JP2005117307A - Digital broadcast receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

When a program guide is displayed on a television screen, there is a problem that it is difficult to grasp program information, for example, a displayed character becomes small. Further, since video conversion processing such as reduction processing is performed on the video processing, there is a problem that the viewer feels that the video is interrupted and that it is bothersome due to waiting time. When program information is provided only by using telops, the recognizability as a program guide, which is an advantage of the EPG service, is deteriorated.
A digital broadcast receiving apparatus capable of realizing an EPG service, wherein program information is displayed as a telop on a TV screen, a list of programs is also displayed on the same screen, and the program table is highlighted. It has a function to tell the viewer the name of the program currently displayed on the telop. Furthermore, it is possible for the viewer to move the highlighted program in the program guide, and in accordance with this moving operation, the display content of the telop is changed to the information of the highlighted program after the move. It has a function to switch.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a receiver capable of receiving a digital broadcast, and more particularly, to a digital broadcast receiver having a display function of an electronic program guide (EPG).

  In recent years, with the spread of BS digital broadcasting, EPG services have been frequently used. The EPG service is a service for displaying information on a program currently being broadcast or a program to be broadcast on a television screen. Conventionally, TV program information was generally supplied in newspapers and magazines, but since digital broadcasting has increased the number of channels, the EPG service is very convenient for viewers to grasp program information. It has become a thing. The EPG service is realized by creating an electronic program guide and displaying it on a TV screen from SI (Service Information) transmitted by being multiplexed with a digital broadcast signal by a digital broadcast receiver. Information provided by broadcasting stations as EPG services has been standardized by the Radio Industry (ARIB), and various program information such as character strings representing program contents are included in addition to program titles and time schedules. included.

As an example of a conventional EPG service, means for efficiently extracting program information by judging a plurality of conditions desired by the viewer when the viewer uses the EPG service to extract program information is disclosed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). Since the information sent from the broadcast station to the receiver is only a collection of program data, various types of services can be realized using the data received on the receiver side. As a service of an electronic program guide that is generally used in many cases, a broadcast schedule is collected for a plurality of channels and displayed like a television column of a newspaper. As a result, the viewer can check the program guide on the TV screen, but on the other hand, a display space is required, so conversion processing such as reduction processing is performed on the video being viewed. There are many cases.
JP 2002-112132 A

  However, when a program guide that appears in newspapers or magazines is displayed on the TV screen, video conversion such as reduction processing is always performed for video processing, regardless of the content and amount of information that the viewer wants to know. Processing is often performed, and there is a problem that viewers feel a sense of discontinuity of the video and annoyance due to waiting time. In addition, there is a problem that it is difficult to grasp program information, for example, the displayed characters are small. As one of the solutions, a method of reducing the space of program information displayed on the TV screen and performing little conversion processing to video can be considered. However, in this case, problems such as a reduction in the amount of program information obtained by the viewer and deterioration in the recognizability of the EPG as a program guide occur.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for displaying only character information in a data broadcast signal without performing reduction processing on the video when displaying the data broadcast. In the present invention, text information that is a part of the data broadcast is extracted and displayed as a telop, so that the outline of the content of the data broadcast is transmitted to the viewer without performing a conversion process to video. Also in the EPG service, it is possible to display a certain amount of characters on the screen with less conversion to video by displaying the program information provided from the broadcasting station as a telop on the TV screen. However, when the program information is displayed only by the telop, the recognizability as a program guide which is an advantage of the EPG service is deteriorated.

  A first aspect of the present invention is a digital broadcast receiving apparatus capable of receiving a digital broadcast including electronic program guide data and displaying an electronic program guide, an EPG generating means for generating the electronic program guide, and program information in a telop A scroll generation means for generating a character string for display, an electronic program guide generated by the EPG generation means, a character string generated by the scroll generation means, and a video signal generated from the digital broadcast signal are superimposed. Display control means for outputting.

  A second invention is a digital broadcast receiving apparatus capable of receiving a digital broadcast including electronic program guide data and displaying an electronic program guide, comprising operation signal input means for inputting an operation signal input by a viewer. The EPG generation means highlights an arbitrary area in the program table displayed on the TV screen and moves the highlight display using the operation signal input from the operation signal input unit, display / non-display, etc. First EPG control means for realizing the above control, and second EPG control means for switching the character string generated by the scroll generation unit using the operation signal or the output signal of the EPG generation means.

