JP3254010B2 - Tuning device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for selecting a television receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, technology relating to television receivers (hereinafter abbreviated as televisions) has been extremely developed, and various additional functions have been added, and operations have become complicated. For this reason, remote control devices (hereinafter, abbreviated as remote controls), which have become indispensable for televisions, are also complicated. As described above, with the development of the television technology, the remote controller has become more and more complicated, and the remote controller is difficult to handle for the television user. For this reason, various attempts have been made to improve complicated remote control operations.

[0003] Here, consider a channel selection device which is a basic function of a television. An electronic tuner of a television generally used at present selects a channel by applying a tuning voltage. With the use of this electronic tuner, it was possible to immediately select a station by pressing a button on a remote controller (operator) corresponding to each channel. Such a tuning method is referred to herein as method 1.

[0004] Now, there is a case where a program to be viewed by a viewer is not determined, and a program to be viewed is found while watching the screen of the contents of each channel. At this time, for example, 1
Pressing the zero or more channel selection buttons in order is complicated and poor in operability. For this reason, there is a method of providing a channel up / down button on the remote controller and selecting a channel with the button. In this way, a target program can be selected while viewing the channel contents in order. Such a tuning method is referred to as a method 2.

More recently, as a method of assisting channel selection, a screen is divided into a plurality of screens, a plurality of still images of each channel are displayed on one screen, and the contents of a plurality of channels are checked at the same time. It has also been devised to make it easier. Such a tuning method is referred to as method 3.

[0006]

Here, in the above-mentioned method 1, the channel selection is completed by one operation when the channel to be selected is already determined, but when operating in a dark place, each channel of the remote control is There was a drawback that the contents of the switch were difficult to see. The method 2 does not cause any inconvenience in operation in a dark place, but it is very complicated to check channels one by one in order in recent years when the number of channels is increasing. Further, method 3 requires an operation of pressing a button corresponding to the channel, and is the same as method 1 as far as operability is concerned. However, this method has a feature that since a plurality of channel images can be confirmed at a time, a program to be viewed can be easily searched.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and the invention according to claim 1 is intended to reduce the program contents of all the channels in a state where the program desired by the viewer has not been determined. Tune in while checking, improve operability in dark places,
It is an object of the present invention to realize a channel selection device capable of easily selecting a channel.

[0008]

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic tuner for receiving a broadcast wave, selecting and demodulating a television signal of a specific channel by using a tuning voltage, and a tuning voltage of each channel for the electronic tuner. A first tuning voltage generating circuit that is generated in a fixed order, a cursor control button for instructing a cursor indicating a display screen position of the television to move up, down, left and right, and displaying an image of a specific channel on the entire television display screen, Or an operation device including a state switching button for giving an instruction to simultaneously display images of the sub-screens of a plurality of channels, a second tuning voltage generation circuit that generates a tuning voltage for the electronic tuner of the channel specified by the operation device, A tuning voltage of the first or second tuning voltage generating circuit is selected by a signal of a state switching button of the operating device, and tuning tuning is given to the electronic tuner. A switching circuit, a television signal output from the electronic tuner is sampled at a constant period, time compression is performed, and a small screen generating means for thinning out the number of horizontal scanning lines, and a video signal output from the small screen generating means is assigned to each channel number. A video memory for storing a cursor at a display screen position indicated by a cursor control button of the operating device, a still image and a cursor generator for each channel stored in the video memory And a video signal selection circuit for switching between a moving image of a specific channel output by the electronic tuner and a still image of each channel output by the cursor synthesis circuit by a state switching button of the operating device. It is characterized by doing.

[0012]

[0013]

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention having the above-mentioned features, in order to select a program, the user first presses the state switching button of the operating device and gives an instruction to simultaneously display the images of the sub-screens of a plurality of channels. Do. The first tuning voltage generation circuit generates a tuning voltage for each channel in a certain order and outputs the tuning voltage to the electronic tuner. The electronic tuner receives a broadcast wave, and selects and demodulates a television signal of each channel by using a tuning voltage.
The small screen generation means samples the TV signal output from the electronic tuner at a constant cycle, performs time compression,
A small screen is generated by thinning out video signals of a specific number of horizontal scanning lines. The video memory stores the video signal output from the scanning line conversion circuit at an address corresponding to each channel number. On the other hand, the cursor generating circuit generates a cursor at a display screen position indicated by a cursor control button of the operating device. The cursor combining circuit combines the still image of each channel stored in the video memory with the cursor of the cursor generator. Then, the user operates the cursor control button to move the cursor up, down, left and right, and selects an image of a specific channel. Here, when the state switching button of the operating device is pressed again, the second tuning voltage generation circuit selects the tuning voltage and gives the tuning voltage of the specific channel to the electronic tuner. The video signal selection circuit selects a video signal output from the electronic tuner and outputs a video of the intended program to a display device.

