JPH0444475A - Television receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select a desired channel with simple operation in a short time by a category menu display means displaying all lists of plural categories on the screen, a sequential channel selection display means and a channel selection means to a television receiver whose channels are registered in advance. CONSTITUTION:A channel selection control section 7 controls an on-screen display section 8 as required according to a channel selection signal and a category menu required for the channel selection is displayed on the screen of a picture display section 5 via a video circuit section 4. Moreover, a tuner and channel section section 2 is controlled to select channels corresponding to all broadcast stations belonging to a category selected by the user according toe the category menu circulatingly in time division for a prescribed time. Then a newest picture of each broadcast station is displayed sequentially on the screen together with indication of its broadcast station name. A desired channel is selected by depressing an enter key when a picture of the desired broadcast station is displayed on the screen and the signal is extracted.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a television receiver, and particularly relates to a television receiver that allows a user to easily select a channel when there are a large number of broadcasting stations. .

(Prior Art) In a television receiver, the user frequently operates to select a broadcasting station (channel), as well as turning the power on and off and increasing/decreasing the volume.

The channel selection operation section for channel selection has various configurations in the television receiver.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a channel selection operation section in a conventional television receiver.

Figure 6 (A) is an example of what is called a position type, which has 12 keys numbered 1 to 12, the position of each channel is determined, and a specific channel can be set to each key. This is a method of keeping it.

For example, in the Kanto area of Japan, VHF broadcasting is 1.3.
4. There are 6, 8, 10, and 12 channels, so set VHF to the corresponding number keys, and press the remaining 2.
Just set UHF to the appropriate key of 5.7 and 9.11.

Figure 6 (B) is an example of what is called a 10-key type, which has 10 keys from 0 to 9, and the position of each channel is not fixed.For example, 1 channel is for O and 1. Press the 3 and 8 keys for 38 channels.
You can select a station by pressing the key.

Figure 6 (C) is an example of what is called an up-down key type, with up (UP) and down (DOWN) keys.
You can select channels using only two keys.

That is, each time the up key or down key is pressed, the channel increases or decreases by one channel. For example, if 4 channels are currently being received and you want to select channel 1, you can press the down key three times, and if you want to select channel 8, you can press the up key four times.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, there are cases in which the number of channels that can be received is, for example, 30 to 100 due to CATV and the like.

In this case, as many keys as there are channels of the position type shown in FIG. 6(A) are required, the area occupied by the keys becomes large, and the cost becomes very high.

Moreover, the up-down key type shown in FIG. 6(C) is
There was a problem that the desired channel could not be reached unless the key was pressed an extremely large number of times, and the channel could not be selected in a short period of time.

Further, the 10-key type shown in FIG. 6(B) allows selection of channels 1 to 99 with two key operations, and can be used even when the number of channels is large.

However, even in this case, it is necessary to memorize the number of the channel you want to tune into, and as the number of channels increases from 30 to 100, it is not possible to memorize all channel numbers, including channels that are used less frequently. There was a problem in that I had to look at the newspaper or look at my notes every time I wanted to tune in.

The present invention has been made with attention to the above points, and even when the number of channels that can be received is very large, the user does not have to remember the number of the channel that he or she wants to select, and it is possible to You can select the desired channel in a short time and with simple operations without having to look up newspapers or check notes. The purpose of this invention is to provide a television receiver that can select broadcast stations.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above objectives, a large number of broadcast stations are classified into multiple categories according to their main broadcast contents, and a television receiver that can be registered in advance is configured to classify the multiple broadcast stations into multiple categories according to their main broadcast content. a category menu display means for displaying a complete list of categories on a screen, and channels corresponding to all broadcast stations belonging to a category selected by a user according to the category menu displayed on the screen;
A sequential channel selection display means that switches and selects stations in a time-division manner so as to make one round at a predetermined time, and sequentially displays the latest image of each broadcast station on a screen together with a broadcast station display; and a desired broadcast on the sequential channel selection display means. The image of the station is displayed on the screen,
The present invention provides a television receiver characterized in that it has a channel selection means for continuously displaying the image of the broadcasting station on the screen by key input when the broadcasting station is selected.

(Embodiment) Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the television receiver of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the television receiver of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a channel selection operation. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a category menu, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of images displayed during sequential channel selection, and these will be explained together.

In FIG. 1, a television signal from a CATV cable, antenna, etc. comes in via an input terminal 1 and is supplied to a tuner and channel selection section 2. As shown in FIG.

The tuner & channel selection section 2 selects a desired channel from the television signal, extracts the signal, converts the frequency, obtains a video intermediate frequency output signal, and supplies it to the IF & detection section 3. .

The IF & detection section 3 amplifies and detects the video intermediate frequency output signal to obtain a video signal, and supplies the video signal to the video circuit section 4 .

The video circuit section 4 processes and amplifies the video signal and supplies it to the image display section 5.

The image display section 5 is made up of a CRT (cathode ray tube), liquid crystal, etc., and displays images on its screen so that the user can visually see them.

Further, a user who wishes to select a channel operates a channel selection operation section 6 consisting of keys as shown in FIG. 3, and a channel selection signal is outputted to a channel selection control section 7.