  According to the first invention, the program information is scroll-displayed to reduce the number of characters to be displayed simultaneously. This makes it possible to display program information in large characters without performing conversion processing such as reduction processing on the video. Further, since the program guide is displayed at the same time as the telop, program information can be provided without losing recognition as an EPG program guide.

  According to the second invention, the movement of the highlight portion in the program guide and the program guide by telop operate in conjunction with each other. As a result, the viewer can easily switch the contents of the program information in the telop display while checking the program guide.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, BS digital broadcasting is used as an example of digital broadcasting, but the present invention is not limited to the broadcasting form, and can be implemented in general digital broadcasting such as CS digital broadcasting and terrestrial digital broadcasting. Further, although the present embodiment shows an example of an STB in which the digital broadcast receiver is configured separately from the display, the digital broadcast receiver and the display device may be integrated.

  The telop used in this embodiment moves a character string from left to right or from right to left on the screen. The character string moved to the screen edge disappears from the screen, and a new character string is displayed from the opposite screen edge. The movement of the character string may be up and down or diagonally. Further, the character string may not be moved, and the viewer may update the character string displayed on the remote controller or the like.

  The digital broadcast receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a tuner 130, a transport decoder 132, an AV decoder 134, an EPG memory 116, an EPG generation unit 110, a scroll generation unit 112, and a video composition unit 114.

  The tuner 130 receives the BS digital broadcast signal received by the antenna 140, performs demodulation processing, descrambling, and the like, and outputs multiplexed broadcast signal data TS1.

  The transport decoder 132 separates and extracts the compression-encoded video / audio signal TS2, program arrangement information SI, and the like from the multiplexed data TS1, extracts the video / audio signal TS2 to the AV decoder, and the program arrangement information SI1 to the EPG memory. To 116.

  The AV decoder 134 receives the compressed and encoded video signal TS2, performs a decoding process on the video signal, and outputs a video signal VIDEO.

  The EPG memory 116 temporarily stores the program arrangement information SI1 output from the transport decoder 132 and outputs the program arrangement information SI2.

  The EPG generation unit 110 receives the program sequence information SI2 output from the EPG memory, and includes an EIT (event information table), SDT (service description table), BAT (bucket association table), and NIT (network information) included in the SI2. The OSD program guide data TABLE necessary for generating the program guide on the TV screen is generated and output.

  The EPG generation unit 110 extracts program information for telop display from the program arrangement information SI2, and outputs character data TEROP_DATA.

  The scroll generation unit 112 receives text data TEROP_DATA for telop display, and generates and outputs an OSD telop data signal TEROP.

  The video synthesizing unit 114 synthesizes the video signal VIDEO output from the AV decoder 134, the OSD telop data signal TEROP output from the scroll generating unit 112, and the output signal TABLE from the EPG generating unit 110, and outputs a video signal BLEND. To do.

  The display device 150 receives the video signal BLEND output from the video composition unit and displays the video.

  An example of the operation of the digital broadcast receiving apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart in a case where a program table for a time zone being viewed is displayed on the television screen, and at the same time, arbitrary program contents are displayed in a telop.

  The BS digital signal received by the antenna 140 is subjected to processing such as demodulation by the tuner 130, and then the program distribution information SI1 is extracted by the transport decoder 132 (S202).

  The program information SI1 is stored in the EPG memory 116, and the program information at the current time is extracted from the program information SI1 by the EPG generation unit 110 (S204).

  The extracted program information includes a character string indicating program content as well as a program title and a time schedule. First, the EPG generation unit 110 creates an OSD program table using the broadcast station name and program title information, and transmits the created OSD program table data signal TABLE to the video composition unit (S206).

  Subsequently, the EPG generation unit 110 transmits a character string indicating the program content to the scroll generation unit 112 (S208).

  The scroll generation unit 112 determines an arbitrary display size, display font, and display position for the character string indicating the program content, converts it into an OSD telop data signal TEROP, and transmits it to the video composition unit (S210). ).

