The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus which provides content for viewing by receiving broadcast data.
In recent years, as information technology develops, digital broadcasting systems using satellite, terrestrial, cable, and other transmission media have been rapidly becoming more advanced. As broadcast content is delivered in the form of digital information, viewers can receive and use high-quality multimedia information.
Through such digital broadcasting, viewers can receive a data broadcast or access a two-way service, in addition to receiving a high-definition television broadcast providing high quality sound as well as high picture quality, and can even search for television programs by using an EPG (Electronic Program Guide).
In a data broadcast, information such as traffic conditions, weather forecasts, sports results, etc., can be displayed using images and characters, separately from normal television programs being broadcast at the same time. In a two-way service, a viewer can, for example, participate in a TV quiz show, TV shop, or make payments by bank transfer, i.e., a viewer can use two-way services through a digital broadcast receives. Further, using a remote control, a viewer can easily select a desired program for viewing or recording from the EPG displayed on the television screen. A viewer can also select, for example, from a chosen genre, a drama, news, or other program he would like to view, or search for information.
In this way, through digital broadcasting, a user can select or search for desired content on a display screen, and can use the selected content.
Traditionally, in digital broadcasting, content searching has been done by a user who is actually operating an operation key and moving a pointer to each item in the content list displayed on the screen, thereby selecting its associated content and thus having the details of the content displayed on the screen. However, since this involves a time-consuming process requiring the user to check the details of each content one after another until the desired content is found, there has been the problem that it takes a great deal of time before the user can view the desired content.
In view of this, various techniques have been proposed whereby, when checking content details, a user can understand the entire hierarchical structure of the content by a simple operation without having to switch the hierarchical level of the content back and forth repeatedly.
In patent document 1, a technique is proposed in which, when an option at the first hierarchical level is selected that includes a guide function for acquiring information from an external device, the second hierarchical level comprising a plurality of options including the guide function is displayed in place of the first hierarchical level, along with the third hierarchical level (to be displayed upon selection of an option at the second hierarchical level) which comprises a plurality of pieces of information content corresponding to the selected option at the second hierarchical level.
More specifically, the current screen is displayed in the right-hand half of the screen by horizontally shrinking it by one-half its original size, and while viewing the current screen, the user can select the screen at the third hierarchical level displayed in the left-hand half of the screen. For example, while viewing a drama on the current screen, the user can select a channel at the third hierarchical level, or while viewing a sports broadcast on the current screen, the user can select a channel at the third hierarchical level and view it in a split screen.
On the other hand, in patent document 2, an electronic apparatus is described which, when a news guide option at the first hierarchical level is selected, displays, in place of the first hierarchical level, the second hierarchical level comprising a category of teletext simultaneously with the third hierarchical level comprising a plurality of contents contained in the category of teletext at the second hierarchical level.
Further, in patent document 3, a receiving apparatus is described which, when a channel change is made, displays for a predetermined period of time an image produced by combining an image from the first channel before the channel change and an image from the second channel after the channel change.
Patent document 4 discloses a portable information processing apparatus which detects the direction of rotation of a jog dial switch and the amount of rotation as well as the depression thereof, associates the detection results of the direction of rotation and the amount of rotation with an operation for moving the focus on the LCD, and performs an apparatus operation in accordance with this association while changing the association accordingly. In particular, patent document 4 describes that when there is a lower level menu under the currently focused menu item, the lower level menu is displayed.
Patent document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-150692
Patent document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H11-150693
Patent document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-077764
Patent document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-353045
Generally, in digital broadcasting, when a user searches for content by operating an operation key and moving the cursor over the items in the content list displayed on the screen, the user can only shift the cursor by one item at a time in a horizontal or vertical direction. Accordingly, when there are many items in the content list, the user has to shift the cursor many times to check the details of the many pieces of content which not only makes the whole task very laborious, but requires a great deal of time to select the desired content.
Further, in a situation where the desired content has to be selected within a limited time during driving, as in the case of a vehicle-mounted apparatus or the like, there is a need to simplify the content selection operation.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above problem, and an object of the invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that presents the details of a plurality of contents for viewing before the user performs a content switching (determining) operation, and thereby enables the user to precheck the details of the plurality of contents by a simple operation and to start the viewing of the desired content quickly.
