JP4174080B2 - Transmission / reception system and reception apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a transmission / reception system and a receiving apparatus suitable for application to a broadcasting system or the like. Specifically, when transmitting a multiplexed text signal in addition to the main broadcast signal, a keyword indicating details by genre for the text broadcast is further transmitted as additional information, so that the multiplexed text information can be stored hierarchically on the receiving side. In addition, the corresponding multiple character information can be monitored by keyword search.
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the development of digital technology, an interactive integrated digital broadcasting system (referred to as an ISDB (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting) system) in which various kinds of information including broadcast signals are digitized is being researched and developed in the broadcasting industry.
[0003]
More specifically, the ISDB system is used for not only current broadcast signals (standard television signals, high-definition signals), but also software and facsimile data, as well as multimedia information such as voice, text, graphics, and images. It is a broadcasting system in which each is digitized (encoded), integrated and multiplexed, and then subjected to a modulation process matching the transmission form for transmission.
[0004]
When various types of information including broadcast signals are integrated and multiplexed, in addition to these pieces of information, additional information used as control information on the receiving side can also be integrated and multiplexed at the same time. The integrated ISDB broadcast signal (digital signal) is transmitted using ground waves, satellite waves, optical cables, or the like.
[0005]
On the receiving terminal side, it is possible to receive the integrated ISDB broadcast signal, discriminate the target signal, display it on the monitor and enjoy it as a normal television broadcast. (Save) or transfer to another terminal. Further, if the received additional information is used, the received information can be used according to the user's preference, such as monitor control, recording control, and processing control on the monitored image. That is, an interactive broadcasting system can be constructed.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, if this ISDB system is used, the service content for the user is improved and the more interactive broadcasting system can be constructed as the variety of additional information to be transmitted increases.
[0007]
In the current broadcasting system, a character multiplexed signal is inserted by utilizing the gap (blanking period) of the current television signal, and the receiving side receives this character multiplexed signal and designates the genre to transmit the character broadcast. There are services that can be displayed on the screen. It is possible to introduce the current teletext system in the ISDB broadcast system.
[0008]
In teletext, telecasts are broadcast by genre. The items are, as is well known, news, sports, weather forecast, traffic information, leisure information, and the like, and only very large divisions are made. Even when the user actually selects this teletext, there are times when he / she wants to specify a finer detail than how to categorize by genre.
[0009]
For example, whether the news is domestic news, overseas news, sports or baseball, soccer, sumo, or the same baseball genre, whether you want to see the results of the domestic baseball team, for example, the American League overseas Or want to see the results of a specific pitcher (for example, Nomo pitcher) of a specific baseball team in the American league (small genre). If such a detailed classification (called a keyword) can be designated for the user, it is convenient to cut unnecessary information and collect only the information desired. This is also a service that matches the times.
Hierarchical teletext broadcasting hierarchized in this way can be said to be a suitable service form in an ISDB broadcasting system that can transmit control information and the like as additional information.
[0010]
Therefore, the present invention is intended to achieve such a problem, and realizes hierarchized text broadcasting so that the user can freely select hierarchized text information for display and hard copy. It is a thing.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, the transmission / reception system according to claim 1 includes a first encoding unit that encodes input character information, a genre of the character information, and a keyword indicating details of the genre. Additional information generating means for generating additional information, second encoding means for encoding an input television signal, and at least first encoded information encoded by the first encoding means A transmission device comprising: transmission means for multiplexing and transmitting the additional information generated by the additional information generation means and the second encoded information encoded by the second encoding means; Selecting a specific broadcast signal in which the first encoded information in which character information is encoded, the second encoded information in which a television signal is encoded, and the additional information are multiplexed. Station means; signal separation means for separating the specific broadcast signal selected by the channel selection means into the first encoded information, the second encoded information, and the additional information; and the first First decoding means for decoding the encoded information and outputting the character information, second decoding means for decoding the second encoded information and outputting the television signal, and the first decoding means Recording / reproducing means for recording on the recording medium the character information decoded by the above-mentioned information and the keyword indicating the genre of the character information and the details of the genre included in the additional information in association with the character information; and inputting at least the keyword And the corresponding character information is retrieved from the recording medium based on the keyword inputted by the input means, and the recorded / reproducing means reproduces the retrieved character information. Control means for controlling the so that said character data output converting means for converting a keyword inputted by said input means into character data by the conversion means the above-mentioned character information reproduced from the recording / reproducing unit And the television signal and the character information are combined so that the character information obtained by combining the character data with the television signal is superimposed on the television signal. and second combining means for outputting synthesized and the monitor, and the receiving apparatus having, is characterized in that it comprises a.
