JP2009055541A - Moving picture reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a moving picture reproducing device capable of adjusting the volume of a sub-screen without deteriorating the visibility/audibility of the main-screen. <P>SOLUTION: The moving picture reproducing device is equipped with a means to make setting of the screen transparency of the sub-screen when the main-screen and the sub-screen are reproduced simultaneously and a means to adjust the volume ratio of the main-screen to the sub-screen in accordance with the set transparency of the sub-screen. Accordingly there is no risk that the main-screen is hidden by the sub-screen, for example even in the case the volume of the sub-screen is increased, nor that the visibility/audibility of the main-screen deteriorates. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a moving image reproducing apparatus having a picture-in-picture function for simultaneously reproducing a plurality of moving images by superimposing a sub screen on a main screen, and more particularly to a moving image reproducing apparatus suitable for reproducing moving images of contents such as movies.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus for displaying a digital moving image typified by a Blu-ray disc or a digital television broadcast has a reproduction function having a main screen and a sub screen such as a picture-in-picture display. A plurality of moving images can be simultaneously displayed on the same screen. Also, with a Blu-ray disc, picture-in-picture can be manipulated in a programmable manner. In digital television broadcasting, it is possible to simultaneously display information of a plurality of channels using a picture-in-picture function.

  Furthermore, if there is a function to connect to the Internet at the same time as watching TV broadcasts or movies, it is possible to display the TV broadcast or movie viewing screen and the WWW browser display screen for the Internet on the same screen using the picture-in-picture function. it can.

However, in normal picture-in-picture display, since the sounds of a plurality of screens are simply combined and reproduced simultaneously without any particular consideration, the reproduced sound may be difficult to hear. In response to this problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-87397 discloses that when a plurality of screens are simultaneously displayed in a video conference system, the volume is adjusted according to the area of each screen (Patent Document). 1).
JP-A-8-87397

  The method of Patent Document 1 mainly improves by dividing the screen into a plurality of areas and adjusting the playback volume according to the size of each area. The method of this document is intended to be applied to a video conference system, and causes a problem when used for a WWW browser or the like for reproducing content such as a movie or displaying a lot of information.

  For example, when a content video such as a movie is displayed on the main screen and information associated with a movie is displayed on the sub-screen by picture-in-picture display, the area of the sub-screen is increased in order to increase the volume of the sub-screen. Then, a part of information on the main screen is hidden behind the sub screen, the display area of the content reproduced on the main screen is reduced, and the viewability of the content such as a movie is reduced.

  In other words, unlike a video conference system, a sub-screen audio adjustment mechanism that enables browsing of sub-screen information without degrading the viewability of main-screen content is necessary for viewing systems such as movie content playback. Become. In the method of adjusting the volume only in accordance with the display area of the divided image as described above, there is a problem that the viewability of the content is deteriorated by overlapping the screens.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a moving image reproducing apparatus capable of adjusting the volume of a sub screen without deteriorating the viewability of a main screen.

  The present invention sets the screen transparency for the sub screen when the main screen and the sub screen are played back simultaneously, and the volume ratio between the volume on the main screen and the volume on the sub screen according to the set transparency of the sub screen. Adjust. Therefore, for example, even when the volume of the sub screen is increased, the main screen is not hidden by the sub screen.

  According to the present invention, by adjusting the volume ratio between the main screen and the sub screen according to the transparency of the sub screen, the volume of the sub screen can be reduced without causing a decrease in viewability due to the overlap with the sub screen of the main screen. It becomes possible to adjust.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a moving image playback apparatus according to the present invention. The antenna 101 is arranged outdoors in a predetermined direction, and receives a digital broadcast wave sent from, for example, a BS (Broadcasting Satellite).

  The antenna 101 generally includes a frequency converter, and supplies a received / frequency converted signal to the tuner device 102. The tuner device 102 extracts a signal having a specific frequency from the received high frequency digital modulation signal. That is, a process of selecting one from a plurality of transponders of digital broadcasting is performed.

