living in Nagoya will travel to Tokyo to “□□
When you say "TV," it will tune in to "TV." Also, travel to Osaka and say “□□ TV”, then select “◇◇ TV”. Therefore, if the user only knows the name of the local station that he or she is familiar with, it is possible to view desired program contents even when going to another area, and the usability is improved.

[Alternative Embodiment] (1) In the above-described embodiment, the TV tuner 14 has been described as an example of the channel selecting means. However, a radio tuner may be used. Of course, both tuners may be provided and the same processing may be performed on both tuners.

(2) In the above embodiment, it has been described that the broadcast station selection table shown in FIG. 3 is set with data corresponding to all broadcast stations nationwide. Only the data corresponding to the broadcasting station of the included regional block may be set. There are various ways to divide the regional block, but for example, it may be divided into large areas such as East Japan and West Japan, or Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki,
It may be divided into small parts such as China. And
The user himself / herself may select necessary regional block data and prepare it as a broadcast station selection table.

(3) In the above embodiment, the current position is acquired from the navigation device 19 mounted on the same moving body and having the current position detecting function. Of course, a configuration for separately detecting the current position may be provided,
Considering that so-called multimedia systems are being promoted in vehicles and other mobile bodies in the future, it is preferable to share functions of other devices in terms of simplification of the entire system.

However, the broadcast receiving apparatus 1 of the present embodiment does not necessarily have to be mounted on a vehicle, but may be carried by a user himself. For example, a portable television may be used. In that case, instead of the navigation device 19, only the mechanism for detecting the current position using the GPS function may be provided, or the current position may be obtained using a mobile phone. PD
In cellular communication such as C, a service area is divided into a number of macro cells, and a radio base station is installed at the center of each cell, and a mobile phone communicates with a corresponding radio base station in each service area. Therefore, the position where the mobile phone exists can be grasped at least in cell units. Since the service area covered by each of such cells is extremely small with respect to the broadcast service area, sufficient location identification accuracy is obtained from the viewpoint of searching for which broadcast service area belongs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of broadcast reception according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by a voice recognition device and a control device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a broadcast station selection table.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Broadcast receiving device 4 ... TV tuner 11 ... Speaker 12 ... Display 13 ... Voice recognition device 14 ... TV tuner 14a ... Receiving antenna 16 ... Control device 17 ... Memory device 18 ... Communication device 19 ... Navigation device 20 ... Microphone 21 ... Talk switch

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G10L 15/28 G10L 3/00 551G H04N 5/44 551Q 561H F term (Reference) 2F029 AA02 AB07 AC02 AC09 AC13 AC18 5C025 AA21 AA24 DA07 5D015 KK01 5H180 AA01 BB13 CC12 EE18 FF04 FF05 FF22 FF25 FF32 5K061 AA09 BB01 BB07 CC15 DD00 FF13 FF14 FF16 JJ06 JJ07

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) From signals received by a receiving antenna,
A tuning control device provided in a broadcast receiving device including tuning means for selecting a broadcast signal corresponding to an instructed broadcast frequency, wherein the tuning control means controls the tuning means to transition a receiving channel, and Current position obtaining means to be obtained, voice recognition means for recognizing voice emitted from a user, and at least a name, a broadcast frequency, a broadcast service area, and a series of broadcast stations to which each broadcast station belongs. Table storage means for storing the broadcast station selection table, when the name of the broadcast station to be selected is recognized by the voice recognition means, referring to the broadcast station selection table, the name is recognized If the broadcast service area of the broadcast station covers the current position acquired by the current position acquisition means, the broadcast of the broadcast frequency corresponding to the broadcast station whose name is recognized Instructing the tuning means to select a signal, while the broadcast service area of the broadcast station whose name is recognized does not cover the current location, and the same broadcast station series as the broadcast station whose name is recognized And searching for a broadcast station having a broadcast service area covering the current position, and if present, instructing the tuning means to select a broadcast signal of a broadcast frequency corresponding to the broadcast station. Channel selection control device of a broadcast receiving device. 2. The channel selection control device according to claim 1, wherein the channel belongs to the same broadcast station series as the broadcast station whose name is recognized,
A broadcast control apparatus for a broadcast receiving apparatus, wherein if a broadcast station having a broadcast service area covering the current position is not found as a result, the user is notified of the absence. 3. The channel selection control device according to claim 1, wherein the broadcast receiving device is mounted on a moving object, and the current position obtaining means is mounted on the same moving object, and has a current position detecting function. A tuning control device for a broadcast receiving device, wherein the current position is acquired from a navigation device having the same. 4. The channel selection control device according to claim 1, wherein the current position acquisition means acquires the current position from a mobile communication device capable of grasping a current position according to which base station the terminal is communicating with. And a tuning control device for a broadcast receiving device.