[0012]
In order to solve the above-described problem, the receiving device according to claim 7 includes at least first encoded information in which character information is encoded, second encoded information in which a television signal is encoded, and Channel selection means for selecting a specific broadcast signal multiplexed with additional information, and the specific broadcast signal selected by the channel selection means for the first encoded information and the second encoding Signal separation means for separating information and the additional information, first decoding means for decoding the first encoded information and outputting the character information, and decoding the second encoded information and the television set A second decoding means for outputting a signal; the character information decoded by the first decoding means; a genre of the character information included in the additional information in association with the character information; and details of the genre Keywords on recording media Recording / playback means for recording, input means for inputting at least a keyword, search for corresponding character information from the recording medium based on the keyword input by the input means, and the searched character information for the recording / playback Control means for controlling the reproduction means to reproduce, conversion means for converting the keyword input by the input means into character data, and the character information reproduced from the recording / reproducing means is output by the conversion means. A first synthesizing unit that synthesizes the character data, and the television signal so that the character information obtained by synthesizing the character data by the first synthesizing unit is superimposed on the television signal. and second combining means for output to the monitor by combining the character information, it is characterized in that it comprises a.
[0014]
By sending specific details of a specific genre, that is, a keyword as additional information, the receiving side can select a specific genre and specify a keyword to selectively obtain only character information that matches the keyword. . The selected specific character information can be confirmed on the monitor, and hard copy is also possible. It can also be saved in memory. If stored in memory, a database of character information can be constructed. As the memory means for the database, a recording / reproducing unit can be used, or a dedicated memory means may be prepared.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Subsequently, an embodiment of transmitting and receiving system and a receiving apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0016]
FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a main part showing an embodiment of an ISDB transmitting apparatus 10 according to the present invention. In this example, as main information transmitted in an integrated manner for convenience of explanation, standard television signals and high-definition signals are used. And it shall be a character multiplex signal. The character multiplexed signal is inserted in the blanking period of the standard television signal. Then, additional information such as control information is added to each of them and multiplexed. Various kinds of additional information can be considered. A time code etc. can be considered about a standard television signal and a high-definition signal.
[0017]
Referring to FIG. 1, the video signal SVN of the standard television signal is supplied to the terminal 12a, and the audio signal SAN associated therewith is supplied to the terminal 12b. The encoding unit 14 performs appropriate encoding processing including compression and the like. Is given. In synchronization with this encoding process, the additional information generating means 16 operates to generate additional information such as control information. In this example, a time code is exemplified as additional information, and thus the time code generator 16 is configured. The encoded standard television signal and time code TC are supplied to the multiplexing unit 20 and multiplexed together with other information.
[0018]
The video signal SVH of the high-definition signal is supplied to the terminal 22a, and the audio signal SAH associated therewith is supplied to the terminal 22b. The encoding unit 24 performs encoding processing including compression. In this example as additional information generating means in synchronization with this encoding process, the time code generating unit 26 is activated to generate a predetermined time code.
[0019]
Further, the terminal 28 a is supplied with the character multiplexed signal SD, which is encoded by the encoding unit 30. At the same time, the additional information generating means 32 is activated to generate the genre of character information to be transmitted and the keyword in the genre as additional information. As the additional information, a control code for enlarging / reducing the character information, a display position designation code, and the like can be considered.
[0020]
The encoded information and additional information obtained from each are multiplexed in the multiplexing unit 20, respectively. In the multiplexing unit 20, for example, a process is performed in which each piece of encoded information is packetized and multiplexed for error correction is multiplexed in units of transmission frames to form a bit stream. The additional information described above can be inserted into the header (packet header) when packetized.
[0021]
The multiplexed data is modulated by the transmission unit 34 into an ISDB broadcast signal having a transmission form suitable for transmission means (for example, a broadcasting satellite), and in this example, the data is multiplexed by an up-converter 36 and a transmission antenna (parabolic antenna) 38. Sent to the broadcasting satellite.
