JP3369864B2 - Internet television receiver - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an Internet television receiver capable of receiving information from the Internet, capturing the information, converting the information into a video signal, and displaying the video signal on a television receiver. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of personal computers (hereinafter referred to as personal computers), information has been actively transmitted and received using the Internet. The information gathering via the Internet has come to be transmitted from image and sound information by electronic mail such as characters in the past.

Therefore, recently, an increasing number of users regard the Internet as a place for providing information. The WWW (World Wide Web) is in the limelight as a server for providing the information.

[0004] The reason why this WWW server has been in the limelight is that the spread of client software that can search information using a graphical menu has a great influence. Since this software makes it easier to find information on the network, the traffic to the WWW server has rapidly increased, which has attracted attention from each user as an advertising medium and has been used by many users.

By the way, in order to see the information on the WWW server, the client software is required as described above. For example, this client software can be downloaded from Nikkei BP's Nikkei Communication Supplement: Internet Handbook for Corporate Users (published November 30, 1994) Nos. 164 to 167.
There are some as described on the page.

On the other hand, the Internet W
A user with a personal computer could only use the client software to see the information of the WW server.
However, it is a fact that many people who do not have a personal computer do not need a personal computer but want to see it. And, it is considered that such people simply want to easily view information on the Internet.

[0007] Therefore, as an easy way to view, it is conceivable to use a television receiver in a general home in place of the display to display information on the Internet. According to this, you don't have to buy a personal computer,
It becomes possible by only incorporating or externally installing a device for receiving and displaying information on the Internet in the television receiver, and as described above, it functions as the function of the television receiver when the information on the internet is not seen. It is very convenient for many users.

However, in order to see the information of the WWW server of the Internet on the television receiver, it is necessary to once connect to the provider by the telephone line. By connecting this telephone line to the provider, various information can be obtained for the first time.

The connection by this telephone line is made through a modem, but for those who are communicating with a personal computer or the like, whether or not it is connected is judged as follows. That is, since the modem transmits data by sound, the sound determines whether the data is being communicated or the telephone is connected.

Further, once the telephone line is connected, data is sent from the provider side. There is no way to confirm whether all the data has been sent because the user does not know the situation in which the data is sent. Therefore, the software such as a personal computer allows the user to visually recognize the situation in which the data is sent, such as a graphic or a number (indicating the amount of data) on the receiving screen.

However, since it is difficult to understand only by such graphic and numerical display, it may be possible to add a display by time and characters, but if such a large number of displays are made, the user returns and is confused. There is a fear that it will end up.

Further, although the data reception status is conventionally shown by the above-mentioned graphical display, data may be transmitted such as electronic mail. However, there is no means for discriminating whether data is being transmitted or received by a graphical display.

[0013] Further, in the case of a personal computer or the like, it is used as a personal use, but in a television receiver, it is often seen as a family rather than as a personal use.
It is rare to see it close to the television receiver. For this reason, it is desired to be able to confirm at a glance from a distance.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and graphically displays the communication status of transmission data from a provider or transmission data to a provider in the same display portion, and further, The purpose of the present invention is to provide an Internet television receiver that can display at a glance whether data is transmitted or received by displaying characters and connection time.

[0015]

The present invention provides a television signal receiving means for receiving a television signal, and a video signal output for extracting and outputting a video signal from the television signal received by the television signal receiving means. Means, display means for displaying the image output by the video signal output means, and digital data to be transmitted and received from the telephone line. Therefore, the digital data is converted into a sound carrier signal at the time of transmission, and the sound carrier signal is received at the time of reception. Modulation / demodulation means for demodulating into digital data, data conversion means for transmitting digital data to the modulation / demodulation means, receiving digital data from the modulation / demodulation means, and converting the received digital data into a video signal, and the data conversion A converted video signal output means for outputting the output from the means to the display means, and a character signal A control is performed to detect the communication state of the character signal generating means for generating and outputting to the display means and the transmission / reception of digital data of the modulating / demodulating means, and generate a character signal for displaying the communication state on the character signal generating means. In an Internet television receiver comprising a character signal generation control means, a character signal generated by being controlled by the charactor generation control means is a character by a bar that increases according to the amount of data transmitted and received by the modulation and demodulation means, The connection time of the telephone line and the characters for displaying the communication status are displayed on the display unit 1
The internet television receiver is characterized in that a character displayed by a bar and a character for indicating a communication state and a character indicating a communication state are alternately superimposed on a character by the bar at predetermined intervals and displayed.

Further, according to the present invention, the character of the bar, which increases according to the data amount of transmission and reception of the character signal generated by being controlled by the charactor generation control means, has a different bar color according to the data. It is an Internet television receiver characterized in that.