  Further, the tuner device 102 includes a demodulation circuit, a deinterleave circuit, an error correction circuit, and the like, thereby demodulating the selected digital modulation signal and outputting a transport stream. It is also possible to view a video on the optical disc 120.

  The moving image reproducing device 130 includes a disk device 121 (including a demodulation circuit, an error correction circuit, and the like), and can read data recorded on the optical disk 120. The data read from the disk device 121 is sent to the central processing unit (MPU) 117, analyzes the data in accordance with the Blu-ray disk standard and the like, and outputs the transport stream to the demultiplexer (DEMUX) 103.

  The demultiplexer 103 separates the transport stream received from the tuner device 102 or the disk device 121 into an MPEG2 video stream, an audio stream, PSI / SI, and other information. PSI / SI: (Program Specific Information / Service Information). The demultiplexer 103 supplies the video stream and the audio stream to the AV decoder 107, and supplies other information such as PSI / SI to the central processing unit 117.

  A plurality of channels are multiplexed in the transport stream. The process for selecting an arbitrary channel from among them can be performed by extracting data such as which packet ID is multiplexed in the transport stream from the PSI / SI. In addition, transport stream selection (transponder selection) can also be performed based on PSI / SI information.

  The recording / playback processing unit 104 writes the transport stream output from the demultiplexer 103 to the internal hard disk drive (HDD) 106 and reads the transport stream from the hard disk drive 106. The AV decoder 107 includes a video decoder that decodes a video stream and an audio decoder that decodes an audio stream.

  The video decoder decodes the input encoded signal to obtain a quantization coefficient and a motion vector, and performs inverse DCT transform, motion compensation control based on the motion vector, and the like. The audio decoder decodes the input encoded signal to generate audio data. The video data generated by the decoding is output to the video processing unit 108, and the audio data is output to the audio processing unit 109.

  The video processing unit 108 receives video data from the AV decoder 107, performs D / A conversion, and converts it into, for example, an NTSC format composite signal. The audio signal processing unit 109 receives the audio data output from the AV decoder 107, performs D / A conversion, and generates, for example, a right (R) sound analog signal and a left (L) sound analog signal.

  The video output unit 110 and the audio output unit 111 include an output resistor, an amplifier, and the like. The AV output unit 112 is provided with an output unit (a set of left and right audio output terminals, a video output terminal, etc.), and a monitor 114 having a display and a speaker (not shown) is connected by a video / audio code 113.

  The remote control transmitter 115 sends a command to the video playback device 130. When a key provided on the remote control transmitter 115 is operated, signal light (remote control signal) indicating a command corresponding to the key is transmitted from the light emitting unit of the remote control transmitter 115. The remote control light receiver 116 receives the signal light emitted when the key of the remote control transmitter 115 is operated, converts it into an electrical signal, and supplies it to the central processing unit (MPU) 117.

  Data necessary for processing is held in the storage unit 118 (for example, flash ROM, EEPROM, etc.), and information such as an image transparency and volume ratio table, which will be described later, is recorded. In the present embodiment, the moving image playback device 130 is a separate device from the monitor 114, but the monitor 114 may also serve as the moving image playback device.

  FIG. 2 shows a normal display state of the monitor 114. The video output by the video playback device 130 is displayed on the monitor 114. Normally, one screen of the main screen 301 is displayed on the screen of the monitor 114, and a moving image is displayed. A user who uses the moving image reproduction device 130 can perform multi-screen display by using the remote control transmitter 115 and transmitting an operation signal for performing picture-in-picture display. That is, it is possible to reproduce a plurality of moving images simultaneously by superimposing the sub screen on the main screen.

  FIG. 3 shows a picture-in-picture display state. A picture-in-picture screen synthesized by the moving image playback device 130 is displayed on the monitor 114. In the picture-in-picture function, the sub screen 302 is superimposed on the main screen 301 displayed on the largest area of the screen of the monitor 114 and displayed simultaneously.

  By dividing the display area into the main screen 301 and the sub screen 302 in this way, the user can simultaneously display two or more moving images. For example, it is possible to simultaneously display the received video of the Internet, digital broadcasting, a moving image using a Blu-ray disc, and the like.