[0022]
FIG. 2 shows an example of the receiving apparatus 40 according to the present invention for receiving the ISDB broadcast signal as described above.
[0023]
The satellite wave received by the receiving antenna (parabolic antenna) 42 is down-converted to a 1 GHz band by the down converter 44 and then supplied to the ISDB tuner 46 for channel selection processing. Therefore, the ISDB broadcast signal of a specific channel including the character broadcast is selected by the channel selection signal SC from the terminal 48.
[0024]
The selected ISDB broadcast signal is supplied to the signal separation means 50 and separated into original main information and additional information. For example, when a specific channel of a standard television signal is selected, the standard television signal and additional information (time code or the like) associated with the specific channel are separated. Character information inserted into the standard television signal is also separated at the same time. The separated standard television signal is decoded by the decoding unit 52, and the video signal SV and the audio signal SA are decoded, respectively, and supplied to a monitor (CRT, LCD, etc.) 53 to display the video.
[0025]
Of the information separated by the signal separation means 50, the character information is decoded by the character broadcast decoding unit 54 and recorded by the recording / reproducing unit 56. As the recording / reproducing unit 56, a VTR, a data recorder, a magneto-optical disk recording / reproducing device, a semiconductor memory means (RAM, etc.), etc. can be used. When the recording capacity of the recording / reproducing unit 56 becomes full, the latest character information is overwritten on the old recording information.
[0026]
Simultaneously with the recording of the character information, additional information (genre and keyword) related to the character information is further supplied to the keyword decoding unit 58, where the genre and the keyword are respectively decoded and then recorded by the recording / reproducing unit 56. Genres and keywords can be recorded in association with character information. This is because genres and keywords are preferably layered and recorded in order to perform a search quickly and easily.
[0027]
When text broadcasting is selected by operating the key operation unit 59 provided on the panel operation surface of the receiving device 40, both the genre and the keyword or only the keyword is designated here. This designation data is supplied to the control unit 60 and converted into, for example, a search code (code corresponding to the recorded genre and keyword) of the recording / reproducing unit 56. As a result of the search process, when the same genre and keyword exist, the corresponding character information is reproduced from the recording / reproducing unit 56 and output to the outside.
[0028]
For example, if the keyword “Nomo pitcher” is specified in the genre of sports, and character information is recorded with the keyword “Nomo pitcher”, the character information is retrieved and reproduced. This character information is combined with the video signal SV by the adder 70 and supplied to the monitor 53. As a result, the character information retrieved in a form superimposed on the video signal SV or independently is displayed on the screen. For example, it is displayed for the first time that it was selected as a Japanese player for the first time by an American all-star player, and became a starting pitcher, making a good pitch twice and acclaimed.
[0029]
It is also possible to simultaneously display on the screen, together with the character information, which keyword of which genre is designated by the user. Therefore, conversion means 64 for converting each keyword and genre into character data is provided, and the converted character signal is added to the character information signal by the adder 62 and supplied to the monitor 53. By doing so, the user-specified contents can be grasped on the screen at the same time.
[0030]
The selected character information can be hard-copied by giving it to the printer 66. Further, if not only the selected character information but also the character information recorded by the recording / reproducing unit 56 is stored in the dedicated memory means 68 including its genre and keyword, a database of character information can be achieved. By using the dedicated memory means 68, the capacity of the recording / reproducing unit 56 can be reduced.
[0031]
The directly decoded character information or the like can be stored in the memory means 68 without going through the recording / reproducing unit 56, or only the character information designated by the user can be stored instead of all the character information. . In order to operate the memory means 68 only when designated by the user, the control operation may be designated from the key operation unit 59.
[0032]
As the memory means 68, the above-described VTR, data recorder, magneto-optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus, semiconductor memory, or the like can be used.
[0033]
The present invention can also be applied to current analog television signals. This is because, in addition to the character multiplexed signal inserted in the horizontal or vertical blanking period, a code indicating a keyword or the like may be inserted at the same time.
[0034]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the transmission / reception system and the receiving apparatus according to the present invention, when a character multiplexed signal is included in a broadcast signal, a keyword hierarchized with respect to the content of the character information is transmitted as additional information. It is configured so that it can be searched.
