Broadcast station selection method by language of program audio and electronic equipment including the same

Abstract

To select broadcast stations for broadcasting in a language desired for viewing by a user as a list out of the broadcast stations for broadcasting with multiple audios. A channel scan is performed to airwaves over the entire frequency band, language information codes included in the airwaves transmitted from the broadcast stations are identified and stored by a microcontroller 4, and the broadcast stations are classified by the language information code and displayed as a list so as to easily grasp the broadcast stations for broadcasting in the language desired for viewing by the user.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital television set, which shows an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of airwaves received by the digital television set, which shows the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of an SLD as a part of the data structure of the airwaves, which shows the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a concept of a language information code set up in the SLD, which shows the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing operation of the digital television set for creating a by-language broadcast station list of broadcast stations, which shows the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a language setup screen, which shows the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a by-language list creation instruction screen, which shows the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a table showing examples of languages used by each individual broadcast station, which shows the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a table having the broadcast stations shown in FIG. 8 classified by the language used, which shows the embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing display transition of the by-language broadcast station list classified by FIG. 9, which shows the embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A broadcast station selection method by a language of a program audio for an electronic equipment comprising: tuning means capable of receiving digital television airwaves which are transmitted in a data structure allowed to have multiple pieces of audio data and including a language information code indicating language information corresponding to the multiple pieces of audio data;audio/video output means for outputting an audio/video signal received by the tuning means to a display or an external display device; andcontrol means for controlling the device, characterized in that:a channel scan is performed by the tuning means; andon receiving an effective broadcast, the control means stores the language information code included in the effective broadcast and classifies and lists broadcast stations by the language information code to output the list by the audio/video output means after finishing the channel scan for entire receivable frequencies.

2. The broadcast station selection method by a language of a program audio according to claim 1, characterized in that: the data structure is a Transport Stream format; andthe language information code uses an ISO639_language_code which is one of multiple pieces of information on elements set up in an SLD (Service Location Descriptor) of an EIT (Event Information Table) included in a PSIP (Program Specific Information Protocol) of the Transport Stream format.

3. An electronic equipment comprising the broadcast station selection method by a language of a program audio according to claim 1, characterized in that: the broadcast stations are selected from the digital television airwaves by a preset or user-selected language information code; anda list of the selected broadcast stations is displayed by a predetermined operation.

4. The electronic equipment comprising the broadcast station selection method by a language of a program audio according to claim 3, characterized by further comprising: by-language broadcast station display switching means for displaying a list of the broadcast stations classified by the language information code on the audio/video output means by switching them by the language information code.

5. The electronic equipment comprising the broadcast station selection method by a language of a program audio according to claim 3, characterized by further comprising: broadcast station list sorting means for counting and storing utilization time and utilization frequency of programs viewed by a user in a predetermined period by the language information code so as to sort the list according to frequency of usage.

6. An electronic equipment comprising the broadcast station selection method by a language of a program audio according to claim 2, characterized in that: the broadcast stations are selected from the digital television airwaves by a preset or user-selected language information code; anda list of the selected broadcast stations is displayed by a predetermined operation.

7. The electronic equipment comprising the broadcast station selection method by a language of a program audio according to claim 4, characterized by further comprising: broadcast station list sorting means for counting and storing utilization time and utilization frequency of programs viewed by a user in a predetermined period by the language information code so as to sort the list according to frequency of usage.