BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of color controller according to the first embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation for rewriting a first parental level according to the first embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 4 is a table showing a relationship between the first parental level and its content;
FIG. 5 is a table showing a relationship between the first parental level and its control of a color component amplitude;
FIGS. 6(A) to 6(C) are views showing a relationship between the first parental level, a second parental level, and the color component amplitude according to the first embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 7 is a view showing a relationship between the first parental level, the second parental level, and the color component amplitude according to a second embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 8 is a view showing ordinary one horizontal period of the color component amplitude in a color bar signal; and
FIG. 9 is a view showing controlled one horizontal period of the color component amplitude in the color bar signal.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a parental control apparatus according to the invention will be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First Embodiment
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail by reference to the drawings. A movie is recorded on a DVD disk 6 shown in FIG. 1, and video data of the movie and a second parental level showing a sexual level and a violence level of the video data are included in the disk. The data is read from the DVD disk 6 by an optical pickup 7, and the read data is decoded into a video signal and a sound signal by a decoding section 2. The decoded video and sound signals are sent to a signal processor 3.
Next, a user inputs a first parental level via a remote controller 15, and the input first parental level is stored in first memory 19. The first parental level is protected by a password to restrict a person other than an administrator, such as a parent, from rewriting the first parental level.
The administrator inputs an authentication password via the remote controller 15, and the input authentication password is stored in second memory. Then, it is required to enter the input authentication password in order to rewrite the first parental level.
The second parental level is decoded by the decoding section 2 as well as the video data. A system control section 5 receives the decoded second parental level and comparator 18 compares the received second parental level with the preset first parental level stored in the first memory 19. When the second parental level is lower than the first parental level, color controller 16 sends a control signal to a video signal processor 10. The video signal processor controls a color component amplitude of the video signal in accordance with the control signal, and an analogue video output section 12 of an output section 4 receives a video signal whose color component is reduced.
As shown in FIG. 6 (A), in a case where the first parental level is set to level 4, an ordinary color component amplitude of 1 Vp-p is attenuated by 50% and controlled to 500 mVp-p when the second parental level is lower than level 4 (i.e. level 5 to level 8). Specifically, when the second parental level is in a range from level 5 to level 8, an attenuation rate of the color component amplitude is 50%, and the color component amplitude of the video signal is reduced to 500 mVp-p.
On the other hand, when the second parental level is equal to or higher than the first parental level, in other words, when the second parental level is in a range from level 1 to level 4, the color component amplitude of the video signal is sent to an analogue video output section 12 at the ordinary color component amplitude of 1 Vp-p.
As shown in FIG. 6(B), in a case where the first parental level is set to level 8, the color component amplitude of the video signal is sent to the analogue video output section 12 at the ordinary color component amplitude of 1 Vp-p regardless of the second parental level corresponding to the video signal.
As shown in FIG. 6(C), in a case where the first parental level is set to level 1, the color component amplitude of the video signal is attenuated by 80% and controlled to 200 mVp-p when the second parental level is lower than level 1 (i.e. level 2 to level 8). The attenuation rate of the color component amplitude is 80% in this case. On the other hand, only when the second parental level is set to level 1, the color component amplitude of the video signal is sent to the analogue video output section 12 at the ordinary color component amplitude of 1 Vp-p. The attenuation rate of the color component amplitude is 0% in this case.
Next, the first embodiment is described by reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 2. A second parental level is detected from the data read from the DVD disk (S12). It is determined whether the first parental level set by the user is higher than a second parental level detected in S12 (S13). When a result is YES, the color component amplitude of the video signal is reduced (S14), and the video is output (S15). On the other hand, when the result is NO in S13, process of S14 is skipped, and the color component amplitude of the video signal is output as is.
Next, an operation for rewriting the first parental level will now be described by reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 3.
The user enters a password (S22), and the entered password is compared with the pre-registered authentication password (S23). It is permitted that the first parental level is rewritten when the entered password conforms to the authentication password (S24). Then, when the user inputs an arbitrary level as the new first parental level (S25), the first parental level is rewritten (S26).
As shown in FIG. 4, when the first parental level is set to lower level, the viewer can watch a program including higher sexual and violence contents with the ordinary color component amplitude of 1 Vp-p. On the other hand, when the first parental level is set to higher level, the viewer is more strictly restricted from watching the program.
As shown in FIG. 5, the higher the first parental level is, the smaller the color component amplitude is. Namely, when the first parental level is set higher level, the attenuation rate of the color component amplitude is also set higher rate, then the data to be reproduced become more colorless and approximate monochrome. When the first parental level is set to a level higher than level 1, the data to be reproduced become completely colorless and monochrome.
The color component amplitude of the video signal will now be described by reference to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 shows one horizontal period corresponding to a color bar display screen and when the color component amplitude is the ordinary amplitude of 1 Vp-p. A color burst signal includes basic signal components required to color-demodulate a color component. As indicated in the color bar display, color bars are arranged in sequence from left as white, yellow, cyan, green, magenta, red, and blue; and a brightness level of each of the color bars become lower in this sequence. A stepwise solid line represents the brightness level which represents the degree of brightness. Since the brightness level corresponds to a DC component, higher brightness is acquired with an increase in the brightness level. The color component is superimposed on this brightness level 23, and the color component amplitude is usually set to and designed at 1 Vp-p.
The color component amplitude controlled in accordance with the present invention will now be described by reference to FIG. 9. When the first parental level is set to level 1 and when the second parental level of the video signal is 2 or less, the color component amplitude is attenuated and controlled to 200 mVp-p.
Second Embodiment
A second embodiment of the present invention will now be described. An explanation is given by reference to a table shown in FIG. 7. When the first parental level is set to level 4 and the second parental level is level 8, the ordinary color component amplitude of 1 Vp-p is attenuated to 400 mVp-p by the attenuation rate of 100%, then the color component amplitude is limited to 0%. When the second parental level comes to level 7, the attenuation rate comes to 80%, then the color component amplitude is limited to 20%. When the second parental level comes to level 6, the attenuation rate comes to 70%, then the color component amplitude is limited to 30%. When the second parental level comes to level 5, the attenuation rate comes to 60%, then the color component amplitude is limited to 40%. When the second parental level becomes lower than the preset first parental level, the color component amplitude is gradually attenuated in accordance with the second parental level. In other respects, the entire flow of a signal and the flowchart are the same as those mentioned in connection with the first embodiment.
The present invention can also be applied to a rating system adopted for a TV broadcast signal, such as a V-CHIP or the like, stipulated by the FCC radio standards of the U.S. The invention is not limited to the parental lock in the DVD player described in connection with the embodiments.
The first memory and the second memory are not necessarily two independent pieces of memory. A single memory may be divided into a first region as the first memory and a second region as the second memory, and the first parental level and the authentication password may be stored in the respective regions.
Patent Application
20070294718