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a channel selection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a channel selection target selection screen of the channel selection device of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a key arrangement of the operation device used in the channel selection device of the present embodiment.

In FIG. 1, an electronic tuner 1 has a VHF,
A circuit for selecting a signal of a specific channel from a signal input from an antenna such as UHF and demodulating the signal to a video signal;
The tuning channel is controlled by the tuning voltage. The controller 2 is a remote controller having the operation buttons shown in FIG. 3, and has cursor control buttons 2a to 2d for moving a cursor up, down, left and right, a state switching button 2e, and a conventional channel selection button (not shown). . The state switching button 2e is a button for switching so that programs of all channels are simultaneously displayed on the display screen of the television as sub screens as shown in FIG.

The first tuning voltage generating circuit 3 is a circuit for sequentially generating tuning voltages of all channels selectable by the electronic tuner 1 at a constant period. The second tuning voltage generating circuit 4
This is a circuit for generating a tuning voltage of a specific channel specified by the operation device 2. The tuning voltage switching circuit 5 is a circuit that switches the tuning voltage output from the first or second tuning voltage generating circuit 3 or 4 by the output of the operating device 2.

The time compression circuit 6 is a circuit for sampling a video signal output from the electronic tuner 1 for each frame, and extracts a signal amplitude of each horizontal scanning line at a constant period.
The voltage signal is converted into a digital signal. The scanning line conversion circuit 7 extracts a horizontal scanning line for each specific number from the signal of each horizontal scanning line output from the time compression circuit 6,
Alternatively, it is a circuit that takes an arithmetic mean from a plurality of adjacent horizontal scanning lines and outputs signals of the thinned horizontal scanning lines. Here, the time compression rotation 6 and the scanning line conversion circuit 7 constitute a small screen generation unit that outputs a television signal of a plurality of channels as a small screen.

The video memory 8 is a circuit for storing a digital video signal output from the scanning line conversion circuit 7 on a frame basis, and the writing or reading cycle of the signal is performed in the number of channels shown in FIG. Is multiplied by.

On the other hand, the cursor generating circuit 9 is a circuit for generating a rectangular frame cursor pattern on the display screen. As shown in FIG. 2, the cursor is a frame-shaped pattern surrounding the display area of each channel. When a direction signal is output from the cursor control buttons 2a to 2d of the operation device 2, the cursor position is set at the pitch of the display frame. Moves up, down, left and right. The cursor synthesizing circuit 10 is a circuit that synthesizes a video signal output from the video memory 8 and a cursor signal output from the cursor generating circuit 9.

The video signal selection circuit 11 includes the electronic tuner 1
This is a circuit for selecting a moving image output from the controller and an image output from the cursor synthesizing circuit 10 based on a display switching signal output from the operating device 2. The video signal selected here is output to the display device 12, and the video is displayed.

The operation of the thus-configured channel selection device of the first embodiment will be described. Here, there are two display states. The first display state is a normal television viewing screen, in which the program of the channel directly selected by the channel selection button of the operation device 2 is displayed. The second display state is a state in which, for example, still images of all 12 channels are displayed by dividing the display screen into small screens as shown in FIG.

In the first display state, the channel signal selected by the operation device 2 is output to the second tuning voltage generation circuit 4, and the tuning voltage of the specified channel is output. This tuning voltage is selected by the tuning voltage switching circuit 5 and supplied to the electronic tuner 1. The electronic tuner 1 selects a specific channel from broadcast waves input from an antenna according to the selected tuning voltage, and demodulates a video signal. On the other hand, a display switching signal for outputting a single-channel program is output from the operation device 2 to the video signal selection circuit 11, and the video signal output from the electronic tuner 1 is selected by the video signal selection circuit 11, and the video display device 12 are displayed on the entire display screen.