Further, according to the present invention, the character of the bar which increases according to the data amount of transmission and reception of the character signal generated by being controlled by the charactor generation control means has a different bar color according to the communication state. Internet TV receiver characterized by becoming.

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a tuner, 2 is a VIF (video intermediate frequency) circuit, 3 is a video detection circuit, 4 is a video amplifier, 5
Is a first switch circuit for switching a video signal, and 6 is a CR
T (cathode ray tube), 7 is an SIF (audio intermediate frequency) circuit,
Reference numeral 8 is a voice detection circuit, 9 is a voice amplifier, 10 is a second switch circuit for switching a voice signal, 11 is a mixing circuit, 12 is a speaker, 13 is a remote controller (not shown) and an operation unit on the front panel of the television receiver, and 14 is A microcomputer 15 for controlling various types of television receivers, and 15 is an on-screen display (hereinafter referred to as O) for generating an on-screen character signal.
(SD) circuit, 16 is a modem, 17 is a carrier amplifier that amplifies carrier sound from the modem 16, and 18 is an Internet circuit that receives Internet information data from the modem 16 and converts it into a video signal and outputs a voice signal. , 19 is a video output amplifier for outputting a video signal from the Internet circuit 18, and 20 is an audio output amplifier for outputting an audio signal.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. First, when watching a television broadcast, when a desired channel is selected by the operation unit 13, the tuning voltage corresponding to the selected channel is supplied from the microcomputer 14 to the tuner 1. The television signal of the selected channel is input to the VIF circuit 2, the video detection circuit 3 extracts the video signal, and the video signal is input to the video amplifier 4. On the other hand, the SIF circuit 7 detects the SIF signal from the VIF circuit 2, the voice detection circuit 8 extracts the voice signal, and the voice signal is supplied to the voice amplifier 9.

In the television receiver, when watching television broadcasting, the microcomputer 14 connects the first switch 5 to the video amplifier 4 and outputs a video signal to the CRT 6. In addition, the microcomputer 14 connects the second switch 10 to the audio amplifier 9 and outputs the audio signal via the mixing circuit 11.
It is supplied to the speaker 12. The volume of the audio signal changes by controlling the audio amplifier 9. This can be realized by controlling the audio amplifier 9 from the microcomputer 14 under the control of the operation unit 13.

On the other hand, when the channel is selected, the microcomputer 14
Controls the OSD circuit 15 to generate a character signal indicating the channel number, and supplies the character signal from the OSD circuit 15 to the first switch 5. At this time, the first switch 5 is controlled by the microcomputer 14 so as to switch to the character signal from the OSD circuit 15. This OSD circuit 15
Can display not only channel characters, but also various displays such as volume adjustment display and various adjustment mode displays.

Next, the case of receiving Internet information will be described. First, when the internet connection mode is selected by the operation unit 13, the microcomputer 14 controls the internet circuit 18 so that the internet circuit 18 connects the modem 16 to the telephone line on the provider side. The modem 16 makes a call to connect the telephone line to the provider and receives the provider's data. At this time, the carrier sound being connected from the modem 16 is amplified by the carrier amplifier 17, supplied to the mixing circuit 11, and output to the speaker 12 together with the audio signal of the television broadcast.

On the other hand, the data from the provider is input to the internet circuit 18 via the modem 16 and the data is converted into a video signal. Then, the video information is output to the CRT 6 through the video output amplifier 19 and the first switch 5, and the Internet information can be viewed. The first switch 5 is controlled by the microcomputer 14 to switch to the video output amplifier 19 side in the internet connection mode.

As described above, the Internet information can be viewed. Next, taking in information on the Internet will be specifically described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the flowchart of FIG. First, when the internet connection mode is set on the operation unit 13 (S1), the microcomputer 14 supplies information to the internet circuit 18 so that the menu screen is displayed, and the internet circuit 18 displays the menu screen video as shown in FIG. A signal is output (S2).

This menu screen roughly divides a plurality of preselected information (store information, travel / sightseeing, news, learning, entertainment, area and company, original, search,
(E-mail) and the appearance of the remote control is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Further, at the top of the screen, a display section 31 for displaying a URL, a toolbar 32 in which buttons for performing various functions are arranged, and a telephone line display section 3 for indicating the state of a telephone line.
3 are arranged. The telephone line display unit 33 includes a telephone icon 34 indicating whether the telephone line is on-hook or off-hook and a state display unit 35 indicating the state of the telephone line.

When a desired item is selected from the operation screen 13 on such a menu screen, a menu screen of a hierarchy below it appears. For example, if travel / sightseeing is selected from FIG. 3, then the lower hierarchy menu screen shown in FIG. 4 appears (S3). When Hokkaido is selected, the telephone icon 34 goes off-hook and the telephone line is connected to the provider (S4).