[0035]
According to this, since the character information transmitted for each genre can be further subdivided and searched, the user can select the character information by himself / herself, so that only the really necessary character information can be obtained quickly and reliably. In addition, which keyword of which genre is designated by the user can be displayed on the screen together with the character information. In addition, the user-specified contents can be grasped on the screen at the same time. Furthermore, since character information can be searched using keywords as described above, it has various features such as the ability to create a database as well as hierarchization of character information. Therefore, the present invention is very suitable when applied to an ISDB system for digital broadcasting.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a system diagram of an essential part showing an embodiment of an ISDB transmission device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a system diagram of an essential part showing an embodiment of an ISDB receiver according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 ISDB transmitter 14, 24, 30 Encoding unit 16, 26 Time code generating unit 20 Multiplexing unit 32 Additional information generating unit 46 ISDB tuner 52 Decoding unit 53 Monitor 54 Character broadcast decoding unit 56 Recording / reproducing unit 58 Keyword decoding Part

Claims (9)

First encoding means for encoding input character information;
Additional information generating means for generating additional information including a genre of the character information and a keyword indicating details of the genre;
Second encoding means for encoding an input television signal;
At least the first encoded information encoded by the first encoding means, the additional information generated by the additional information generating means, and the second encoded by the second encoding means Transmitting means for multiplexing and transmitting the encoded information;
A transmitter having
Select at least a specific broadcast signal in which the first encoded information in which character information is encoded, the second encoded information in which a television signal is encoded, and the additional information are multiplexed. Channel selection means,
Signal separating means for separating the specific broadcast signal selected by the channel selecting means into the first encoded information, the second encoded information, and the additional information;
First decoding means for decoding the first encoded information and outputting the character information;
Second decoding means for decoding the second encoded information and outputting the television signal;
Recording / reproducing means for recording on the recording medium the character information decoded by the first decoding means, and the genre of the character information included in the additional information in association with the character information and a keyword indicating the details of the genre. When,
An input means for inputting at least a keyword;
Control means for searching corresponding character information from the recording medium based on the keyword input by the input means, and controlling the recording / reproducing means to reproduce the searched character information;
Conversion means for converting the keyword input by the input means into character data;
First combining means for combining the character data output from the converting means with the character information reproduced from the recording / reproducing means;
The television signal and the character information are combined and output to the monitor so that the character information obtained by combining the character data with the television signal by the first combining means is superimposed . Combining means;
A receiving device comprising:
A transmission / reception system comprising: The transmission means is
Packetizing the first encoded information;
The additional information is inserted into a packet header in the packetized packet data,
Packetizing the second encoded information;
The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission / reception system multiplexes each transmission frame to form a bit stream.   The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein the additional information generating unit generates a control code for enlarging / reducing the character information as the additional information.   The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein the additional information generating unit generates a display position designation code for designating a display position of the character information as the additional information.   The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein the input unit inputs a genre and a keyword.   2. The transmission / reception system according to claim 1, wherein the recording / reproducing means includes means for outputting the character information decoded by the first decoding means to a printer. Channel selection for selecting a specific broadcast signal in which at least first encoded information in which character information is encoded, second encoded information in which a television signal is encoded, and additional information are multiplexed. Means,
Signal separating means for separating the specific broadcast signal selected by the channel selecting means into the first encoded information, the second encoded information, and the additional information;
First decoding means for decoding the first encoded information and outputting the character information;
Second decoding means for decoding the second encoded information and outputting the television signal;
Recording / reproducing means for recording on the recording medium the character information decoded by the first decoding means, and the genre of the character information included in the additional information in association with the character information and a keyword indicating the details of the genre. When,
An input means for inputting at least a keyword;
Control means for searching corresponding character information from the recording medium based on the keyword input by the input means, and controlling the recording / reproducing means to reproduce the searched character information;
Conversion means for converting the keyword input by the input means into character data;
First combining means for combining the character data output from the converting means with the character information reproduced from the recording / reproducing means;
The television signal and the character information are combined and output to the monitor so that the character information obtained by combining the character data with the television signal by the first combining means is superimposed . Combining means;
A receiving apparatus comprising: The receiving apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the input unit inputs a genre and a keyword. 8. The receiving apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the recording / reproducing means has means for outputting the character information decoded by the decoding means to a printer.

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