A receiving apparatus according to the present invention includes a display for displaying content by receiving data broadcast, list displaying means for displaying content items in the form of a list, a preview displaying section for displaying preview content on a screen on which the content is displayed, a preview switching section for switching the display of the preview content to destination content associated with an item selected by a pointer as the pointer is moved over the content items, and a display control section for displaying a preview of destination content associated with an item located near the item selected by the pointer. In this way, the user can precheck the details of a plurality of contents by a simple operation and can thus start viewing the desired content quickly.
Preferably, in the receiving apparatus according to the present invention, the content and the preview content are displayed simultaneously. This enables the user to select another content while viewing the current content.
In the receiving apparatus according to the present invention, it is also preferable to switch the display of the preview content after a predetermined time has elapsed after the movement of the pointer is detected. With this arrangement, when the user operates buttons quickly, the pointer moves from one content item to the next before the drawing of the preview is completed; this serves to reduce the processing load for drawing, i.e., the load of the presentation processing unit.
Preferably, the receiving apparatus according to the present invention further includes a storing section for storing URI of the preview content, a reading section for reading out the stored URI, and a switching section for switching the display of the content to the content that matches the readout URI. In this configuration, the user can read out the stored URI of the preview content, and can thus quickly bring the desired content onto the screen for viewing by selecting it from the preview.
In the receiving apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable to perform automatic preview control in which the pointer is automatically moved over an entire movable range of the pointer and the display of the preview content is automatically switched from one content to another in synchronism with the automatic movement of the pointer. With this automatic preview control that switches the display of the preview content from one content to another, the user can display the preview one after another by a single button operation.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
Digital broadcast receiving apparatus 20 is controlled by input operations from various kinds of input devices (buttons, touch panel, etc.) provided on remote control 12 and/or display 16, and digital broadcast receiving apparatus 20 may be configured so as to include one or more of antenna 10, display 16, speaker 14, and remote control 12.
The tuner 22 receives broadcast radio waves via the antenna 10, extracts a digital signal carried in a designated band, and passes it to the demodulator 24 after adjusting the signal level by a built-in AGC (Automatic Gain Control) circuit. The digital signal is controlled to a desired level by an AGC signal. The tuner 22 sends the AGC signal to the CPU 45 via the system bus 46. The CPU 45 can judge the reception sensitivity by the voltage value of the AGC signal.
The demodulator 24 demodulates the digitally modulated signal. Then, after applying error correction, etc., the demodulator 24 passes the TS (Transport Stream) packet signal to the TS decoder 26. At the same time, the demodulator 24 sends transport errors (TS-ERRs) A, B, and C to the CPU 45 via the system bus 46. TS-ERR A indicates an error in mobile broadcasting, and TS-ERR B or C an error in fixed broadcasting.
The TS decoder 26 filters (sorts out) the TS packet signal, and sends only necessary data to the corresponding decoders. More specifically, coded digital data for fixed digital broadcasting (for home reception) is separated into audio and video, which are sent to the first audio decoder 28 and the first video decoder 30, respectively. On the other hand, coded digital data for mobile digital broadcasting is separated into audio and video, which are sent to the second audio decoder 29 and the second video decoder 31, respectively. At the same time, the TS decoder 26 sends a data decode error signal for fixed broadcasting and a data decode error signal for mobile broadcasting to the CPU 45 via the system bus 46. Further, the TS decoder 26 acquires PSI (Program Specific Information) data or SI (Service Information, or program arrangement information) from the TS packet signal, and sends it to the CPU 45 via the system bus 46.
In the present embodiment, since two kinds of coded digital data are handled, two audio/video decoder pairs are provided, i.e., the first audio decoder and video decoder and the second audio decoder and video decoder, but the invention is not limited to this particular arrangement, and only one audio/video decoder pair may be provided. Further, in OFDM, for example, since three signal carriers can be transmitted simultaneously, a maximum of three kinds of video data can be separated from the TS decoder 26. Accordingly, a third audio decoder and a third video decoder may also be provided.
The first audio decoder 28 and the first video decoder 30 decode the coded digital data bit stream received from the TS decoder 26, and generate first audio data for audio output and first video data for display for fixed broadcasting. Likewise, the second audio decoder 29 and the second video decoder 31 decode the coded digital data bit stream received from the TS decoder 26, and generate second audio data for audio output and second video data for display for: mobile broadcasting.