  Also, the audio output is synthesized from the audio streams of the moving images of the main screen and the sub screen into one output and reproduced from the speaker. (Depending on the case, it is differentiated into 5.1 channel or 7.1 channel for the sound effect). In FIG. 3, the setting of transparency on the sub-screen, which will be described later, is not particularly set. Therefore, the main screen below the sub screen is displayed completely hidden.

  FIG. 4 shows a picture-in-picture display state when transparency is set on the sub-screen. Two sub-screens 302-1 and 302-2 are displayed on the main screen 301 of the monitor 114. Normally, in the picture-in-picture display when the transparency is not set, the display of the main screen below the sub screen is hidden as shown in FIG.

  In this state, the user cannot see the video information displayed on the main screen below the sub screen. In the example of FIG. 4, transparency is given to each sub-screen, and the user can also view information on the main screen below the sub-screen. That is, in the example of FIG. 4, transparency is set for the sub screen 301-1 and the sub screen 301-2, and each sub screen is displayed with the set transparency. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the main screen below the sub screen is seen through because the transparency is set on the sub screen.

  The transparency of the sub screen refers to the transparency of the screen when displaying the sub screen. In this embodiment, the transparency is defined as 0% to 100%, and when the transparency is 0%, it means a state where the main screen is completely hidden by the sub screen (the state shown in FIG. 3). When the transparency is 100%, the sub screen is completely transparent and the sub screen is not displayed.

  In the present embodiment, voice synthesis is performed in consideration of the transparency of the sub-screen with respect to voice output as well as image synthesis. Volume synthesis adjusts the volume of the output sound by calculating the volume ratio as follows.

AudioOutRate = AlfaFunc (AlfaRate) (1)
Here, AudioOutRate = volume ratio AlfaRate = transparency of sub-screen AlfaFunc () = sub-screen transparency and volume ratio table.

  This volume ratio is an audio amplification ratio used when mixing with other audio. Also, the AlfaFunc function is a ratio that gives the sound change amount to the transparency, and is held in the moving image reproducing apparatus as a volume ratio table. At this time, the volume ratio of the sub screen to the main screen is decreased as the transparency of the sub screen is increased, and the volume ratio of the sub screen to the main screen is increased as the transparency of the sub screen is decreased.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the audio output unit 111. In particular, FIG. 5 is a detailed view showing portions relevant to this embodiment. Reference numeral 501 denotes a reproduction audio signal of the main screen, 502-1 denotes a reproduction audio signal of the sub screen 1, 502-2 denotes a reproduction audio signal of the sub screen 2,..., 502-N denotes a reproduction audio signal of the sub screen N. The reproduced audio signal of the main screen and the reproduced audio signal of each sub-screen are sent to the audio output unit 111 in parallel.

  The output amount of the audio signal is calculated according to the transparency of the sub screen as described above. The calculated volume ratio is set in the volume ratio setting unit 505, and the volume adjustment unit 506 adjusts the audio output amount according to the volume ratio in which the reproduction audio signal of each sub screen is set. The adjusted reproduced audio signal is mixed by the mixer 507 into one audio output signal.

  Finally, the volume output adjustment of the entire reproduced audio signal (the volume setting value of the entire display screen set by the user using the remote control transmitter 115) is set in the volume setting unit 509. Then, according to the set value, the volume of the reproduced audio signal is adjusted by the volume adjusting unit 510 and output to the external speaker 508.

  FIG. 6 shows a logical configuration related to the audio output control of this embodiment. The table held is also shown. These processes are logical configurations of software processed by the central processing unit 117. In the figure, reference numeral 601 denotes a sub-screen state changing unit. The sub-screen state change unit 601 is a processing unit that changes the state of the sub-screen according to a user's sub-screen change instruction from the remote control transmitter 115. The user can instruct the sub screen to change the transparency, change the size, change the position, change the presence / absence of display, and the like.

  The volume ratio determination unit 602 is a processing unit that actually calculates the volume ratio according to the equation (1). The volume ratio determination unit 602 holds a relationship between the transparency of the sub screen used in the above-described AlfaFunc function and the volume ratio as a table 606, and adjusts the volume ratio with respect to the transparency.