The channel selection control section 7 controls the on-screen display section 8 as necessary in accordance with the channel selection signal, and displays the selection on the screen of the image display section 5 via the video circuit section 4 as shown in FIG. In addition to displaying the category menu necessary for station operation, it also controls the tuner & channel selection section 2 to time-divisionally select channels corresponding to all broadcast stations belonging to the category selected by the user according to the category menu as shown in Fig. 5. The latest image of each broadcast station is displayed sequentially on the screen together with the broadcast station display, and when the image of the desired broadcast station is displayed on the screen,
By inputting a key, a desired channel is selected and the signal is extracted.

The channel selection control section 7 often uses a microcomputer, RAM (random access memory), etc. installed therein to control the operation of the television receiver.

Next, the channel selection operation of the present invention will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when the microcomputer program starts from address 0, it is determined whether the user has pressed a category search key (category search recall key) (step ■).

If no key is pressed, it is in a state of waiting for input.

When the user wishes to select a channel and presses the category search recall key on the channel selection operation section 6 shown in FIG. 3, the category search menu (category menu) shown in FIG. (Step ■
).

Next, it is determined whether there is any 10-key input (step ■).

If no key is pressed, it is in a state of waiting for input.

Then, looking at the category search menu displayed on the screen, the user inputs a desired number, e.g., 1, from among the desired categories (genres), e.g., news, movies, music, etc., using the 10 keys.

Then, with N=1 (step ■), the Nth (initially the first) broadcasting station in the corresponding category is selected, and the latest image of that broadcasting station is displayed (for example, the station name,
channel number, etc.) and display it on the screen as shown in FIG. 5(A) (step 2). Next, it is determined whether there is any key input (step ■).

If no key is pressed, set N=N+1 (step ■
) N=2, and it is determined whether N≧N m1x (step ■).

For example, if there are 4 broadcast stations in the news category (-) (CNN, CNN2.JCTV, ESPN), then N
This means that mtt =4. Since N=2 in step ■, N<Nl! I is ON≧Nl111X
Since it is not, return to step ■.

Next, select the second broadcasting station in the corresponding category, add the broadcasting station display to the latest image of that broadcasting station, and select the fifth broadcasting station.
Step ■) to display it on the screen as shown in Figure (B), and step ■) to determine whether there is any key input.
If no key is pressed, N=3.

Similarly, if there is no key input in step ■, the images in Figure 5 (C) and Figure 5 (D) are displayed on the screen in order, and
It becomes crystal 4.

If N=4, then N≧N+axx, so the process returns to step (2) and N=1.

Therefore, if there is no key input at step ■, step ■
~ Step ■ will be repeated, and Figure 5 (A) ~ (
The images of the four stations in D) are displayed in sequence in an endless manner.

That is, the channels corresponding to all the broadcast stations belonging to the category selected by the user according to the category menu displayed on the screen are switched in a time-division manner so as to go around in a predetermined period of time, and the latest image of each broadcast station is selected. It performs a sequential channel selection display operation that sequentially displays on the screen together with the broadcast station display.

If any key is input while the image of a desired broadcasting station is displayed on the screen during the sequential channel selection display (step ■), the program selects that broadcasting station (step ■).
, to continuously display the image of that broadcasting station on the screen.

For example, if the user presses any key while looking at the image shown in FIG.
The channel selection unit 2 is controlled to perform a channel selection operation so that the number of channels becomes 6, and as a result, the desired channel of the television signal (36 channels in this case) is selected. (step ■), the channel selection operation is completed, and the process returns to the initial state of step ■.

In addition, in order to select stations as described above, when installing the television receiver, you must classify a large number of broadcast stations into multiple categories according to their main broadcast content, and select the stations belonging to the corresponding category. Enter the name, channel number, etc. using the category search memory keys shown in Figure 3.
Of course, it is sufficient to register (store in RAM) in advance.

In this way, the number of channels that can be received is 30 to 100.
Users do not need to memorize the number of the channel they want to tune to, and there is no need to look up the number of the channel they want to tune each time. You can select the desired channel.

The user can select a broadcast station of interest while viewing the latest image content of each broadcast station in the desired category, which is extremely convenient.

In addition, in FIG. 5, CNN, CNN2. JCTV,
Although ESPN and the like are the names of broadcasting stations, it is of course possible to display channel numbers such as 02.14°36.45 instead.

(Effects of the Invention) The television receiver of the present invention has the configuration described above, and even when there are a large number of channels that can be received, the user can memorize the number of the channel he or she wishes to select. You can select the desired channel in a short time and with simple operations without having to check the newspaper or check your notes each time. This system has excellent practical effects, such as being able to select an interesting broadcasting station while looking at the image content, which is very convenient.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the television receiver of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the television receiver of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an example of the channel selection operation section. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a category menu, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of images during sequential channel selection display, and FIG. 6 is an example of a channel selection operation section in a conventional television receiver. FIG. 1...Input terminal, 2...Tuner & tuning section, 3...
・IF & detection section, 4... Video circuit section, 5... Image display section, 6... Tuning operation section, 7... Tuning control section, 8.
...On-screen display section. Patent applicant Kunio Kakiki, representative of Victor Japan Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A category menu for classifying a large number of broadcast stations into a plurality of categories according to their main broadcast contents and displaying a complete list of the plurality of categories on the screen in a television receiver that can be registered in advance. The display means and channels corresponding to all the broadcast stations belonging to the category selected by the user according to the category menu displayed on the screen are switched in a time-division manner so as to go around once in a predetermined period of time, and the channels corresponding to each of the broadcast stations are selected. a sequential channel selection display means for sequentially displaying the latest images on a screen together with a broadcast station display; 1. A television receiver comprising a channel selection means for continuously displaying an image of the broadcasting station.