One or the other of the first and second audio data output from the first and second audio decoders 28 and 29 is selected by the audio switching unit 32 under the control of the CPU 45 and, after introducing a prescribed delay by the delay circuit 40 for synchronization to the video data, the audio data is converted by the D/A converter 41 into an analog signal which is output from the speaker 14.
One or the other of the first and second video data output from the first and second video decoders 30 and 31 is selected by the video switching unit 34 under the control of the CPU 45 and, after prescribed computations to be described later are performed in the presentation processing unit 36, the video data is presented for viewing on the display 16.
The presentation processing unit 36 is a processing unit for displaying the selected video data for fixed broadcasting or mobile broadcasting by processing the data to match the display 16, and includes a storage unit 37 such as a VRAM for temporarily storing the video data, and a computing unit 38 for performing computations, including interpolation and substitution, to generate, for example, still image data (frozen image data), etc. from the first video data or the second video data, as will be described later.
The CPU 45 operates in collaboration with the RAM 43 and ROM 44 in accordance with preinstalled programs and controls the various elements connected via the system bus 46. Further, the CPU 45 receives the AGC signal from the tuner 22, the TS-ERRs A and B (or C) from the demodulator 24, the decode error signals from the TS decoder 26, or motion vector error signals from the first and second video decoders 30 and 31, determines based on all or some of the signals whether the data for fixed broadcasting and the data for mobile broadcasting can be received or not, and switches the display, for example, from video data to still image data.
In data broadcast, moving images and still images are typically encoded by PNG or JPEG, and moving images are typically encoded by MPEG2 or MNG. The display positions and sizes of such moving images and still images are defined in a BML (Broadcast Markup Language) document and stored in the RAM 43.
In the example of
To accomplish this, the CPU 45 performs control to switch the display of the preview content to the destination content to be effected when the focused item is selected (determined) as the focus is moved over the items displayed on the currently presented content.
If provisions are made to start the drawing of the preview the moment that the pointer is moved, the processing load for drawing greatly increases in such cases as when the user operates buttons quickly. It is therefore preferable that provisions be made to switch the display of the preview content after a predetermined time has elapsed after the movement of the focus is detected.
More specifically, the CPU 45 performs control in accordance with the following steps (1) to (3).
(1) Detect movement of focus.
(2) Activate timer.
(3) Switch preview content after time-out has occurred.
Further, in the example of
Further, in the example of
In this way, by effecting the automatic preview in which the display of the preview content is automatically switched from one content to another in sequence as the focus is automatically moved over the entire movable range, the user can display the preview one after another by a single button operation.
Further, in the example of
More specifically, when the depression of the “Auto Preview” button 58 is detected, the CPU 45 detects a button capable of content switching from among the “d” button, the color buttons (red, blue, yellow, green), etc. Then, the CPU 45 sets the detected button as a target for the content preview in addition to the focusable items.
In the example of
In the example of
In the present embodiment, the content corresponding to the currently focused item has been displayed in split screen form along with the contents corresponding to the items located above and below the focused item, but the invention is not limited to this particular arrangement; for example, the content corresponding to the currently focused item may be displayed in split screen form along with the contents corresponding to the items positionally preceding and following the focused item. Here, the contents to be displayed are not limited to one each before and after the currently focused item, but more than one content before and after it may be displayed. In an alternative embodiment, the contents corresponding to the items preceding and following the focused item by more than one item may be displayed.
Further, when the focus is placed over the item located at an end of the content list, the contents corresponding to the items positionally preceding and following the focused item are displayed as preview contents. For example, in
In the present embodiment, the image display area of the data broadcast screen shows a moving image (live TV program), but instead, a still image may be displayed here.
In the present invention, the same image need not be displayed in the preview content 52 as in the currently presented content 50, but instead, the destination content image of the currently previewed content may be displayed. If the same image is displayed in the preview content 52 as in the currently presented content 50, the invention can serve the needs of the user who wants to view a live TV program while viewing various data broadcasts. On the other hand, if the destination content image of the currently previewed content is displayed in the preview content 52, the user can check the preview content in further detail.
As described above, according to the present invention, a digital broadcast receiving apparatus can be provided that presents the details of a plurality of contents for viewing before the user performs a content switching (determining) operation, and thereby enables the user to precheck the details of the plurality of contents by a simple operation and to start the viewing of the desired content quickly.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2006/314313 | 7/13/2006 | WO | 00 | 12/14/2007 |