  FIG. 8 is a volume ratio table showing the relationship between the transparency of the sub-screen and the volume output value (volume ratio) in this embodiment. The volume ratio is the volume ratio of the sub screen volume to the main screen volume. In FIG. 8, the transparency and the sound volume are in a proportional relationship, but a table that changes nonlinearly may be used as necessary.

  The volume ratio setting unit 603 is a process for outputting the volume ratio determined by the volume ratio determination unit 602 to the volume ratio setting unit 505. In addition, the overall volume adjustment value set by the user for the video playback device by the remote control transmitter 115 is output to the volume setting unit 509 by the volume output unit 604 to adjust the overall volume of the output audio.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing relating to sound volume ratio determination. The volume ratio is set when the transparency of the picture-in-picture (sub-screen) is changed. This process starts from S100.

  First, in S101, upon receiving an instruction from the remote control transmitter 115, the user changes the display state of the picture-in-picture (sub-screen). In this case, the user's instruction from the remote control transmitter 115 includes changing the transparency, changing the size of the sub screen, changing the position of the sub screen, changing the presence / absence of the display of the sub screen, and the like.

  Next, in S102, the current state of the picture-in-picture (sub-screen) is recognized. In step S103, the state of the picture-in-picture (sub-screen) is actually changed so as to change from the recognized current state of picture-in-picture to the state of the picture-in-picture (sub-screen) designated by the user.

  Next, in S104, Equation (1) is calculated as needed, and the volume ratio of the sub screen to the main screen is calculated (the volume ratio is obtained according to the transparency based on the table of FIG. 8). Finally, in S106, a volume adjustment instruction is given to the volume ratio setting unit 505 in FIG. Through such processing, it is possible to obtain a volume corresponding to the transparency of the sub screen.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, the transparency is set for the sub screen, and the volume ratio between the volume of the main screen and the volume of the sub screen is adjusted according to the transparency. At this time, the volume ratio of the sub screen to the main screen is decreased as the transparency of the sub screen is increased. Therefore, when the main screen and the sub screen are reproduced simultaneously, it is possible to adjust the volume of the sub screen while preventing a decrease in viewability due to the overlap of the main screen with the sub screen.

It is a block block diagram which shows one Embodiment of the moving image reproducing device which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows a normal reproduction | regeneration state. It is a figure which shows the display state of a picture in picture. It is a figure which shows the display state of the picture in picture at the time of setting transparency to a sub screen. It is a block diagram which shows an example of an audio | voice output part. It is a figure which shows the logical structure regarding audio | voice output control. It is a flowchart which shows the process which determines the volume ratio of a main screen and a subscreen. It is a figure which shows an example of the table holding the relationship between the transparency of a sub screen, and a volume ratio.

Explanation of symbols

101 Antenna 102 Tuner 103 Demultiplexer (DEMUX)
104 Recording / playback processing unit 106 Hard disk drive (HDD)
107 AV decoder unit 108 Video processing unit 109 Audio processing unit 110 Video output unit 111 Audio output unit 112 AV output unit 113 Video / audio code 114 Monitor 115 Remote control transmitter 116 Remote control receiver 117 Central processing unit (MPU)
118 Storage Unit 120 Optical Disk 121 Disk Device 130 Video Playback Device 501 Audio Playback Signal for Main Screen 502-1 to 502-N Audio Playback Signal for Sub Screen 505 Volume Ratio Setting Unit 506, 510 Audio Adjustment Unit 507 Mixer 508 External Speaker 509 Volume Setting section

Claims (2)

In the video playback device that plays back multiple videos at the same time by overlaying the sub screen on the main screen,
Means for setting screen transparency for the sub-screen when the main screen and the sub-screen are played back simultaneously;
A moving image reproducing apparatus comprising: means for adjusting a volume ratio between a volume on the main screen and a volume on the sub screen according to the transparency of the sub screen set by the setting unit. The moving image reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment unit adjusts a volume ratio of the sub screen to the main screen to be smaller as the transparency of the sub screen is larger.