  The video synthesizing unit 114 receives the OSD program guide data signal TABLE, the OSD telop data signal TEROP, and the video signal VIDEO decoded by the AV decoder, and outputs the synthesized video signal BLEND.

  Finally, the display device 150 receives the video signal BLEND and simultaneously displays the video, the program guide, and the telop (S212).

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the scroll generation unit 112.

  The scroll generation unit 112 determines an arbitrary font and display size for telop-displaying the character string input from the EPG generation unit 110 (S302).

  Next, the scroll generation unit 112 calculates the display position of each character in order to display the character string as a telop (S304).

  Next, an OSD telop is created using the determined display position, display size, and font information (S306).

  Next, the scroll generation unit 112 transmits the created telop data to the video composition unit (S308).

  FIG. 6 is a display example of a TV screen in the present embodiment.

  In this display example, the current program guide is displayed in the lower end area of the screen, and the simple contents of the program are displayed in telop at the upper end of the screen. When the viewer displays the program guide and the telop while viewing the program, the conversion is not performed on the video being viewed, and the program guide and the telop are displayed superimposed on the video. .

  In the present embodiment, an example of displaying a program guide only for the current time zone has been shown, but an entire program guide as in a newspaper, a magazine, or the like may be displayed. In this case, a method is conceivable in which the program guide is displayed in a small size only by the program title and the performers are streamed by using a telop.

  Also, some conversion processing may be performed on the video. However, since the present invention aims to provide the viewer with the program guide and program information with little conversion processing on the video, it is desirable that conversion processing such as reduction is not performed on the video. .

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an outline of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  4 includes a tuner 430, a transport decoder 432, an AV decoder 434, an EPG memory 416, an EPG generation unit 410, a scroll generation unit 412, a video composition unit 414, an EPG generation unit 410, and an IR issue unit 460. IR light receiving unit 418 is provided. Since the tuner 430, the transport decoder 432, the AV decoder 434, and the EPG memory 416 in the second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that a specific program in the program guide is highlighted, and when the viewer moves the highlighted display with a remote controller or the like, a telop program is linked to this. The point is that the guidance is switched.

  The IR issuing unit 460 transmits the remote operation signal to the digital broadcast receiver when the viewer remotely controls the channel selection of the digital broadcast receiver with a remote controller or the like. In this embodiment, a digital broadcast receiver using a remote controller is shown as an example, but this operation signal may be anything as long as a viewer operation signal can be input to the digital broadcast receiver, such as a button operation on the digital broadcast receiver main body. .

  The IR light receiving unit 418 receives the operation signal transmitted from the IR transmission unit and outputs the operation signal CR.

  The EPG generation unit 410 receives the program sequence information SI2 output from the EPG memory, and includes an EIT (event information table), SDT (service description table), BAT (bucket association table), and NIT (network information) included in the SI2. The OSD program guide data signal TABLE necessary for generating the program guide on the TV screen is generated and output.

  At this time, the EPG generation unit 410 highlights an arbitrary program in the program table, extracts program information of the program that has been highlighted, from the program arrangement information SI2, and outputs TEROP_DATA.

  Also, the EPG generation unit 410 receives the output CR of the IR light receiving unit, and selects an arbitrary program frame in the program table with the highlighted portion up, down, left and right according to signals such as up, down, left, and right by the remote control operation of the viewer Move. When the highlighted part of the program guide is moved by remote control, the program information for telop display is re-extracted from the program array information SI2 according to the program name indicated by the highlighted part, and TEROP_DATA is output. To do.

  The video synthesis unit 414 performs synthesis processing on the video signal VIDEO output from the AV decoder 434, the OSD telop data signal TEROP output from the scroll generation unit 412, and the output signal TABLE from the EPG generation unit 410, and outputs the video signal BLEND. To do.

  The display device 450 receives the video signal BLEND output from the video composition unit and displays the video.

  The scroll generation unit 412 receives the telop display character data TEROP_DATA, generates a telop display character string TEROP, and outputs it.

  An operation example of the digital broadcast receiving apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows a program table for only the current time zone and a telop of program information displayed on the TV screen, and when the viewer moves the highlighted part of the program guide by remote control operation or the like, It is a flowchart in the case of switching information to the highlight part after movement.