The operation in the second display state will be described.
In this case, the user operates the state switching button 2e of the operating device 2, and
Switch to the selection screen. The first tuning voltage generating circuit 3 sequentially generates tuning voltages of the respective channels in a predetermined order. These tuning voltages are selected by the tuning voltage switching circuit 5 and output to the electronic tuner 1. The electronic tuner 1 sequentially selects a signal of each channel from a broadcast wave input from an antenna and demodulates a video signal in accordance with a periodically changing tuning voltage. These video signals are supplied to the time compression circuit 6 for one frame period for each channel, and are sampled at a constant period. Then, the horizontal scanning lines are thinned out by the scanning line conversion circuit 7,
The reduced video signal is stored in the video memory 8 at an address corresponding to the display position of each channel.

On the other hand, the cursor generating circuit 9 generates a rectangular frame cursor at the screen position designated by the operating device 2 as shown in FIG. The cursor synthesizing circuit 10 superimposes the cursor on the multi-channel still image read from the video memory 8 and outputs a video signal of one screen. Video signal selection circuit 1
1. This video signal is supplied to the video display device 12, and the selection screen of FIG. 2 is displayed.

Here, the cursor control buttons 2a to 2a of FIG.
By operating any one of 2d, the cursor is moved to, for example, a hatched portion in FIG. At this time, when the switching button 2e is pressed, the second tuning voltage generating circuit 4 outputs the tuning voltage of the corresponding channel, and selects, for example, the program of channel # 10. This changes the display to the first display state. As described above, in this embodiment, a channel can be selected by moving the cursor regardless of the channel selection button.

Next, a channel selection apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a channel selection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. As shown in FIG.
The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a second electronic tuner 20 is provided in addition to the electronic tuner 1 and an audio reproducing device 21 is provided.

A signal input from the antenna is supplied to the first electronic tuner 1 and the second electronic tuner 20.
The first tuning voltage generation circuit 3 is a circuit that generates a tuning voltage of a specific channel specified by the operation device 2. The second tuning voltage generating circuit 4 is a circuit for sequentially generating tuning voltages of all channels selectable by the electronic tuner 20 at a constant cycle. The output of the electronic tuner 20 is output to the time compression circuit 6, and the output of the electronic tuner 1 is output to the video signal selection circuit 11.
And output to the audio reproducing device 21.

The audio reproducing device 21 reproduces the audio signal of the channel selected by the channel selection button or the cursor control buttons 2a to 2d of the operation device 2 from the demodulated signal of the electronic tuner 1.

The operation of the channel selecting device thus configured will be described. In the first display state, as in the first embodiment, the channel signal selected by the operating device 2 is the first signal.
The tuning voltage is output to the tuning voltage generating circuit 3 and the tuning voltage of the designated channel is output. Then, the video signal of this channel is output by the display device 12 and the audio is
Output from

The operation in the second display state will be described.
The state switch button 2e of the operation device 2 is operated to switch to the selection screen. The second tuning voltage generation circuit 4 sequentially generates a tuning voltage according to a predetermined order. These tuning voltages are output to the electronic tuner 20. The electronic tuner 20 sequentially selects a signal of each channel from a broadcast wave input from an antenna according to a periodically changing tuning voltage, and demodulates a video signal. These video signals are supplied to the time compression circuit 6 and processed in the same manner as in FIG.
Multi-channel images are displayed on the display screen of the display device 12.

Next, the cursor control button 2a of the operating device 2
When the cursor is moved to, for example, the position indicated by the hatched portion in FIG. Then, the electronic tuner 1 becomes channel # 1
The signal of “0” is selected and demodulated, and the audio reproducing device 21 outputs an audio signal of channel # 10. The television viewer can then check the audio on this channel. When it is determined that this program is to be selected, the user presses the state switching button 2e of the operation device 2. Then, the program of this channel is output on the entire display screen. Thus, the display is switched to the first display state.

Next, a channel selecting apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a channel selection device according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 4 showing the second embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. This embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that a time compression circuit 31 and a scanning line conversion circuit 32 are added as shown in FIG. The output of the first electronic tuner 1 is output to a video signal selection circuit 11, an audio reproduction device 21, and a first time compression circuit 31.