When the provider is connected, data is transmitted from the provider (S5). The telephone line status display unit 35 displays how much the transmitted data is currently received by the receiving side, as shown in FIG. For example, if the amount of data received is 50% at present, the color is changed by half by a bar as shown by the shaded area so that it is visually recognizable. Further, the current line status is displayed in the telephone line status display section 35 as characters (for example, during communication). In addition, every time a predetermined time elapses (this may be a small time interval of about 5 seconds), a character display indicating the time when the telephone line is used (for example, 00:00 for 3 minutes)
In 3), letters and numbers are displayed alternately. In this manner, when the number of bars displayed increases in the receiving state and 100% of the data is received, for example, the characters may be displayed as "reception completed" and the characters may be immediately erased.

In this way, the current communication status, communication time, and data acquisition status can be confirmed simply by looking at one display portion.

Further, in this bar display, the type of data can be recognized by changing the color depending on the received data. That is, if the data is text, the bar is displayed in red, and if the data is an image, the bar is displayed in blue. Further, in this case, the description has been made in the case of received data, but the same applies to the case of transmitting data. That is, when sending an e-mail to the provider side, the data is sent via the telephone line, so the status of the data being sent is displayed in the bar display as described above (characters and time are also the same as when receiving). To). At this time, the bar display for transmission is green. By doing this, it is possible to determine whether the data is transmitted or received by the color of the bar. Furthermore, in the case of e-mail, the bar display may remain green not only when data is sent but also when it is received. In this case, the communication operation mode (e-mail mode, text data or image data from the provider, It is also possible to discriminate what is) by color (S5).

Next, when all the provider data has been received (S7), the telephone line status display section 35 only displays the communication time (S8). And if you specify another URL,
Reconnect the telephone line and perform the above operation (S
9). If you disconnect the telephone line without specifying the URL,
The display also stops. The communication time returns to 0 at this point.

When the telephone line is connected (S4) and data is being received (S5) and no data has been sent within a predetermined time (S11), the telephone line is cut off. (S12).

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of data transmitted / received, the communication state and the communication time can be visually confirmed on one display unit on the screen receiving the Internet. The effect is that you can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a menu screen of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a menu screen of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 tuner 2 VIF circuit 3 Video detection circuit 4 video amplifier 5 First switch circuit 6 cathode ray tube 7 SIF circuit 8 Voice detection circuit 9 voice amplifier 10 Second switch circuit 11 mixing circuit 12 speakers 13 Operation part 14 Microcomputer 15 On-screen display circuit 16 modem 17 Carrier amplifier 18 Internet circuit 19 Video output amplifier 20 audio output amplifier

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI H04N 5/445 H04N 5/445 Z (56) Reference JP-A-10-63458 (JP, A) JP-A-63-90246 ( JP, A) JP 10-42205 (JP, A) JP 10-84511 (JP, A) Actual flat 3-66245 (JP, U) Actual flat 5-87645 (JP, U) (58 ) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 5/38-5/46 H04N ^7/ 16-7/173 G06F 3/14

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A television signal receiving means for receiving a television signal, a video signal output means for extracting and outputting a video signal from the television signal received by the television signal receiving means, and the video signal output means. Display means for displaying the image output by the, and a modulator / demodulator means for converting digital data into a carrier signal by sound at the time of transmission and transmitting and receiving the carrier signal by sound into digital data at the time of reception in order to transmit and receive the digital data through the telephone line. Data conversion means for transmitting digital data to the modulation / demodulation means, receiving digital data from the modulation / demodulation means, and converting the received digital data into a video signal, and an output from the data conversion means for the display means And a converted video signal output means for outputting to the display means for generating a character signal. Character signal generating means for outputting, and character signal generation control means for detecting a communication state of transmission / reception of digital data of the modulating / demodulating means and controlling the character signal generating means to generate a character signal for displaying the communication state. In the Internet television receiver provided with, the character signal generated by being controlled by the charactor generation control means is a character by a bar that increases according to the amount of data transmitted and received by the modulation and demodulation means, and a connection time of a telephone line, A character for displaying a communication state is displayed on a part of the display unit, and a connection time of a telephone line and a character for displaying a communication state are alternately superimposed and displayed on the character by the bar. An internet television receiver characterized in that 2. The Internet television receiver according to claim 1, wherein a character signal generated by being controlled by said charactor generation control means is increased by a bar to increase the amount of data transmitted / received by said modulation / demodulation means. Is an internet television receiver characterized in that the color of the bar is made different according to the data. 3. The Internet television receiver according to claim 2, wherein the character by a bar that increases according to the data amount of transmission and reception of a character signal generated by being controlled by the charactor generation control means is in accordance with a communication state. Internet television receiver characterized in that the bar has different colors.