  The BS digital signal received by the antenna 440 is subjected to processing such as demodulation by the tuner 430, and then the program distribution information SI1 is extracted by the transport decoder 432 (S502).

  The program information SI1 is stored in the EPG memory 416, and the EPG generation unit 410 extracts the program information at the current time from the program information SI1 (S504).

  The EPG generation unit 410 uses the broadcast station name and program title information to convert it into an OSD program guide data signal TABLE and transmits it to the video composition unit. At this time, the transmitted program guide highlights the program frame currently being viewed by the viewer (S506).

  Subsequently, the EPG generation unit 410 transmits a character string indicating the program content to the scroll generation unit 412 (S508).

  The scroll generation unit 412 converts the character string indicating the program contents into an OSD telop data signal TEROP and transmits it to the video composition unit (S510). Since the operation of the scroll generation unit 412 is the same as that of the first embodiment, a detailed description of the operation is omitted.

The video composition unit inputs the OSD program guide data signal TABLE, the OSD telop data signal TEROP, and the video signal VIDEO decoded by the AV decoder, and synthesizes the video signal BLEND. (S512)
When an operation signal from the remote controller or the like is transmitted by the viewer, the operation signal CR is input to the EPG generation unit 410, and program table and telop switching processing is started (S514).

  The EPG generation unit 410 moves the highlighted part in the program guide to the left and right, converts it to the OSD program guide data signal TABLE, and transmits it to the video composition unit (S516).

  Subsequently, the EPG generation unit 410 extracts the highlighted program information after movement from the program arrangement information SI2 (S518).

  The EPG display unit 410 transmits a character string indicating the extracted program content to the scroll generation unit 412 (S520).

  The scroll generation unit 412 converts the character string indicating the program contents into an OSD telop data signal TEROP to which an arbitrary display size, display font, and display position are assigned, and transmits it to the video composition unit (S522).

  The video composition unit inputs the OSD program guide data signal TABLE, the OSD telop data signal TEROP, and the video signal VIDEO decoded by the AV decoder, and synthesizes the video signal BLEND.

  The display device 450 receives the video signal BLEND and displays the video, the program guide, and the telop at the same time (S524).

  The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present invention scrolls and displays program information, thereby reducing the number of characters displayed simultaneously. As a result, the program information can be displayed in large characters without performing conversion processing such as reduction processing on the video. Further, since the program guide is displayed at the same time as the telop, program information can be provided without losing recognition as an EPG program guide. Therefore, the present invention is useful for a digital broadcast receiver having a display function of an electronic program guide.

  Also, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to the present invention operates in conjunction with the movement of the highlight portion in the program guide and the program guide by telop. As a result, the viewer can easily switch the contents of the program information in the telop display while checking the program guide. Therefore, the present invention is useful for a digital broadcast receiver having an electronic program guide display function.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the digital broadcast receiver which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the whole operation | movement which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the scroll production | generation part which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the digital broadcast receiver which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the whole operation | movement which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the TV screen display which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 EPG production | generation part 12 Scroll production | generation part 14 Image | video synthetic | combination part 30 Tuner 32 Transport decoder 34 AV decoder 40 Antenna 50 Display apparatus

Claims (2)

A digital broadcast receiving apparatus capable of receiving a digital broadcast including electronic program guide data and displaying an electronic program guide, and using an EPG generation means for generating the electronic program guide and the electronic program guide data, Scroll generating means for generating a character string for displaying information in a telop, an electronic program guide generated by the EPG generating means, a character string generated by the scroll generating means, and a video decoded from a digital broadcast signal A digital broadcast receiver comprising display control means for superimposing and outputting signals. Operation signal input means for inputting an operation signal of a viewer is provided, and the EPG generation means highlights an arbitrary area in the program table displayed on the TV screen and is input from the operation signal input means Generated by the scroll generation unit using the operation signal or the output signal of the EPG control unit and the first EPG control means for realizing control such as movement, display / non-display of the highlight display using the operation signal The digital broadcast receiving apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising second EPG control means for switching a character string to be performed.

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