The first time compression circuit 31 is the same circuit as the second time compression circuit 6, and samples the video signal output from the electronic tuner 1 for each frame. The first scanning line conversion circuit 32 is also the same circuit as the second scanning line conversion circuit 7. The first scanning line conversion circuit 32 converts the thinned horizontal scanning line signal from each horizontal scanning line signal output from the time compression circuit 31. This is the output circuit. The cursor synthesizing circuit 10 converts a multi-channel still image output from the video memory 8 into a
A still image is extracted from the divided screen at the cursor position output from the cursor generation circuit 9, and a scanning line conversion circuit 32
Is a circuit that inserts a moving image output by the above and further superimposes a cursor on the outline. Here, the time compression circuit 31 and the scanning line conversion circuit 32 constitute a first small screen generating means for outputting a moving image as a small screen, and the time compression circuit 6 and the scanning line conversion circuit 7 convert a multi-channel still image into a small screen. Constitutes a second small-screen generating means for outputting the data.

The operation of the thus-configured tuning apparatus will be described. In the first display state, similarly to the second embodiment, the channel signal selected by the operation device 2 is output to the first tuning voltage generation circuit 4, and the tuning voltage of the designated channel is output. Then, as in the second embodiment, the video signal of this channel is output by the display device 12, and the audio is output from the audio reproduction device 21.

The operation in the second display state will be described.
The state switch button 2e of the operation device 2 is operated to switch to the selection screen. The second tuning voltage generation circuit 3 generates a tuning voltage that changes sequentially, and outputs the tuning voltage to the electronic tuner 20. The electronic tuner 20 sequentially selects a signal of each channel from a broadcast wave according to these tuning voltages and demodulates a video signal. These video signals are supplied to the time compression circuit 6, and the video memory 8 stores, for example, still images for 12 channels.
Then, among these still images, the cursor synthesis circuit 10
In FIG. 4, the child screen at the cursor position indicated by the operation device 2 is replaced with the moving image output from the scanning line conversion circuit 32.
The cursor is superimposed on the screen as in the case of. Then, a multi-channel image is displayed on the display screen of the display device 12.

In this case, when the cursor control buttons 2a to 2d of the operation device 2 are operated and the cursor is moved to, for example, the position of the hatched portion in FIG. 2, this portion is switched to a moving image, and the sound of this channel is simultaneously output. Is done. When the state switch button 2e of the operating device 2 is pressed, the state is switched to the first display state.

[0042]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, while viewing a still image showing the contents of a plurality of channels displayed on the screen, the user can select a channel number only by moving the cursor without being aware of the channel number. can do. Therefore, an effect of further improving the operability in the channel selection operation can be obtained.

[0043]

[0044]

[0045]

[0046]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a channel selection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a channel selection screen showing an operation of the channel selection device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a button configuration of an operation device of the tuning device in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a channel selection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a channel selection device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,20 Electronic tuner 2 Operating device 2a to 2d Cursor control button 2e State switching button 3 First tuning voltage generator 4 Second tuning voltage generator 5 Tuning tuning voltage switching circuit 6,31 Time compression circuit 7,32 Scanning line conversion circuit 8 Video memory 9 Cursor generation circuit 10 Cursor synthesis circuit 11 Video signal selection circuit 12 Video display device 21 Audio playback device

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-5-328244 (JP, A) JP-A-5-236377 (JP, A) JP-A-56-52971 (JP, A) JP-A-3-106213 (JP) JP-A-54-34618 (JP, A) JP-A-2-94781 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/44

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electronic tuner that receives a broadcast wave, tunes and demodulates a television signal of a specific channel by using a tuning voltage, and a first tuning voltage that generates a tuning voltage of each channel for the electronic tuner in a predetermined order. Cursor control buttons for instructing the generation circuit and the cursor indicating the display screen position of the TV up, down, left and right, respectively, displaying images of a specific channel on the entire display screen of the TV, or simultaneously displaying images of sub-screens of multiple channels An operation device including a state switching button for giving an instruction to perform the operation, a second tuning voltage generation circuit for generating a tuning voltage for the electronic tuner of the channel specified by the operation device, and a signal of the state switching button of the operation device Selects a tuning voltage of the first or second tuning voltage generation circuit and supplies the tuning voltage to the electronic tuner. A television signal output from the electronic tuner is sampled at a fixed period, and while performing time compression, a small screen generating means for thinning out the number of horizontal scanning lines; and a video signal output from the small screen generating means, A video memory stored at an address at a corresponding position; a cursor generation circuit for generating a cursor at a display screen position indicated by a cursor control button of the operating device; a still image of each channel stored in the video memory and the cursor A cursor synthesizing circuit for synthesizing a cursor of a generator; a video signal selection for switching a moving image of a specific channel output by the electronic tuner and a still image of each channel output by the cursor synthesizing circuit by a state switching button of the operating device. And a circuit.